Citrus

Lay tiles to grow orange and lemon plantations, and time your harvests carefully, because harvesting costs you points.

Designer: Jeffrey D. Allers
Published by: dlp games
Editions by: Tasty Minstrel Games

Citrus (2013) is a tile-laying game about growing orange and lemon plantations. The moves are simple, but the decisions are not: do you start a fresh plantation, extend an existing one, collect landscape tiles, or build onto a finca to cash in at the next scoring? The catch is that income only arrives when you harvest, and harvesting takes a plantation out of the race for finca points, so timing is everything. Little is left to chance. It comes with a simplified family variant and a short version, and plays two to five from age ten in about an hour. A friendly-looking game with an unexpectedly sharp edge.

Orange and lemon plantations on tilesHarvest for income or hold for scoringIncludes a family variant and a short version

Who it's for

You like tile-laying with real decisions and little luck, and you want something that works for adults and kids from ten.

Not for you if…

You want conflict or a heavy engine. It is a pleasant, thoughtful puzzle where you mostly watch your own plantations.

Vibe's take

Calm on the surface, tricky underneath. Each turn is a small puzzle between building now and harvesting for cash, and the timing never lets you coast.