Seikatsu

Place flower-and-bird tiles in a shared garden, scoring birds now and flower rows from your own seat at the end.

Designers: Matt Loomis, Isaac Shalev
Published by: IDW Games
Editions by: HUCH!, Summon Games, Funiverse, Kind Fortress

Seikatsu is a quiet garden puzzle. You take turns placing tiles into a shared garden, and each tile shows a coloured flower and a coloured bird. Birds score the moment you place them, counted in groups, but flowers only score at the very end, and only for rows that you can see as lines from where you are sitting. That means everyone is looking at the same garden from a different side and counting a different score. A 2017 abstract tile-laying game with a hand of tiles to manage, it is calm, pretty and over in about half an hour. There is a pet-themed variant too, with the same rules.

Flowers score by the view from your seatBirds score as you place themSolo mode included

Who it's for

You want a calm, pretty, short tile-laying puzzle with a clever perspective twist.

Not for you if…

You want direct conflict or lots of strategy depth. It is gentle and spatial.

Vibe's take

Serene and sneaky. You build a pretty garden together, but your sightlines are different from everyone else's, so you are quietly angling the board to favour yourself.