Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Easier to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
More strategic control
How it plays
How does it play?
Place garden dominoes, form same-terrain nooks, claim patios, absorb rival territory, and deploy every gazebo first.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Area Majority
Compete to have the strongest presence in areas that award control or points.
Enclosure
Surround spaces or pieces to claim territory, capture, or score.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Race
Compete to reach a destination, threshold, or objective before opponents.
Square Grid
Use an orthogonal grid where position and adjacent spaces shape movement or placement.
Read the full game description
Gazebo is Reiner Knizia’s tactical territory game Qin rebuilt as a portable garden contest. On a turn, a player places a domino onto the shared cloth map and replenishes from either the public mixed-terrain supply or a private reserve of single-terrain pieces. Connecting matching flower, foliage, or water spaces creates a nook and lets the player deploy a gazebo. Larger nooks become protected strongholds, while clever connections can absorb a smaller rival nook and return its gazebo to its owner. Patios add another layer of majority competition, and special map spaces alter tempo or access to tiles. The first player to place every gazebo wins immediately, so each turn is both construction and a race. Simple placement rules make the game quick to teach, but public information, tile economy, contested patios, and the threat of absorption create an unusually sharp abstract fight.
