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 tiles, connect habitats, trigger pollination chains, welcome hummingbirds and tiny creatures, and grow the most vibrant living garden.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Tile Placement
Place tiles to build a shared or personal spatial arrangement.
Chaining
Link actions or effects so one result enables the next part of a sequence.
Pattern Building
Place elements to create arrangements that satisfy scoring or action patterns.
Connections
Create meaningful links between locations, pieces, or concepts.
Read the full game description
Under the Leaves is a compact tile-laying game about building an interconnected garden rather than a collection of isolated patches. Each turn begins by adding one square garden tile to the shared landscape. The colors and connections created by that placement can then attract creatures in a deliberate sequence: bees pollinate matching regions, hummingbirds extend the effect, and the less visible inhabitants of fungi, puddles, and foliage emerge when their own conditions are satisfied. Because arrivals can open space or complete new patterns, one tile may trigger a satisfying chain of discoveries. Players compete for the creature tiles created by the garden, so a placement that improves the ecosystem can also expose exactly the reward an opponent needs. The rules remain approachable for families, but the interaction between spatial planning, timing, and creature requirements gives each small decision consequences beyond the tile just placed.
