Four Gardens Components Overview and Impressions

I’m on the fence when it comes to games with gimmicks built into them. What is a gimmick in the board game space? It’s something that perhaps you haven’t seen before, that does something “cool”, and maybe is used as a means to sell a game, rather than the game mechanics themselves. Four Gardens from Arcane Wonders has a massive gimmick, both in how it is used in gameplay and how big it is on the table. But how well is it built, and how well does it work? Let’s take a look.

In Four Gardens, players are working to finish cards in front of them using resources from a tall pagoda in the middle of the table that spins. Each side of the pagoda has resources printed on them, and depending on how you use the cards included in the game, you will gather resources from the bottom to the top (to a maximum of 4 in your storage) or from top to bottom.

And this is the gimmick. Players will sit on various sides of this pagoda and whatever is facing them is what the will draw as resources. They can spin various parts of the pagoda to manipulate what they might get, and change what other players will see in front of them.

My big worry when getting this unboxed was that I’d have to deconstruct this pagoda tower (4 pieces) and flatten it to get it all stored. I was happy to see that the insert and box size were created to store this thing almost fully assembled (you’ll need to stack them before you start). This is a HUGE plus. So many games come with cool 3D elements like Wild Serengeti or Everdell, but putting together the Life Rock and the Evertree might be the worst aspect of setting up those games. For Four Gardens, Arcane Wonders could not have made it easier.

And the pagoda is surprisingly sturdy for being made mostly of cardboard and a bit of plastic. Turning the various pieces was easy, and everything seemed to work really well.

The game also includes a number of cards and a few cardboard bits. These are all of general board game quality – I have no issues with these items.

The other great addition to this game was the use of wooden resources. Throughout the game, players will be collecting stone, grass and more, and these are all represented by little coloured wooden resources. They are pretty minimal by all standards, but the design team could have easily chosen to use cardboard chits instead of wooden pieces. I’m glad to see wooden pieces used here!

Overall, the quality of Four Gardens is very good. The implementation of the pagoda seems really thought out, and I’m glad to see it all fits nicely back into the box between plays!