The Game of Planting (1865)

This early American card game is a festival of puns for gardeners. It consists of an 8-page rule booklet and 72 small (3.25" x 1") yellow cards, each of which has a number, a phrase "Plant ....." and the question: "What will come up?"

The rules say it is best played by "a large and mixed company", with one person chosen as Keeper of the Pool, or more precisely holder of the answer book. The cards are distributed equally among the players along with an equal number of tokens. Players take turns asking the player to their left the question on one of their cards, the answer to which is always some kind of plant or flower. The Keeper of the Pool judges the answer against the book and if the answer is wrong, the responder pays the asker one of his tokens.

Some examples from the book:
Plant a shepherd. What will come up? Phlox.
Plant a river. What will come up? A Currant.
Plant a man who won't pay his debts. What will come up? Willow.

There is one exceptional rule. "7. By vote of a majority of the players, rewards shall be paid from the pool for unusual brilliancy, and fines imposed for ludicrously erroneous answers. For example, when this game was first played, a young lady drawled out, in answer to the question 'Plant a menagerie. What will come up?' the single word 'Grapes'. Upon being made to realize that she intended to suggest the idea of 'Gray apes', the Keeper of the Pool voluntarily paid to her the sum of ten counters." Yes, that entire passage is in the rule booklet.

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