Pomworth Crates

Ever played a card game where the cards change while you're thinking?

Pomworth Crates is a fishing-style card game set in a little plasticine orchard. You and a computer grower take turns playing fruit crates numbered 1 to 10 onto a shared table. Play a 7, and you can scoop up a 7 lying there. No 7? Then gather crates that add up to it, like a 3 and a 4. Nothing fits? Your crate stays on the table, and that's where things get interesting.

So what's the catch?
The fruit keeps ripening. Every crate left out on the table ripens by one at the end of each round, up to +2. That 5 you were saving becomes a 6, then a 7. The sum you planned last turn may simply not exist anymore. And anything that ripens past 10 drops off the branch for good, so nobody gets it.

How do you score?
You earn a point for every crate in your basket. Clear the whole table in one go and you get a Bare Branch, worth three more. Gather a fully ripe crate and it adds one extra. When the deck runs out, whoever gathered last takes whatever is still lying around, and the baskets are tallied.

Who are you playing against?
Twelve growers spread across three orchards, and each one plays differently. The Sprouts at Blossom Row play loose. Growers grab whatever they can reach. Keepers watch the table and try not to leave you an easy sweep. Further up the hill, the season is later: some crates start the match already half-ripe. Win a match to open the next grower, and win by a wider margin to earn up to three stars.

Is there something for every day?
Yes. The Daily deal gives everyone the same shuffle each morning against the Morning Picker, and your days in a row are counted on the packhouse screen.

What do the stars get you?
Crate labels. There are eight of them, from Twine Stripe to Golden Pom, and each one changes the back of every crate on the table.

Want it calmer or quieter?
Settings let you switch Sound, Haptics and Reduce motion on or off at any time, even in the middle of a match from the pause panel. The first table walks you through the rules by pointing at a crate you can actually play.

Fancy a round in a lift, a tunnel, or a field with one bar of signal? It doesn't matter: Pomworth Crates never asks for the internet, and your stars stay in the app on your phone.