Pick a Pen Gardens Game

Choose Your Color, Grow Your Garden

There's a quiet satisfaction in watching a blank grid slowly bloom into something beautiful — and in Pick a Pen Gardens, every round brings that moment closer. The catch? You're not the only one eyeing those pencils. With one grab, you lock in your color and your count, leaving everyone else to make do with what's left. Simple on the surface, surprisingly tense in practice.

About the Game

From Amigo Games, Pick a Pen Gardens is a roll-and-color game where players compete to cultivate the most impressive garden on their personal scoring sheet. Each round, a set of custom pencil-shaped dice is rolled, and players take turns claiming one — the color they pick determines where they can draw, and the number showing tells them how many spaces to fill in. Plant matching flowers and trees to score, and decide whether to focus on perfecting a single-color garden or chase the bonus points that come from incorporating all five hues. Every decision is fast, every round matters, and the pencil you leave behind might be exactly what your opponent needed.

The genius of the design is in its accessibility. There are no complicated rules to navigate, no lengthy setup, and no experience required — just pencils, dice, and the satisfying scratch of filling in one more row of blossoms.

Who It's For

Pick a Pen Gardens is a light game that plays two to five people, recommended for ages eight and up, with rounds typically wrapping up in around thirty minutes. It's a strong pick for family game night, a relaxed game between friends, or as a gentle introduction to strategy games for younger players. The simultaneous decisions keep everyone engaged even when it's not your turn to grab a pencil.

What's in the Box

The standout component here is the pencil-shaped dice themselves — a clever tactile touch that reinforces the theme and makes the drafting mechanic feel immediately intuitive. Each player works on their own scoring sheet, so there's no shared board to crowd around, keeping the experience personal and easy to manage even at a full table of five. The artwork carries a cheerful, garden-fresh aesthetic that makes the whole thing feel welcoming from the moment you open the box.