Just Peas

Breakfast Shy postcard game, included in the June 2023 Board Game of the Month Club Postcard package. Very light game rules, a game that could be on the back of a cereal box! Each turn, roll 2 six-sided dice. Place each of these values into a different, unfilled pea (circle). To place a value, it must be exactly 1 higher or lower than each adjacent filled pea. Adjacent means directly left, right, up, or down and does not include diagonals. For the purposes of placing a new value, ignore the values of any smushed peas and any peas in pods that are adjacent to the intended placement. After placing both values, start a new turn. If you cannot or choose not to place a die value, instead smush any pea (including a previously-filled pea) by crossing it out. These will count against your score. Instead of placing the values rolled, you may instead create a pod. Circle any 3 peas (filled, unfilled, or smushed) that are continuously adjacent — in other words, A is adjacent to B, which is adjacent to C. Pods may not overlap. Filled peas within a pod must always have the same value. Any unfilled peas when the pod is created can only be filled by using that value; this is an exception to the normal placement requirements. Each pod’s value is independent of each other pod. Peas in a pod may be smushed as normal. After creating a pod, start a new turn. When all peas on the board have been either smushed or filled, the harvest is complete. Count up the number of smushed peas to determine your score. The lower your score, the better you’ve done. Complete the harvest without smushing any peas to make Peater proud!