Stem & Branch
Collaborate to reconstruct the complete 60-year zodiac calendar, utilizing the 10 elemental stems and 12 animal branches. Stem & Branch can be played solo, coop, or competitively.
We plan to launch the game in Vietnam this Fall. Follow on Board Game Geek or Rollingwizards.com for more updates.
Number of players: 1 - 4
Game duration: 36 mn
Complexity: 2 / 5
Play Stem & Branch and 1184 other games online.
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With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Play Stem & Branch and 1184 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
On Your Turn: 2 Mandatory Actions (Draw or Summon)
1) Draw:
Draw 1 card from the eight face-up cards (replacing cards immediately) or from the top of the deck. (Discard down to 7 cards at the end of your turn.)
2) Summon:
- The cost to summon animals is equal to the card rank, reduced by each adjacent Shared Element and the difference in rank when Ascending the same animal.
- The cost is paid by discarding cards or tokens matching the Element OR Animal icon of the card played.
- When placing cards, you must place them into an empty space or on top of a lower-rank version of the same animal.
- After summoning the animal, gain the matching Animal Token (take from another player if needed).
Element Tokens:
You acquire Element Tokens by playing Animals on top of lower-rank matching Animals (Ascending) OR by covering an existing token on the game board space. If an Element Token is not available, take one from another player.
Scoring Years (Points) ~ Two ways to score during the game:
- When gaining an Animal Token, you gain 1 year per Animal Token you control.
- When Ascending an animal you already control, you gain 1 year per Element Token you control.
End of Game ~ Most Years Wins
When the deck is empty or a player reaches 60 years, it triggers the last round. Each remaining Element Token you control counts as 1 year, and each card in your hand matching an Animal Token you control counts as 1 year.
Ties are broken by the player controlling the current years animal, which for 2025 is the Snake.
Co-op and Solo:
Goal is the fully Ascend all animals to rank 5 before the cards run out.
- You only score at the end of the game for each animal that has reached rank 5, scoring 1 year for each card of that animal on the board.
- You may now move an animal 1 space when playing a new animal in order to optimize the adjacent element discount
- When a rank 5 animal is played, the matching Animal Token is placed onto the card to show it has been completed. That animal may no longer be moved and becomes a barrier.
- BONUS: When successfully Ascending all 12 animals to rank 5, you also count all remaining face up cards and cards remaining in the deck.
Score Rankings: 1-11: Beginner, 12-20: Apprentice, 21-28: Average, 29-37: Good, 38-45: Strong, 46-54: Expert, 55-59: Master!