Photosynthesis, from Blue Orange Games, is a beautiful and elegant game about using the sun’s power to grow majestic trees. In the expansion, Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight, players will not only be using the rays from the sun, but they’ll also harness the light from the moon to activate powers of their forest animals.

Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight is actually 3 expansions in one; Forest Animals, Moonstones, and the The Great Elder Tree!

You can play all of them at once or À la carte, it’s up to you.

If you’re not familiar with Photosynthesis you can see my review over on EverythingBoardGames.com, then head on back here.

If you’re already familiar with the game, then keep reading!

 

How to Play Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight

Set up:

After setting up the base game, players place the Moon token and Moon Phase token on their respective starting places.

Players then shuffle the Animal boards — dealing two to each player, who then pick one for the game and return the rest to the box. Players also receive a Lunar Point marker (placing it on the number 2 of the Lunar track), the matching Animal token, and any other tokens associated with the animal they chose.

Animal tokens are placed on the board starting with the player to the right of the first player.

If playing with the Great Elder Tree, the last player in turn order places it on any empty space on the board.

If playing with the Moonstones expansion, players also add the Moonstone markers to the board.

That’s it for set up. Players are now ready to begin.

Playing:

During play, the Moon token and Moon Phase token move at the same time the Sun token/board does. Both moon tokens will move 5 spaces counter clockwise. When the moon and sun cross each other, the moon tokens are flipped over to their opposite side (either the full moon or half moon).

During each Photosynthesis Phase, you will collect Lunar points as well as Sun points.

Each Animal on a space in the path of the moonlight will receive: 1 lunar point if it’s a half moon and 2 points if it’s a full moon. Players can also receive lunar points if they’re adjacent to a Moonstone in the path of the moonlight.

One thing to note during this phase of the game: If playing with the Great Elder Tree, it will block all the sunlight and moonlight in its path.

During the Life Cycle Phase, players can activate their animals moving them and using their powers. Animals can move 1 space in any direction but cannot move onto a space with another animal, Moonstone or The Great Elder Tree. To use an animals powers, the player must pay the required lunar points then follow the instructions in the rulebook.

Some examples of animal powers include planting seeds, eating seeds, collecting a Large Tree for scoring, and converting lunar points into light points. There are 8 animals in total, which offers a lot of variety.

The game follows these steps, along with those in the base game, until the end of the 3rd sun rotation. Points are scored as usual, except that players earn an additional point for every unused lunar point. The player with the turtle can also earn some extra points with its tokens.

The player with the most points wins.

What we like about Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight

If you watched my previous review of Photosynthesis you know I love this game. It’s a very beautiful, simple, and elegant game that offers unique game play and solid strategy.

The Theme

I can’t remember if I said this during my initial review of Photosynthesis, but I love this theme. It’s fresh and very appealing to new-to-the-hobby players.

For me, I am always on the lookout for something that isn’t fantasy, zombie, pirate, or space themed for my wife. And, she was immediately drawn to it.

Under the Moonlight adds a magical whimsey with amazing animals, mysterious Moonstones, and the Great Elder Tree to this amazing nature setting.

The Mechanics

Gaining and spending sun points in the base game was such a cool new experience for me. I had never played a game quite like it before. The way the sun circles the board making players vie for the best position to capture its rays is so cool and so challenging.

Under the Moonlight fits in so well. Having the moon token go the opposite way of the sun forces players to try to capture both light sources — it’s amazing. Spending these points to activate your animals while trying to grow your tress is a fun balance.

The Artwork

All you need to do is look at the images to know the artwork in the base game and expansion is amazing. What is really amazing to me is that the artist for Under the Moonlight is not the original artist for Photosynthesis. Simon Douchy had the honor of following up on Sabrina Miramon’s incredible work from the base game. The new artwork blends so well with the original that you would be hard pressed to notice a difference.

The Quality

Blue Orange Games always does such a great job with their game production and Under the Moonlight is no exception. I probably sound like a broken record, but I really admire that from game publishers.

As I mentioned above, the artwork blends in seamlessly with the original and so do all the components. When everything is on the table, it all looks like it was meant to be there from the beginning. And man does it look good!

 

 

How does Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

I love the Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight expansion and see adding it to most my plays of Photosynthesis. I say “most” only because my wife likes to keep games simple and this expansion definitely adds more things to think about.

For me, the Animal mode is a must. It adds such a fun twist on the game with variable player powers. The Moonstone mode is also good but not necessarily needed. They do help with collecting lunar points since animal movement is limited, but they also take up valuable tree growing space.

Finally the Great Elder Tree mode is the one I would play the least. It adds one more thing to block out the much needed sunlight. However if you’re looking for an extra challenge, this will provide it.

All-in-all Blue Orange Games did a great job improving the game play of an already solid game.

 

About the Author

Dane is an Advertising and Layout Manager for a national magazine by day and a husband, father of four, and board gamer by night (and mornings). He has a passion for board games and believes board games help bring families closer together while providing kids a unique way to learn many diverse skills. And he thinks they are downright fun!!!

We’d like to thank Blue Orange Games for a review copy of Photosynthesis: Under the Moonlight.