There used to be friendly competition among co-workers at the Apple Factory during Bonus Week, as workers made a special effort to Pick & Pack those crates with quality apples.
But this year the mechanical arm has broken down...
Now it takes two people to get it to work. One set of controls operates left and right, the other set operates up and down. Now you are competing directly with your partner to get the most apples. Can you grab the premium apples while leaving your partner with wholesale fodder? Can you exploit a rush order, or throw a wrench in the works? Quality control and order mix-ups also add to the fun.
In the end, the player with the most apples in their crates wins.
Pick & Pack is a 2-player Strategy game that is easy to learn and typically plays in 15-20 minutes.
36 tiles depicting trays of apples are set up at random on the 6x6 central grid of the board, at the beginning of the game. Each tray contains from 1 to 6 apples. A pawn is placed on the (only) tile with 6 apples. Additionally, the two players each have 12 'action' tiles that they place on rows around the four sides of the grid. Each player has two of each of the following action tiles:
- Premium - doubles the value of a crate of apples
- Wholesale - halves the value of a crate of apples
- Rush Order - stores up an extra move
- Quality Control - allows the player to steal a tray
- Order Mixup - allows the player to swap trays
- Malfunction - allows the player to flip over an unplayed tile
One player plays 'vertically', the other plays 'horizontally'.
On his turn, a player moves the pawn (representing the "grabber") to any one of the other 5 spaces in its current row, in his 'direction'. If the space contains a tray of apples, the player removes the tray (leaving the pawn in the empty space) and adds it to one of his 4 crates. If the cell is empty, the player must activate one of his two 'action' tiles at either end of that row.
Play continues until one player's 4 crates are all capped off (with the Premium/Wholesale tiles), or until one player is unable to make a valid move. The players evaluate each of their crates, scoring:
- For open crates - 1 point per apple
- For Premium crates - 2 points per apple
- For Wholesale crates - 1 point per 2 apples (rounded down)
The player with the most points is the winner.
Online Play
