← all games

Photosynthesis

#218603BGG ↗

2017 · 2-4 players · 60min · weight 2.27 · 25,879 ratings

v2 ✓v3 —fit 0.528

BGG raw

ID
218603
Name
Photosynthesis
Year
2017
Rank
337
Min players
2
Max players
4
Playing time
60
Min playtime
30
Max playtime
60
Avg weight
2.2669
Num weights
532
Bayes avg
6.7637
Average
6.92793
Users rated
25879
Num owned
43067
Wanting
487
Wishing
6701
Num comments
3995
Fetched at
Sat Apr 25 2026 16:15:46 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Mechanisms (7)
Action PointsArea Majority / InfluenceBiasEnd Game BonusesHexagon GridIncomeTurn Order: Progressive
Categories (2)
Abstract StrategyEconomic
Description (360 chars)

The sun shines brightly on the canopy of the forest, and the trees use this wonderful energy to grow and develop their beautiful foliage. Sow your crops wisely and the shadows of your growing trees could slow your opponents down, but don't forget that the sun revolves around the forest. Welcome to the world of Photosynthesis, the green strategy board game!

LLM v2 (wide)

Core verb
grow tree, cast shadow
Decision shape
spatial
Reward schedule
delayed
Aesthetics
["Challenge", "Discovery"]
Core loop pitch
Spend light to plant, grow, and chop trees; sun rotates each round, recasting who shades whom.
Translation difficulty
Easy
Difficulty reason
Pure spatial puzzle on a hex board; light/shadow logic is computable and visually appealing on screen.
Direct digital port
—
Port kind
—
Closest loop translation
none yet
Primitive tags
["rotating_light_source", "shadow_blocking_economy", "tree_height_layers", "harvest_for_points", "hex_canopy_competition"]
Confidence
0.7
Extracted at
Mon Apr 27 2026 11:40:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Raw v2 JSON (812 chars)
{
  "game_id": 218603,
  "name": "Photosynthesis",
  "core_verb": "grow tree, cast shadow",
  "decision_shape": "spatial",
  "reward_schedule": "delayed",
  "aesthetics": [
    "Challenge",
    "Discovery"
  ],
  "core_loop_pitch": "Spend light to plant, grow, and chop trees; sun rotates each round, recasting who shades whom.",
  "mobile_translation_difficulty": "Easy",
  "translation_difficulty_reason": "Pure spatial puzzle on a hex board; light/shadow logic is computable and visually appealing on screen.",
  "direct_digital_port": null,
  "direct_digital_port_kind": null,
  "closest_loop_translation": "none yet",
  "primitive_tags": [
    "rotating_light_source",
    "shadow_blocking_economy",
    "tree_height_layers",
    "harvest_for_points",
    "hex_canopy_competition"
  ],
  "confidence": 0.7
}

LLM v3 (deep)

Not yet enriched at v3 (deep pass).