How to play: The Snarky Leaf app
Everything you need to know about the app, in one place. This page changes each season, so check back when the seasons turn.
The basics
Leaf is your plant. He's snarky, he has moods, and he wants looking after. Water him, give him some sun and a little love, and he'll (mostly) be nice to you.
The Map is where you find flowers. Buds pop up around you in the real world. Walk to one, tap it, and stop the water in the green to open it. Good timing (a Great, or a Perfect) earns you more coins and XP.
Every flower you pick goes in your Book. Each flower comes in different colours, and collecting them all is the fun part.
Cans, coins, spares and XP
- Cans are for picking. Each try at a bud uses a can. They refill on their own over time, when you walk, and when it rains where you are. Friends' gifts and levelling up give you more.
- Coins are for the shop. Every pick, order and level gives you some.
- Spares are the extra flowers you pick. Use them to fill bug orders, help your greenhouse, trade with friends, sell them, or compost them.
- XP comes from almost everything you do. It raises your level and moves you along the season's rewards.
Stars
Every flower has one to three stars of its own, and which you get is pure luck. Three stars is rare. Your timing doesn't change the stars; it changes the coins and XP you get for the pick. Your Book keeps your best quality of every colour, and where and when you found it.
Orders
Bugs on the map ask for flowers. Fill an order with your spares to earn coins and XP. New orders come every day. If one is too hard, you can swap it for a few spares.
Compost and bud rushes
Tap your spares in the Book to sell some for coins, or compost them. Compost makes a bag, and a bag starts a bud rush on the map: for a while, buds pop up much faster.
Greenhouses
Everyone joins one of three greenhouses. Each house grows three colours, and each house has a goal every day that everyone in it works on together.
- Fern House grows blue, purple and red.
- Moss House grows red, blue and pink.
- Thistle House grows pink, red and purple.
Your house can't grow one colour, but both of the other houses can, so trading with friends in other houses is how you complete your Book. You can move house once a season.
Each day your house has one order, and it runs until midnight. Add spares of the right colours from the Orders card on the map or from your house's page. If your house fills it, everyone who added gets coins and XP. If it doesn't, everyone who added still gets a little XP back for their spares.
The shop
One simple rule: playing unlocks things, and coins style them. New things (hats, mugs, travellers and more) come free, from the start or from the season's rewards. Coins buy the looks: patterns and special versions of things you already have, and pot skins. A look for something you haven't unlocked yet shows when it unlocks. Seasonal looks are only in the shop during their season, and anything you buy is yours for good.
This season: winter
Winter runs from November into March. Your XP unlocks 30 winter rewards along the way, and every one is free. Christmas things come first, so you'll have them before the holidays, and the cozy winter things come after.
Rewards include the Santa hat, the snowflake traveller, a little tree, presents, holly, a stocking, a Santa beard, a holiday bow tie, a toque, hot cocoa, a winter candle, festive pot skins, a snow globe, gold and rainbow bud days, a few free looks for things you've already earned, and coins and cans along the way.
Can't wait? Once a day you can spend coins to skip ahead one step. Your level stays the same.
Joined late? Don't worry. If you're behind, you'll catch up faster.
What's in bloom when
Flowers grow in different places (the park, gardens, town, fields, woods and by the water) and at different times of year. Here's what you can find, and where.
All year: daisy and star (park), pansy (gardens), succulent and orchid (town), clover (fields), primrose (by the water).
Winter, November to March: snowflake bloom, ice wing and ice crystal (woods), frost wing (park), star frost (gardens), snow petal (town), frost cap and frost cross (fields), snow quilt (by the water). Also pinecone in the woods (fall and winter), camellia in town (winter and spring), and poinsettia in town, December only.
Spring: tulip and cherry blossom (park), dogwood (woods), bluet (by the water), plus camellia.
Summer: sunflower (park), lily (gardens), clematis and starflower (woods), lotus and flame lily (by the water), cornflower (fields), poppy (fields, late spring and summer) and tiger lily (fields, midsummer).
Fall: dahlia (park), mum (town), aster (fields), wind lily (gardens), plus hydrangea (gardens) and thistle (fields) from summer into fall, and pinecone.
After dark: keep an eye out for night flowers once the sun goes down.
Friends
Add friends to send gifts, trade flowers, visit each other's rooms and play games together. If a trade isn't for you, you can say no with a quick friendly line. Your friends' travellers come to visit, and their bugs will happily eat one of your spares.
Daily games
Every day there's a new Daily Wilt (save Leaf before he goes bald) and a Daily Riddle. You can also play Pruning on your own, or Four Leaf and Fence Posts with friends.
FAQ
Why is something in Dress up locked? It's a winter reward you haven't reached yet. The snowflake shows how much XP is left. Once it's yours, its looks open up in the shop. You can also skip ahead one step a day with coins.
Why can't I find a colour? Your house might not grow it. The Book tells you which friends have it, so you can ask them for a trade.
I ran out of cans. They come back on their own, and faster if you go for a walk.
What happens to my stuff at the end of winter? Everything you earned or bought stays yours. The rewards path starts fresh each season.
Questions or ideas? Message me any time. Leaf will pretend not to care.