Can You Make Palm Trees With Your Hands?

How many cards can you balance in one hand? Be careful, because each card has specific requirements you have to follow!

Palm Trees is a dexterity-based party game from WizKids, all about adding cards to your hand in creative ways without dropping them.

Gameplay

Each player chooses whether their palm tree will be in their left or right hand. You place the elbow of that arm on the table and you may not lift your elbow off the table during the game. Palm Trees comes with trunk-patterned sleeves you can put on, as well. They do not affect the gameplay but they do add to the theme.

There are two decks of double-sided cards: fronds and coconuts. You remove a certain number of cards based on player count then shuffle the two decks separately before placing the fronds deck on top of the coconuts deck. Two cards are then drawn and placed beside the draw deck.

The start player chooses either one of the two cards beside the draw deck or the card on top of the deck and gives it to another player. You may not give a card to a player who has two more cards than any other player in the game. If you selected one of the two cards beside the draw deck, a new card will be drawn to replace it.

When given a card, you must attempt to add it to your palm tree hand, following the rules dictated on the card. For example, some cards must be held by certain fingers or along certain corners, must touch a certain number of cards, or cannot touch any cards. Once you have added a card to your tree, you may only move or adjust it with the use of the hand holding it.

After you have added a card to your palm tree, it is your turn to choose a card and give it to another player. The game ends once all cards have been added to players’ trees, or once a player drops a card from their hand. If you drop a card, you score zero points; otherwise you count up the points written on each card in your palm tree for your score. The player with the most points wins.

Review

Palm Trees is a fun dexterity game that’s silly, funny, and just makes for a really good time. Trying to balance all the cards is challenging and it almost feels like a game of Twister (without the awkward body poses) — you need to keep everything going just a bit longer than someone else. It’s a very light game that plays fast and that works really well with the mechanics.

There’s a certain take-that element to the game as well, as you force more difficult cards onto other players, taking into account what cards they’re already currently holding and which is likely to be the most difficult for them to add to their tree. Part of the fun is watching other players struggle with the cards handed to them.

The components are high quality and while the sleeves aren’t strictly necessary, they add a fun element to the game. Unfortunately, any players with hand disabilities are automatically not going to find this game accessible. There is a team mode, but it lacks a lot of what makes the game enjoyable.

Games are quite fast, and someone’s likely to drop a card before you make it through the whole deck. There is a variant that we enjoyed that continues the game for several rounds until someone reaches a target score. But it’s also fun to just play several games back to back, and Palm Trees makes for a great, light treat during game night.

Pros: Silly good fun, quality components

Cons: Not accessible for players with hand disabilities

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.