Designed by Matt Bahntge, Flutter is a clever abstract strategy game for 2-5 players, tho', with art by Steven Tu, Phase Shift Games have given it an attractive floral thematic overlay.
In Flutter you are collectively building a tableau representing a meadow of wild flowers but tho' the tableau you are creating is shared, this is a highly competitive game.
Players will each turn be taking a tile from a rondel. A sun marker circulates around the rondel. You can take the tile the marker is on for free but you have to pay to take a tile that's further ahead. The currency of the game is flower petals, which come in four colours. When you place a tile onto the meadow tableau you have to line up the petals on its corners or sides with at least one incomplete flower already in the tableau. If the petals match any of those they are paired with, you score all those petals (ie: those on the tile you laid and the tile you matched up with); if the petals don't match, you have instead to pay; deducting them from those you've previously collected. If you can't pay, you can't place the tile.
Tho' you need to collect petals, and your petals for each colour will make a contribution to your end-game score, you also score victory points for completely enclosing another tile. However, when you close off a tile you have to pay the cost in petals equal to the victory point value of that tile, and if you can't pay then the other players all pick up 2 victory points. Ideally you want to close a tile off in such a way that there's a triangle space also inside the closed-off area as that will earn you a water tile that could be worth extra petals or an extra victory point... Players each have token they can place out on a tile in the meadow and that will score you 2 victory points when that tile is closed off. Canny placement then will earn you points even when it's another player who does the closing off.
This all makes for a satisfying game. Casual players will rarely venture beyond the 'free' tile they're entitled to pick up on their turn. For them, Flutter is an entertaining game of pattern recognition and spatial awareness. More seasoned players will always be glancing ahead at the other tiles that they can pay for in petals; once you have sufficient resources of petals of each colour, then it will often be worth spending a petal or two to take a tile further on on the rondel that offers you a more advantageous placement...
You can expect a game of Flutter to take 20-40 minutes, depending on player count. We've especially enjoyed it as a two- or three-player game because at those player counts you can generally plan your selection while other players are taking their turn. With four or five players, there's not just a longer wait before your next turn comes around but it's harder to plan ahead because rather more of the available tiles will have changed before your next turn comes around.