In Keyflower, each player starts with a home tile and just a bunch of workers. With workers of the same color he can bid on tiles to expand his village and obtain special skills, resources and additional workers.

The players can use not only their own tiles, but also those from the village of fellow players, or the new tiles that are auctioned. In the first three rounds of the game, Spring, Summer, and Fall, more workers arrive with the Keyflower and her sister ships, some of whom have skills to work with the Key resources.

In the last round, winter, the players choose their village tiles for the auction. Each gives a number of points for a combination of raw materials, skills and workers. The player with the village that has the best combinations and workers gets the most points and wins the game.