An Otter Won
An Otter Won Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
18 Otter/Scoring Cards
Each card shows an otter, a shape, a value, an arrow (up or down), a scoring condition, and points.
Setup
Shuffle all 18 cards together to form a deck. Then remove one card from the game without looking at it.
Deal each player a face-down hand of 3 cards.
Place the top card of the deck face up between the players to start the River.
The youngest player is the first round's leader.
Gameplay
Players play 4 rounds followed by a Last Swim. Each round uses 3 cards: one Neutral Card from the deck and one card from each player.
Playing Cards
The leader flips the top card of the deck face up. This is the Neutral Card this round.
One at a time, starting with the leader, each player chooses a card from their hand and plays it face up in front of them.
Comparing Cards
Compare the arrows on the 3 cards in the round. If there are 2 or more Up arrows, the player who played the higher-valued card from their hand wins the round. If there are 2 or more Down arrows, the player who played the lower card wins the round.
Note: When determining the winner of the round, only compare the values of the players' cards. Use the Neutral Card's arrow but not its value.
Assigning Cards
The winner of the round takes the 3 cards in play and chooses one to place in the River, one to place in their Den, and one to place in their opponent's Den.
If there are cards left in the deck, each player draws a card and they play another round.
This round's winner is the next round's leader.
Last Swim
After 4 rounds, the deck will be empty and each player will have 2 cards in their hand.
Each player will place one of their cards face down in their Den, and their other card face down in the River. Reveal all 4 cards at once.
Winning the Game
Each player scores the cards in their Den one at a time by comparing the card's scoring condition against the attributes of the cards in the River.
Each player adds up their card scores to get their final score. The player with the highest score wins!
Note: During scoring, ignore the scoring conditions of cards in the River, and ignore the attributes of cards in the Dens.
"Each" Scoring Conditions score the points shown for each card in the River that matches the attribute shown (otter, shape, or value).
"Most" Scoring Conditions are worth different point values depending on whether that otter, shape, or value is the most common in the River. If it is the most common, or tied for most common, the player earns the higher point total listed; if not, the lower.
Each player only scores from the cards in their own Den.