Aquarena Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Predator Cards
  • Fly Tokens
  • Pond Tiles
• Setup
• How to Play
  • A. Planning
  • B. Resolution
  • C. Scoring
• End of the Round
• End of the Game
• Predator Card Effects

Components

• 1 Score track
• 60 Predator cards (10 x 6 colors)
• 6 Frog meeples
• 1 Heron standee
• 7 Pond tiles
• 21 Fly tokens
• 4 Round tokens
• 6 Value 20 tokens

Predator Cards

All players start the game with 10 Predator cards of their chosen color. Each card shows a different predator. These cards contain the following information:

• Prey families: Most of the predators can also fall prey to other predators. The three families of prey are fish, amphibians and insects (each shown by its own icon).
• Resolution order: The cards are numbered 1 to 10 and are resolved in ascending order.
• Eating habits: Indicates which family the predator's prey belongs to, as well as the amount they can eat. Some predators also have a special ability.

Example: The salamander is an amphibian. It's resolved in 8th position. If it wasn't eaten by a predator, the salamander eats 1 insect anywhere on the board.

Fly Tokens

Flies are considered prey for predators that eat insects.

Pond Tiles

The side that shows mostly water is called a Water tile. The other side is called a Plant tile.

• Water tile: Players must place their Predator cards on the edge of these tiles. There's no limit to the number of Predator cards that can be on a Water tile. The maximum amount of Fly tokens a Water tile can contain is depicted before the fly symbol.
• Plant tile: Players are not allowed to place Fly tokens or Predator cards on these tiles.

Setup

Construct the board by first placing the score track in the middle of the table. Next, take X Water tiles (X = number of players + 1) and randomly attach them to the score track. Finally, fill the empty spaces using the remaining Plant tiles. Place the depicted amount of Fly tokens on each Water tile.

Take the 10 Predator cards of your chosen color and shuffle them into a personal, face-down draw pile. Draw the top 3 cards from your pile. This is your starting hand.

Place your Frog meeple on the 0 space of the score track.

Stack the 4 Round tokens next to the board.

Determine a starting player and give them the Heron token.

How to Play

A game takes place over 4 rounds, each of which consists of 3 successive phases: Planning, Resolution, and Scoring.

A. Planning

Beginning with the starting player and then in clockwise order, players take turns as follows:

• Choose 1 card from your hand and place it on the edge of a Water tile of your choice.
• Then, choose 1 other card from your hand and discard it face down.
• Finally, draw 2 new cards and add them to your hand.

Continue taking turns like this until each player has played 4 cards: the first 2 cards are placed face up and the next 2 cards are placed face down.

There's no limit to the number of Predator cards that can be on a Water tile.

B. Resolution

The starting player chooses a Water tile and reveals the face-down Predator cards that were placed on it.

Resolve all cards on the tile in numerical order, from 1 to 10. If several players placed identical predators, resolve them in clockwise order, starting with the player who chose the tile.

The following rules apply:

• If possible, a predator will eat until it has reached its full capacity, even prey of its own color.
• A predator will only eat prey that's on its own tile.

Once your Predator card has been resolved, place it in front of you, along with the prey it ate.

When all Predator cards on the tile have been resolved, the next player in clockwise order chooses another Water tile to resolve.

Continue like this until all Water tiles have been resolved, then proceed to end-of-round scoring.

C. Scoring

Move your Frog meeple a number of spaces up the score track depending on how many flies and opposing prey you caught:

• 1 space per Fly token
• 1 space per opposing Insect card
• 2 spaces per opposing Amphibian card
• 3 spaces per opposing Fish card

You don't score any points for prey of your own color.

If your Frog meeple reaches 20 points, take a value 20 token.

End of the Round

Discard 1 Round token. If this is the 4th token, the game ends immediately. If not, proceed with the next round as follows:

• Place the Fly tokens that were caught next to the board.
• If all flies have been taken from a Water tile, refill that tile to its maximum amount of Fly tokens.
• Return the opposing Predator cards you ate to their respective owners.
• Shuffle your 10 cards into a new, face-down draw pile and draw 3 cards.
• The player with the Heron token passes it to the player on their left, who will be the next starting player.

End of the Game

The game ends after the fourth round.

The player with the most victory points is the winner. If there's a tie, these players share the victory.

Predator Card Effects

1. Fish Hook: Catches 1 fish. If several fish hooks are on the same tile, they tangle up and don't catch anything. In that case, those players immediately take back their Fish Hook cards.
2. Heron: Eats up to 2 amphibians. If several herons are on the same tile, they fly away and don't eat anything. In that case, those players immediately take back their Heron cards.
3. Pike: Eats 1 amphibian. If there are no amphibians, the pike eats up to 2 insects.
4. Frog: Eats 1 insect.
5. Toad: Eats up to 2 insects.
6. Dragonfly: Eats 1 insect, even if it's an opposing dragonfly. If possible, after it eats, the dragonfly must move 1 Fly token on its tile to another Water tile (already resolved or not).
7. Newt: Eats 1 insect. A newt cannot be eaten by a heron.
8. Salamander: Eats 1 insect. The insect it eats (fly or dragonfly) can come from another Water tile (already resolved or not).
9. Carp: Eats up to 3 insects.
10. Spider web: Catches 1 insect.