Atoll Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction to Atoll
• Game Components
  • Icon Overview
• Game Objective
• Game Setup
  • 1. Setting up the Animal and Coral card offer
  • 2. Setting up the common supply
  • 3. Setting up the Round Overview board
  • 4. Setting up individual Atolls
  • 5. Determining the Starting Player
• Course of the Game
• Building the Atoll
  • Corals
  • Animals
  • Pollution
  • Placing Corals and Animals on the Atoll
• Action Phase
  • Main Actions
    • 1. Coral Purchase
    • 2. Animal Purchase
    • 3. Feeding
      • Gaining Fish Scales
      • Extinction of an Animal
    • Special Abilities of Animals
      • A. Hunting on another Atoll
      • B. Symbiosis
      • C. Shelter
      • D. Algae
      • E. Passive Increase in Abundance
• Recovery Phase
• Game Evaluation
• Additional Rules
• Advanced Version
  • Events
  • Biodiversity Scoring
• Solo Variant
• Explanation of effects

Introduction to Atoll

Atoll is a competitive game for 1 to 4 players that lets you immerse in the underwater world and introduces you to the basics of how a coral reef ecosystem functions, and to its uniqueness and delicate balance. In the game, you will take on the role of a marine reserve manager, expanding your Atoll, caring for the fish and other creatures that inhabit it, and dealing with challenges such as pollution and food shortages.

Game Components

• 56 Coral cards, including 4 Basic Corals
• 14 Event cards
• 62 Animal cards (16 Small Fish, 10 Medium Fish, 8 Large Fish, 28 Other Animal cards)
• 5 Overview cards
• 1 Round Overview board
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Starting Player token
• 6 Hunt tokens
• 80 Symbiosis tokens (in 10 colours, 2 for each player)
• 57 Abundance tokens
• 40 Plankton tokens
• 50 Coin tokens
• 50 Fish Scale tokens
• 20 Pollution tokens
• 30 Popularity tokens
• 70 Fatigue tokens
• 24 Colony tokens

Icon Overview

Increase in Abundance; Decrease in Abundance; Fatigue; Coins; Maximum Abundance level; Any Animal; Any Fish; Other Animals (Animals that are not fish); Small Fish; Medium Fish; Large Fish; Crustacean; Bivalve; Cephalopod; Reptile; Cnidarian; Starfish; Sea Cucumber; Popularity / Victory Points; Pollution; Symbiosis; Plankton; Algae; Coral and its Colonies; Shelter.

Game Objective

The goal of Atoll is to create the most thriving ecosystem on your coral reef. The simplest way to gain Popularity is by purchasing Corals and Animals. You can gain even more Popularity by increasing the Abundance of individual species or through clever combinations of Corals and marine Animals.

Game Setup

1. Setting up the Animal and Coral card offer

First, randomly draw 6 Animal cards, ensuring that 3 of them are Small Fish, 2 are any Other Animal card and 1 is a Medium Fish card. Shuffle these 6 cards and place them face-up in a row to form the initial Animal offer. Then, take all Large Fish cards, shuffle them, and create the Large Fish offer by placing 2 of them in a separate row below the general Animal offer. Place the remaining Large Fish cards face-down next to the Large Fish offer.

Next, shuffle the remaining Animal cards and place them face-down next to the initial Animal offer.

Take the 4 Basic Coral cards (without the red frame on the back) out of the Coral cards and set them aside for now. Shuffle the remaining Coral cards and reveal 6 random cards from the top to form the initial Coral offer. Place the remaining Coral cards face-down next to the offer. Leave space next to the Coral and Animal offer for discard piles.

2. Setting up the common supply

Take the Pollution, Coin, Fatigue, Popularity, Fish Scale, Colony, Hunt and Plankton tokens from the box, along with the Abundance and Symbiosis tokens, and create a common supply.

3. Setting up the Round Overview board

Place the Round Overview board next to the game area and place the corresponding amount of resources from the common supply into the columns marked "BONUS". Prepare resources in as many Bonus rows as there are players. The exception is a 4-player game, where resources are prepared in only three rows (the last player will not receive a bonus). Place a Fish Scale token on the "Round 1" space to count the rounds.

4. Setting up individual Atolls

Each player's Atoll consists of the cards and tokens in their play area that they have acquired during the game. All cards and the number of tokens on all Atolls are public and must not be hidden from other players.

Each player places their Basic Coral (distinguished by a different back) in their play area and places one Pollution token on it. Return the remaining Basic Coral cards to the box. Each player takes 1 Overview card. The remaining Overview card is placed in the middle of table for the Recovery Phase.

Each player receives 5 Coin tokens, 3 Plankton tokens, 1 Hunt token and 1 Fish Scale token from the common supply.

5. Determining the Starting Player

The player who most recently saw a live fish receives the Starting Player token and will begin the first round with their first action.

Course of the Game

The game is played over 4 rounds. Each round consists of an Action phase and a Recovery phase, except for the 4th round, which ends after the Action phase and is followed by the Game Evaluation instead of the Recovery phase.

ACTION PHASE – During the Action phase, players build their Atolls by taking turns, purchasing Corals and Animals, increasing the Abundance of Animals, and executing other actions.

RECOVERY PHASE – During the Recovery phase, players gain resources, decide whether to allow Tourists to visit their Atoll or let Scientists conduct research there, remove Fatigue tokens, and replenish the Coral and Animal card offers.

GAME EVALUATION – After the Action phase of the fourth round, the game moves on to the Game Evaluation, where players tally their points and the best reserve manager is declared.

Building the Atoll

Corals

An Atoll consists of individual Coral cards, which have Coral Colony icons along the sides. Colonies are used to place Animals on the Atoll during the Animal Purchase action – each Animal must be adjacent to at least as many Coral Colonies as indicated on its card. The total number of Coral Colonies is also important for receiving Plankton in the Recovery phase.

Each Coral has a special ability. These can be categorised into four types:

1. Immediate effect – It is marked by the word "Immediate effect" and evaluated only once, right after the Coral is placed on the Atoll. The player decides whether to apply this effect and to what extent.
2. Scoring effect – It is marked by the words "End of Game" and provides the player with an additional scoring condition at the end of the game. This condition is evaluated only if the Coral is free from Pollution at the time of Game Evaluation.
3. Action effect – It is marked by the word "Action"; see Coral actions for more details.
4. Passive effect – This effect is always active unless the Coral has a Pollution token on it.

Coral card parts: 1 Coral Colony icons; 2 Type of ability; 3 Card ability; 4 Purchase cost.

Animals

Animals are the main source of Popularity, which can be further increased by boosting their Abundance (see Feeding action). Each Fish has a size and a category, and each of the Other Animals has only a category.

Animal card parts: 1 Animal name; 2 Category name and number of cards in this category; 3 Icon of size/category; 4 Purchase cost; 5 Required number of Colonies; 6 Special ability; 7 Condition for Increase in Abundance; 8 Low Abundance (points at the end of the game); 9 Medium Abundance (points at the end of the game); 10 Highest Abundance (points at the end of the game).

Pollution

Each player starts the game with one polluted Coral. Pollution is placed on unpolluted Corals during certain actions and during the Recovery phase. A Coral can have a maximum of 1 Pollution token. If a player must place Pollution on their Atoll, they place the token on a Coral of their choice.

Pollution on a Coral has the following effects:

1. The Coral's action cannot be used.
2. The Coral's passive abilities are inactive.
3. At the end of the game, no points are awarded for Corals marked by END OF GAME.
4. During the Game Evaluation, 1 Victory Point is deducted for each Pollution token.

Pollution can be removed through certain Corals with immediate effects, certain Animals, and the Water Purification Support action. If a player has no available Coral to place a Pollution on, they cannot take any action, receive income, or make any decision that would cause Pollution.

Placing Corals and Animals on the Atoll

Animal cards are always placed adjacent to Coral cards so that they are diagonally touching corners with other Animals. This creates a pattern resembling a chessboard, where Coral cards and Animal cards alternate. The conditions for purchasing and placing Animals on the Atoll are described below in the Animal Purchase action section. Coral cards are placed diagonally on the Atoll so that each Coral is touching corners with at least one other Coral. Coral cards are always placed with the text facing the player, they cannot be rotated. The Atoll has no spatial limits in any direction.

Action Phase

During the Action phase, players take turns in clockwise order. On their turn, a player executes exactly one action. If a player does not want to or cannot execute an action on their turn, they declare a "pass" for that round and cannot execute any more actions for the rest of the Action phase. Once a player has passed, they take the best available bonus resources for the corresponding round from the Round Overview board.

Example: Charles passes as the second player in the first round, so he receives 1 Fish Scale token and 1 Coin token. There are only 2 players, so after Charles passes, the game moves on to the Recovery phase.

There are two types of actions:

1. Main actions – These actions can be executed multiple times per round.
2. Support actions – Each of these actions can be executed only once per round.

Main Actions

1. Coral Purchase

A player may buy 1 Coral card on their turn. The cost of a Coral card is always 2 Coin tokens, which the player pays to the common supply. After paying, the player selects 1 Coral card from the Coral cards offer and places it on their Atoll. Once a Coral card is placed, it can no longer be moved.

Finally, they replenish the Coral card offer by first shifting the existing cards away from the deck and then placing a new Coral card from the deck in the first position.

2. Animal Purchase

A player may buy 1 Animal card on their turn. They must pay the cost shown on the Animal card and have a sufficient number of available Coral Colonies on their Atoll. The player then places the Animal card so that it is adjacent to the required number of Coral Colonies and places an Abundance token on the card's lowest Abundance level. Once an Animal card is placed, it can no longer be moved. The Animal offer is replenished in the same way as the Coral offer.

Note: Each Animal requires 0 to 4 Colonies. An Animal requiring 3 Colonies must be placed between 3 Coral cards that have a Coral Colony icon on the side adjacent to the Animal card.

Example: Each Animal card is adjacent to the required number of Coral Colonies (it can be adjacent to more Colonies than needed, though this might not be the most efficient use of resources). At the same time, there are still 3 Colonies available for other Animals.

3. Feeding

A player may feed 1 Animal on their Atoll that does not have any Fatigue token and whose Abundance is not at the highest level. To feed the Animal, the player must meet its Abundance increase condition specified on the Animal card, indicated by the Increase in Abundance icon. Usually, this involves paying a resource or reducing the Abundance of another Animal on that player's Atoll. More complicated effects are explained on page 11 (see Explanation of effects).

The player then increases the Abundance level of the fed Animal by moving the Abundance token up one level and places a Fatigue token on the Animal. If the Animal is at its highest Abundance level, it cannot be fed until its Abundance is reduced.

Meaning of Fatigue: Fatigue is placed on an Animal after each increase in its Abundance through a Feeding action. This Animal cannot be fed again as long as it has one or more Fatigue tokens on it.

Gaining Fish Scales

Whenever a player increases the Abundance of their Animal to the highest (third) level, they receive a certain number of Fish Scale tokens according to the table below. This bonus can be gained multiple times for the same Animal by reducing and then increasing its Abundance again.

A Fish Scale token can also be used as 1 Coin token or 1 Plankton token. Each unused Fish Scale adds 1 Victory Point during the Game Evaluation.

Type of Animal	Fish Scale Gain
Large Fish	3
Medium Fish	2
Small Fish and Other Animals	1

Example: Charles fed his Slender grouper by reducing the Abundance of his Squarespot anthias. The grouper's Abundance increased to its highest level, and since it is a Medium Fish, Charles received 2 Fish Scales. He placed a Fatigue token on the Slender grouper.

Extinction of an Animal

If the Abundance of an Animal that is already at its lowest level is further reduced (for example, through a Feeding action), the Animal goes extinct. The Animal card is discarded, and the player whose Atoll experienced the extinction gains Plankton tokens equal to the number of Coral Colonies that the Animal occupied. The extinct card is placed in the appropriate discard pile.

In the case of extinction of an Animal that is in Symbiosis, the Symbiosis ends. The player removes the Symbiosis tokens from both animals.

Special Abilities of Animals

A. Hunting on another Atoll

Once per round, a player can initiate a Hunt ability on another player's Atoll during a Feeding action.

Hunting can be executed if the Abundance increase condition on an Animal card involves decreasing the Abundance of another Animal, and the category of the hunted Animal is present on another player's Atoll.

After executing the Hunt ability during the Feeding action, the player increases the Abundance of their Animal, places a Fatigue token on it, and then flips their Hunt token face-down. The Hunt token cannot be used again for the rest of the round and will be flipped face-up during the Recovery phase.

The hunted Animal on the other player's Atoll is not affected by this action.

Example: Charles has a Blue line grouper on his Atoll, but has no way to feed it. He decides to use the Hunt ability and targets a Small Fish on Anne's Atoll. He wouldn't be able to choose a Small Fish with the Shelter ability (see page 8), but fortunately for Charles, Anne's has a Lined seahorse, so Charles can hunt on Anne's Atoll. Charles then flips the Hunt token and cannot use it for the rest of the round. He increases the Abundance of the grouper in the usual way and places a Fatigue token on it, while Anne's Animal is not affected by this action.

B. Symbiosis

Some Animals can form symbiotic pairs – it is sufficient if the information about the Symbiosis ability is present on just one of the cards that make up the symbiotic pair.

Whenever a player adds a second Animal of a symbiotic pair to their Atoll, they place Symbiosis tokens of the same colour on both Animal cards. Whenever the player feeds one Animal from the marked symbiotic pair, they can also increase the Abundance level of the other Animal in the pair for free as part of the same action. The player only pays the feeding cost for the Animal they are actively feeding and places a Fatigue token only on that Animal.

Each Animal can only be part of one Symbiosis.

If the Feeding action of the Animal in the Symbiosis requires reducing the Abundance of an Animal, the Abundance of the other animal in the symbiosis cannot be reduced.

Example: Charles wants to increase the Abundance of the Tiger shark on his Atoll. At the same time, he has a Schultz's pipefish, which is in Symbiosis with the Tiger shark. During this action, he must choose two Animals and reduce their Abundance. However, he cannot choose the pipefish because it is in a symbiotic pair with the shark. As a result, both Animals in Symbiosis will increase in Abundance. He places the Fatigue token only on the shark. Charles could also choose to handle the process differentlly, by increasing the Abundance of the shark through the Schultz's pipefish. In that case he would use the Feeding action for the Schultz's pipefish. It is fed for free, only a Fatigue token is placed on it. As a result, both Animals would increase their Abundance.

Example: Charles has a Magnificent star, a Lyretail anthias, and a Slender grouper on his Atoll. During a Feeding action, he feeds the Slender grouper by lowering the Abundance level of the Lyretail anthias. At this point, he moves the Abundance marker of the anthias down one level and the Abundance marker of the grouper up one level. At the same time, he also increases the Abundance level of the Magnificent star by one level, but only places a Fatigue token on the grouper.

C. Shelter

An Animal with the Shelter ability cannot be targeted by the Hunt ability. Additionally, if the Abundance level of an Animal in Shelter is being reduced during the Feeding action on its Atoll, the player may choose not to reduce it.

D. Algae

The Abundance level of Animal cards marked with the Algae icon can be increased through certain Coral card effects.

E. Passive Increase in Abundance

Some Animals passively increase their Abundance level when certain conditions are met. In such cases, increase the Animal's Abundance as usual, but do not place a Fatigue token on the Animal that gained Abundance through the passive effect.

4. Coral Actions

Coral cards marked with the word "Action" allow the player to execute the effect described on the Coral as an action. After executing the action, the player places a Fatigue token on the Coral. A Fatigue token on a Coral card indicates that the Coral action cannot be executed as long as it has one or more Fatigue tokens. Additionally, Coral actions can only be executed if the Coral card has no Pollution tokens.

Example: Charles decides to use a Coral card with the text "ACTION: Remove 1 Fatigue token from any Animal (not from a Coral)." He removes 1 Fatigue token from his Lyretail anthias, which is at the second Abundance level. For using the Coral action, he places 1 Fatigue token on the corresponding Coral card. This ends his turn, and on his next turn, Charles can increase the anthias's Abundance, which was previously not possible.

5. Coral Colony Growth

The player pays 2 Plankton tokens and places a Colony token on a Coral card. The Colony token must be placed on a side of the card where there is no Coral Colony icon or Colony token.

Support Actions

Each of these actions can only be executed once per round by each player. When using a Support action, the player places a Fatigue token from the common supply on the corresponding Support action space on their Overview card, indicating that this action is exhausted for them for the rest of the round.

1. Water Purification

The player pays 1 Coin token and removes up to 2 Pollution tokens from their Atoll. The token is then placed on the Round Overview board to indicate that in this round's Recovery phase, the player cannot receive the "Tourists" income, only the "Scientists" income.

2. Seaweed Sale

The player can exchange Plankton tokens for Coins at a rate of 4:1 (For every 4 Plankton tokens, they receive 1 Coin token). They can exchange as many resources as they want within a single action.

3. Algal Bloom

The player can gain 2 Plankton tokens by adding 1 Pollution token to their Atoll. They can do this as many times as they want within a single action. The detailed conditions for placing Pollution tokens are described in the Pollution section page 6.

Recovery Phase

The Recovery phase occurs at the end of each of the first three rounds, after all players have passed. Follow these steps:

1. Income: Each player announces whether they will allow Tourists onto their Atoll or if they prefer to let Scientists conduct research there instead. Then, they receive the corresponding amount of Coin and Pollution tokens for that round according to the table on the Round Overview board. A player who used the Water Purification Support action this round cannot choose the income from Tourists.
2. Remove Fatigue tokens: Each player removes 1 Fatigue token from each of their Animal and each of their Coral cards, as well as all Fatigue tokens from Support actions on their Overview card.
3. Gain Plankton from Colonies: Each player gains Plankton according to the number of Coral Colonies on their Atoll, as indicated by the table on the Round Overview board.
4. Reset Hunt token: Each player flips their Hunt token face-up.
5. Refresh card offers: Discard the 2 oldest cards from each offer to the discard pile, shift existing cards away from the deck and reveal 2 new cards. Important! The Large Fish offer is not refreshed in this way.
6. Move Starting Player token: Pass the Starting Player token clockwise.
7. Move the Round token on the Round Overview board: You are now ready for the next round.

Game Evaluation

The final Game Evaluation takes place after the Action phase of the fourth round. Calculate the final Victory Points as follows:

1. Victory Points for Animals according to their current Abundance level.
2. Victory Points for Corals with a Scoring effect (marked with END OF GAME).
3. Victory Points for special Scoring effects on Animal cards.
4. 1 Victory Point for each Popularity token.
5. 1 Victory Point for each remaining Fish Scale token.
6. Minus 1 Victory Point for each Pollution token.

The player with the highest total score wins the game. In case of a tie, the player with the least Pollution wins. If the tie persists, the involved players share the victory or ranking.

Additional Rules

1. Player order: Although it is possible for players to execute the entire Recovery phase simultaneously, players may sometimes want to wait for other's decisions. In such cases, please follow the rule that each step of the Recovery phase can be resolved by starting with the first player and continuing clockwise. This method can also be used to determine the order of decisions or to resolve Events.

2. Reshuffling offer decks: If the offer deck is empty and a new card needs to be added to the offer, create a new deck by shuffling the cards from the discard pile.

3. Colony shortage: If a situation arises where the Animals on an Atoll require more Coral Colonies than are available, these Animals may remain on the Atoll.

   Example: Charles places a Pollution token on a Coral card that previously allowed him to place Medium Fish in areas with one less Colony than required. Therefore, he can no longer use this Coral's ability when purchasing a new Animal (until the Pollution is removed from the Coral), but the Medium Fish that are already on his Atoll remain there.

4. Conditions for executing actions: To execute an action, a player must not only meet all the conditions and pay the required resources, but also be able to fulfil the action's outcome. For example, it is not possible to feed an Animal by reducing another Animal's Abundance without increasing the Abundance of the fed Animal.

5. Shortage of tokens: If any tokens run out during the game, replace them with suitable substitutes.

Advanced Version

If you are already familiar with the basic version, the game has two additional rule modules. Both expansions can be used simultaneously, but it is also possible to choose just one.

Events

This expansion adds a random effect in rounds 1 to 3, which can be either positive or negative for the players and may be resolved immediately or modify the rules for the entire following round.

Setup: Shuffle the Event cards and place them face-down next to the Coral and Animal offers. Prepare space next to this Event deck for a discard pile of past Events.

Add the Event phase between the Action phase and the Recovery phase: Draw one card from the Event deck and place it face-up next to the Event deck – on the pile of past events (which will be empty during the 1st round) – and read its text. Event cards come in two different types: Immediate and Persistent.

Immediate Event: As soon as this card is revealed, resolve its effect immediately.

Persistent Event: The effect of this card lasts from the moment it is revealed until a new Event card is revealed.

Biodiversity Scoring

Adding this module allows for additional Victory Points, but requires more attention and strategy adjustments. At the top of all Animal cards, the category of Fish and Other Animals is indicated. It also indicates the number of different Animal cards of the same category available in the game (see the Animals section). At the end of the game, you score extra Victory Points as follows:

+1 Victory Point for each category of Other Animal for which you have at least one card on your Atoll.

+2 Victory Points for each card of each Fish category, except for the first card of that category. For example:

• 1 × Angelfishes = 0 Victory Points
• 2 × Angelfishes = 2 Victory Points
• 3 × Angelfishes = 4 Victory Points
• 4 × Angelfishes = 6 Victory Points

Solo Variant

You can also play Atoll on your own, allowing you to perfect your reef management skills and gain an undeniable advantage in multiplayer games. Use the following rule adjustments for solo play:

1. The game is always played without Events, but Biodiversity is always scored.
2. You can use the Hunt token by selecting any available Animal card in the offer as prey. This card is not otherwise affected.
3. In this mode, the order of cards in the card offers does not matter and does not affect the game: a. When purchasing a card from the offer, you can place a new card in the offer in the purchased card's slot without shifting other cards or maintaining their order based on how long they've been in the offer. b. Instead of discarding the two oldest cards from the offers during the Recovery phase, you decide how many and which cards you discard and then replace them all at once with new cards. This allows you to keep only the cards you plan to purchase or use for hunting in the next round.

You can evaluate your skills using the following table:

• Less than 60 Victory Points: Novice Aquarist
• 60–70 Victory Points: Enthusiastic Student
• 70–80 Victory Points: Experienced Breeder
• 80–90 Victory Points: Marine Biologist
• 90+ Victory Points: Reserve Protector

Explanation of effects

(Icons are rendered as words in brackets.)

• [Increase in Abundance]: only [Other Animal icon, purple] – Feeding is free, the player only needs to place a Fatigue token on the fed Animal.
• [Increase in Abundance] only in [Symbiosis]: only [Other Animal icon] – Feeding is only possible in Symbiosis. If the Animal is in Symbiosis, feeding is free, the player only needs to place a Fatigue token on the fed Animal.
• [Increase in Abundance]: + [Fatigue] – The cost of feeding is one extra Fatigue token. So normally this Animal will gain two Fatigue tokens through this action.
• [Increase in Abundance]: [Plankton] / [Decrease in Abundance] [Crustacean] – For feeding, players can choose to pay 1 Plankton token or to reduce the Abundance of a Crustacean.
• [Increase in Abundance]: [Starfish] = [Decrease in Abundance] [Small Fish], [Sea Cucumber] = [Decrease in Abundance] 2x [Small Fish] – For feeding, if the Animal is on a low Abundance level, player must reduce the Abundance of a Small Fish. If the Animal is on a medium Abundance level, player must reduce the Abundance of two Small Fish or one Small Fish twice.
• [Increase in Abundance]: [Decrease in Abundance] any 2 [Any Animal] except [Large Fish] – For feeding, the player must reduce the Abundance of two different Animals, none of them can be a Large Fish.
• [Increase in Abundance]: whenever [Decrease in Abundance] any other [Any Animal] on your Atoll – A passive effect for feeding, it applies whenever a player's other Animal has its Abundance reduced.
• [Maximum Abundance level] = immediately... – Each time the player reaches the highest Abundance, the following effect is activated.
• [Maximum Abundance level] = ...at the end of... – If the Animal is at its highest level of Abundance at the end of the game, this effect applies.