Avalanche at Yeti Mountain Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Step 1: Select Cards
  • Step 2: Reveal Speed
  • Step 3: Move Skiers
    • Rocket Jumping
    • Rocket Jumping, Continued
    • Crashing
  • Step 4: Move the Yeti
  • Step 5: Advance the Avalanche
  • Step 6: Draw Cards
• End of the Game
• Rules for Two Players
• Rules for Solo Play
  • Winning a Solo Game
• Additional Options
  • Racing
  • Drafting
  • Controlled Speed

Components

• 60 Mountain Cards
• 2 Speed Limit Cards (double-sided)
• 5 Skier Pawns
• 5 Rocket Status Cards
• 1 Avalanche Card (with stand & marker)
• 1 Yeti Pawn

Setup

1. Shuffle all 60 mountain cards into a face down deck; place it within reach of all players.
2. Deal four cards from the deck to each player.
3. Lay out 12 cards in a row, all oriented the same direction; this is the mountain.
4. Give each player a rocket status card (active side up) and skier pawn of a matching color.
5. Set out the speed limit card corresponding to the number of skiers (see chart on p. 4).
6. Line up all players' skier pawns in a random order at the top of the mountain.
7. Place the yeti pawn near the skier pawns. Place the avalanche card (in its stand) behind the yeti; make sure the avalanche speed marker on the card is set to zero.

How to Play

Avalanche at Yeti Mountain is played over a series of rounds, and will end immediately when one skier reaches the bottom of the mountain. Each round is divided into six simple steps:

1. SELECT CARDS
2. REVEAL SPEED
3. MOVE SKIERS
4. MOVE THE YETI
5. ADVANCE THE AVALANCHE
6. DRAW CARDS

Step 1: Select Cards

Each player secretly selects one card from their hand, placing their selected card face down in front of them. The number on a player's card indicates their speed. A player may select two cards instead of one if those two cards have the same symbol, in which case the player's speed is the sum of the two numbers.

Step 2: Reveal Speed

All players reveal their selected cards simultaneously. Add up the total combined speed from all revealed cards. Compare that total to the current speed limit, to see if safety tolerances have been exceeded (see chart below).

Number of Skiers	Speed Limit
2	7
3	10
4	13
5	16

If the speed limit was collectively exceeded, the skier(s) with the highest speed will crash!

Step 3: Move Skiers

Each skier moves down the mountain, from fastest to slowest. If multiple skiers are moving the same speed, those skiers' moves resolve from back to front. The number of spaces each skier moves is equal to their speed. If a skier would end its movement on a space occupied by another skier, the moving skier continues downhill to the next empty space (see below).

Rocket Jumping

To rocket jump, you must either A) play a card with a symbol matching the card your skier occupies before moving or B) play any two cards with matching symbols (the two matching symbols act as a "wild" symbol). In either case, your rocket status card must be currently flipped to its active side.

When you rocket jump, your skier jumps completely over the next card (ignoring any remaining spaces on your current card), and begins normal movement on the next card downhill (see above).

Rocket Jumping, Continued

For each type of symbol, only one player may rocket jump each round. If multiple players played the same symbol and want to rocket jump, only the player with the highest speed gets to rocket jump! If there is a tie for highest speed, the tied player farthest uphill gets to rocket jump. "Wild" rocket jumps never block other players and can never be blocked.

Each time a player successfully rocket jumps, increase the avalanche's speed by moving the avalanche speed marker up one space on the avalanche speed track (shown below).

Crashing

When you crash because you had the highest speed when the speed limit was exceeded, your skier moves only one space! If you are also rocket jumping, you still do so, but your skier only travels one space past the jumped card.

Step 4: Move the Yeti

The player who is furthest uphill moves the yeti. The yeti has his own path and moves a number of spaces along that path equal to or less than the speed of this round's fastest skier. The yeti can only move uphill or downhill in a given round; he cannot change direction. The yeti's path diverges and comes back together on the mountain at times. The yeti can move along either path as long as he continues to move in the same direction (see below).

If the yeti moves through a space that a skier occupies (such as orange and green above), the yeti damages the skier's rockets! That player flips their rocket status card to its inactive side; they will not be able to rocket jump during the following round (see below).

After the yeti has moved, any player who was not hit by the yeti this round flips their rocket status card to the active side, if it wasn't already; they will be able to rocket jump during the following round.

Step 5: Advance the Avalanche

Move the avalanche downhill a number of snowbanks equal to the current avalanche speed. (Each mountain card has either two or three snowbanks.) The avalanche will move more quickly the longer the game continues!

If the avalanche moves through, or stops on, a space with a skier, that player gets buried by the avalanche and is eliminated! Don't worry — a helicopter rescues them promptly. (The yellow and orange players below are eliminated by the avalanche.)

Eliminated players remove their skiers from the mountain and discard their cards; make sure to swap out the speed limit card for the one matching the current number of skiers.

Step 6: Draw Cards

Each player discards all cards they played this round and then draws one new card from the deck. (Even if a player played two cards this round, that player still only draws one!) If the deck runs out, shuffle the cards in the discard pile to form a new deck.

End of the Game

The game ends as soon as one skier moves off, or jumps over, the final card at the bottom of the mountain. That player wins! The game can also end if all players are eliminated, in which case no one wins (except the yeti, of course).

Rules for Two Players

The 2-player game is similar to a 4-player game, with both players controlling two skier pawns each instead of one. The following rule changes apply:

• During setup, deal each player a hand of eight mountain cards (instead of four).
• Every round, players select cards separately for each of their two skiers.
• If a skier is eliminated, that player must discard half their hand (rounded up).

Rules for Solo Play

You've had enough of the yeti chasing you and your friends, damaging your rocket skis, and laughing his yeti laugh, so you've challenged him to a race down the mountain. It's you against the yeti for bragging rights! The following rule changes apply:

• During setup, place your skier on the first space on the card at the top of the mountain. Then place the yeti on the first yeti space on that same card.
• If you don't like your starting hand, you can discard it and draw four new cards.
• After selecting one or two cards for your speed, reveal the top card from the deck; the number on the card indicates the yeti's speed this round.
• If the symbol on the yeti's card is the same as the symbol on the card your skier occupies before moving, you may not rocket jump normally this round (but may still initiate a "wild" rocket jump).
• If you successfully rocket jump, reveal a second card from the deck and add the number on the card to the yeti's speed this round.
• Every time you play a card, increase the avalanche speed by one. This is in addition to the normal avalanche speed increases from rocket jumps.
• Follow the Controlled Speed rules (see p. 12), adding played cards to your speed stack.
• You must move the yeti a number of spaces equal to his current speed. If the yeti moves through the space your skier occupies, discard a card from your hand (instead of flipping your rocket status card).

Winning a Solo Game

You win the game if you manage to beat the yeti to the bottom of the mountain!

You lose if any of the following conditions occurs:

• The yeti reaches the bottom of the mountain before you do.
• The yeti forces you to discard a card when you don't have any cards in hand.
• The avalanche buries you.

Additional Options

These options are recommended for Avalanche at Yeti Mountain veterans or players looking for more variety. You can mix and match options together.

Racing

You can play a three-heat race, with the standard game being one heat. For each heat, shuffle all the mountain cards and create a new mountain. In each heat, the first skier down the mountain receives three points; the second skier receives two points; the third skier receives one point. At the end of three heats, the player with the most points is the winner of the race! In case of a tie after three heats, play additional heats until one player has the most points overall.

Drafting

Instead of drawing cards from a face down deck at the end of each round, players will draft their cards. At the beginning of the game, lay out cards (equal to the number of skiers) in a face up display. During Step 6 of each round, players draft cards from the display, beginning with the player who is currently furthest uphill and continuing from top to bottom. After all players have selected a card, refill the display up to the current number of skiers (which may change as skiers get buried by the avalanche).

Controlled Speed

You must play a card that is within two of your speed from the previous round or else you will crash! Instead of discarding your selected card(s) at the end of a round, add them to a face up speed stack in front of you, so that you can track your speed from round to round. If you crash due to speeding up or slowing down too quickly, immediately discard all cards from your speed stack; for the following round, you can restart at any speed you choose.