Awimbawé Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Materials
• Genre
  • Glossary of Trick-Taking Games
• Setup
• Card Description
  • Terrestrial Animal Cards
  • Eagle Cards
• How to Play
  • End of the Turn
  • End of the Round
  • End of the Game
• Powers
  • Mouse
  • Rhinoceros
  • Cheetah
  • Hyena
  • Snake
  • Elephant
  • Eagles
• Examples
  • Eagle: Flee or Fight
  • Rhinoceros
  • Snake

Goal

Collect the most crowns by taking tricks while avoiding collecting all 4 Hyena cards. Win 2 rounds and become the new king or queen of the savannah.

Materials

• 24 terrestrial Animal cards: numbered from 1 to 6, each of them appearing on 4 different land types (grassland, desert, mountain, and plain).
• 4 Eagle cards: numbered from 7 to 10. The Eagle appears on a 5th special "land type", the sky.
• 2 Heir cards: the white tiger and the black panther (recto/verso). Recto: scrubland; verso: animals.
• 2 Player's aids.

Genre

Awimbawe is a trick-taking game. In Awimbawe, the colors are represented by the following 5 types of land (they are 5 card suits):

• Desert = yellow
• Mountain = grey
• Sky = blue
• Grassland = green
• Plain = brown

Glossary of Trick-Taking Games

• Trump: color that beats the 4 other colors.
• To trump: to play a trump when the player does not have the led color.
• Discard: to play a card of another color than the led color when the player does not have any card of the led color and any trumps.
• To lead: to start a trick by playing a card of your choice.
• Hand: all the cards that were dealt to the player and that they have in hand.
• Scoring pile: pile formed of the tricks won by a player and placed face down. Each player has their own scoring pile.
• Trick: all the cards played by the players during a turn.
• To follow suit: to play a card of the same type as the first card of the trick that was played.

Setup

Each player chooses an Heir card and places it in front of them on its silver side.

Shuffle all 28 cards. The cards are dealt to each player as follows:

• 4 cards face-down in front of each player, covered with 4 cards face-up
• and finally 6 cards that form their hand.

In total, each player has 14 cards, 10 of which are immediately available (the 6 cards in their hand and the 4 face-up cards on top of each pile).

The player with the fewest crowns on the 4 face-up cards placed in front of them starts (crossed out crowns count as negative points: each crown = +1 point, each crossed out crown = -1 point). In case of a tie, the youngest starts.

Card Description

Terrestrial Animal Cards

• Value of the card (from 1 to 6). Each animal has always the same value.
• Number of crowns (1, 2 or 3): each crown = +1 point.
• Number of crossed out crowns (0, -1 or -2): each crossed out crown = -1 point.
• Type of animal: mouse, rhinoceros, cheetah, hyena, snake, elephant.
• Power of the animal (see Powers).
• Basic land types: grassland, desert, plain, and mountain.

Eagle Cards

• Value of the card (from 7 to 10).
• Type of animal: Eagle.
• Double power (see Eagle powers).
• Special land type: sky.

How to Play

On each turn, the players play a card and can immediately activate its power.

The first player plays one of their available cards and can immediately activate the power of the animal (see Powers). Then, the second player plays a card and can also activate its power. However, they must stick to some rules.

If they can, the second player MUST follow suit. They must play a card of the same land type (= color) as the led card and of the value of their choice.

• A. If the second player has followed suit, the player who has played the highest-value card wins the trick.
• B. If the second player cannot follow suit (they do not have the led color), they MUST play one of the four Eagle cards (see Eagle powers).
• C. If the second player has neither followed suit nor played an Eagle card, they MUST discard one of their cards. They automatically lose the trick even if the card they have played has a higher value.

End of the Turn

The tricks that are won are placed in a pile face down and form the scoring pile. Each player has their own scoring pile. You may only take a look at the latest trick that was won.

If a player takes a Hyena card, they leave it face up after putting the trick in their scoring pile. All players know the number of Hyena cards taken.

If some cards that were face down are no longer covered by other cards, turn them face-up at the end of the trick, never during a trick.

Then, a new turn begins. The player who took the last trick (or the player designated by the Cheetah) leads the new turn.

End of the Round

The round ends if one of these two conditions is met:

• A player has taken the 4 Hyena cards: they immediately lose the round.
• The players have played all their cards, and they have not taken the 4 Hyena cards. Each player counts the number of crowns they have in their scoring pile (+1 point per crown, -1 point per crossed out crown). The player with the most crowns wins the round.

The winner turns their Heir card on its golden side. If their Heir card is already on its golden side, they win the game.

Otherwise, the loser of the round decides who will play first in the next round.

End of the Game

The winner is the first player to win 2 rounds. They become king or queen of the savannah!

Powers

Mouse

The mouse scares the elephant. Power: the Mouse card beats the Elephant card of the same color (same landscape) if both cards are played during the trick. The player who has played the Mouse card wins the trick.

Rhinoceros

The rhinoceros rushes straight ahead. Power: Move a card placed on top of one of your opponent's piles under any other one of their piles (while leaving it face-up or face-down), whatever the number of cards in the pile.

Cheetah

The cheetah gets the game underway. Power: Decide who will lead the next trick. If two Cheetah cards are played during the same trick, the second one is the one to decide.

Hyena

Too many hyenas can be dangerous! Power: The hyenas are worth a lot of crowns, but they are risky. If you take all four hyenas, you immediately lose the round!

Snake

The snake hypnotizes another animal. Power: Choose one of your opponent's available cards and block it (place it horizontally: the card is blocked) for their next turn. Once your opponent has played another card, the card is no longer blocked.

If the player decides to block a card from the opponent's hand, they choose one without looking at it.

The last available card of a player cannot be blocked.

Elephant

The elephant is the strongest (among terrestrial animals)!!! Power: No power. The elephant has a weakness against the mouse.

Eagles

The eagles are apex predators. The Eagle cards are special cards and they have two powers. They are numbered from 7 to 10.

If you do not have the color of the led land, then you MUST play an Eagle card, if you have any. You can choose to play an Eagle card in 2 different ways:

• Flee: The eagle flees, and in that case, your opponent wins the trick. The Eagle card goes to the scoring pile of the player who played it.
• Fight: The eagle fights, and in that case, you trump your opponent's card. You win the trick. The Eagle card is played as a trump.

If you play an Eagle card to lead a trick, you MUST fight, you cannot flee. Your opponent must follow with an Eagle card and fight, they cannot flee either. The Eagle card with the higher value wins the trick.

The Eagle cards are powerful, but they can bear crossed out crowns that count as negative points (-1 point each) at the end of the round.

Examples

Eagle: Flee or Fight

Guillaume leads with the Hyena card of the mountain. Anne does not have any Mountain card, but she has an Eagle card. She must play it. She can then decide which power she activates: flee or fight.

• Flee: Anne decides to flee: she does not win the trick. The Eagle card goes to her scoring pile. The Hyena card goes to Guillaume's scoring pile. The Hyena card remains face up.
• Fight: Anne decides to fight: she trumps her opponent's card and she wins the trick. Both cards go to her scoring pile. The Hyena card remains face up.

Rhinoceros

1. Anne leads with the Rhinoceros card.
2. Using the Rhinoceros power, she chooses to move Guillaume's Eagle card under the first pile.
3. Guillaume must play an available card. He can not yet reveal the card which is no longer covered. The card will be face-up at the end of the trick.

Snake

1. Anne leads with the Snake card of the desert.
2. Using the Snake power, she decides to block the Hyena card of the desert. Guillaume can not play the Hyena card during his turn.
3. He plays the Cheetah card and chooses to play first in the next turn. As he played a card, the Hyena card is no longer blocked. Anne wins the trick.