Bivì Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Objective of the Game
• River Boards
  • Anatomy of the River Boards
• Setup
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Foreman
  • 2. Other Beavers
  • 3. End of Turn
• Placement Rules
  • Moving the Beaver
  • Using Wood Cubes
• End of the Game
  • Scoring Example
• Other Modes
  • Advanced Mode
  • Expert Mode
  • Objectives A
  • Objectives B
• Quick Reference: Game Flow

Components

• 4 River boards (to be assembled)
• 4 Beaver pawns
• 16 Wood cubes
• 1 Forest board
• 66 Timber tiles (birch, pine, walnut)
• 1 bag
• 13 Objective cards (in two types, A and B)
• 1 Comic card
• 1 Foreman card
• This rulebook

Objective of the Game

In Bivì you compete with the other players to obtain the best Timber tiles and build the most solid dam: at the end of the game, a dam that is incomplete or has holes could cost you dearly!

In the expert mode you must also, as far as possible, meet the requests of the designer beaver.

River Boards

Follow these instructions to assemble and disassemble the River boards and to store them in the box:

• Attach the sticker (A).
• Attach the protective rubber pads to the plastic supports (B). The pads have no adhesive: a press with the fingers is enough to apply them.
• Following the arrow, insert the supports into the River boards (C).

(Illustrations A, B and C show these three steps.)

To store the River boards in the box, remove the plastic supports and line up the boards before placing them in the box insert.

Scan the QR code to follow the video instructions.

Anatomy of the River Boards

• A. Bank
• B. River

(The page illustrates the board with the labels "Above the Bank" and "Below the Bank" printed on it.)

Setup

1. Place the Forest board in the centre of the table.
2. Put all the Timber tiles into the bag and keep it within reach.
3. Depending on the number of players, place on each of the 4 sides of the Forest the number of Timber tiles shown below, drawing them at random from the bag:

Players	Timber tiles per side
2	2
3	2
4	3

4. Give each player 1 River board, 1 Beaver pawn and 1 Wood cube. Place the remaining Wood cubes in a pile in the centre of the Forest.
5. Place your Beaver pawn on one of the Banks of your River.
6. The player who last built something out of wood begins the game: they become the first Foreman and take the Foreman card.

(The page 4 illustration shows an example setup for a 2-player game; it contains no additional printed text.)

Playing the Game

The players take their turns clockwise, taking turns in the role of Foreman.

Each turn is made up of 3 phases: 1. Foreman, 2. Other beavers, and 3. End of turn.

1. Foreman

The current Foreman chooses 1 of the 4 sides of the Forest and performs 1 of these 2 actions:

• A. Take 1 of the Timber tiles and place it in your own River, following the placement rules (see page 8). Then discard all the other Timber tiles from that side of the Forest.
• B. Discard all the Timber tiles from that side of the Forest and take 1 Wood cube. If there are no more Wood cubes, steal 1 from another player's supply (it is not possible to steal Wood cubes that are already placed in a River).

Warning: discarded Timber tiles do not go back into the bag; set them aside in a pile.

2. Other Beavers

The other players take 1 Timber tile each from the side of the Forest opposite the one chosen by the Foreman, starting from the player on the Foreman's left and proceeding clockwise. Each player chooses whether to place that tile in their own River, or to discard it to take 1 Wood cube.

3. End of Turn

In this phase you may place a single Wood cube in your River. Wood cubes can be placed in any free space and do not have to be adjacent to the tile on which the Beaver pawn is located. They must, however, follow the other placement rules for Timber tiles (see the next page).

The architect's advice: since you can place only one cube per turn, be careful not to accumulate too many, or you may not be able to make the best use of them!

If the end-of-game conditions have not been met, the Foreman refills every empty side of the Forest with new Timber tiles drawn from the bag, up to the limit for the number of players (see the table on page 4).

If the bag runs empty, refill it with the Timber tiles discarded during the game.

The Foreman role and the Foreman card pass to the next player counter-clockwise.

2 PLAYERS: in a 2-player game, the side of the Forest opposite the one chosen by the Foreman at the end of the turn may not be empty. When this happens, do not refill it until it is empty. Some sides of the Forest may therefore have only one tile.

Placement Rules

You must place the Timber tile so that at least one of its sides is adjacent to the tile on which the Beaver pawn is located (or to the Bank of the River, in the first turn of the game). Tiles that touch only at the corners are not considered adjacent.

You may rotate or flip the tile before placing it, but it may not rest slanted or overlap other tiles.

Tiles may be placed higher than the level of the Banks and may also rest on them, but they must always remain within the River.

Note: in the basic mode, ignore any moss, butterflies and ladybugs printed on the tiles.

For a placement to be valid, the Timber tile must remain stable, not be slanted, and not fall once placed. Otherwise it must be repositioned in another way.

It is permitted to remove the Beaver when it is in the place where the tile is going to rest.

Moving the Beaver

Before placing a tile, you may discard Wood cubes to move your Beaver up to 2 tiles away for each cube discarded. At the end of the last movement, the Beaver must be placed in a stable position.

After placing a Timber tile, you must place the Beaver on top of it. Alternatively, if the tile just placed was inserted under other tiles that are already present, you may move the Beaver on top of those tiles, provided that the Beaver is vertically above a part of the tile just placed. The Beaver and the tile must remain stable: otherwise, you must reposition the tile or the Beaver.

Using Wood Cubes

Besides discarding Wood cubes to move your Beaver, you may also place a single cube at the end of each of your turns in any free space of your River, without it having to be adjacent to the tile on which the Beaver pawn is located, while still following the other placement rules for Timber tiles. Wood cubes can be very useful, so consider carefully how to use them!

End of the Game

If at the end of a turn a player has completed their dam (that is, there are no empty spaces in the area below the Bank of the River), the game ends immediately and the points are counted as follows:

• For each type of wood, find the largest group of contiguous Timber tiles. You score one point for each tile in each of the 3 groups.

Warning: to be considered contiguous, two tiles must touch along a side. If they touch only at a corner, they are not contiguous.

• For each hole in your dam below the Bank, you lose 1 point, regardless of its size.
• Finally, the player with the largest hole in their dam counts the number of empty spaces of that hole below the Bank and loses an equal number of points (−1 point per space). In the case of a tie, all players with the largest hole receive the penalty.

The player with the highest score is the winner! In the case of a tie, the player with more Wood cubes left over wins. If the tie persists, the player who has taken fewer Timber tiles wins. If the tie still persists, the victory is shared.

Scoring Example

(Page 11 shows two example dams with the following printed scores.)

First dam:

Item	Points
Birch wood	3
Pine wood	1
Walnut wood	3
Holes	/
Largest hole	/
Total	7

Second dam:

Item	Points
Birch wood	6
Pine wood	3
Walnut wood	4
Holes	−2
Largest hole	−3
Total	8

Other Modes

If you have become familiar with the game and want to face more demanding challenges, you may play with one of these modes.

Advanced Mode

In this mode it is not possible to flip Timber tiles. Around the Forest, the tiles must be placed with their decorations (moss, butterflies and ladybugs) facing up, and they must be placed in the River keeping this side up.

Expert Mode

During Setup, shuffle the 2 Objective decks (A and B) and draw 1 card from each deck. The 2 cards must be left on the table, visible to all players. Each one indicates bonus points that will be awarded at the end of the game based on the decorations visible in your dam. In this mode too, it is not possible to flip Timber tiles. Around the Forest, the tiles must be placed with the decorations side (moss, butterflies and ladybugs) facing up, and they must be placed in the River keeping this side up.

The explanations of all the Objectives follow.

Objectives A

• The player with the most moss gets 4 bonus points; the second-placed player gets 2. In case of a tie between several players, all receive the same bonus.
• The player with the least moss gets 4 bonus points; the second-placed player gets 2. In case of a tie between several players, all receive the same bonus.
• The player with the greatest sum of butterflies and ladybugs gets 4 bonus points; the second-placed player gets 2. In case of a tie between several players, all receive the same bonus.
• The player with the smallest sum of butterflies and ladybugs gets 4 bonus points; the second-placed player gets 2. In case of a tie between several players, all receive the same bonus.

Objectives B

Read left to right, top to bottom, as laid out on page 13 and 14:

• Gain 2 points for every 3 butterflies.
• Gain 1 point for every 2 butterflies.
• Gain 2 points for every 3 ladybugs.
• Gain 1 point for every 2 ladybugs.
• Gain 1 point for every 3 moss.
• Gain 1 point for each set of butterfly and ladybug.
• Gain 1 point for each set of moss and butterfly.
• Gain 1 point for each set of moss and ladybug.
• Gain 2 points for each set of butterfly, ladybug and moss.

Warning: for the purposes of the Objectives, always count the exact number of decorations shown, not just the tiles. Many tiles, for example, contain 2 moss.

Quick Reference: Game Flow

The game is divided into turns; in each turn the players take turns in the role of Foreman. Each turn is made up of 3 phases:

1. Foreman: the Foreman chooses a side of the Forest and performs one of these 2 actions:
   • Take 1 of the Timber tiles and place it in your own River, then discard all the other Timber tiles from that side of the Forest.
   • Discard all the Timber tiles from that side of the Forest and take 1 Wood cube.
2. Other Beavers: the other players, clockwise, each take 1 Timber tile from the side of the Forest opposite the one the Foreman chose, then choose whether to place it in their own River or discard it to take 1 Wood cube.
3. End of turn: all players may place 1 Wood cube in their own River, then the Foreman refills every empty side of the Forest with new Timber tiles.

If at the end of a turn a player has completed their dam (no empty spaces between the two Banks of the River), the game ends and the scoring is calculated:

• For each type of wood, find the largest group of contiguous Timber tiles and score as many points as there are tiles in it.
• For each hole below the Bank, lose 1 point regardless of its size.
• The player with the largest hole loses points equal to the number of spaces that make it up.

The player with more points wins. In case of a tie, the player with more Wood cubes left over wins; if the tie persists, the player who has taken fewer Timber tiles wins.