Black Elephant Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Sequence
  • 1.) MOVE
  • 2.) JUMP
  • 3.) BLACK ELEPHANT
  • 4.) BLACK WOOD
• Ending the Game
• Scoring

Components

The game comes in a fine wooden case. Inside: a 40x40 cm board with slots, 24 heavy tin elephants (10 silver, 10 bronze, and 4 black), and 54 small bamboo logs (six of them black).

Setup

Each player begins by choosing a color (silver or bronze) and taking their 10 cast elephants. These are placed on the starting fields. The quartet of black elephants is set on the four brown areas behind the players' start and goal fields. Next, bamboo logs are placed on the 48 spaces, one log per space. Finally, each player receives three black bonus logs, and the game can begin.

The goal of the game is to collect as many logs as possible, guide your elephants across the board to the goal, and capture enemy elephants. Points are awarded for all of these, and the best herdsman is the one with the highest total score at the end.

Sequence

On their turn, the player chooses one action:

1.) MOVE

a. From the Start Line to any of the 7 spaces directly in front of the Start Line. b. Up to 3 spaces in any direction through open spaces that do not contain any logs or elephants. c. Only 1 space forward if the elephant is standing on a space with a log.

• You may move in any direction except diagonally.
• Keep your elephants' orientations consistent. They will not be rotated unless they are jumped over!
• Only one elephant and one log may occupy a field at a time.
• Collecting wood: Only if an elephant moves forward and lands on the space containing the wood piece.
• If one of your elephants reaches one of the 6 tiles furthest from your Start Line (called the "Finish Line"), remove it from the board and place it aside for later scoring.
• If a rotated elephant returns to your Start Line, it may then be turned around and be put back into play.
• When a player gets 7 total elephants to the Finish Line, they receive one of their captured elephants back from their opponent (if available) and place it back on their Start Line.

2.) JUMP

• An elephant may only leap over another elephant if it is directly adjacent to the targeted elephant, is facing the direction of the desired jump, and the space immediately across the targeted elephant is not occupied by another elephant.
• The jumping elephant lands on the space immediately across the target elephant.
• Landing on a log after jumping does not collect the log.
• The elephant who has been jumped over may be rotated 180 degrees by the player who jumped it. The rotated elephant may be played as normal but cannot leave the board if it reaches the Finish Line! If the rotated elephant returns to its Start Line, its orientation is returned to normal.
  • Note: You can jump over your own elephants, meaning you may "save" a backwards elephant without needing to send it home by jumping over it yourself.

3.) BLACK ELEPHANT

• You may spend your collected wood to move any of the four black elephants on the edges of the board. Movement costs one log per space, and multiple logs can be spent at a time. Spent logs go into the cup in the corner of the board and are out of the game.
• Draw imaginary lines from each black elephant across the length of the board. Where these lines intersect are danger zones that will capture any elephant who ends their turn in that space. Captured elephants are taken by the opposing player and set aside for later scoring.
  • Note: The starting positions of the black elephants render each player's Finish Line inaccessible! They must be moved sooner or later if either player wants a chance at reaching them.

4.) BLACK WOOD

• One black log is placed on an empty space. That space remains blocked until the end of the game. No more than two black logs may be orthogonally adjacent to one another.

Ending the Game

The game ends when the last normal log is collected, OR when a player moves their last elephant to the Finish Line, OR when a player loses.

Scoring

1 Point for each regular log in a player's possession at the end of the game.

2 Points for each captured elephant in a player's possession at the end of the game.

3 Points for getting an elephant to the Finish Line.

On a tie, the player who went first loses 1 Point.