Butterfly Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Playing the Game
Butterfly Nets
Game End
Scoring
Credits

Components

100 Tiles (11 Red Butterfly Tiles, 11 Blue Butterfly Tiles, 11 Green Butterfly Tiles, 11 Yellow Butterfly Tiles, 13 Flower Tiles, 9 Dragonfly Tiles, 9 Lightning Bug Tiles, 9 Cricket Tiles, 6 Bee Tiles, 6 Honeycomb Tiles, 4 Wasp Tiles)

1 Double-Sided Game Board

1 Wooden Hedgehog (Hudson)

1 Draw Bag

5 Player Boards

Setup

Pick the correct board to use based on the number of players. Use the front side of the board for 3 or 5 players. Use the back side of the board for 2 or 4 players.

Please note the markings on each board that indicate the size of the board for number of players.

Place all 100 tiles in the draw bag.

After verifying that you are using the correct side of the board for the number of players in the game, draw the appropriate number of tiles from the bag using the chart below:

Players	Board
2 players	6x6 board (36 tiles)
3 players	7x7 board (49 tiles)
4 players	8x8 board (64 tiles)
5 players	9x9 board (81 tiles)

Place those tiles face up on the game board on the marked spaces. When complete, the board should have the correct number of tiles for the numbers of players in the form of a square.

Example setup for 3 players.

Leave the rest of the tiles in the bag. More tiles might be drawn later in the game.

The player who can do the best impression of a real hedgehog goes first. If this cannot be determined, feel free to use whatever method you like.

The start player takes the wooden hedgehog and puts in it front of them.

Playing the Game

The player to the right of the first player places the hedgehog on any tile in the square, facing in any direction they choose. This player does not move the hedgehog nor do they collect a tile. The first player begins the game as described below.

Facing direction of the hedgehog.

On their turn, each player must move the hedgehog:

First, they must turn the hedgehog to the left or right or leave it in the direction it was already facing at the start of the turn.
Next, they may move the hedgehog in the facing direction as far as they like, landing on any tile. They may skip over empty spaces but they may not stop on an empty space. The hedgehog never goes outside the boundaries of the grid established by the initial number of tiles. It must stop once it reaches the edge of the grid.
The player collects the tile where the hedgehog lands. They must always move to a space that allows them to pick up a tile if possible.

Butterfly Nets

As the tiles start being removed from the board, butterfly nets will start to appear in the spots where tiles were removed.

Any time a player moves Hudson over a previously uncovered butterfly net, that player may remove a random tile from the bag and add it to their collection. This is optional; however, if they choose to take a tile from the bag they must keep it.

Game End

The game ends as soon as a player cannot make a legal move on their turn. This means that the hedgehog cannot land on a space with a remaining tile. Each player scores their tiles (as indicated in the next section of the rules) and the highest score wins.

Scoring

Red, Blue, Green and Yellow Butterfly tiles are all worth their printed value (+1-5).

There is also a doubler for each color. If a player has the doubler, all of that player's tiles in that color are doubled.

Dragonfly Tiles (1-9). Players only score the highest value Dragonfly tile they took.

Lightning Bug Tiles (+1-9). Players only score the lowest value Lightning Bug tile they took.

Flower Tiles (*). Each Flower tile is worth the number of Flower tiles taken by that player. So, the number of flower tiles taken is squared. For example, if 3 flower tiles are taken, the player scores 9 points (3 tiles x 3 point per tile).

Grasshopper Tiles (+1-9). Every time a player collects a Grasshopper, the one they took previously hops away and is discarded back to the box. A player only scores the last Grasshopper they took.

Bees (−3) / Honeycomb (0 / 10-15).

Bees and Honeycomb tiles work together to make valuable honey!
For each pair of Bee and Honeycomb tiles a player has, they score the higher value of the Honeycomb tile (10 or 15 points.)
For each Bee tile that they cannot match to a Honeycomb tile, they score −3 points.
For each Honeycomb tile that they cannot match to a Bee tile, they score 0 points.

Wasps (−4 to −7). There are four Wasp tiles in the game. They are worth negative points.

Credits

Special Thanks to: James Droscha, Kory Heath, Brad Fuller, The Roundhouse, TAGS Game Group, and the Ludology Podcast.

Game Design: Stephen W. Glenn

Artwork: Martin Hoffmann

If you have comments, questions, or suggestions, please write to us at:

Rio Grande Games, PO Box 1033 Placitas, NM 87043, USA

[email protected] www.riograndegames.com