Ebbe & Flut
Ebbe & Flut Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 50 Playing Cards: 1 set of 25 for the Water player, 1 set of 25 for the Land player
- 10 Border Cards: 10 shoreline cards (6 of which have diagrams on their backs)
Goal
Players form a 5-card-by-5-card grid between them. One player represents the Water and the other the Land. Each player's cards will enter the grid at their respective lower right-hand corners. Thus, each player's starting area is diagonally across from that of the other player. The Water player attempts to flood the Land by moving the Water cards across the grid to the Land player's starting corner. The Land player does just the opposite. Every card that a player manages to move into the opponent's starting area is removed from the grid, earning its owner 1 point at the end of the game. The player with the most points at the end wins.
Game Set-Up
Players sit opposite each other. The Water player takes the 25 Water cards with letters and numbers marked in blue. The Land player takes the 25 Land cards with beige letters and numbers.
Players form a 5-card-by-5-card grid between them. The grid is empty at the start. To keep the grid orderly, players should enclose it, or make a box around it, with the 10 Border cards and their own cards as follows: to make the 2 vertical sides of the box, use the 10 Border cards. Place 5 in a column to make 1 side, and 5 in a column opposite it to make the other side, as shown in Diagram 1 (for 2 players) on the back of the Border cards. Each player then shuffles his or her own set of 25 cards and places them in 5 stacks of 5, facedown, at his or her end of the table to form the top and bottom of the box around the grid. See Diagram 1 (for 2 players). (Note: although these stacks help to encase the grid at the start of the game, they will be used up as the game progresses.)
Each player's starting area is located in the corner of the grid to his or her lower right, and consists of 3 possible Starting Spaces from which to put cards into play: the lower right corner space, the space immediately above it, and the space immediately to the left of it. These Starting Spaces are indicated on Diagram 1 (for 2 players).
To determine who begins, both players draw 1 card randomly from 1 of their facedown stacks and place it onto any of their respective 3 Starting Spaces. The player whose starting card has the lowest value begins. A1 is the lowest and E5 the highest. Also, for example, A5 is lower than B1.
Playing the Game
Each turn is divided into 4 phases:
- Phase 1: Checking Your Opponent's Work
- Phase 2: Drawing a Card and Putting It into Play
- Phase 3: Moving Cards
- Phase 4: Ending Your Turn
Phase 1 — Checking Your Opponent's Work
After your opponent has finished a turn, there should be no columns and no rows in which he or she has cards with either the same number (e.g., an A2 and a C2) or the same letter (e.g., a B1 and a B3). Check your opponent's work. If you find a column or row in violation of this rule, your opponent, as a penalty, must give up 1 of his or her point cards that has already been successfully taken off the grid. This penalty card is removed from play entirely. (If your opponent has no point cards yet, then there is no penalty.) Your opponent then resumes his or her turn at Phase 3, Moving Cards, and finishes with Phase 4. Only then is it your turn again.
Phase 2 — Drawing a Card and Putting It into Play
Draw 1 card from the top of any of your facedown stacks and place it immediately on 1 of your 3 Starting Spaces. See Diagram 1 (for 2 players). Note: eventually, this will likely mean placing cards on top of other cards.
Phase 3 — Moving Cards
As noted above, cards in your own color may never remain in the same column or row if they share a letter or number. This is true even if those cards are separated in the column or row by other cards belonging to either player. When this occurs, you must move a card out of that row or column. When 2 such cards are in the same column, choose 1 of the cards to move 1 space to the left. When the 2 cards are in the same row, choose 1 to move 1 space upward. If there are more than 2 cards sharing a number or letter in the same row or column, then more cards must be moved — the order of movement is up to you — until there are no longer any such rows or columns. This movement of cards can start a chain reaction by creating new rows or columns with cards sharing a number or letter. You must then move cards out of these other rows or columns until no more moves are possible (i.e., required). Note: through movement, cards may come to rest on top of other cards. In determining whether any moves are possible, only consider the top card in each space on the grid.
When, through movement, a card reaches 1 of your opponent's Starting Spaces, remove that card immediately from the grid and keep it. These cards are worth 1 point each at the end of the game.
If a card must be pushed off of the edge of the grid before reaching the opponent's Starting Spaces, then it is removed from the game entirely and does not score points.
Phase 4 — Ending Your Turn
When you are convinced that you have completed all required moves in that there are no columns or rows in which your cards share the same number or letter, announce that your turn is complete. The Land player states: "Tide coming in." The Water player states: "Tide going out." This triggers Phase 1 of the other player's turn.
Blocking
In the course of the game, players will end up covering each others' cards with their own as they move cards across the grid. This effectively blocks future movement of those covered cards until the top card is moved again by its respective owner. A player whose card or cards have been covered may, at any time, move the cards in a stack for a moment to see how many cards are covered and to whom they belong, but not so much as to see the numbers and letters on them. The cards are easily distinguishable through their color: the Land player's cards are darker.
When your opponent moves a card that was covering yours, and the newly revealed card shares a letter or number with another card in that row or column, then you must move the cards as in Phase 3 to eliminate this situation. To do this, on your own turn, draw a card in Phase 2 and choose whether to make the newly required move(s) before or after putting the new card into play.
Game End
When both players' facedown stacks are used up, players continue to play, skipping Phase 2, until no further moves are possible. At that point, the player with the most points — the most cards in his or her pile — wins.
Variant for 1 Player
Play is similar to the 2-player game. The solo player shuffles both the Land cards and the Water cards together into 1 deck. This deck is then divided into 5 facedown stacks and placed at the bottom of the 5-card-by-5-card grid in front of the player. See Diagram 2 (1 player). Each turn, the solo player draws 1 card from any of the facedown stacks and puts the card into play on the appropriate Starting Spaces. Starting Spaces for Land cards are the 3 spaces in the lower right corner of the grid — the corner space, the 1 directly above it, and the 1 directly to the left of it. The Starting Spaces for the Water cards are in the diagonally opposite corner — 1 in the corner itself, 1 directly to the right of it, and 1 directly below it. As in the 2-player game, cards of the same color may not share a row or column if they have a letter or number in common, and they must be moved accordingly. The player's goal is, through movement, to take as many cards off of the board as possible. As in the 2-player game, Water cards are removed for points when they reach the Starting Spaces for Land cards and vice versa. Combine all of your points for both Water and Land cards. How many points can you attain?