Frozen Shinies: The Emperor Penguin's Nephew
Frozen Shinies: The Emperor Penguin's Nephew Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 46 Game Cards
- 5 Reference Cards
- 20 Fish Tokens
Setup
- First Penguin: All players cut the deck. The player who cuts to the highest number takes the first turn.
- Prepare the Deck: Return cards that won't be used to the box based on how many are playing. For example, in a four-player game the 2+, 3+, and 4+ cards are used, and the 5+ cards go back to the box.
- Stock the Bank: Create a bank of fish tokens using four fish per player. Return the rest to the box. If the fish bank ever runs out, players can't collect fish until some are spent.
- Shuffle Up and Deal: Shuffle the deck and deal two cards face-down to each player. Hands remain private, although anyone can ask how many cards are in anyone's hand at any time.
- Fill the Stacks: Deal the rest of the deck into face-up, six-card stacks. Stagger the cards so everyone can see the values of all the cards in each stack. You should have exactly enough cards to make stacks equal to the number of players plus one.
The sheet includes a sample three-player game setup, showing face-up stacks laid out side by side, with the "Back" end of each stack nearest the top of the sheet and the "Front" end nearest the bottom.
On Your Turn
On your turn you must first play a card from your hand to the front of a stack that is not empty of cards.
Then, you must do one of the following:
Use Its Value: Collect a number of cards from the front of a single, different stack. The sum of the cards you collect must be equal or smaller than the value of the card you played. For example, if you played an 11, you could collect a 7, 3, and 1.
- All the cards you collect must come from the same stack.
- You can't skip cards when collecting. You can't collect the first and third cards from a stack, for example. You have to take them in order.
- You can spend fish to increase the value of the card you played by the number of tokens you spend. For example, if you play a 5, you could pay three fish in order to collect a 2 and a 6.
- If the value of the card you played is more than the sum of cards you took, you can take fish equal to the difference (max of three). For example, if you played a 12 and took a 5 and 6, you would take two fish from the bank.
Activate Its Power: Use the ability of the card you played. Most are self-explanatory, but refer to the back of this sheet or the reference cards if you need to.
- You can never take back the card you played.
- If the card shows any fish in the corner, take that many fish tokens.
Perhaps obviously, cards you collect become part of your hand.
As your turn ends, you may spend five fish to immediately take another turn. After that, your turn is complete and play continues clockwise.
Ending the Game
When the second-to-last stack is emptied, leaving only one stack with cards in it, the game is almost over.
Thinking back to the first person to play, players finish off the round so that each player will have taken the same number of turns in total.
During these last few turns, players may play cards to empty stacks, which is normally forbidden.
Winning
The player with the most cards in their hand has truly delighted the Emperor Penguin's nephew, and wins the game.
If there's a tie, the player with the most fish wins. If there's still a tie, the tied player with the highest sum of card values wins.
Power Reference
The reference cards and the back of the sheet list each card's power by value. Values 13 and 14 have no power.
| Value | Power |
|---|---|
| 1 | Take the front two cards from any stack, or the front card from two different stacks. |
| 2 | Take the front card from any stack, or take the front and back cards from any stack if you have the smallest hand (after playing this card). |
| 3 | Take the front card from any stack and take the back card from any stack. These cards can come from the same stack. |
| 4 | Take the front card from any stack, or spend three fish to take the front two cards from any stack. |
| 5 | Take the front card from any stack, or take the back card from any stack. |
| 6 | Take the front two cards from any stack, then return one card from your hand to the front of that stack. |
| 7 | Steal a random card from the hand of any player who has more than three cards, then immediately play the stolen card. |
| 8 | Steal a random card from any player who has more than three cards, and if the stolen card's value is even, also take the front card from any stack. |
| 9 | Take a card from anywhere in any stack. |