Garden Lake Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Overview
• Game Objective
• Game Setup
• Gameplay
  • Reach
  • Gaining Bonus Tiles
  • Decorations
• Game End
• Scoring
• Alternative Variant
  • (Without Pre-Printed Decorations)
• Solo Variant
• Scoring Table

Game Components

• 4 Lake cards (front side with decorations, side A; back side without decorations, side B)
• 4 Player boards (representing the lake)
• 64 Water tiles (double-sided)
• 24 Decoration tiles
• 1 Starting Player token
• 1 Cloth bag
• 60 Bonus tiles (4 sets of 15 tiles for each player – each set contains: 3×, 3×, 4×, 5× of the four bonus tile shapes)

Game Overview

Players take on the roles of master water garden designers, tasked with creating the most beautiful lake.

During the game, they gradually fill their lake with water tiles, fish, and water lilies. Points are scored for completed columns and rows, as well as for groups of koi fish and water lilies.

Game Objective

The goal of the game is to fill your lake as efficiently as possible. The player who scores the most victory points for their lake wins the game.

Game Setup

Before your very first game, punch out all cardboard components from the punchboards.

For the first game or when playing with younger children, we recommend playing without the decorations. Keep the lake cards and decoration tiles in the box; you will not need them for this first game. Ignore everything marked in pink.

1. Each player takes a player board and places it in front of them, with the bridge illustration in the top-right corner.
2. Choose a lake card randomly and insert it into the player board with side A facing up. Or play with the default layout printed on the player board.
3. Put all the water tiles into the bag and shuffle them by shaking the bag. Each player randomly draws 16 water tiles and places them one by one around their player board (it doesn't matter which side is facing up) to form a continuous line in an inverted U shape. Both ends of this line should be at the bottom corners of the board. Leave any remaining tiles in the bag near the play area.
4. Each player takes one set of bonus tiles. Bonus tiles are marked with a sand frame. The number of L-shaped and square tiles required depends on the game variant you will be playing – without a Lake card, with the card on side A or with the card on side B. Check the centre of the board or the lake card and count the marked L-shaped (in this case 4) and square areas (in this case 5). Based on the count, take the corresponding number of bonus tiles and place them in the designated spaces along the bottom edge of your board. Place all the double and triple bonus tiles in the marked spaces on the left and top edges of the game board.
5. Place the decoration tiles in the centre of the play area.

The player who most recently visited a Japanese garden receives the Starting Player token. If no one has visited a garden, or players are not sure, randomly select the starting player.

Gameplay

Starting with the starting player, players take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, you must take one water tile within your reach (see below) and place it on your game board. Tiles must be placed within the square grid on your board and must not overlap. Each tile can be placed with either side facing up and can be rotated freely before placement. The tiles do not need to be placed adjacent to another tile. Once a tile is placed, it can no longer be moved. After you have placed a tile and checked if you have met any conditions for bonus tiles (see Gaining bonus tiles), the next player in clockwise order takes their turn.

Reach

Each player has 4 water tiles within reach:

• 2 water tiles at the ends of their own U-shaped line
• 2 water tiles at the nearest ends of both their left and right opponent's lines

Example: This is Karl's reach. In his turn he can choose from these four tiles.

If a player has only one tile in front of them at any time, they must take one tile from the bag. The player can choose whether to add it to the right or left of their existing tile.

If the bag is empty, they must take one tile from the nearest end of the line of either their left or right opponent and add it to their own line. However, they cannot take a tile from a player who has only two or less tiles left.

Example: Later on in the game Karl has only two tiles in front of him. He chooses to place one of the tiles into his lake, leaving only one tile in his line. Because of this, he must take one tile from the bag. On Anna's turn, she places one of her tiles. Then, Thomas takes a tile from Karl. Now, Karl is left with only one tile again. There is no tile left in the bag so he must choose which tile from the opponent's closest ends he wants to add to his line. He selects the closest tile from Anna's line. Karl continues playing.

Gaining Bonus Tiles

After placing a tile, check if you have met the conditions for gaining a bonus tile from the edge of your game board. Bonus tiles can be gained in two ways:

A. By completing an entire row or column. In this case, you gain the bonus tile from the edge of your game board adjacent to the row or column you just completed. These bonuses are rectangular in shape and have a size of two or three squares.

Each bonus tile on the left and top edge of the board is connected to four rows or columns. These rows and columns are marked with red stones. Once the first of these rows or columns is filled, the player receives the corresponding bonus. If a second row or column in the same section is filled after the bonus has already been claimed, no additional bonus can be claimed.

B. By filling a marked area on the game board. In this case, you gain a tile that matches the shape of the filled area.

There are L-shaped and square-shaped marked areas on the board. If you completely cover them with tiles, you gain the corresponding bonus tile that matches the shape of the marked area.

Any gained bonus tile can be placed immediately on your game board or set aside on the right edge of your board for use in a later turn.

Each player may only ever have one set-aside bonus tile at the end of their turn. If you gain a bonus tile and already have one set aside, you must immediately place one of them. If you gain multiple bonus tiles in one turn, you can choose which ones to place and, as always, keep only one for later. A bonus tile which is set aside can be played at any time during a player's turn.

Example turn: Karl placed the marked tile in the centre of his player board, completing an entire column. This earned him a two-square bonus tile from the middle of the top edge of the board. He placed this tile in the marked space on the left.

Karl's placed bonus tile unlocked another bonus tile for completing the row, which he placed in the marked space.

By placing this bonus tile, Karl completed the coverage of a square area, unlocking a square bonus tile, which he set aside on the right edge of his game board for later use.

Decorations

The lake card has pre-printed green decoration spaces. If a player completely surrounds such a space with water and bonus tiles (only the perimeter needs to be filled, corners can remain empty), they gain the corresponding decoration tile and place it on their board into the pre-printed decoration space. These decorations are crucial for scoring (see section Scoring). If a player covers a pre-printed decoration space with water or bonus tiles, they lose the opportunity to gain that decoration and the points it would score.

Example of a fully surrounded decoration.

Game End

When a player can no longer place any tile within their reach, they pass. Other players may continue playing until they also can't place any tile within their reach. Once all players have passed, the game ends and players count up their points.

Scoring

Players earn victory points for fulfilling the following criteria:

1. Completed Rows and Columns:

• 1 point for each completely filled column and row on the board (maximum 24 points).

2. Symbol groups:

• 2 points for each group of koi fish of 7 or more spaces.
• 2 points for each group of water lilies of 7 or more spaces.

All orthogonally adjacent spaces with the same symbol count as one group. A diagonally adjacent koi fish/water lily belongs to a different group.

3. Decorations:

- Scored groups adjacent to a decoration earn +2 points per decoration.

Decorations themselves don't score points; they only increase the point value of groups. Decorations must be orthogonally adjacent to the group symbol; diagonal placement doesn't count as adjacent. It's sufficient for the decoration to be adjacent to just one symbol of the group.

Scoring example: This is how Karl's game board looks at the end of the game. Karl first counted points for each completed row and column, which is 8 points for rows and 6 points for columns. Karl has 2 scoring koi fish groups and 3 water lily groups on his board. He also has two decorations: The first is adjacent to two water lily groups and one koi fish group, and the second is adjacent to one koi fish group and two water lily groups. In total, he scores 22 points for groups and decorations. Karl's final score is 36 points.

Alternative Variant

(Without Pre-Printed Decorations)

For this variant, use the Lake cards with side B facing up. Gameplay follows the normal rules, with this exception: Instead of taking a water tile within reach, a player may place a decoration tile from the common supply. The decoration can be placed on any empty space on the game board, except those adjacent to another decoration. A player may not have more than three decoration tiles and cannot have two identical decoration shapes. Scoring rules remain the same – decorations adjacent to groups increase the points for those groups.

Solo Variant

Solo play is possible both with a lake card (side A or B) and without a lake card. Set up the game according to your chosen variant. Gameplay follows the same rules as the multiplayer game, with this exception:

• The player can reach 2 tiles from both ends of their water tile line, so they have 4 tiles available.

The game ends when the player no longer wants to or cannot place any tile within their reach.

Scoring Table

Compare your score with the following table, based on your chosen variant:

Achievement Level	Lake Master	Capable Lake Designer	Master's Apprentice
First game variant	28+ points	20-27 points	20 points and less
Lake card A and B	41+ points	25-40 points	25 points and less