HiLo: Dein Königreich
HiLo: Dein Königreich Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Goal
Build your kingdom and try to improve your card layout by exchanging cards. In the end, the player who can collect the most Sterntaler with a clever combination of cards wins.
Components and Setup
69 cards, 56 Sterntaler chips.
Example starting setup for 3 players (diagram: Sterntaler chips, discard pile, draw pile).
Shuffle the cards thoroughly and deal 12 cards face down to each player. Each player arranges their cards, still face down, into a layout of 2 rows of 6 cards each. Place the remaining cards in the middle as the draw pile. Turn over the top card of the draw pile and place it beside it. This is the discard pile.
Keep the Sterntaler chips to one side. You only need them at the end of the game for scoring.
Turn over any one card in your layout.
If the revealed card is a Magician, shuffle it back into the draw pile and take a new card from the draw pile. Place that new card face up in the freed-up spot of your layout.
If the revealed card is a Phoenix, the Phoenix's action (turn over one more card, see page 3 below) does not take effect.
Playing the Game
Whoever last saw a unicorn begins. Play then continues clockwise.
On your turn, you choose one of the following two actions:
A
Take the top card of the face-up discard pile. Exchange it with an open or face-down card from your layout. Place the card from the discard pile face up in your layout, and place the exchanged card face up on the discard pile.
OR
B
Draw the top card of the draw pile. Look at it and decide on one of the following two options:
- Exchange it with an open or face-down card from your layout (as under A), OR
- Place the drawn card face up on the discard pile. But be careful: in this case you must immediately turn over any one face-down card from your layout.
Then the next player takes their turn.
Each turn changes your layout in this way. Your goal when exchanging cards is to collect as many Sterntaler as possible with your layout.
Callout: 1 complete Sterntaler.
Only complete Sterntaler are scored at the end. Therefore, try to arrange the cards by exchanging them so that they lie on top of or beside each other in a way that produces as many complete Sterntaler as possible.
Note: Keep the cards in your layout always upright, not upside down.
The Dragon Keeper, the Unicorn Keeper and the Wolf Keeper bring you Sterntaler according to the number of animals they guard in your layout.
Example: If you have a Wolf Keeper in your layout at the end of the game and also a Wolf, you receive 2 Sterntaler. If you have a Wolf Keeper and two Wolves, you receive 4 Sterntaler.
Keeper cards without their corresponding animals bring no Sterntaler, and additional animals without another Keeper card likewise bring none.
Magician
Immediately when you reveal a Magician in your layout, or place one into your layout, whether you drew it from the draw pile or took it from the discard pile, the Magician casts a spell: you must immediately exchange any card (but not the Magician itself) from your layout with a card from another player's layout. It does not matter whether the cards in the respective layouts are face down or face up. The exchanged cards remain face down or face up, as they were before the exchange. The exchanged cards stay in the new layout as they were, face down or face up.
The Magician remains in your layout for now. However, later in the game you can exchange it with a card drawn from the draw pile or discard pile.
Caution: when casting, you may never exchange Magicians.
During scoring, cards lying above or below a Magician are ignored. Therefore, try to get rid of Magicians from your layout towards the end of the game.
Phoenix
When you reveal a Phoenix in your layout, or place one into your layout, you immediately turn over one more card in your layout. It does not matter whether you drew the Phoenix from the draw pile, took it from the discard pile, or exchanged it from another player's layout.
If the Phoenix is revealed as a starting card (see Components and Setup above) or as the last card, its action does not take effect.
Layout rule
Be careful: throughout the whole game you may change your layout only by exchanging new cards in (from the draw pile or discard pile, or through the Magician's spell). You may never swap or move cards within your layout.
If the draw pile is ever empty, shuffle the discard pile and place it as the new draw pile.
End of the Game and Scoring
The game ends immediately when all 12 cards in one player's layout have been revealed. All other players now also reveal their remaining face-down cards.
If a Magician is present, it may no longer cast its spell. Turn over the card that lies above or below the Magician. That card is not scored.
Place one Sterntaler chip on each complete Sterntaler.
Place Sterntaler chips on the Keeper cards according to the number of corresponding animals in your layout: 2 Sterntaler for 1 Keeper + 1 animal, 4 Sterntaler for 1 Keeper + 2 animals. Each Keeper card always counts for a maximum of 2 animals. To score a third matching animal, you need a second Keeper.
Then count the Sterntaler chips together. The player with the most chips wins. In case of a tie, the players share the victory.
Scoring example
A: For the Dragon Keeper plus 1 dragon there are 2 Sterntaler.
B: The card above the Magician was turned over before scoring. It is not scored.
The layout yields 11 Sterntaler.