Kanaloa
Kanaloa Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
65 playing cards:
- 12 ocean cards
- 48 Tiki cards
- 3 Kanaloa cards
- 2 octopus cards
5 boats in different colours
1 game manual
Aim of the game
The aim is to take the most tricks by skillfully playing the cards to get ahead as fast as possible with your boat and to outrun the slowest player.
The cards
The ocean cards: They show the oceans the boats sail. Each card consists of 2 water spaces in different colours.
- The space with the island is the start field.
- Some fields show a dolphin that comes to the aid of players who are alone on the water.
If a player moves their boat to a water space with a dolphin icon, and if the spaces in front and behind the boat are free, the player may immediately move forward by one more space. Only one boat is allowed on each water space at a time. Exception: Start field at the beginning of the game.
The Tiki cards: The Tikis symbolise the 4 elements and each element is represented by a specific colour. The four Tikis are Air, Earth, Water and Fire. There are 12 cards for each Tiki with the values 1 to 12.
The Kanaloa card: It is the strongest card in the game and can be played at any time, even if the player has the suit played in their hand. It beats every Tiki card, even cards in the trump suit. If several Kanaloa cards are played in one trick, the player who last played a Kanaloa card takes the trick.
The octopus card: The weakest card. A player can never take a trick with this. Like the Kanaloa card, it can be played at any time.
N.B.: If you play an octopus card, you must immediately remove any free ocean card from the sea route. For a player who is far behind, this can be helpful to shorten the gap, and the fastest player can reach the finish even faster by lapping the last player. If there is not a free ocean card, none of them can be removed.
Game preparation
- The ocean cards map the sea route and are laid out face up in any order as a circular sailing route.
- All 12 ocean cards are used with 5 players. If there are 4 players, any 1 ocean card is removed from the game. With 3 players, any 2 ocean cards are removed from the game.
- Each player gets a boat in the colour of their choice and places it on the start field (the island). The boats are moved forward in a clockwise direction during the game.
- Decide which player will start the game. This person shuffles all the Tiki, Kanaloa and octopus cards and deals 8 cards face down to each player. The rest of the cards are not needed for this round.
Game rules
The game consists of several rounds. One round is always played as follows:
- The starting player opens a round by playing a card from their hand.
- The other players now also play one card each in turn.
- Check to see who took the trick. This player may move their boat forward to the next free water space. Any occupied spaces are skipped.
- Before the player who has taken the trick plays a card for the next trick, they announce the trump suit for the next trick out loud. The suit on the water space on which the leading boat is placed is always trumps.
- A round is finished once all cards have been played and 8 tricks have been taken.
- After the player who took the last trick has moved their boat forward, they remove any free water card from the sea route. So the sailing route gets shorter and shorter during the game. Please note: If there are only 3 ocean cards left or there is no free ocean card, no other card is removed from the sea route.
- The player who took the last trick starts the next round. They shuffle all the cards, deal 8 cards to each player and lay a card for the first trick.
Taking the trick
The player who played the card with the highest value or the highest card in the trump suit (see Trumps) takes the trick. There is a follow suit rule (see Follow suit rule) but not a take the trick rule.
Once a player has taken a trick, they pick up all the cards from the trick and place them face down in front of them. Then they move their boat to a free water space and lay a card for the next trick.
Follow suit rule
Each player is obliged to play a card of the same suit as the card played first. So it's time to show your colours. However, there is no rule that you have to take the trick. This means the card does not have to have a higher value than the card played first. If a player does not have a card of the corresponding suit, they can play any other card.
Trumps
The colour of the water space which the leading boat is on determines which suit is trumps. This means that the trump suit may change several times during a round. At the start of the game, when all boats are on the start field, blue is the trump suit. If a player does not have a card of the first suit played and plays a trump suit card instead, that player takes the trick. If several players play a card in the trump suit, the player who played the highest card in the trump suit takes the trick.
Remember: a Kanaloa or octopus card may be played at any time. See the description at the beginning of this game manual under The cards.
The end of the game
The game ends when a player's boat laps the last boat on the sea route. This player wins the game.
Variation
If a player has dealt and looked at their hand and assumes they will not take a trick with their cards in this round, they can "announce" this by tilting their boat to the side. If they are right and they do not take a trick, the player may put the boat back in place after the end of the round and move forward 3 free spaces.
But if they were wrong and still took one or more tricks, they put their boat back in place but may not move forwards.
Example with 4 players
The example is printed as a diagram in the manual; the text below transcribes its captions and the play as described.
Emily is in the lead. Her boat is on a red space. Red is therefore trumps.
Ben lays a card for the next trick: turquoise 2. Anna then plays turquoise 5. Danny does not have a turquoise card and lays blue 1. Emily lays turquoise 4.
Anna takes the trick because she played the highest card. She may move her boat forward one free space. She skips the next space because it is already occupied and lands on the green water space. Red is still trumps for the next trick as the leading boat has not moved and has not been overtaken.
Anna lays a card for the next trick: blue 8. Danny lays red 3. Emily lays blue 10. Ben lays an octopus card and may remove any ocean card. He chooses the next free card: blue + turquoise to reduce the gap to the leading player and catch up. Danny takes the trick as he was the only one to lay a card in the trump suit. He moves his boat forward and overtakes Emily. The new trump suit is turquoise.
Danny lays red 11. Emily lays a Kanaloa card, Ben red 7. Anna also lays a Kanaloa card. She takes the trick because the last played Kanaloa takes the trick. Anna moves her boat to the next free space. It has a dolphin on it. As both the space behind her and the next space is not occupied by any other boat, she may move her boat one space forward.