Kawaii
Kawaii Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
GAME MATERIAL
- 55 ice cream cards (incl. 3 closed shop cards & 2 cherry cards)
- 5 "favorite flavor" cards
- 5 "favorite shape" cards
- 10 heart-shaped capture tokens
AIM OF THE GAME
Collect as many ice creams of your favorite shape and/or flavor as you can. Cherries will gain you extra points, but be careful not to find the door closed when you go to the shop, or you might see your score melt like ice in the sun...
The player who wins the most points after 3 rounds wins the game.
SETTING UP THE GAME
Shuffle the 5 "favorite flavor" cards and give one to each player. Do the same for the "favorite shape" cards. Any remaining cards are discarded. Each player secretly looks at their two cards and memorizes the shape and flavor of their favorite ice cream.
Each player gets 2 capture tokens. The remaining tokens are laid aside.
Shuffle the ice cream cards and distribute them to the players, face down. Depending on the number of players, it is possible that players may not have the same number of cards. If so, distribute all cards: even if one player has more than another, it will not impact the game. Each player takes their reserve of ice cream cards and places them in front of him or her, face down without looking at them.
HOW TO PLAY
Important: throughout the game, players can only use one of their hands to place their cards and capture ice creams, not two.
The last player who ate an ice cream starts the first round. In subsequent rounds, the player with the lowest score will be the first to play.
In turn and playing clockwise, each player quickly turns a card over from their reserve and places it in front of them.
Watch out: players must flip their cards over in the direction of other players, and they must not be able to see their cards before the other players do.
The cards must be placed in front of each player in a pile, slightly offset from one another, so that the flavor and shape of the ice creams on each card remain visible.
When a player spots one or several piles they find interesting (because they have enough ice creams of their favorite shape and/or flavor), they can capture it. They should quickly put their token on the corresponding pile and say "Kawaii". The game stops, the player take all the cards from that pile and puts them aside in a score pile. These cards are no longer part of the game and they will be used to count scores at the end of the round. The player then gives their capture token to the player whose pile they just captured.
The given token can be now used by another player (immediately or later in the game). If players capture their own pile, their capture token is discarded.
Beware: You can capture several piles at the same time, using one token per pile. You can say "Kawaii" anytime during the game, and several players can say "Kawaii" at the same time.
If 2 players (or more) put their token on the same pile, the fastest wins the pile. If they put it down at exactly the same time there is a tie-breaker: play a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who takes the pile.
You can also say "Kawaii" and capture piles while the game is stopped.
The game then resumes and the player whose turn it was before the interruption plays.
The game continues until all the cards in the players' reserves have been played and no one wants to collect any more cards, or if no one has any capture token left.
The remaining piles of face-up cards are discarded from the game and each player counts their score.
SPECIAL CARDS
The cherry and closed shop cards are special cards that allow you to gain or lose additional points. For more information, read the following paragraph.
END OF THE GAME AND SCORING
Each player counts their score with the cards they has captured as follows:
- 1 point for each ice cream of your favorite flavor
- 1 point for each ice cream of your favorite shape
- 2 points for an ice cream of your favorite shape AND flavor
- 1 point for each cherry
- Each closed shop is -1 point, unless you have captured all 3 cards: in this case, you win +3 points.
- 1 point for each remaining capture token you have at the end of the game
The player with the least points starts the next round. After three rounds, the player with the highest score wins the game.
TOO EASY?
For a more difficult game, place your cards on top of each other: the cards previously played are no longer visible and you will have to remember which ice creams have been played.