Koi Pond: A Coy Card Game
Koi Pond: A Coy Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Deck
The four suits are white, yellow, red, blue. Each suit has koi cards showing one, two, or three koi. Each suit also has a crane, cat, and turtle. There are 12 hybrid koi cards, each featuring two suits. Three ribbons per suit, a set of reference cards, and a start player card are also included in the deck.
The deck contains:
- Koi cards x4 (per suit)
- Cat, crane, ribbons, and turtle x1 x3 (per suit)
- Hybrid koi x2 (per pair of suits)
- Start player card x1
- Four reference cards x1 (back)
Setup and Game Terms
Place any tan-bordered cards outside the play area. Give the oldest player the start player card. All that should remain are koi, cat, crane and turtle cards. Shuffle these into a deck.
Each player's hand is called a house. Each player should have room for five stacks of cards in a row, called a pond. (Four stacks are for koi of each suit and the fifth is for any cranes, cats, or turtles.) Each player should have room for a column of overlapping discarded cards, called a river. The central area is the lake, which should have enough room for a large, loose pile of cards later in the game.
Example 4-player setup: each opponent has a house, a river, and a pond arranged around the table; the deck, ribbons, and the lake sit in the central area; you have your own pond, river, and house nearest to you.
Overview of Play
The game lasts three rounds. Each round lasts six turns. Each turn is comprised of a draw phase and a place phase.
On a Turn
Draw Phase: Beginning with the start player, each player draws one card from the deck or the lake, continuing until each player has three new cards. These are immediately added to each player's house. (Note: the lake has no cards in the first round.)
Example: you draw three cards (highlighted).
Place Phase: All players make two choices from amongst all the cards in their houses.
First, each player must choose one card to put in his or her pond. Keep this card face-down for now.
Second, each player must choose one card to discard to his or her river. Keep this choice face-down for now.
After all players make their choices, all players reveal their chosen cards simultaneously. (Cards in any player's house stay secret.)
Example: you secretly play one red koi into your pond. You secretly play one white koi to your river. After everyone else has made their choices, all players reveal their chosen cards simultaneously.
A Note on Hybrids
Hybrid koi are either suit, not both.
- House: If you keep a hybrid in your house, you decide its suit at the end of the round, during scoring.
- Pond: If you place a hybrid in your pond, you must decide its suit as soon as it is revealed. (If a crane is revealed the same turn, you can change your mind, placing that hybrid in another stack.)
- River: If you discard a hybrid to your river, decide the suit at the end of the round, during scoring. If turn order becomes relevant, the start player decides the suit of her earliest hybrid first, continuing clockwise around the table, until all hybrids' suits have been decided.
After Each Turn
Pass the start player card to the left.
After Each Round
Each ribbon features a different suit: white, yellow, red, or blue. Award a ribbon to each player who has the most koi of the corresponding suit in her river. If tied, no ribbons are awarded.
See Scoring After Each Round below.
Scoring After Each Round
All players reveal cards in their houses. Organize koi cards by suit for ease of reference.
Each suit of koi: Compare the total koi of a suit in pond to the total koi of that suit in house. Score points equal to the lower total. Repeat this for all four suits.
Cats, cranes or turtles: If a player has a cat, crane, or turtle in her pond, she scores bonus points. (These animals in a house or river do not score any points.) These score points based on koi of their suit in an opponent's house, pond, or river. Which opponent depends on the number of players and the current round.
- Cat: 1 point per koi of its suit in the opponent's house.
- Crane: 1 point per koi of its suit in the opponent's pond.
- Turtle: 1 point per koi of its suit in the opponent's river.
Scoring Direction
In a two-player game, score points from the opponent across from you.
In a three-player game, score from the opponent to the left in the first round, then from the opponent to the right in the second round, then from the opponent to the left in the third round.
In a four-player game, score from the opponent to the left in the first round, then from the opponent to the right in the second round, then from the opponent across from you in the third round.
Example of Scoring
Your opponent's score: Four white koi are in his pond and two are in his house. Two is the lower number, earning him 2 points for white. No yellow koi in his pond and three in his house earn him no points for yellow. Two red koi in his pond and one in his house earn him 1 point for red. Three blue koi in his pond and three in his house earn him 3 points for blue. You have five white koi in your house, so his white cat earns him 5 bonus points. At the end of the game, his pair of white ribbons earns him 4 bonus points.
Your score: There are three white koi in your pond and five white koi in your house. Three is the lower number, earning you 3 points for white. Three yellow koi in your pond and two in your house earn you 2 points for yellow. Two red koi in your pond and no red koi in your house earn you no points for red. Three blue koi in your pond and five blue koi in your house earn you 3 points for blue. Your opponent has four yellow koi in his river, so your white turtle earns you 4 bonus points. At the end of the game, your trio of red ribbons earns you 9 bonus points.
After scoring for the round, move all river cards to the lake. (It should be a loose, undifferentiated pile of cards.) Shuffle house and pond cards and place them in the bottom of the deck.
Scoring at End of Game
After the third round, earn points for ribbons.
One ribbon of a color earns 1 point.
Two ribbons of a color earn 4 points.
Three ribbons of a color earn 9 points.
The player with the most points wins the game!
Scoring Chart
Track each player's score across the three rounds:
- Koi: 1pt per koi in your house or pond, whichever has the fewer total koi.
- Cat: 1pt per koi of its suit in opponent's house.
- Crane: 1pt per koi of its suit in opponent's pond.
- Turtle: 1pt per koi of its suit in opponent's river.
- Ribbons: 1pt for one-of-a-kind, 4pts for two-of-a-kind, 9pts for three-of-a-kind.