K'uh Nah
K'uh Nah Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
K'uh nah is a quick, push-your-luck game of finding just the right time to get and avoid blocks for your pyramid, while managing your jade supply to ensure you have the greatest flexibility. Be careful, because you must always place a lighter block on top of a heavier block, unless you are able to match the animal symbols. And if you run out of jade you will have to take a block that might not be the best fit! The player who builds the best designed pyramid that will last the ages wins the game!
20 mins, ages 14+, 2-6 players.
Components
- 50 Cards (2 copies each numbered 6-30)
- 48 Jade Tokens
- 1 Rulebook
Set Up
Give each player 8 jade tokens. Jade tokens may be held in players' hands to keep them secret. Shuffle the cards and make the draw deck. You will remove a number of cards at random based on player count:
| Players | Remove |
|---|---|
| 2 | 29 cards |
| 3 & 5 | 19 cards |
| 4 | 9 cards |
| 6 | 1 card |
Put the removed cards in the box without looking at them. Put the deck in the center of the table face down. Flip over the top two cards of the deck face up and place them in the center of the table next to the face down deck. This is called the Quarry. Choose a player to go first. You are ready to play!
Game Play
A Player's Turn
Beginning with the start player, and continuing clockwise, each player will do one of the following:
- Place a jade token on one of the face up cards in the Quarry.
- Take one of the cards in the Quarry and any jade tokens that are on it, placing the card in their pyramid following the rules below.
If you have no jade tokens left, you must take a card.
If a card is taken, the Quarry is not refilled until after the card is placed in that player's pyramid following the rules below. Once the card is placed in a player's pyramid, take the top card of the facedown deck and place it in the Quarry so that the Quarry once again has two face up cards.
Placing Cards
When you take a card you will be building a personal pyramid in your play area. You start with the base of your pyramid and may always add cards to your base. Once you have at least two cards in the base of your pyramid you may start placing cards above those cards so that the new card touches the two other cards and are "supported" by them. In this way you can continue to build higher and higher. Cards that support other cards must be of a higher (heavier) value than the card they are supporting or match the symbol of the card directly above them.
NOTE: You cannot move a previously placed card.
The wild symbols (Jaguar) count as any symbol.
Examples
- Example image: The 15 is heavier than both cards underneath it and doesn't match both symbols.
- Example image (illegal placement): the 15 is heavier than the 9 and the symbols do not match.
- For example you can place a 15 on top of a 22 and 11, but the symbol on the right of the 15 must match with the symbol on the left of the 11. The symbol on the left of the 15 does not need to match the symbol on the right of the 22, because the 22 is heavier than the 15 and so it is okay that the 15 is on top of the 22.
- Using icons to break the placement rule by matching icons.
- Even though the 16 is heavier than the 7 and the 12 both symbols match up and it can be placed.
Game End
If the draw deck is empty and you are not able to place a 2nd face up card in the Quarry, the game is over. The last card will not be taken and any jade tokens on it remain there.
Scoring
Once the game is over you do final scoring. Every card that is not supporting another card is scored for its face value. Once you have scored all your cards, you subtract any remaining jade tokens you have from that score for your final score. Lowest score wins!
Example: Both 15 and 9 are not supporting other cards and therefore count against your score. 7 jade tokens are left over and subtract from your score. Final score: 17.
Variant
Play with the jaguar as a regular symbol, not a wild symbol. Once per game, after taking a card, a player may place one jade token on a symbol to make that symbol a wild.