Mediterráneo
Mediterráneo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to win 2 rounds.
A round is made up of a succession of an indeterminate number of turns. At the end of each turn the end-of-round conditions are checked:
- If any player has 10 or more points.
- If the next player has no cards left to play the next turn.
When one of the end-of-round conditions is met, the round ends and each player's points are counted. The player with the most points has won the round. Points are determined on the objective sides. In case of a tie, if the players still have cards they keep playing; if they have no cards, the round starts again.
Components
18 cards, divided into two types of sides:
- 20 sea sides
- 16 objective sides
There are 2 sets of cards. One surrounds the animals with circles, and the other with squares. Both sets have the same cards. Give one set to each player to begin play.
Rounds and Turns: Objective Phase
Before starting the round the first player is determined. In the first round it is the player who most recently bathed in the Mediterranean; in subsequent rounds it is the player who lost the previous round.
The first phase of the round is the objective phase. The first player chooses a card from their hand and places it in front of them showing the objective side. The second player will choose a different objective and place it in front of them. Both objectives are visible. Now the sea phase begins.
All animals visible in the sea score for both players, both circles and squares. Covered ones do not score.
The second player cannot choose an objective whose animal to score takes points away from their opponent, unless both animals take points away from their opponent (example 2).
Objective sides show, for example: "+2 points for each of these animals in the sea." and "-1 point for each of these animals in the sea."
- Example 1 (NOT ALLOWED).
- Example 2 (ALLOWED).
- Example 3 (ALLOWED). The circle player chooses one objective and the square player chooses another objective.
Rounds and Turns: Sea Phase
In this phase, sea cards are played onto a shared play space until an end-of-round objective is reached. They may be played horizontally or vertically with respect to the other sea sides already played. The first card with a sea side is played without any restriction. The remaining sea sides are played taking into account the following:
- You must play a sea card from your hand over one or more sea cards that are already on the table.
- You may cover one or two animals of each of the other cards; they do not have to be of the same species.
- When placing a card you may not cover more than two animals of each of the other already placed cards.
- You must cover at least one animal when playing a card.
- The maximum number of animals that can be covered when placing a card is 5.
Sea Phase: Examples
- Step 1: The circle player plays a card with the sea side face up.
- Step 2: The square player plays a card.
- Step 3: The circle player plays their card and places it over the previous two.
End of the Round
When the end-of-round objectives are met, both players recover all the cards they played. The card with the objective side of the player who won the round is removed from the game (that player will play with one card fewer from now on), together with all cards played with the seagull side. Then a new round begins, started by the player who lost.
The player who wins two rounds is the winner of Mediterráneo.
Seagulls
Each player has a card with a side of seagulls. These creatures scare away the other animals. The seagull sides may be played covering any number of animals (minimum 1) on any number of sea sides, even covering a card completely.
Octopuses
Octopuses are famous for camouflaging themselves. Each set of cards has 6 octopuses.
Each octopus becomes the animal that it touches with its tentacles, taking into account the following factors:
- If an octopus points at another octopus that has already camouflaged itself, both octopuses become that animal.
- If two octopuses point at each other, point at a seagull, or do not point at anything, those octopuses do not count as any animal.
Example (Step 1 and Step 2): both octopuses count as a ray.