Mutter Natur Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components (Kartenübersicht)
• Mutter Natur - the game
  • Introduction
  • Goal of the game
  • Example of the web of life
• Setup
• Course of play
  • Game round
  • 1. Planning and symbiosis phase
  • 2. Reveal phase
  • Example: round 3 of a game with five players
• End of the game
• 12 Variants
  • Path 1: Natural Variations
    • Stage 1: Connected Conditions
    • Stage 2: Dependent Conditions
    • Stage 3: The Wetland
  • Path 2: Natural Spaces under Pressure
    • Stage 1: Preferred Symbioses
    • Stage 2: Temporary Conditions
    • Stage 3: Specific Biodiversity
  • Path 3: Effects of Humans
    • Stage 1: Climate Change
    • Stage 2: Environmental Changes
• Quick Reference (Kurzübersicht)
  • Preparation
  • 1. Planning/symbiosis phase (all at once)
  • 2. Reveal phase

Components (Kartenübersicht)

90 cards, divided into:

68 base game cards:

• 6 setup cards numbered 1-6 (front: base game) and lettered A-F (back: Invasive Species, page 22)
• 27 condition cards:
  • 6 atmospheric conditions
  • 6 water conditions
  • 6 geological conditions
  • 6 heat conditions
  • 3 jokers (each represents 1 of the 4 conditions)
  • Some condition cards contain symbols of the variants (from page 15).
• 10 plant and animal species cards (each species is unique)
• 18 symbiosis cards (handshake side / mushroom side)
• 1 starting player card (also a free symbiosis)
• 6 player aid cards, whose different front and back sides are used for the variant "Path 4" (from page 22)

22 variant cards for the four paths (from page 15):

• 6 Cats
• 3 Pollution
• 3 Reintroduction of Species
• 6 Wetlands
• 3 Invasive Species
• 1 player aid Wetland / Invasive Species

Mutter Natur - the game

Introduction

You are the craftswomen in whose hands the web of life is woven, from the smallest grasses to the largest predators.

Goal of the game

Mutter Natur is a cooperative game in which you must play your cards at the right time in the right place, with limited means of communication, in order to weave the web of life together.

From the start you all hold in your hands the cards needed to complete your common task successfully: before the end of the last round you must have laid out all the cards that form the web of life, up to the majestic Golden Eagle (Steinadler)!

From page 15 there follow 4 paths with 3 stages each, to explore other themes of Mother Nature in play.

Example of the web of life

(Illustration, translated.) The setup cards: the necessary condition (blue) for the settlement of a species (Rush / Binse). Two species (Hawthorn and Oak) must have settled in order to be able to play the following conditions (purple and green). A species (Blue Tit) may be played as soon as its conditions (purple and green) are present. The web of life at the end of a won game: you play the conditions and species from left to right. The species shown on the setup cards are: Rush (Binse), Blackberry (Brombeere), Golden Beetle (Goldkäfer), Hawthorn (Weißdorn), Vole (Wühlmaus), Oak (Eiche), Blue Tit (Blaumeise), Stone Marten (Marder), Grass Snake (Ringelnatter), Golden Eagle (Steinadler).

Setup

1. Lay out the 6 setup cards with the number side up in 3 columns (on the left, one below the other, 1, 2, 3; in the middle 4, 5; and on the right 6).
2. Leave the condition and species cards with the variant symbols in the box. They are only needed for the variants (from page 15).
3. Form a shuffled deck of species and condition cards according to the following overview:

Players	Conditions	Jokers	Species cards
3	20 (5 per colour)	3	10
4	20 (5 per colour)	2	10
5	24 (6 per colour)	1	10
6	24 (6 per colour)	2	10

4. Deal the cards evenly to everyone: each player may look only at her own cards.
5. Depending on the number of players, give each player one player aid card and the corresponding number of symbiosis cards, which you lay out face up in front of you (handshake side):

Players	Symbiosis cards per player
3	0
4	1
5	2
6	3

6. The player who, in your opinion, radiates the most closeness to nature receives the starting player card, which at the same time represents a free symbiosis.

Course of play

Together you weave the web of life in the middle of the table. Once you have played the necessary conditions, a species can settle. Once two species have settled (adjacent, one above the other), new conditions may be laid out (one fork further on), until a new species can settle there again, and so on.

Note: Nobody may show her hand cards openly (only symbiosis cards lie face up).

Game round

The number of rounds equals the number of hand cards at the start of the game. Each round is divided into two phases:

1. Planning and symbiosis phase and
2. Reveal phase.

1. Planning and symbiosis phase

All players simultaneously choose one hand card each and place it face down in front of them, so that no information is revealed yet. During this phase you may swap it for another hand card at any time.

2 ways to enter into a symbiosis:

• Being the starting player (free symbiosis), or
• playing a symbiosis card.

Before or after playing a hand card face down, each player may use one of her symbiosis cards in one of the following ways:

a) Show 1 hand card (or her face-down played card) to all the others.

b) Give 1 hand card (or her face-down played card) to someone else. Only this player knows the card received and must in return give back 1 hand card (or her face-down played card) or the card she has just received.

c) Swap 1 condition card (from her hand or her face-down played card) with any 1 card from the discard pile (if there is one).

In every round Mother Nature gives the starting player a free symbiosis (represented by the starting player card)!

It is possible for several players to enter into several symbioses per round, but their number per game is limited: a symbiosis card that has been used is removed from the game. With 3 players there are no additional symbiosis cards in the game, so only the starting player of a round can enter into a (free) symbiosis!

2. Reveal phase

Once all players have made their choice and do not wish to exchange any further information by symbiosis, the starting player reveals her played card and, if applicable, lays it out in the web of life. The other players follow clockwise. If a card cannot be laid out, it goes onto the discard pile, which, if applicable, is fanned out so that it is clearly visible.

When can a condition card be laid out in the web of life? Only the 4 conditions necessary for plant species can be laid out at the beginning of the game. The conditions necessary for an animal may only be laid out once the two adjacent species one fork earlier are already laid out.

When can a species card be laid out in the web of life? A species card can be laid out when the conditions necessary for it (in any order) are laid out.

Joker: If someone reveals a joker card, its owner immediately chooses the colour she wants to give it and aligns it accordingly (before the next player reveals her card).

At the end of the round the starting player card is passed clockwise to the new starting player (and a new free symbiosis becomes possible).

Example: round 3 of a game with five players

1. The starting player lays out a green condition.
2. Player 2 lays out a purple condition (both necessary for the Blue Tit).
3. Player 3 can lay out her species card (the Blue Tit), since both conditions (in any order) are laid out (purple and green).
4. Player 4 cannot lay out her purple condition and discards it (onto the discard pile).
5. Player 5 cannot lay out her species card (the Vole) and discards it.

In the next round someone must lay out a yellow condition before the Golden Beetle can be played, as well as a blue condition for the Vole (for this a player must enter into a symbiosis, in order first to swap one of her condition cards with the Vole in the discard pile and then to play it face down). Only then may the condition cards after the next fork on the right be laid out.

End of the game

The game can end in two ways:

1. You have finished weaving the web of life up to the Golden Eagle? Congratulations, you have won and Mother Nature rejoices with you! The fewer cards in the discard pile, the greater your glory. If there is no discard pile, you are truly the crown of creation!

2. You have laid out all your cards, but not the Golden Eagle? Then you have probably discarded too many cards and unfortunately lost: in life things do not always go according to plan. Surely you have learned from it, to coordinate even better in the next game!

If during the game you have already discarded too many cards to be able to lay out the Golden Eagle, you may end the game early and start anew!

Players	Max. permitted number of cards in the discard pile
3	3
4	2
5	5
6	6

12 Variants

"Life finds a way." - Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park, 1993

Since life can find different ways, we offer you four of them. Each path comprises three stages, in which you must adapt and thus think differently together!

Each stage of a path is a self-contained part and has its own rules, to which the rules of previous stages are added! The 3rd stage thus contains the rules of all 3 stages. To complete a path, you must defeat all 3 of its stages one after another without a defeat.

Of course, for fun (and if you particularly like certain variants), you can simply play a path stage of your choice and combine the respective rules (or not)!

Since Mother Nature is sometimes unfathomable, the paths can cross: feel free to try combining the rules of different stages of different paths freely with one another ...

Depending on the number of players and the stage, not everyone starts with the same number of hand cards.

Path 1: Natural Variations

Stage 1: Connected Conditions

Sometimes certain conditions are only viable if they are connected to others.

The 4 condition cards shown on the left with this symbol must be part of your base game deck and play a special role in this stage. If a card with a connected condition is revealed, it may only be laid out if the previous player revealed some condition card (and not a species card). Otherwise the connected condition is discarded. The starting player can therefore never play a connected condition.

Stage 2: Dependent Conditions

Certain engineer species make the creation of new conditions possible.

The 4 condition cards shown on the left with this symbol must be part of your base game deck and play a special role in this stage. As soon as a card with a dependent condition has been revealed, it may only be laid out if the previous player revealed a species card. Otherwise the dependent condition is discarded. The starting player can therefore never play a dependent condition.

Stage 3: The Wetland

Wetlands are of decisive importance for biodiversity, since they offer protection to many species and play an important role in regulating the water balance and the climate. They also contribute to ecological balance by supporting rich and diverse ecosystems.

Lay the Wetland player aid card below the setup cards. Add the 6 Wetland cards to the card deck from Stage 2 and deal the cards to all players. In games with three and four players there are thus 8 blue and 6 green condition cards in the deck, with five and six players 9 blue and 7 green.

Your additional task is to weave a water web of life consisting of a total of 4 conditions and 2 species: the Stonewort (Armleuchteralge) and the Roach (Rotauge).

A card (conditions, jokers or species) may only be laid out in the water web of life if the player immediately before laid out a blue condition (or a blue joker); otherwise the card is discarded.

Note: Multiple combinations are allowed, e.g. a blue condition in the upper web, then a blue condition in the lower water web, then the Stonewort in the water web.

Path 2: Natural Spaces under Pressure

Stage 1: Preferred Symbioses

The interaction between certain species can be exclusive and indispensable. If a player uses a symbiosis card to show 1 of her cards, she may show it only to one single player (and no longer to everyone)!

Stage 2: Temporary Conditions

Certain conditions are temporary (e.g. floods) and must be exploited quickly by the species adapted to them. This concerns the 4 condition cards shown on the left with this symbol, which must be part of your base game deck and play a special role in this stage.

At the end of every round, every temporary condition card must be covered by a species card - otherwise it is discarded. Further condition cards may lie between the temporary condition card and the species card.

Stage 3: Specific Biodiversity

The development of flora or fauna does not require the same natural balance.

At the beginning of the game, after everyone has received a player aid card and looked at her hand cards (and keeps nicely quiet), each player, beginning with the starting player and continuing clockwise, chooses openly which side of her player aid card is visible: plant (green side) or animal (brown side).

If during the game a player reveals a species card that does not correspond to her own player aid card species type (plant OR animal), she must discard the species card. She can of course also play any condition card.

Path 3: Effects of Humans

Stage 1: Climate Change

Climate change leads to imbalances, in particular of a thermal and hydrological kind (e.g. drying-out ponds and rivers).

If within a round a heat condition (yellow) is revealed immediately before or after a water condition (blue), the blue card is discarded. A joker laid out as a blue or yellow condition card is also treated like a blue or yellow card.

Stage 2: Environmental Changes

A dam, urbanisation or a power plant can have considerable effects on the environment and require a new natural balance.

The condition cards must be laid out in the specified order (1, 2, 3). A condition card that does not observe this is discarded.

Stage 3: Reintroduction of Species

Human activities can disturb ecosystems (e.g. through pollution), but also try to restore them, in particular through measures such as the reintroduction of species.

Shuffle together 3 Pollution cards and 3 Reintroduction of Species cards. Of these, shuffle unseen into the base game deck at the start of the game as many as there are players. The remaining cards are set aside (with 6 players, all cards are thus used). These variant cards are played in the same way as condition and species cards. To win the game, they must all have been played, but they never count towards the maximum discard pile size.

One or more players each reveal a Reintroduction of Species card. All plant or condition cards revealed afterwards (in this or the following rounds) are discarded until an animal card is revealed (whereby all laid-out Reintroduction cards are immediately discarded).

A Pollution card may only be played if all 4 plant species are already present before the beginning of the round. If a Pollution card is revealed, it is discarded immediately - if present, together with a condition card laid out in the web of life that is not covered by a species card. If all are covered, you are lucky!

Path 4: Effects of Other Species

Stage 1: Invasive Species

Certain species disturb the ecosystems they colonise, in particular because they have no natural enemies or because they are excessively successful in their new habitat.

Replace the 3 species cards of the base game deck shown on the right (Hawthorn is shown with Japanese Knotweed; Golden Beetle with Asian Hornet; Stone Marten with Raccoon) with the 3 Invasive Species cards. Lay out the 6 setup cards with the letter side up in 3 columns (on the left, one below the other, A, B, C, in the middle D, E, on the right F).

Use the Invasive Species player aid card.

Invasive Species cards that are not played by the starting player must always be discarded.

Stage 2: Incomplete Symbioses

In nature, a strict symbiosis is based on the presence of both partner species; if one of them is missing, the interaction cannot take place.

With symbioses you may from now on no longer show a card to everyone, but only swap 1 card (with 1 other player or with the discard pile, according to page 44).

Stage 3: The First Predator

Free-roaming house cats are predators that hunt numerous bird species, small mammals, reptiles and insects and thus contribute to the decline of the local fauna, especially in sensitive ecosystems.

Add to the card deck from Stage 1 1 Cat card per player.

A Cat card is played face down in front of you like a condition or species card. If within a round

• 1 Cat card is revealed immediately before or after 1 species card (plant or animal), both are discarded (or all 3 for plant + cat + animal).
• 2 Cat cards are revealed by 2 players, they are taken back into hand. (It can therefore happen that some players have played out their hand of cards earlier than others.)

If both these situations occur in the same round, the affected species cards are discarded and the players get their Cat cards back.

To win the game, all Cat cards must first have been played and discarded before the Golden Eagle can be played. Variant cards (Cats) never count towards the maximum permitted discard pile size.

The game is lost if

• there are more Cat cards than rounds remaining in the game.
• only 1 person is left in the game who still has Cat cards (and the Golden Eagle) in hand.

Quick Reference (Kurzübersicht)

Preparation

Players	Conditions	Jokers	Species cards	Symbiosis cards per person	Max. cards allowed in discard pile
3	20 (5 per colour)	3	10	0	3
4	20 (5 per colour)	2	10	1	2
5	24 (6 per colour)	1	10	2	5
6	24 (6 per colour)	2	10	3	6

Last column: maximum permitted number of cards in the discard pile.

1. Planning/symbiosis phase (all at once)

Each player plays a card from her hand face down in front of her (swapping is allowed in this phase). A symbiosis card can be used as follows:

a) Show 1 hand card to all other players; b) swap 1 hand card with 1 other player; c) swap 1 condition card with any 1 card of the discard pile.

The starting player of a round receives 1 free symbiosis.

2. Reveal phase

The starting player reveals her card and, if possible, places it in the web of life. All others follow in turn. The person following clockwise becomes the new starting player of the next round.

A species card may only be laid out once its conditions are laid out. As soon as two species are laid out adjacent one above the other, the necessary conditions for the species there may be laid out one fork further on.

Detailed turn overview from page 10.