Nimalia Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• 1. Contents
• 2. Setup
• 3. Playing the Game
  • 3-A Build Your Reserve
  • 3-B Calculate Your Points
  • 3-C. Finish the Round
• 4. End of the Game
• Objective Cards
  • Green Objectives
  • Yellow Objectives
  • Red Objectives
  • Blue Objectives
• Credits

1. Contents

• 4 player tokens and 4 Color Reminder tokens
• 1 Round Counter token
• 60 Animal cards
• 11 double-sided Objective cards
• 5 Score Track cards
• 1 Round card

Each animal card is composed of 4 spaces. Each space depicts a terrain and an animal. A space can also depict a river in addition to its terrain.

2. Setup

1. Each player places a player token on space 0 of the score track. Each player takes their matching Color Reminder token.

2. Place the Round card in the play area, and place the Round Counter token on number 1 on the Round card.

3. Select an objective card of each color (blue, green, red, and yellow) and tuck each under the area of the same color on the Round card. If it's your first time playing, we advise you to play with the objective cards marked 1.

   Each Objective card has a difficulty level ranging from easy (one leaf) to hard (three leaves). You can thus adapt the difficulty of the objectives as the players wish.

4. Create a face-down deck by shuffling all of the Animal cards.

3. Playing the Game

The game lasts 5 rounds, and each round comprises 3 phases:

• Build Your Reserve
• Calculate Your Points
• Finish the Round

3-A Build Your Reserve

At the beginning of each round, each player draws 3 Animal cards. Then, you simultaneously place one of these cards in front of you, to create and modify your reserve.

Next, you pass the 2 remaining cards to your left neighbor (in rounds 1, 3, and 5) or your right neighbor (in rounds 2 and 4). Repeat this procedure with the 2 cards you just received from your neighbor, and then place the final card.

When you modify your reserve, you must respect the following rules:

• Each card you place must cover at least one space of your existing reserve (this does not apply to the very first card you place).
• The entirety of your reserve must fit within a 6-space × 6-space area.
• You are not allowed to tuck a card under cards already in your reserve.

You are even allowed to completely cover a card that is already in your reserve!

You can place your cards oriented in any of the four directions; don't hesitate to pivot them to make your reserve the best it can be!

Example:

1. I place a card from my hand to start my reserve. The other players do the same, simultaneously. I pass my other 2 cards to my left neighbor, and receive 2 from my right neighbor.
2. I place a second card, being careful to cover at least one space of my reserve. The other players do the same, simultaneously. I pass my final card to my left neighbor, and receive one from my right neighbor.
3. I place my final card, again covering at least one space of my reserve. This phase is complete, and now we calculate our points!

3-B Calculate Your Points

After placing all three cards, everyone scores their points by moving their tokens on the score track. You score points according to the different objective cards that are in effect this round (as indicated by the Round card).

• Round 1: the blue and green cards.
• Round 2: the green and yellow cards.
• Round 3: the blue and red cards.
• Round 4: the green, yellow and red cards.
• Round 5: the blue, red and yellow cards.

If there is a tie on a red objective, all of the tied players receive (or lose) the points! If the tie is for 1st place, 2nd place is not awarded.

If you exceed 49 on the score track, return to 0 and take your Reminder token to its +50 side, and continue from there. If you exceed 100, flip your token.

Example: At the end of the first round, if I've constructed my reserve as depicted above, I score:

• 2×2 = 4 points for the blue objective (2 points for each distinct rain forest zone).
• 2×2 = 4 points for the green objective (2 points per polar bear that is in a group of polar bears).

That results in 8 points total for this round.

3-C. Finish the Round

If this was not the 5th round, advance the Round Counter token to the number of the next round, and start a new round. Don't forget to flip the Round Counter token to know in which direction you should pass your cards this round. Otherwise, this is the end of the game.

4. End of the Game

At the end of the 5th round, the player with the most points wins. If it's a tie, the tied player with the most animals of the same type in their reserve wins.

Remember: your entire reserve must fit in a 6-space by 6-space area!

Objective Cards

Blue circles indicate points gained, and red circles indicate points lost. Points indicated with a 3/4 player icon only apply in 3- and 4-player games.

One objective card of each color is marked with a 1; those four are the recommended set for a first game.

Green Objectives

• 3 per column of your reserve that contains exactly 1 penguin. (marked 1)
• 2 per crocodile orthogonally adjacent to at least one giraffe.
• 2 per polar bear that is part of a group of bears, and -1 per solitary bear.
• 3 per panda that is touching the edge of your reserve.
• 3 per flamingo that is not touching the edge of your reserve.
• 3 per strict horizontally adjacent pair of identical animals. 3 animals don't count.

Yellow Objectives

• 3, 5, 8, 13 or 21 if your reserve completely fills a 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, or 6x6 square.
• 4 per 2×2 square of ice floe (a space can be part of several squares).
• From 0 to 15 according to how long your longest river runs. For example, a 3-space river is worth 0, +1, +2 (thus 3).
• 1 per identical animal if at least 2 of them are orthogonally adjacent to an otter.
• 6 per savanna area spanning exactly 4 spaces.
• 2 per gorilla orthogonally adjacent to a lake. (marked 1)

Red Objectives

• The player with the most gorillas gets 5 (2nd gets 2). The player with the most pandas gets -5 (2nd gets -2).
• The player with the fewest lions gets 3. Everyone else gets -2.
• From 0 to 8 according to how few giraffes you have (0 giraffe = 8; 1 giraffe = 5; 2 giraffes = 3; 3 or more = 0).
• The player with the longest river gets 5, 2nd gets 2. (marked 1)
• The player with the most crocodiles gets 5 (2nd gets 2). The player with the fewest flamingoes gets 5 (2nd gets 2).

Blue Objectives

• 3 per row of your reserve that contains all 4 terrain types.
• 2 per space of your largest savanna. (marked 1)
• 2 per space of the terrain of which you have the fewest spaces in your reserve (in the illustrated example it's 2×3 = 6).
• 2 per distinct rain forest area.
• 2 per otter whose river connects to a lake.

Credits

• Designer: William Liévin
• Illustrator: Pauline Détraz
• Project manager: Benoit Bannier
• Graphic designer: Jeanne Hervé-Maley
• Translator: Nathan Morse

Nimalia © La Boîte de Jeu 2022