Otter
Otter Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
How to Win!
- 1 player: Play all your cards (see Solo Rules).
- 2 players: Play all your cards 3 times.
- 3-4 players: Play all of your cards twice.
Components
- 4 rules summary (front) - lucky stone (back)
- 65 tummy cards (1-13 in five suits)
- 5 otter heads, 3 otter tails
Setup
(See Solo Rules for solo setup)
- Give each player a rules summary.
- Shuffle the tummy cards to make the deck.
- Deal each player 10 tummy cards.
- Put the deck near the center of the table.
- Put any extra Lucky Stones near the deck.
- Put 3 basic heads (Higher, Even, and Near) into the center of the table. (You can use random heads in future games.)
- Put a random tummy card by each head.
- Put a random tail card by each tummy card.
- The last player to go to the beach goes first.
Heads have rules about card numbers. Tails have rules about card suits.
Gameplay
Players take turns clockwise.
On your turn, do these steps in order:
- In high tide, draw cards and change otters.
- In low tide, play 1 or more cards on one otter.
1. High Tide (Optional)
Critters come to the tide pool during high tide!
Draw? Before you play a card, you may draw 0, 1, 2, or 3 cards from the deck.
For each card you draw, flip a head or tail, or swap the places of 2 heads or 2 tails.
- You can Flip a head or tail to show its opposite side.
- You can Swap the 2 heads or 2 tails to switch their places.
2. Low Tide (Mandatory)
Otters look for friends in the tide pool at low tide.
Play a card! You must play a card onto an otter's tummy pile. It must follow the rule(s) on that otter's head, tail, or both.
Play again? You may keep playing on the same otter as long as you follow both rules.
See the Otter Details section for head and tail rule details.
Example: This otter wants cards that are higher numbers, sea stars, or both. You can play increasingly higher sea stars, but your turn ends if you play a lower sea star or a higher card that isn't a sea star.
You can NEVER play a card on an otter if it follows neither of the otter's rules.
Your Turn Ends When:
- You play a card that follows only one rule,
- You choose to not play another card,
- You cannot play another card.
Next! The player to your left goes next.
If You Have No Cards:
- 1 player: Play all your cards to win, see Solo Rules for all the detail.
- 2 players: If you already have 2 Lucky Stones and play all your cards a third time, you win.
- 3-4 players: If you already have 1 Lucky Stone and play all your cards again, you win.
Otherwise, take a Lucky Stone (flip your rules summary) and go to the next round.
Next Round
DO NOT DISCARD YOUR HANDS!
New cards: Deal each player back up to 10 cards, including the cards they didn't play yet. If a player has more than 10 cards in hand, they discard randomly until they have 10 remaining. Put discarded cards on the bottom of the deck.
If the deck ever runs out, shuffle all cards on tummies except the top ones to form a new deck.
Otters: Don't change otter heads, tails, or tummies. They stay the same for next round.
Next player: The next round starts with the player to the left of the previous player.
YOU ARE READY TO PLAY NOW! Go play!
Remember
- Never play on more than one otter tummy pile on your turn.
- Never play a card on an otter that doesn't follow at least one rule there.
- Never change the otter rules after you already played a card.
- Never skip your turn. You must play at least one card every turn.
- There's always a way to play a card by drawing a card to flip or swap heads and/or tails.
- You don't need to draw every round! Only draw if you're changing rules.
Strategy Tips
It's fun to hold on to many cards in one suit. You'll have less random cards next round if you don't play them all.
It's fun to block easy moves. For example, don't leave only high numbers if there is a "deep" or "lower" otter.
It's fun to draw cards early in the round to have access to more places to play later.
Penalty?
Optional rule (requested by many kids): If you play a card that follows neither rule there, anyone can shout "penalty!" and you must draw a card and undo your move.
Solo Rules
Setup: Setup three random otter heads. Shuffle the tummy cards. Put one tummy card by each head.
Make 4 hand piles with 15, 15, 16, and 16 tummy cards. You can always see the top card of each hand pile.
Make a pile of 4 Lucky Stones. Don't use tail cards.
Gameplay: Every turn, play 1 card from the top of a different hand pile onto a different otter tummy than you played last turn. The card must match the rule on that otter's head.
Stones: Any time, you may flip over a Lucky Stone to swap 2 heads, or flip over a head or tail.
Solo Game End
You win if you play all the cards in your 4 hand piles.
You lose if you can't play a card. This can happen 3 ways:
- If all the top cards on your hand piles don't match any rules, you lose.
- If you have top cards on your hand piles that match only 1 otter rule, but you just played on that tummy, you lose.
- If only 1 top card in your hand piles matches otter rules, but you just played from that hand pile, you lose. (This often happens if you only have one hand pile remaining!)
NOTE: In many of these cases, you may use Lucky Stones to change rules to allow you to play again and not lose!
Otter Party
Unlimited players! +4 per deck!
Setup: For 5+ players, shuffle in another deck per 1-4 players. Shuffle the heads and use 3 random heads, which may include duplicates. Give a random player a game box. They go first.
Gameplay: The game is the same as normal except when someone plays their last card, others do not draw back to 10 cards. Instead, when you play your last card, you draw back up to 10 cards and players to your left and right draw 2 cards if they have a Lucky Stone. If they don't have a Lucky Stone, then do not draw when you play your last card.
Game End: If play your last card and have a Lucky Stone already, you win the game, and the game will end soon. Players continue the round until each player has taken the same number of turns. Once the player to the right of the first player ends their turn, the game ends. There may be multiple winners.
Otter Details
Tails and simple otter head rules care about the cards on its own tummy. Advanced otter heads care about the cards on the other otter tummies.
Otter Tails
Play a card that matches the big suit icon on the tail. The small icon shows the suit on the tail's other side.
The five tail suits are named: Shelldon (clam/shell), Finstin (fish), Stardon (sea star), Clawson (crab), and Todd (frog).
Simple Otter Heads
- Higher: Play a card with a higher number than the card already on the tummy.
- Lower: Play a card with a lower number than the card already on the tummy.
- Near: Play within 2 of the number already on the tummy. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 are near 7.
- Far: Play lower or higher by 3 or more than the number already on the tummy. 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13 are far from 7.
- Odd: You can play 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, or 13.
- Even: You can play 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12.
Advanced Otter Heads
- Inside: Play a card between the numbers on the other two otter tummies. 5, 6, 7 are inside 4 and 8.
- Outside: Play a card outside the numbers on the other two otter tummies. 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 are outside 4 and 8.
- Shallow: Play a card that when added to the other two otter tummy numbers is less than 20. 3+5+11 is less than 20.
- Deep: Play a card that when added to the other two otter tummy numbers is greater than 20. 3+5+13 is greater than 20.