Otters
Otters Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 47 action cards
- 7 sea urchin cards
- 1 player aid card (showing the distribution of pearls by value)
- 30 white pearl tokens worth "0", "1", "2", "3", and "4" points
- 4 black pearl tokens worth "0", "–1", "–2", and "–3" points
- 1 rulebook
Pearl distribution (player aid): white pearls — 0 ×2, 1 ×13, 2 ×9, 3 ×5, 4 ×1; black pearls — 0 ×1, -1 ×1, -2 ×1, -3 ×1.
Goal of the Game
Your goal is to collect pearls with the highest values. By playing action cards, you can take pearls from other players and replace their values. The winner is the person who collects the most points from their pearls.
Setup
A. Shuffle the action cards and sea urchin cards together. Create one face-down deck and place it in the middle of the table. Leave enough space for a discard pile.
B. Give each of the players 2 face-down cards from the deck.
Important! If you got a sea urchin card during setup, place it back in the deck (more or less in the middle) and take another card. Repeat this until you don't have any sea urchin cards in your hand.
C. Create a pearl pool. Divide the pearl tokens by color, then flip them, and mix them up.
D. Each player takes 1 white pearl from the pool, then checks its value and places it face down in front of them. This is your first collected pearl.
You are ready to play!
Gameplay
The first player is the person who last saw an otter (the one on the box of the Meadow expansion also counts!), or the youngest player.
Players take turns clockwise, starting with the first player.
On your turn, you must perform all of the following steps in the given order:
- Draw 1 card from the deck.
- Play 1 of the 3 cards in your hand and, if possible, perform the action on the card.
- Check the amount of sea urchin cards in your hand.
If you have 2 sea urchin cards in your hand at the end of your turn, you are out of the game. Return your sea urchin cards to the deck (more or less in the middle). You can no longer be targeted by the action cards played by other players. Therefore, your pearls cannot be exchanged with other players' pearls and they cannot be taken from you; you cannot receive any pearls either. You will count your pearl points at the end of the game.
If you don't have 2 sea urchin cards in your hand, continue the game. Play your turns until the end of the game, or until you have 2 sea urchin cards.
Now, your turn is over and the turn of the next player begins.
Playing Cards
On your turn, you may play an action card or a sea urchin card. When you play a card, you place it face up in front of you.
When you play an action card, you must perform (if possible) the action described on the card. Then, place the card face up in the discard pile next to the deck. Exception: the "Hands off!" and "Abracadabra..." cards stay face up in front of you.
When you play a sea urchin card, you must take a black pearl from the pool and place it face down in front of you. Then, put the sea urchin card back into the deck (more or less in the middle).
Important! If there are no black pearls left in the pool, you cannot play a sea urchin card.
Some of the cards have a crossed-out sea urchin symbol in the top left corner. Those cards allow you to discard or pass on the sea urchin card from your hand when resolving the card's action.
Symbols
- white pearl
- black pearl
- pearl of any color
- card
- sea urchin
- discard/pass on a sea urchin (crossed-out sea urchin)
End of Game
The game ends when there is only 1 player remaining. Reveal all of your white and black pearl tokens and count your points. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the least amount of pearl tokens wins. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Specific Card Descriptions
Hands off! (card text: Place 1 of your white pearls under this card. This pearl stays under this card until the end of the game. You cannot have 2 "Hands off!" cards.) Place 1 of your white pearls under this card after playing it. From now on, none of the players, including you, may take this pearl or replace it with another. You can only play 1 "Hands off!" card during the game. If you'd like to play another such card, you must give it to another player instead. That player places the card in front of them and puts 1 of their white pearl tokens under the card. If you don't have any white pearls when playing the card, you don't put any token under the card (nor do you put one under it later in the game).
The choice is yours… (card text: Take 3 white pearls from the pool and freely place them in your hands. A player of your choice picks 1 of your hands and receives all pearls from that hand. You receive all pearls from the other hand.) Take 3 white pearls from the pool and check their values. Put them in your hands in any way, e.g. 3 tokens in your right hand and 0 in your left, or 2 tokens in your left hand and 1 in your right. Choose another player to pick 1 of your hands. That player takes all of the tokens from the chosen hand. You take the pearls from the other hand and place them face down in front of you.
Sharing is caring! (card text: Take 1 white pearl from the player that has the most. In case of a tie, choose 1 of the tied players.) Choose a player with the most white pearl tokens and take 1 of their pearl tokens. If multiple players have the same amount of white pearls, choose 1 of them.
One hand washes the other. (card text: Each player passes 1 of their pearls to the player on their left. If a player doesn't have a pearl, they don't pass anything.) Each player looks at the value of all their pearls and then passes 1 of them face down to the player on their left. If a player doesn't have any pearls, they don't pass any (but they can still receive a pearl token).
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe… (card text: Take 3 white pearls from the pool and check their values. Take 1 of those pearls, and pass the others to 2 chosen players.) Take 3 white pearls from the pool and check their values. Choose 1 of them and place it face down in front of you. Distribute the remaining pearls between the other players, each receiving 1 pearl. If there are only 2 players left in the game, distribute the pearls as follows: Choose 1 pearl for yourself, give 1 pearl to the other player, and return the remaining pearl to the pool.
Important Rules!
- At any time during the game (even when resolving an action card), you may check the values of your pearls and change their positions.
- Every time you discard a sea urchin card from your hand, put it back into the deck (more or less in the middle).