Owl About Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Card
• Game Setup
• Round Setup
• Round
  • Basic Mode
  • Option: Quick Mode (variant of Basic Mode)
  • Option: No Special Effects
• End of the Round and Scoring
• Option: Advanced Mode Variants

Components

• Owl cards (numbered 1 to 10), 36 in total ("Owl card (1 to 10) ×36 (Day & Night card)"). By number: "1" ×4, "2" ×4, "3" ×3, "4" ×3, "5" ×4, "6" ×4, "7" ×3, "8" ×3, "9" ×2, "10" ×2 (Day cards).
• Day card ×32.
• Night card ×4 (Night "4", "5", "6" and "7", ×1 each).
• Ascent & Descent card ×1.
• Lead & +3FP card ×1.
• Wooden cubes ×6, in six colours (red, blue, green, yellow, black and white).
• Score card ×1 set.
• Summary ×4.
• Manual ×1.
• Card Manual ×1.

Card

• Speed: determines whether a card can be played or not. Faster Speed = higher number; Slower Speed = lower number.
• Fighting Power (FP): referred to as "FP." FP will be the same as Speed, except for Night Owls and when a "1" or "2" is in the same trick as a "9" or "10" (refer to Card Manual).
• Special Effects: activated by the winning card of the trick (Advanced Mode only).
• Trophies: gained by the winner of each trick, and by Night cards.
• Night card: can only be played if you have no Day cards of the same speed left in your hand. It gives +2 FP compared to its day speed and is worth 2 Trophies.

Game Setup

1. Each player chooses 1 wooden cube and places it on "Start."
2. Choose a Lead Player. Last person to see an Owl or choose randomly.
3. Set the "Ascent & Descent" card, with the "Ascent" side face up.
4. Follow the Player Chart and Round Setup.

Player Chart: refer to this chart when dealing out cards and for end game target VP.

Player	Hand cards	Faceup	Facedown	Target VP
3 players	9	3	6	15
4 players	8	3	1	10
5 players	7	-	1	10
6 players	6	-	-	10

Round Setup

1. Deal Cards: Shuffle all 36 Owl cards and deal them to players using the Player Chart above. The undealt face up and face down cards are placed to side for all players to see. They will not be used by players for this round.
2. Draft: Simultaneously, all players will choose 2 cards and pass them to the player on their right.

• Night cards have a different card back. But don't worry!
• Speed and FP are usually the same. Only "1" and "2" when a "9" or "10" is played and Night cards have different FP. (Refer to the Card Manual for more details.)
• Night cards are worth 2 Trophies!

Round

Play several tricks until all players run out of cards. (Example: 8 tricks for 4 players.)

If you win or lose too many times, you will become the new Owl Tribal Leader!!

Basic Mode

• The Lead Player plays any one card, then play continues clockwise, with all other players playing one card. Other players must play a card that has an Equal or Faster Speed than the fastest card in play. If you don't have any cards that are of Equal or Faster Speed, you can play any card.
• After everyone has played one card, the player who has the highest Fighting Power (FP) wins the trick. If there are multiple cards with the same FP, the first one played wins.
• Reminder: The changing FP on the "1", "2", and Night cards.
• The winner of the trick gathers all played cards and stacks them as a face up pile in front of them, placing the card they played on top of the stack. The winner now gains the Trophy (all Modes) and, if applicable, activates the Special Effect of the card they played (Advanced Mode only). All other cards in the trick do not activate their Special Effect, only the winning card gets activated.
• The winner becomes the new Lead Player and will lead the next trick.

Basic Mode example: If you don't have an Equal or Faster Speed card, any Speed will do. Miu leads the first trick by playing a "Day 6". She has a "Day 6" and "Night 6" in hand, so she had to play the "Day 6" first. Carol, the next player, does not have a card in hand that has an Equal or Faster Speed than "6", so she can play any card and she chooses to play a "2". Romi is next and has an "8" in hand which is Faster than the "6", so she must play it. The last player, Tom, has an "8" and "10" in hand, both of which are Equal or Faster Speed than the "8", so he can play either one, but must play one of those two cards. Tom chooses the "10". Since Tom played a "10" in play, the "2" becomes a 12FP and wins the trick. Carol takes all cards and puts her "2" on top and gains 1 Trophy. Carol leads the next trick.

If Tom played the "8", Romi would have won the trick, because if there is a tie for highest FP, the first card played wins. Advanced Mode only: The "8" Special Effect would have activated as well.

Night card example: A "Day 6" and "Night 6" card in your hand: You cannot play the "Night 6". No "Day 6" card in your hand: You can play the "Night 6".

Option: Quick Mode (variant of Basic Mode)

• Every player plays any one card at the same time while shouting "One Two Three Whoo!"
• Speed doesn't matter in this mode.
• FP rule is the same as Basic Mode.
• If there are multiple FP cards winning, then the next highest FP wins the trick instead. If everyone has the same FP, the Lead Player will win the trick.
• Example: "2", "2", "Night 4" = 6FP and "Day 6" played. Lead "2" wins.

Option: No Special Effects

• For your first play, we recommend playing the Basic Mode where Special Effects are not used. After you are familiar with the game, try the Advanced Mode with Special Effects.
• Refer to the Card Manual for more details on the Special Effects.

End of the Round and Scoring

Play tricks until all players run out of cards. Count the number of Trophies you got and score VP.

• The player(s) with the most Trophies gains VP equal to the number of Trophies they have.
• Other players gain VP equal to the difference between the number of Trophies the first player has and the number they have.
• If any player has reached the Target VP the game ends. Otherwise, a new round will take place. (Go back to Round Setup.)

Scoring example: Miu has 4 Trophies, Carol has 3 Trophies, Tom has 3 Trophies, and Romi has 0 Trophies. Miu finishes 1st and gains 4VP. Carol and Tom tie for 2nd (4-3=1), each gaining 1VP. Romi finishes 4th and gains 4VP (4-0=4). The card that won the trick should be on top of the stack.

Option: Advanced Mode Variants

For those who need more interaction.

• Same Speed: When all cards in the trick are the same Speed, the winner of the trick gains +1VP immediately.
• Night Collection 3: If you collect 3 Night cards within the round, you get 0 VP for the round.
• Night Collection 4: If you collect 4 Night cards within the round, you will reset your VP to the start position (0 VP total).

Clarification:

• As long as you simply have the Night cards anywhere in your stacks it will count towards Night Collection 3 and 4.
• If you notice you played a wrong card, gain +1VP immediately as a penalty.
• Your VP cannot go below 0.
• All Special Effects other than the "5" carry over to the next round, if activated during the last trick of the round.
• FP is not a Special Effect. This mainly refers to the "1", "2", and Night cards.
• The game only ends at the End of Round step.
• If you have any rules disputes, the current Leader (most VP) will decide.