Pelican Bay Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• How to play
• Components
• Before playing a game
• Starting the game
  • Choosing the starting player
  • Place the first three tiles
• Playing the game
• Rules for enlarging an area (i.e. placing tiles)
  • Beware of bridges!
• Closing areas
• The pelicans
  • Closing areas and bonus turns
• Scoring areas and pelicans
• Ending your turn
• Final phase
  • Final round
• Final scoring and winner
• Tactical advice
• Special situations
• Playing solo

How to play

You and your opponents will take turns placing tiles to make Pelican Bay larger, enlarge the beach, sand and water areas strategically - but only one type per turn! The bigger the area you enlarge, the more points you score. If you close an area, you can choose to attract blue pelicans and continue your turn after drawing more tiles. Block your opponents from placing tiles using the sun discs, but be careful - they will block you, too! The Player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Components

• 1 yellow hexagonal start player tile
• 1 yellow hexagonal reserve stack cover tile
• 67 hexagonal land tiles
• 7 blue pelicans
• 3 yellow / blue sun discs
• 1 score pad

Before playing a game

1. Put aside both of the hexagonal tiles with the yellow backs (the start player tile and the cover tile for the reserve stack) as well as the three round sun discs.
2. Shuffle the 67 landscape tiles, keeping them face down.
3. Count 16 of the landscape tiles and put them face down in a stack. Place the yellow cover tile on top of this stack and place it aside. This forms the reserve stack that is used in the final turn of the game.
4. Place the seven pelicans in a common supply area next to the reserve stack.
5. Divide the remaining landscape tiles into 3 stacks with 17 tiles each. These are the draw stacks.
6. Place the three sun discs each beside a draw stack with the same side (yellow or blue) face up. The chosen side will remain face up for the whole game (the color of the sun discs has no effect on the game).
7. Choose one player to be the scorekeeper and give them the score pad and a pencil.

Starting the game

Choosing the starting player

Give the player who was last at the beach or on an island vacation the starting player tile (the yellow hexagonal tile with a "1" on it). They play first, with play continuing in a clockwise direction.

Place the first three tiles

The player seated to the right of the start player takes the top tile from each of the draw stacks and creates the beginning set up for Pelican Bay in the middle of the table. They must place the tiles so that each is touching both other tiles, and so that all touching edges are the same (beach to beach, forest to forest and water to water).

They then take one sun disc and place it next to (a) one or (b) two tiles. The sun disc blocks tiles from being placed where it is.

Hint! Be careful that the starting player cannot easily close an area in their first turn!

All players each take two tiles from any of the draw stacks as their starting hand. Then, the starting player takes the first turn of the game.

Playing the game

On your turn you will:

• Place one or both of your tiles to enlarge one type of area.
• If you close an area, you may place a pelican on that area and take another turn. Otherwise, you will score the biggest area that a tile you placed this turn touches.
• When you are done placing tiles, score your turn. The player with the score pad notes your score on the score pad.
• Collect any pelicans that you placed onto Pelican Bay into a scoring area in front of you.
• Then, place a sun disc in a spot beside one or two tiles. Once all sun discs are out, you will move a sun disc that has already been played to a new spot.
• Finally, draw tiles from the tile stacks until you have two in hand.

Rules for enlarging an area (i.e. placing tiles)

1. On your turn, you must place at least one tile. If it is impossible to place either of the tiles in your hand then you must pass. If you pass, return both tiles from your hand to the bottom of any draw stack and take two new tiles. After you draw these new tiles your turn ends and play passes to the player on your left.
2. Each new tile must be placed such that it touches at least two previously placed tiles. Tiles must be placed such that all touching edges match - which means water matches to water, beach to beach and forest to forest.
3. You may place both tiles during your turn as long as they both enlarge the same area. (Example: both tiles are placed so that they are enlarging the same water area.) If you place both tiles to the same edge of an area, you may place them together before placing them in Pelican Bay.
4. When placing two tiles, you cannot do what is called a "Stirrup move". This is when two tiles are placed together but do not enlarge the same area. (Example: this move is illegal because each tile enlarges a different area. One enlarges the water, and the other enlarges the forest.)

The following "closing move" closes two areas by combining tiles before adding them to Pelican Bay. This is allowed because both tiles enlarge the same area. The purpose of a move like this is that it closes a beach, which, as discussed below, grants a pelican and a bonus turn. (Example: the beach is closed with 2 tiles, which will score 2 points.)

Beware of bridges!

Sometimes an area seems to be closed but is not actually closed because it includes a bridge tile on the edge of it. Since the bridge connects the area to the edge of the tile, the area can still be enlarged. Tiles with bridges do not close areas! There are two different types of bridges: Rope bridges that connect forest to forest and wooden bridges that connect beach to beach.

Closing areas

An area is considered closed as soon as it is not possible to add any more tiles to enlarge it.

• If you did not close an area when you placed your tile(s), go to the next section on "Scoring areas and pelicans".
• If you did close an area when you placed your tile(s), you may choose to place a pelican on it and take another turn. You will score the closed area after taking your bonus turn. Closed areas, when they are scored, are worth 1 point per tile that makes up the area.

Examples:

a) A beach closed with 2 tiles will be worth a total of 2 points.

b) A forest and a beach are both closed. Neither can be enlarged by placing more tiles. The forest is made of 5 tiles and will score 5 points. The beach will score 2 points for a total of 7 points.

The pelicans

Pelicans are used as marking tokens to keep track of areas you closed while you take bonus turns. They yield bonus points to their owners in the final scoring.

Closing areas and bonus turns

1. As soon as you close an area you may put one pelican in the area. To do so, take a pelican from the supply and place it in the area you just closed. If there are no pelicans in the supply, you may take it from an opponent's scoring area. If neither the supply or an opponent has any pelicans, you must take it from your own stock. If there are no pelicans left (because all 7 are already in Pelican Bay) use nuts, coins or anything handy - these alternative markers will not score you points when you are done taking bonus turns. Only closed areas with Pelicans will score you points.

   Note: If you close an area and enlarge an area when you place a tile you must choose between placing the pelican on the closed area and taking a bonus turn or scoring the big area that you have enlarged (see scoring below).

2. Then, fill your hand to two tiles. You now take a bonus turn, following all the above rules of enlarging areas. If you close another area during your bonus turn, place a pelican there as well, fill your hand and take another bonus turn. It is possible to take many turns in a row!

3. If you do not close an area with a bonus turn, your bonus turns end and you proceed with Scoring areas and pelicans.

Scoring areas and pelicans

1. When you begin scoring for your turn, you score at most one area (either one water or beach or forest area) that you have enlarged with the tile(s) you just placed.
2. You get one point for each tile that makes up the area. Tiles with wooden bridges or rope bridges used to connect a closed area count as one tile for the purposes of scoring.
3. You do not get any points for boats, houses, gangplanks, bridges, or other artwork. Points are awarded only for the number of tiles that make up the area you are scoring.
4. If there are any pelicans on closed areas, then you also score each closed area that is marked with a pelican. Closed areas score 1 point for each tile that makes up the area. As you score each closed area, take the pelican marking it and add it to your scoring area. These will be worth bonus points at the end of the game.

Example: the pictured turn scores 2 x beach = 2 points, 2 x water = 2 points, 15 x forest = 15 points and 2 x beach = 2 points. (Illustration captions: the forest is still open at one spot; if the pictured tiles were last placed, the water area could be scored for 4 points as it contains 4 tiles.)

Ending your turn

After you have scored, place one sun disc so that it is beside one or more tiles in Pelican Bay. If all three sun discs are already placed, then move a sun disc that has previously been placed to a new location. Sun discs block tiles from being placed in that location.

Finally, end your turn by drawing tiles from the tile stacks until you have two tiles in hand. Then, the next player (to your left) begins their turn.

Final phase

A round is completed when each player has completed a turn. A new round always begins with the starting player.

If you draw the last tile from the draw stacks during your turn, remove the cover tile from the reserve stack and finish your turn as normal using the reserve stack as needed.

The remainder of the round is finished using the reserve stack, then the final round begins. If the reserve stack ever runs out of tiles, then the final round begins immediately.

Players without tiles are unable to draw more and will not get a final turn.

Example: In a 3 player game, Anne (the starting player) uses the last tiles in the stacks and needs to uncover the reserve stack to finish her turn. Bob and Carlie then take their turns, drawing tiles from the reserve stack as needed. Once Carlie, the last player, is finished her turn, the final round begins with Anne's turn.

Final round

The final round follows all the same tile placing and scoring rules with one exception: at the end of your turn you do not refill your hand.

Note: You can still close areas, place pelicans and gain bonus turns. You just don't refill your hand after you score.

If the reserve stack runs out before each player gets a final turn, no one draws any tiles for the rest of the game.

Final scoring and winner

At the end of the game, return any tiles in your hand to the game box. Add 3 points to your score for each blue pelican in your scoring area. If you have the highest score, you win! If scores are tied, you win if you have the most blue pelicans between all tied players.

Tactical advice

• Try to place your tiles to make it difficult for your opponents to enlarge the biggest areas in Pelican Bay.
• Bridges may be annoying if you are planning on closing an area. They can also be very helpful as you can use them to connect two separate areas. This may allow you to score a lot of points by making a really big area!
• Try to close as many areas as possible. This gives you additional turns and bonus points by attracting pelicans.
• Use a sun disc to block spots that can be closed easily with one tile, or spots where two areas can be connected with one single tile.

Special situations

1. If the island expands too close to the edges of the table, carefully push the tiles to a better position on the table.
2. If you notice a mistake (e.g. forest connects to water) made during previous turns in the game, all tiles remain in place and any area the incorrectly-placed tile is connected to is considered closed. No one scores for the incorrect areas and no pelicans are placed. Points remain the same.

Playing solo

A challenge for patient people.

Follow all of the rules for drawing and placing tiles to build one single closed beach or forest or water area using all 67 landscape tiles. Are you up to the challenge?