Ravenous River Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal
• Components
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Taking a Turn
  • Place an Animal
  • Move an Animal
  • Play an Action Card
  • Full Boats
• End of the Round
• Scoring
  • Chain of Predation
    • Predator & Prey Icons
• Winning the Game
• A New Round
• Scoring Example
• 2-Player Games
  • Setup
  • Full Boats
  • End of the Round

Goal

The player with the most victory point tokens (VP) at the end of the game wins.

Components

• 7 Animal cards (red card back)
• 7 Totem cards (reference card back)
• 14 Action cards (green card back)
• 8 Vote tokens
• 2 Boat cards
• 36 Victory point tokens
• Rulebook

Setup

1. Place both of the boat cards in the center of the play area, as shown in the diagram (Example 4-Player Setup).
2. Each player takes a vote token and places it in front of themselves. The VP tokens can be left in the box until they are needed during scoring.
3. Shuffle all of the animal cards, then place them in a row face down without looking at them to one side of the boat cards. This forms the animal row.
4. Shuffle all of the action cards to form a face down deck, then each player draws two action cards.
5. Shuffle all of the totem cards to form a face down deck, then each player draws one totem card.
6. The hungriest player takes the first turn.

Players are now ready to begin the game!

Note: There are some slight adjustments to the rules when playing with only two players (see "2-Player Games").

Example 4-Player Setup: each player sits around the table with their vote token, action cards and totem; the boats, the animal row, the action deck, the bank and home areas are in the center.

How to Play

The game is played over a number of rounds, which consists of players taking an action during their turns. At the end of each round, players score VP based on if their animal crossed the river, ate their prey, and survived being eaten by their predator.

Taking a Turn

During your turn, you must choose to take one of the following actions:

• Place an animal.
• Move an animal.
• Play an action card.

When you finish resolving your action, your turn ends and the next player clockwise takes his or her turn. Exception: If you end your turn with no cards remaining in your hand and both boats are full with two animals, players must vote simultaneously whether to end the round or not (see "Full Boats").

If a player has no cards in their hand and there are no cards left in the animal row to place, they cannot perform an action but they still check if both boats are full for voting to end the round.

Place an Animal

Take one card from the animal row and place it face up on either the bank or on a boat.

Note: After you look at the animal card, you may choose to discard an action card from your hand (without resolving its text ability) and return the animal to the animal row facedown instead of placing it. Be careful not to reveal the animal to the other players.

Move an Animal

Discard an action card from your hand (without resolving its text ability) to move an animal card in one of the following ways:

• Move from a boat to the bank.
• Move from the bank to a boat.

Note: You cannot move an animal from a boat to another boat.

Play an Action Card

Play an action card and resolve its text ability. After the card's text ability has been fully resolved, discard it face up next to the action deck.

Alternatively, you may discard an action card from your hand without resolving its text ability. This is usually only done when you want to end the round without changing any conditions of the animal cards.

Full Boats

Each boat can hold up to two animals. Once a boat is full with two animals, no further animal cards can be moved or placed there.

If a player with no cards remaining in their hand ends their turn and both boats are full with two animals, players must vote simultaneously whether to end the round or not. This is done by each player secretly selecting either the "End Round" or "Continue" side of their vote token and covering it up with their hand. Once all players have made their section, all tokens are revealed and the votes are tallied.

If the majority vote is to end the round, the round ends immediately (see "End of the Round"). If the number of votes are tied or the majority vote is to continue the round, play continues with the next player taking their turn.

End of the Round

A round ends if any of the following conditions occur:

• No player has any remaining cards in their hand. In other words, all cards in all players' hands have been played or discarded.
• The majority vote is to end the round. (Voting occurs if a player with no cards remaining in their hand ends their turn and both boats are full with two animals).

At the end of the round, all players reveal their totem card face up and score victory point tokens (VP) based on their animal's fate.

Scoring

Scoring is resolved using the following steps in order:

1. Score Bank: Score the chain of predation for animals on the bank.
2. Score Boats: Score the chain of predation for animals in each boat individually.
3. Score Home: Move the surviving animals from the boats to home, then score the chain of predation for animals at home.
4. Score Survivors: All remaining animals that were not eaten score VP for surviving. Each animal on the bank scores 1 VP. Each animal at home scores 2 VP.

After scoring is complete, check to see if a player has won the game by having 6 or more VP. If nobody fulfills the win condition, play continues with another round.

The number of victory point tokens is not intended to be limited. If players run out of tokens during scoring, simply use an alternative currency like coins or animal crackers.

Chain of Predation

Animals will only eat their prey, as per this chart: Lion eats Bull, Bull eats Horse, Horse eats Hound, Hound eats Fox, Fox eats Cat, Cat eats Mouse, Mouse eats Lion.

Predator & Prey Icons

Each animal and totem card shows the symbol of its predator on the top with a red border and its prey on the bottom with a blue border. The Bull's card for example shows the Lion as its predator on top and the Horse as its prey on the bottom. If an animal eats its prey, and is then eaten by its predator, the predator scores all animals in the chain of predation.

Example: The Lion, Bull and Horse are all on the bank during scoring. The Lion scores 3 VP: 1 VP for eating the Bull, 1 VP for the Horse (because the Lion eats the Bull who eats the Horse in the chain of predation), and 1 VP for surviving. The Bull and Horse do not score any VP since they were eaten.

Winning the Game

The game ends when any player has 6 or more VP, and more VP than any other player. That player wins the game! If no player has 6 or more VP, or if two or more players are tied, play continues with another round.

A New Round

After scoring, if no player wins the game, then another round is played. Follow the Setup steps 3 through 5 to start another round. The player who took the last turn of the previous round takes the first turn during the new round.

Scoring Example

Score Bank: The Cat eats the Mouse and scores 1 VP. The Bull does not have any predator or prey on the bank.

Score Boats: The Hound eats the Fox in its boat and scores 1 VP. The Lion and Horse do not have any predator or prey in their boat. Note that the Horse and Hound are in separate boats so they are not in the chain of predation.

Score Home: The surviving animals from the boats are moved to home. The Horse now eats the Hound and scores 1 VP.

Score Survivors: The Bull and Cat on the bank each score 1 VP. The Lion and Horse at home each score 2 VP.

2-Player Games

The rules for 2-player games are the same as the standard rules with the following exceptions.

Setup

• Skip step 2 since vote tokens are not used during 2-player games.
• During step 4, each player draws four action cards instead of only two cards.
• During step 5, each player draws three totem cards instead of only one card. Each player then chooses two totem cards to keep and returns the other card facedown to the deck.

Full Boats

• Players do not vote when both boats are full with two animals. Instead, play continues until no player has any remaining cards in their hand. In other words, all cards in all players' hands have been played or discarded.

End of the Round

• The round only ends when no player has any remaining cards in their hand.
• Players score for both of their totem cards. It's possible for one of your totems to eat your other totem. You still score VP for that animal in the chain of predation, but you do not score any other VP for the totem that was eaten.

If players wish to play a longer game, simply increase the number of VP required to win.