River Dragons
River Dragons Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 board
- 78 action cards (13 of each color)
- 6 pawns: 3 girls and 3 boys, in different colors
- 36 numbered planks in 6 sizes and 6 different colors
- 1 first player card
- 27 stones
Goal of the Game
Leave your village, place stones, build bridges and cross the board to reach your destination village.
Setup
- Place the board in the table center, on the side where the islands are visible.
- Place the stones next to the board in order to create a reserve reachable by all the players.
- Pick a color corresponding to one of the starting villages. If there are fewer than 6 players, not all the colors/villages are used. The guide beside each village indicates if the color can be used depending on the number of players.
The youngest player takes the first player card and places it in front of him. The first player will change at every turn, proceeding clockwise.
Player's equipment
- 1 pawn placed on his starting village.
- 6 planks of the same color and of different sizes placed in front of him to create a reserve.
- 13 Action cards in his hand from which he removes all the Dragon cards of the absent colors.
Summary
| Players | Colors played | Cards removed of the game |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Pink and black | Red, green, blue and yellow dragons |
| 3 | Blue, red and pink | Green, yellow and black dragons |
| 4 | Blue, green, red and yellow | Black and pink dragons |
| 5 | All the colors except pink | Pink dragon |
| 6 | All the colors | - |
Game Cycle
A game is composed of several turns. A turn takes place the following way:
1. Programming phase
Each player chooses 5 Action cards from those he has in hand. He places them face down in front of him in the order he wants to play them, starting on the left. Those cards represent the 5 actions the player will have during this turn. Careful, once placed they CANNOT be exchanged nor moved.
2. Action/Resolution phase
When all the players have 5 cards in front of them, they all reveal their first card at the same time. In turn they perform the action, one after the other, proceeding clockwise, always starting with the first player. Once all the first actions are completed, the players reveal their 2nd cards and perform those actions. Repeat the same process for all 5 cards.
Warning: A player can have one of his actions canceled by a Dragon card (check back page of the rules "Dragon cards").
The turn ends once all the actions have been resolved:
- The first player gives the first player card to his left neighbor.
- The players take back into their hands all the Action cards they used during the turn (the same cards can be used during the next turn).
- A new turn begins, starting with the Programming phase, and so on.
End of the Game
The game instantly ends when a pawn reaches his destination village even if the turn and the actions are not finished.
Actions
Place 1 Stone
The player MUST place 1 stone on one of the 27 islands.
Place 2 Stones
The player MUST place 2 stones, each on one of the 27 islands.
- A stone cannot be placed beyond an island's limits.
- Each island can only receive one stone.
- It is impossible to place a stone on a village.
- Once a stone is placed it cannot be moved or removed from the board, except through the action "Remove 1 stone or 1 plank".
- If there are no stones left in the stone reserve when a player needs to take one, the action is lost.
Expert Rules: Flip the board to the side where the islands disappeared. Instead of placing the stones on the islands you have to place them directly in the water. For the rest of the game, keep the usual rules.
Place 1 Plank
The player MUST place 1 plank supported by two stones, or a village and one stone.
Place 2 Planks
The player MUST place 2 planks following the same instructions.
The player MUST evaluate the distance between two stones, or a stone and a village, then choose a plank from his reserve. Once a plank is chosen it cannot be changed, even if it turns out to be a poor choice!
- If the plank is too long, it is not a problem, a plank can go over the stone's limits.
- But if the plank cannot be placed in a stable way (too short), the player MUST place it somewhere else.
- If the player cannot find an appropriate place for a plank, the plank is removed for the rest of the game!
- It is forbidden to move a stone in order to place a plank.
- Important! A plank cannot rest on another plank except where a stone or a village can support both of them.
- Important! A stone can only support 3 planks maximum. Following the same rule, a village can only support 3 planks maximum.
Remove 1 Plank or 1 Stone
The player MUST choose between:
- Removing a plank of any color and size from the board and putting it in his planks' reserve. He will be able to use it later on.
- Removing a stone from the board and putting it back in the common stone reserve.
It is forbidden:
- to remove a plank occupied by a pawn.
- to have two planks of same size in the individual reserve (with the same number).
- to have more than 2 different colors of planks in the individual reserve.
- to remove a stone already used by one or more planks.
If no planks and no stones can be removed, the action is lost.
1 Movement
The player MUST move his pawn onto an available (not occupied by another pawn) adjacent plank or village (check example 1).
2 Movements
The player MUST move his pawn two planks or one plank and a village (check example 2).
- A pawn can be moved in any direction and on any plank no matter the color.
- A pawn cannot go onto a plank occupied by another pawn, but a village can welcome an unlimited number of pawns.
- If no moves are possible in any directions, the pawn falls into the river and goes back to his starting village.
- In the case of 2 MOVEMENTS, it is possible to make a U-turn and finish the movement on the starting plank.
Example 1: The green pawn must move on a free adjacent plank. Here, he can go on the green plank on his left or on the red plank on his right. He cannot go on the pink plank already occupied by the yellow pawn.
Example 2: The green pawn must move two planks. Here, all the planks around are occupied by other pawns, he can only reach the red village or come back on the plank he is already standing on.
Jump Over Another Pawn
The player MUST make his pawn jump over a pawn standing in an adjacent plank.
- The result of the jump is equivalent to a 2 MOVEMENTS action (check example 3).
- For that action to be possible, the pawn must be able to land on a village or an unoccupied plank.
- If no jump is possible (no pawn on an adjacent plank, no space to land), the pawn jumps for nothing, falls in the river and goes back to his starting village (check example 4).
Example 3: The yellow pawn must jump over another pawn. Here, it can only jump over the green pawn and land on the red plank because there is no other pawn next to him.
Example 4: There is no pawn the yellow one can jump over. He misses his jump, falls in the river and goes back to his starting village. SPLASH!
The River Dragons
During the resolution phase, a dragon card cancels the action of the card placed in the same position for the player having the same color as the dragon on that card.
A player cannot play more than one Dragon card each turn. He also can decide to use none.
A Dragon card does not cancel the effect of another Dragon card. If several players used a Dragon card in the same position, all the effects apply (check example 5).
Example 5: The pink player placed a green dragon in 4th position, the green player placed a blue dragon in 4th position. The green dragon does not cancel the blue dragon. The blue player won't be able to play his 4th action.
The dragon colors are: Red dragon, Green dragon, Pink dragon, Black dragon, Yellow dragon, Blue dragon.
Reminder: In a setting with less than 6 players, each player removes the dragons of the absent colors from his hand.