Sandcastles
Sandcastles Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
- Each player takes a Starter Tile and places it in front of themselves. This tile marks the bottom center of an imaginary 5x5 grid players will use to build their sandcastle.
- Pour all of the tiles onto the table, make sure they are all face down, then mix them up.
- Randomly separate out the following number of tiles based on the number of players to determine the tiles that will be used during the game. Separate these tiles into neat stacks. The number of tiles in each stack does not matter. Keep the selected tiles face down:
- 2 players: 30 tiles
- 3 players: 45 tiles
- 4 players: 60 tiles
- 5 players: 75 tiles
- 6 players: 90 tiles
- Return any remaining tiles to the bucket. They will not be used in this game.
Game Overview
The game takes place over 15 rounds. Each round, players draft a single tile to add to their sandcastle. A player's sandcastle can never be more than 5 tiles wide or 5 tiles high, with the Starter Tile marking the bottom center of this imaginary grid. Tiles contain various features that determine how many points they are worth in a player's sandcastle. The player whose sandcastle is worth the most points at the end of the game wins.
How to Play
Drafting Tiles
The player who has been to the beach most recently will be the first active player. They will take tiles from the top of the pile equal to the number of players and place this small stack of tiles in front of themselves. To begin the round, they will flip the first tile onto the table face up so that everyone can see it.
The active player may either choose to keep that tile for themselves or pass it to their left. If they pass the tile to their left, then that player has the same choice: keep the tile or pass it to their left. If a tile makes it all the way to the last player, they must keep it.
The next tile should not be revealed until the previous tile has been taken by a player.
Once a player takes a tile, they are out of that round and are skipped over when tiles are passed around the table.
FOR EXAMPLE, in a 4 player game, if the active player kept the first tile they flipped in a round, they would have to pass on each of the next three tiles, even if they would have given them more points. In this way, players are constantly gambling on whether the tile in their hand now is the right one to keep, or if they should wait for something better to be revealed later in the round.
After a player has selected a tile, they must add it to their sandcastle, following the rules for tile placement. Once all players have placed their tile, a new round starts. The player to the active player's left becomes the new active player, draws a new set of tiles equal to the number of players, and begins the drafting process. Play continues until the stacks of tiles in the center of the table are empty (15 rounds).
Types of Tiles and Tile Features
There are two main types of tiles: sand tiles and sky tiles.
- Sand tiles have only a sand texture background. The majority of your sandcastle will be made up of these tiles.
- Sky tiles feature the top of your sandcastle set against a blue sky.
Tiles can have the following items featured on them: Starfish, Windows, Shells, Birds (only on sky tiles), Shovels, Buckets.
These items will add value to your castle depending on where and how they are placed. See "Scoring" for details.
Tile Placement
Sand tiles must be added to your sandcastle following the rules of gravity. They may either be placed on the bottom row of your 5x5 grid (the same row as your Starting Tile) or directly above other sand tiles (including the Starting Tile).
Sky tiles must be placed in the top row of your 5x5 grid, even if this means they are floating up there with no sand tile directly below them. If a player has already placed 5 sky tiles and they wish to (or are forced to) take a 6th, they may choose to swap out an old one for the new one, discarding the one they swapped out, or simply discard the 6th sky tile they took. There is no penalty for this other than having one fewer tile in their final sandcastle.
Sky tiles drop down in their respective columns at the end of the game, coming to rest on the highest sand tiles below.
IMPORTANT! Tiles cannot be rotated! They must always be placed so that the tile number is in the bottom center. Once they have been placed, tiles cannot be moved on a future turn. Remember, all tiles added to the sandcastle must fit within the 5x5 grid, with the Starting Tile being on the bottom center row.
Scoring
After the last tile is placed, players score their sandcastles to determine the winner.
Birds
Score points based on the total number of birds that appear on the sky tiles in your sandcastle.
| Birds | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 2 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 |
| 6 | 8 |
| 7+ | 13 |
Windows
Score points for each row of windows based on the number of windows in those rows. The value of a row increases as more windows are added, but only at specific thresholds.
FOR EXAMPLE, a row scores 2 points if there are 9 windows in it. A row with 10 or 11 windows still only scores 2 points because the threshold for increasing the row's score to 3 points is 12 windows. Every tile has two rows of windows, meaning there are 10 rows that may score even though there are only 5 rows on your 5x5 grid.
| Windows in a row | Points per row |
|---|---|
| 0-4 | 0 |
| 5-8 | 1 |
| 9-11 | 2 |
| 12-13 | 3 |
| 14 | 4 |
| 15+ | 5 |
(The scoring summary page adds: +1 for every window over 15.)
Starfish
Score points by placing starfish orthogonally adjacent to other starfish of the same color. There are 5 colors of starfish (red/blue/green/white/orange). Each connected pair of starfish is worth 3 points. If there is a chain of starfish, then a starfish may be used in multiple pairs.
The manual shows four illustrated examples (see the printed diagrams), scoring +0 points, 3 points, 6 points and 12 points.
There is an additional 5 point bonus for having at least one of every color starfish in your sandcastle.
Shells, Shovels and Buckets
- Shells are always worth 1 point each.
- Shovels are always worth 2 points each.
- Buckets are always worth 3 points each.
Their location does not matter. At the end of the game, the player with the most Shells receives a 3 point bonus. The player with the most Shovels receives a 2 point bonus, and the player with the most Buckets receives a 1 point bonus. Ties are friendly, with all tied players receiving the full bonus.
Sky Tiles
There is a 5 point bonus for having 5 sky tiles in your sandcastle.
Winning the Game
Once all the points have been tallied, the player with the highest score is awarded the grand prize of "Best Sandcastle at the Beach" and wins the game!
In the event of a tie: The player with the most sky tiles located in the 5th row of their sandcastle wins.
If there is still a tie: The player with the most total windows wins.
If there is STILL a tie: Use a number of tiles equal to the number of tied players (taken from the unused tiles or from the tiles used by losing players) to hold one more draft. Tied players can add the tile they decide to keep to the left or right of the bottom row of their castle. The player who improves their score the most by placing this extra tile wins.
If there is STILL a tie: The tied players share the victory.