Sapotagem

Sapotagem Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components
Setup
Playing the Game (Desenvolvimento da Partida)
End of the Game (Final da Partida)
- Scoring Table (Tabela de Pontuação)
Variants

Components

48 cards, divided as follows:

6 animal factions, in secondary colours, each appearing 8 times among cards numbered 1 to 12: Frogs (Sapos), Ducks (Patos), Horses (Cavalos), Pigs (Porcos), Bears (Ursos) and Birds (Pássaros).

The rulebook's colour key shows the four basic colours and their Intelligence Division names:

IB6 – Inteligência Batráquia 6 (green)
FROGLAND YARD (yellow)
S.A.L.T.O. – Setor Anfíbio de Libertação Tática de Objetivos (red)
FROG BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (blue)

4 cards showing a clock bomb (Bomba Relógio), numbered 13.
20 "Jump" markers (Marcadores de "Pulo").
1 "Round Trump" card (Carta de "Trunfo" da Rodada).
2 "Trump" markers (Marcadores de "Trunfo"), each showing the name SAPOTAGEM in one of four colours.

Setup

Each player takes a number of Jump markers determined by the GAME TABLE (Tabela de Jogo).
The 52 cards are shuffled and placed face down in the centre of the table, forming a pile (the TRUMP PILE, Pilha de Trunfos) that represents the number of rounds in the game. Two cards are then revealed: the first, placed beside the trump pile, represents the trump for the first round; the second, placed above the trump pile, represents the trump for the second round. The remaining cards are dealt secretly to the players according to the GAME TABLE below, depending on the number of players:

Number of Players	Number of cards laid out in the middle of the table (turns)	Number of cards for each player	Number of times each player must jump during the game
3	16	12	4
4	12	10	2
5	12	8	4
6	10	7	3

Playing the Game (Desenvolvimento da Partida)

The game has a fixed number of rounds, depending on the GAME TABLE. Each round has a Starting Player.

In the first round, a Starting Player is chosen at random. In later rounds, the Starting Player is whoever won the previous round. In each turn, except in the first round, an open card must be placed on top of the TRUMP PILE beside the same pile, and then a new card is revealed from the TRUMP PILE, placed on top of the same pile, replacing the previous one.

The card beside the trump pile represents the TRUMP of the current round, and the card on top of the trump pile is the trump of the next round.

On their turn, a player takes one of the following actions:

Jump (Pular)

The player discards one of their Jump markers. If they have no Jump markers left, they cannot take this action.

Play a card from hand (Jogar uma carta da mão)

If the player is the first to play a card in the round, they choose which of the four basic colours (or Intelligence Divisions) the following players must follow.
If a player has no card of the same basic colour in hand, they may play a card of any other basic colour, including the TRUMP colour.

The round ends when all players have taken their actions. The winner of the round is the player who meets the highest of the following requirements, in descending order of importance:

Played the highest card among the cards of the TRUMP colour.
Played the highest card among those of the colour to be followed in that round.

The winner of the round then captures the animals: they take all the cards played in that round, plus the TRUMP card in the centre of the table, and place all the cards face up near them, separated into rows according to the faction shown on each card.

Clock bomb cards taken by a player are also placed in a separate row. The area in which players place their captured cards is called the PLAY AREA (Área de Jogo).

End of the Game (Final da Partida)

At the end of all the rounds, when the last card of the TRUMP PILE has been won by a player, the game ends. Each player counts their victory points for each faction type they have, as described in the tables below, which are also printed on the "PONTUAÇÃO" (Scoring) cards.

Scoring Table (Tabela de Pontuação)

Rating (Avaliação)	Number of Cards (Quantidade de Cartas)	Points
Scoring for faction cards (Pontuação Cartas Facções)
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	1 per faction	1
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	2 per faction	3
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	3 per faction	6
Potential Target (Alvo em Potencial)	4 per faction	-1
Potential Target (Alvo em Potencial)	5 per faction	-3
Potential Target (Alvo em Potencial)	6 per faction	-6
Master of S.A.P.O.! (Mestre do S.A.P.O!)

The player with the most victory points wins. In case of a tie, the winner is the tied player with the greater number of cards in their PLAY AREA. If the tie persists, the victory is shared.

Variants

To play a game with more variety, choose one or more of the variants below and try new possibilities in your missions within the S.A.P.O.!

1) Under Arrest (Voz de Prisão)

Players randomly choose which colour will be the trump for the whole game. All the cards laid out on the table (which would be the trumps in the original version) remain face up. When a player wins a round, they choose one of the face-up cards and place it in their PLAY AREA.

2) Frogs on Duty! (Sapos na Atividade!)

Players randomly choose which colour will be the trump for the whole game. Players play a card every round, that is, there are no jumps in the game. In a 3-player game, deal 17 cards to each player. In a 4-player game, deal 13 cards to each player. In a 5-player game, deal 10 cards to each player. The cards left over (1 in a 3-player game and 2 in a 5-player game) are discarded without the players looking at them.

3) Ace Up the Sleeve! (Carta na Manga!)

Players use all the cards in hand and no jumps, as in variant 2. At the start of the game, each player secretly chooses 1 card, and all reveal them simultaneously. The revealed cards will be the trumps throughout the game. Shuffle the revealed cards and reveal one, which will be the trump of the first round. Once all the cards have been used once, shuffle them all again and reveal one, which will be the trump of that round. Repeat this procedure until the end of the game.

4) Costly Absence (Ausência Cara)

Players use all the cards in hand, as in variant 2. Each player receives 4 jumps (3 jumps for a 6-player game). At the end of the game, players who jumped 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 times receive -1 / -3 / -6 / -10 points.

5) Double Agent (Agente Duplo)

At the end of the game, the player who has scored the fewest points wins.

6) Agency Society – A Good Frog Is a Together Frog! (Sociedade de Agências – Sapo Bom é Sapo Junto!)

In a 4-player game, 2 teams (duplas) are formed; in a 6-player game, 3 teams are formed. Each team has only one PLAY AREA. At the end of the game, the score of each team is counted, and the team with the most points wins.

7) Agency Society – A Good Frog Is a Clever Frog! (Sociedade de Agências – Sapo Bom é Sapo Esperto!)

In a 4-player game, 2 teams are formed; in a 6-player game, 3 teams are formed. Each player has their own PLAY AREA. At the end of the game, only the PLAY AREA with the highest score of each team is counted. The team with the most points is the winner.

8) Agency Society – Double Frog! (Sociedade de Agências – Sapo Duplo!)

In a 4-player game, 2 teams are formed; in a 6-player game, 3 teams are formed. Each team has only one PLAY AREA. At the end of the game [the printed text reads "No final do a pontuação"; the word "jogo" appears to be missing in the original], the score of each team is counted, and the team with the fewest points wins.

9) Innocent or Guilty? (Inocentes ou Culpados?)

Alternative scoring table:

Rating (Avaliação)	Number of Cards (Quantidade de Cartas)	Points
Scoring for faction cards (Pontuação Cartas Facções)
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	1 per faction	1
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	2 per faction	3
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	3 per faction	6
Old Warhorse (Velho de Guerra)	4 per faction	10
Old Warhorse (Velho de Guerra)	5 per faction	15
Old Warhorse (Velho de Guerra)	6 per faction	21
Master of S.A.P.O.! (Mestre do S.A.P.O!)

10) Soaped Frog! Dodging the Aim! (Sapo Ensaboado! Esquivando da Mira!)

Alternative scoring table:

Rating (Avaliação)	Number of Cards (Quantidade de Cartas)	Points
Scoring for faction cards (Pontuação Cartas Facções)
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	1 per faction	1
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	2 per faction	3
Dedicated Apprentice (Aprendiz Dedicado)	3 per faction	6
Potential Target (Alvo em Potencial)	4 per faction	-3
Potential Target (Alvo em Potencial)	5 per faction	-6
Master of S.A.P.O.! (Mestre do S.A.P.O!)	6 per faction	10
Master of S.A.P.O.! (Mestre do S.A.P.O!)

11) Frog Back in the Game (Sapo de Volta ao Jogo)

When a player wins a round, they may choose one of the cards they won and place it in their hand, spending one jump.

12) Spy Initiative (Iniciativa de Espiões)

The starting player cannot jump; that is, they must play a card on the table.

13) Open Information (Informações Abertas)

Instead of revealing only the trump of the current round and the next one, lay out a row with all the trumps face up, from the first round to the last.

14) Fugitive Frogs (Sapos Fugitivos)

Of the cards set aside to be the trumps, place 5 cards separately on the table, face up for all players to see. When a player jumps, they choose one of them and place it on their table. The last five rounds of the game must be played without trumps.

15) Negotiating Frogs (Sapos Negociadores)

Jump markers are used in a different way. When a player is going to "jump", they choose a card from their PLAY AREA to play.

16) Wild Bomb (Bomba Coringa)

The clock bomb is a wild card. Example: if a player takes a bomb, they must place it in any row of a given faction, adding one more card of that faction type.

17) Remote-Control Bomb (Bomba Teleguiada)

When a player jumps, if they have a bomb, they may play it and add it to the cards played in that round. Because they jumped, the card does not count as belonging to this player, nor does it count toward winning the round. The winner of the round takes the bomb.

18) Planting Information (Plantando Informações)

This variant works best in a 3-player game. The game follows the normal rules with one single exception: the player chooses a card from their hand and places it in front of the player to their left. The round then continues with the participants playing to the left. Jumping is not allowed in this variant.

19) Closed Information (Informação Fechada)

For a more surprising game, reveal only the current trump of the round.

20) Anonymous Help (Ajuda Anônima)

When a player wins a round, they only take the cards played by the players. The current trump of the round goes to a discard pile. Each time a player takes the fourth card of a faction (that is, gains negative points in that faction), they must choose a card from the discard pile and add it to their PLAY AREA.

21) Anonymous Help (Ajuda Anônima)

In a 3-player game, 4 trump piles of 4 cards each are set up. The first card will be the trump for the first four rounds. When a player wins a round, they choose one of the other 3 cards to add to their PLAY AREA. In the fourth round, whoever wins the round adds that round's own trump to their PLAY AREA. When the cards of one trump pile have all been captured, reveal 4 more cards from the next pile and proceed again as explained.

The game is set up as in variant 21, except that from one of the trump piles chosen to be revealed, the players reveal only 1 card, which will be the trump of the round. When a player wins the round, in addition to taking all the cards played, they shuffle the trump card together with the other 3 cards of the same trump pile, draw one of them at random, and place it in their PLAY AREA.

23) Weak Frog, But Not That Weak... (Sapo Fraco, mas Nem Tanto...)

In this variant, use the trump card and the trump markers. The trump of the first round is drawn at random. To indicate it, leave exposed only the drawn colour, hiding the undrawn colours with the trump markers. From the second round onward, whoever played the weakest card in the previous round chooses the trump of the current round.

The weakest card is determined by the requirements below, in descending order of importance:

The lowest card of a colour that is neither the trump nor the colour to be followed (in case of a tie, whoever played first among the tied players);
The lowest card of the colour to be followed;
The lowest card of the trump colour;
If all players have jumped, the trump is drawn as in the first round.

The cards that would serve as the trump (TRUMP PILE) are not used in this variant. After the cards are dealt to the players, the pile that would be the trump pile is removed from the game.

24) Frog Hiding the Game! (Sapo Escondendo o Jogo!)

Use variant 23. The cards that would serve as trumps are not discarded. Instead, form a single closed pile with them. Each time a player chooses the trump of the round, they choose one card from the pile and add it to their PLAY AREA.

25) Planting More Information! (Plantando Mais Informações!)

Use variant 18, but instead of the player choosing a card for the player on their left, they may choose it for any opponent. The opponent who receives the card chooses another opponent who has not yet received a card in this round, except for the Starting Player, who must always be the last to be chosen.