Skora
Skora Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Component List
- 24 x Wooden Ships (6 of each colour)
- 24 x Catch Cards
- 24 x Axe Tokens
- 9 x Decree Cards
- 1 x Board
Overview
Skora takes place over two phases: 'Baiting' and 'Fishing'.
During the Baiting phase, players play Catch Cards to place and move their boats in order to gain control of the best fishing grounds by having the most boats there. As cards are played, they change the creatures available in each location, and players must react to these shifting shoals or be left with a poor harvest when the Fishing phase arrives. Once players have played all their cards, the Fishing begins, with the strongest player in each region having first choice of the catch.
The winning player is the one with the most points from their Catch Cards and Decree Card at the end of the game.
Setup
Place the ocean board (A) in the centre of the play area.
Each player chooses a colour and takes the six corresponding boats (D). Place the axe tokens (C) in a central area, in reach of all players.
Give each player one of each Catch Card numbered '1', '2' and '3', and place the rest of the '1', '2' and '3' cards back in the box. Shuffle the remaining Catch Cards (numbered '4', '5' and '6') (B). Place one random Catch Card face up on each location, and then deal the remaining cards face down to the players. For games with 2 or 4 players, there will be one card left over - place this card back in the box without looking at it.
Hand size will vary depending on player count:
| Number of Players | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catch Cards in Hand | 7 | 6 | 5 |
Separate and shuffle the Decree Cards. Deal two to each player face down. Each player should look at their Decree Cards and choose one, discarding the other. Unused Decree Cards are removed from the game.
Setup diagram key: A) Ocean board, B) Catch cards, C) Axe tokens supply, D) Player boats.
You are now ready to start playing Skora!
How to Play
Skora is played in two phases.
Phase 1 - Baiting
Starting with the person who was last on a boat, players take turns playing one of their Catch Cards to any of the three location cards.
Each Catch Card has a creature type, victory point value, and catch type.
- A) Catch type
- B) Victory point value
- C) Creature type
- D) Action
Additionally, five of the six Catch Cards also have an action on them. When a player plays a card, they must take the action written on the card.
There are three different catch types: Claws, Fish and Sharks. If the played Catch Card matches the Catch Type on the card beneath it, the player receives an Axe Token.
Once they have played a card, players may choose to move one of their placed boats to a different location, and then end their turn.
Example turn: Yellow plays her Beacon Fish card to location 'A'. She follows the action on the card and places three of her boats in that location as well. She also decides to move one of the boats she has just played to location 'B'. Finally, since the card she played matches a symbol with the top card in location 'A' she also receives an axe token.
Once everyone has played all of their cards and all boats are on the ocean board, the Baiting phase ends and the Fishing phase begins.
Phase 2 - Fishing
Starting with Location A, players determine the Fishing Order for each location and harvest their catch.
To determine Fishing Order, players compare the number of boats they have at a Location. The player with the most boats will have the first pick of the catch cards, followed by the player with the second most boats, and so on. If players draw on number of boats, the player with more axe tokens wins the tie, losing an axe token in the process. If players have the same number of axe tokens, then the player who is first in the turn order will go first, losing an axe token in the process.
Once the Fishing Order is determined for a Location, players then take turns to take a Catch Card from that location, following the fishing order. Players remove one boat each time they take a catch card.
Example of how turn order is decided: Pink has 4 boats in this location so is first in turn order. Grey has 2 boats so they are second. Yellow and purple both have 1 boat so a tie breaker is triggered. Purple has 4 face-up axe tokens and yellow has 3. Purple wins the tie break and flips an axe token face-down. Purple is now third in turn order and yellow is last.
If a player has no boats left, they cannot harvest any more Catch Cards from that location. If there are no Catch Cards left, players cannot harvest any more from that location, even if they still have boats left. Once all the Catch Cards have been harvested, any remaining boats are removed from that location, and play moves on to the next Location, where a new Fishing Order will be determined.
Once all player boats have been removed from the Ocean Board, players score their harvest, adding any bonus points from their Decree card to the points on their Catch Cards. The player with the most points has the most impressive harvest, and is the winner!
If there is a tie, then the winner is the player who has the most cards.
Example scoring hand of 26 points: The player has more fish catch cards so gains the decree bonus.
Decree Cards
- Fisherfolk: 5 Points if FISH are the largest CATCH TYPE in your scoring hand.
- Crabber: 5 Points if CLAWS are the largest CATCH TYPE in your scoring hand.
- Hunter: 5 Points if SHARKS are the largest CATCH TYPE in your scoring hand.
- Tribe: No more than 2 CATCH TYPE in your scoring hand - 6 points.
- Breeder: 4 Points for every pair of CREATURES in your scoring hand.
- Trawler (3-4 player game only): 2 of each CATCH CARD in your scoring hand - 7 points.
- Voyager: 9 points for 6 unique CREATURES; 6 points for 5 unique CREATURES; 4 points for 4 unique CREATURES.
- Occultist: 3 points if more odd than even-numbered CREATURE CARDS in your scoring hand.
- Warband (4 player game only): 9 points for every tie break won.
Additional Rules for Playing Skora with Two Players
During the fishing phase, whenever a player takes a Catch Card, they also discard any other Catch Card from that location. The discarded card is put back in the box and is not scored by either player. If there is only one card left at a Location, the player simply takes that card without having to discard.