Swatch Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Gameplay Overview
• Components
• Game Setup
• Playing a Round
  • The Active Row
• Playing a Turn
  • Picking a Card
• Playing a Card
  • Card Actions
• Creating a Swatch
• Completing Your Scheme
• End of the Game
• Solo Game
  • Solo Gameplay Overview
  • Solo Game Setup
  • Poppy's Turns
  • Poppy's Actions
  • Poppy's Swatches and Scheme
  • End of the Solo Game
• Achievements

Gameplay Overview

Players take turns to choose and play cards that add colours to their palettes, trade them with other players, and mix them into new colours. These colours are used to create swatches and build a colour scheme. The first player to complete their scheme with no tokens left over is the winner.

Components

• 60 action cards
• 24 swatch cards
• 14 scheme cards
• 10 solo turn cards
• 2 solo track cards
• 24 cyan tokens
• 24 magenta tokens
• 24 yellow tokens
• 16 red tokens
• 16 green tokens
• 16 blue tokens
• 8 player tokens
• 2 colour dice

If you have issues with distinguishing colours or handling small components, you can use the reverse of the solo track cards to manage your resources instead of the tokens.

Game Setup

1. Separate the swatch cards into the six numbered decks. Shuffle each deck separately and place them, displaying their costs, in a numerical row at the top of the play area.
2. Shuffle the action cards and place the deck face down below the swatch decks, with space for a discard pile.
3. Deal fifteen cards from the action deck and place them face up, in three rows of five cards, below the action deck.
4. Shuffle the scheme cards and deal three face down to each player. Each player chooses one and returns the rest to the box. Do not reveal your scheme to other players.
5. Separate the colour tokens by type and place them in piles within reach of all players to form the supply. The area in front of each player is called their palette.
6. Each player takes one player token, or two of the same colour in a 1-2 player game. The first player is the player who most recently painted something, or select one at random.

Playing a Round

The game is played over a number of rounds. In every round each player will take one turn, or two in a 1-2 player game.

In the first round, the first player takes their turn and play continues clockwise. In subsequent rounds, the order of play is determined by the positioning of the player tokens on the previous active row, from left to right.

The Active Row

In each round there is an active row, starting with the top row and continuing downwards in subsequent rounds. After you reach the bottom, the top will become the next active row.

Once all players have taken their turn, refill any spaces without cards or tokens with cards from the action deck.

Playing a Turn

At the start of your turn, draw a card from the action deck. If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck. Then take these actions once and in any order:

• You MUST pick a card and place your player token
• You MAY play a card from your hand

Picking a Card

Pick a card from the active row and replace it with your token from the previous row. Then choose one of the following:

• Play the card immediately
• Put the card in your hand, OR
• Discard it to also discard a colour token from your palette

If you are the last player in a round to pick a card, you may instead choose to pick one from the row below the active row. If you do this, you will not pick a card again in the next round, but you may still draw and play cards as normal.

Example: As the last player in the round, Purple may pick a card from the active row or the row below.

Playing a Card

To play a card, perform that card's action then discard it, or discard it to also discard a colour token from your palette.

IMPORTANT! When playing a card you must be able to perform the action fully in order to play that card.

Card Actions

ADD - Take the number of tokens in the colour shown on the card from the supply and add it to your palette.

TRADE - Exchange a cyan, magenta, or yellow token from your palette for a cyan, magenta, or yellow token from either the supply or another player's palette.

MIX - Choose red, green, or blue. Exchange the number and combination of cyan, magenta, and/or yellow tokens required to create that colour from your palette for the number of tokens in your chosen colour from the supply.

Creating a Swatch

At any point during your turn you may create a swatch, if you have the necessary colour tokens. To do so follow these steps:

1. Select a swatch card matching your scheme card from the top of one of the numbered decks.
2. Return the number of red, green, and blue tokens, as shown on the bottom of the swatch card, to the supply.
3. Take the swatch card from its deck and place it face up as part of your scheme.

Completing Your Scheme

A scheme is made up of 3 swatches from the numbered decks on your scheme card. You need to create one swatch from each of those decks to complete your scheme. When you complete your scheme, reveal your scheme card to the other players to show that it matches your created scheme.

End of the Game

At the end of the round, if a player has completed their scheme and has no colour tokens remaining in their palette, they have won the game.

Otherwise, at the end of the round, if all players have completed their schemes, the player with the least colour tokens remaining is the winner.

If multiple players are eligible to win the game in the same round, the player with the least cards in their hand is the winner. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

UP FOR A CHALLENGE? Turn to Page 14 to check out a list of achievements to attempt in your games of Swatch!

Solo Game

"It's a mix up showdown! It's time to face off against your rival, Paint Slingin' Poppy. See if you can match her speed and ferocity and create your winning scheme!"

In a solo game of Swatch you will play against an A.I. opponent with varying difficulties called Poppy. She will be working towards the same goal as you (a complete scheme) but sometimes won't act like a human player.

Solo Gameplay Overview

In the first round you will take your turn first and alternate with Poppy until both players have taken two turns, the same as in a two-player game. In subsequent rounds, turn order will go from left to right along the row as normal.

Poppy does not collect colour tokens, but instead moves her markers up and down on her colour track cards. There is one track for cyan, magenta and yellow, which are treated as a single resource. Poppy does not draw cards and never adds cards to her hand.

Your turns work much the same as they do in a multiplayer game. The only exception is you may only use a trade action to exchange tokens with the supply.

If there is ever a tie between choices that Poppy must make (spaces to place her player token, colours to mix, or swatches to create), always refer to the arrow on the current half of the turn card and choose the space, colour, or swatch on the left or right, depending on its direction.

Solo Game Setup

Set up the game as you would for a two-player game, but take these steps instead of the instructions for the second player:

1. Place the solo track cards face up. Place one cyan, magenta, or yellow token on the '0' space of the cyan, magenta, and yellow track and 1 red, 1 green, and 1 blue token on the '0' spaces of their respective tracks.
2. Shuffle the 10 solo turn cards and place the deck face up next to the track cards, with space for a discard pile.
3. Place the CMY colour die next to the left half of the turn cards and the RGB colour die next to the right half.
4. Take two player tokens (purple if available).
5. Select a difficulty level (Easy, Normal, or Hard). To learn how to play, it's recommended to play first on Easy.

Poppy's Turns

Poppy's first turn of the round always uses the CMY colour die and the left half of the turn card. Poppy's second turn always uses the RGB colour die and the right half of the turn card.

1. If this is Poppy's first turn of the round, discard the current turn card to reveal this round's card. If the deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
2. Roll the colour die. Increase the track of the colour rolled by 1 if playing on Medium difficulty, or 2 on Hard.
3. Pick the card in the numbered space matching the colour on the die and the turn card, then replace it with Poppy's player token. If the space is occupied or Poppy can't play the card, take the closest unoccupied and playable space.
4. Play the card in that space, then discard it. If Poppy cannot take the action on the card it is simply discarded.

Example: On her first turn, Poppy rolls cyan, adding 1 to the track before picking the 2nd card. If that space was occupied or unplayable, she would take the card on the right.

Poppy's Actions

ADD - Increase the CMY track as many spaces as the number shown on the card.

If Poppy's CMY track totals 24 or more (on Easy, 20 on Medium, or 16 on Hard), Poppy will take a free Mix action.

TRADE - Poppy adds 1 token to your palette from the supply that matches the colour currently showing on the CMY die. Return 1 of your tokens, of whichever other colour you have the fewest of, to the supply.

MIX - Decrease the CMY track a number of spaces depending on the chosen difficulty. Add 1 red, green, or blue, whichever colour Poppy has the fewest of.

• Easy: 6 CMY
• Medium: 5 CMY
• Hard: 4 CMY

Regardless of the number on the Mix card, Poppy will repeat this action until she is unable to. Poppy can mix different colours each time.

Example: Poppy decreases her CMY track 5 spaces (playing on Medium) and increases her Blue track 1 space.

Poppy's Swatches and Scheme

When Poppy has a total of 7 or more red, green, and blue on her tracks, check to see if she has the necessary colours to create a swatch. Decrease the RGB tracks according to the swatch created and add the swatch to her scheme. Poppy is not restricted by a scheme so may complete any combination of 3 swatches.

Example: Poppy has 7 or more colours on her RGB tracks. She has the necessary colours to create Swatch 3, so she decreases those tracks by the amounts shown on the card and adds that swatch to her scheme.

End of the Solo Game

Follow the rules for the end of the game as normal, with the following exceptions. When Poppy completes her scheme she will decrease her track (any colour) instead of increase when rolling the colour die, and will always discard the card she picks to decrease her track (any colour) by 1. In the case of a tie Poppy always wins.

Achievements

Can you complete each of these challenges during your games of Swatch? Dont forget to share your completed achievement sheets with us by email or on social media!

• Artists' Gallery - Name one of your completed schemes and post it on social media with the hashtag #swatchboardgame.
• Colour Cash-In - Create more than one swatch in a turn.
• No Drops Spilt - Complete your scheme with no colour tokens remaining in your palette in the same turn.
• Speed Painter - Win a solo or two-player game in 10 rounds or less.
• Employee of the Month - Beat Poppy on: Easy / Normal / Hard (tick box for each difficulty).
• Prolific Artist - Create a colour scheme from every scheme card.

The achievement sheet also has 14 numbered tick boxes (#1 to #14) for recording completed achievements.