Switchbacks Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Credits
• Setup
• Objective
• Game Turns
• Buddying Up and Hiking
• Game End

Components

• 1 Map Board
• 37 Elevation Tiles
• 51 Hikers (16 blue, 16 red, 11 green, 8 yellow)

Credits

• Design: Susumu Kawasaki
• Illustration: Daniel Profiri & Anca Gavril
• Graphic Design: Anca Gavril
• 3D Artist: Filip Gavril
• Scouting: James Nathan

Setup

Setup	Tiles Removed	Hikers Per Player
2 Players	4	16
3 Players	3	11
4 Players	4	8

1. Shuffle the 37 elevation tiles face down. Turn 1 random tile face up and place it in the center hex on the map.
2. Deal each player 1 tile face down (or 2 tiles in a 2-player game). They secretly look at it, then set it aside face down. This gives each player knowledge of 1 tile that is out of the game. A player may look at their set-aside tile at any time, but may not play it.
3. Deal each player 3 more tiles face down to make up their starting hand, which they may look at. Each player takes the appropriate number of hikers of their chosen color (see table) and spreads them out in front of themselves (do not stack them). Return unused hikers to the box.
4. The last person to go on a hike is the first player.

Objective

Place elevation tiles to map out the park, and try to create hiking paths of 4 or more tiles that have consecutive elevation numbers (e.g. 1-2-3-4). At the end of the game, you score 1 point for each of your hikers that is on a complete hiking path — and 0 points for each hiker that isn't!

Game Turns

Players take turns in clockwise order, starting with the first player. On your turn, do the following in order:

1. Explore: Place 1 tile from your hand in any empty hex on the map. You can place a tile in any hex on the map that doesn't have one yet. It doesn't have to touch another tile.
2. Buddy Up or Hike: Either buddy up 2 of your hikers OR place hikers on the tile you explored (see below).
3. Draw: Draw 1 new tile from the stack.

Buddying Up and Hiking

After you explore a tile, you must decide whether to buddy up or go for a hike.

• Buddy Up: Pair up 2 of your unplaced hikers as buddies (A). Place no hikers and pair 2 hikers as buddies.
• Hike: Place a solo hiker (B) or pair of buddies (C) on the tile you just explored. (B) Place a solo hiker. (C) Place a pair of buddies.

You must choose to either buddy up or hike each turn. If you don't have at least 2 solo hikers left, you can't buddy up (you must hike). You can't buddy up more than 2 hikers.

When hiking, you can only hike on the tile you just explored (not any previously placed tile). You can only place buddies that you paired up on a previous turn (you can't place 2 solo hikers at once).

Game End

When the last tile is drawn, players continue taking turns without drawing new tiles, until everyone has played their last tile. (There will still be empty hexes on the map.)

Once all tiles have been played, each player checks which of their hikers are on a complete hiking path. A hiking path is complete if it has 4 or more tiles that are in consecutive numbered order (e.g. 1-2-3-4 or 13-14-15-16).

Remove all hikers that are not on complete hiking paths. Each player then scores 1 point for each of their hikers left on the map. Whoever has the most points wins! In the case of a tie, either share victory or play another game to decide.

Scoring examples (illustrated on a sample map):

• Only hikers on paths of 4+ consecutive tiles score points. A path of elevation tiles numbered 12-13-14-15 is complete, so Red scores 4 points there.
• Hikers that aren't on complete paths score no points. Nearby tiles numbered 19 and 4 are not in consecutive order, so Yellow scores 0 points there.
• Multiple players can score hikers on the same path — on one shared path, Red scores 2 points and Blue scores 2 points.
• A path is not complete if its numbers are out of order — on tiles numbered 23-24-25-26 whose order is broken, Yellow scores 0 points.