Tsukimi Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• How to Play
  • Choosing a Mochi Tile
  • Placing a Mochi Tile
  • Discarding a Rival Rabbit
  • Applying a Mochi Tile Effect
• End of the Game
• The Dark Side of the Moon
  • Setup

Components

• 1 double-sided Moon board: light side / dark side (each side has 19 spaces, with 6 vertices each)
• 30 Rabbits (15 white and 15 purple)
• 19 tiles (1 Temple and 18 Mochi tiles: 4 strawberry, 4 blueberry, 4 carrot, 4 matcha, and 2 sakura)

Goal of the Game

The rabbits have come to the Moon to join the grand Tsukimi celebrations. Your objective is simple: make sure your clan claims more mochis than your rival. Each mochi is placed on the lunar surface and will be surrounded by rabbits; the clan who has most rabbits around that mochi will claim it. The mochis have different values: some score a few points; some score several points. Once you have placed all the mochis on the Moon, count up the score for each clan. The clan with the most mochi points wins.

Setup

1. Place the Moon board in the center, choosing which side to play. (We recommend using the light side for your first few games.)
2. Each player chooses a clan colour: white, or purple. Take all the Rabbits for your clan.
3. Shuffle all the tiles (including the Temple tile) and place them face up around the Moon board at random.
4. The player who last ate something sweet plays first.

How to Play

A game lasts as many rounds as there are Mochi tiles (18 rounds).

On your turn, choose a Mochi tile, place it on the Moon board, then apply its effects.

Choosing a Mochi Tile

Choose any available Mochi tile. To take a tile, you must discard as many Rabbits from your reserve as there are Mochi tiles between the Temple tile and your chosen tile, following the shortest path. Place the discarded Rabbits back in the box. You do not need to discard any Rabbits for the two tiles closest to the Temple.

Example: Clara chooses the strawberry Mochi tile next to the Temple, so does not need to discard any Rabbits.

This is the arrangement of tiles at the start of the next turn. If Mitsuki chooses the carrot Mochi tile with value 2, he must discard 1 Rabbit.

Do not move any skipped tiles: keep the tiles in the same position and order.

At the start of the game, we recommend choosing the tiles on either side of the Temple. Be careful how many Rabbits you discard: you may need them later!

Placing a Mochi Tile

Place the Mochi tile on an empty space on the Moon board, next to at least one other Mochi tile already placed. (For the first turn, you may place the Mochi tile on any space.)

Discarding a Rival Rabbit

Each time you form a group of exactly 3 Mochi tiles of the same flavour or same value, discard one rival Rabbit. You can only do this if you form a group of exactly 3 tiles.

A group consists of three adjacent Mochi tiles, which do not have to be in a straight line. They must share either the same flavour (strawberry, blueberry, carrot, matcha, or sakura), or the same value (0, 1, 2, or 3). You cannot use this effect for a group of sakura Mochi tiles of value 5, as there are only 2 tiles of value 5. If placing a Mochi tile creates both a flavour group and a value group, apply the effect twice.

You may discard any rival Rabbit present on the Moon board and return it to the box. If your opponent has no Rabbits on the board, you cannot apply this effect. You may apply it before or after the effects of the Mochi tile.

Applying a Mochi Tile Effect

Apply the effects shown on the lower part of the Mochi tile you just placed, in any order you choose.

• Placing Rabbits: Place 1 or 2 Rabbits from your reserve on a vertex of the space where you placed your Mochi tile. The vertex must be empty, and only one Rabbit may occupy each vertex. If your reserve is empty or no vertices are available, you cannot perform this action.

  A well-placed Rabbit can help you claim up to 3 Mochi tiles.

• Moving Rabbits: Move 1 Rabbit from your clan that is already on the board to another empty vertex. You may use this effect to move the Rabbit you placed this turn.

  Effects are optional. You may choose not to apply them to save your Rabbits for future turns.

Once you have finished applying all the effects, your opponent takes their turn.

Example:

1. Mitsuki chooses the matcha Mochi tile with value 2. He does not need to discard a Rabbit to take it. This tile then allows him to place one Rabbit and move another.
2. He places his Rabbit on a vertex around a sakura Mochi tile of value 5. Then he uses the arrow effect to move one of his Rabbits to another vertex around the same space.
3. In addition, Mitsuki forms a group of exactly 3 Mochi tiles of the same flavour (matcha). This allows him to return the Rabbit marked with an 'X' to the box. If he had created this group earlier, he could have moved his Rabbit directly onto that vertex, but even so, he has now removed an important Rabbit from the rival clan.

End of the Game

The game ends when all Mochi tiles have been placed. Then, for each tile, count the Rabbits present on the 6 surrounding vertices. If you have more Rabbits around a tile than your opponent, you claim that tile. In case of a tie, discard the tile: neither clan can claim it.

Once all the Mochi tiles on the board have been removed, each clan adds up the values of all the tiles it has claimed.

The clan with the most points wins the game! In case of a tie, the winner is the player with the most Mochi tiles. If the tie persists, the player with the most Rabbits remaining in their reserve wins. And if there is still a tie, the winner is the player who can do the best impression of a rabbit.

Example: The white clan claims the Mochi tiles outlined in white (1 + 2 + 5), and the purple clan claims those outlined in purple (0 + 3). The tile outlined in black is discarded because both clans are tied for it. In this example, the white clan wins with 8 points, against 3 for the purple clan.

The Dark Side of the Moon

If you want a more strategic game, try the Dark Side of the Moon mode.

Setup

Place the Moon board with the dark side face up. Each player starts with 3 Rabbits of their colour in their personal reserve. Place all remaining Rabbits in the box. During the game, you may recruit new Rabbits by placing Mochi tiles on spaces containing Rabbit symbols.

A space showing 1 or 2 Rabbits allows you to recruit that many Rabbits into your clan. Take them from the box and add them to your reserve.

Then apply the tile's effects as you would for normal mode (light side of the Moon).

In dark mode, Rabbits go into the box (when you discard them) and come out of it (when you recruit them).