Whale to Look
Whale to Look Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 27 diamond-shaped cards — 6 area cards (dark backs), 12 fish cards (light backs), 5 dock cards, 4 trending cards
- 15 boats (3 per player, in 5 player colours)
- 25 investigation markers (5 per player, in 5 player colours)
- 1 whale token and 1 orca token
- 65 chips of various types — tourists, anchors, radars, fishers and scoring chips
- Game manual (EN / DE / FR / ES)
1. Object of the Game
Predict which of the 6 areas the whale and the orca will appear in.
Which area they appear in is decided by the total number of fish surrounding each area. The whale appears in the area with the most fish, and the orca appears in the area with the fewest fish.
At the start, the number of fish is unknown. Players investigate the number of fish and try to guess where the whale and the orca will appear by placing their boats in that area. At the end of a round, if your boat is in an area where the whale or the orca surfaces, you earn points.
Your goal is to earn the most points after 2 rounds.
2. Setup
1. Each player takes the items listed below and places them in front of themselves:
- Dock x1 — place it face up.
- Tourist x6.
- Anchor x1.
- Investigation marker x5 — of the same colour as the dock.
- Boat x3 — of the same colour as the dock.
- Radar x1 — place it face up. In a 2-player game, take 2.
2. Place the tourists in the boats. Make sure that the boats hold 1, 2 and 3 tourists respectively. Place the boats with their tourists in your dock.
3. Choose a start player however you like.
4. Shuffle the area cards (the 6 dark cards) thoroughly and lay them out face down in the centre of the play area following the diagram. Once the cards are laid out, flip them face up.
5. Shuffle the fish cards (the 12 light cards) thoroughly and lay them out face down as shown in the diagram.
6. Place the scoring chips, the whale and orca tokens, the trending cards and the fishers at the edge of the play area. Any remaining components are not used — please return them to the box.
3. Playing the Game
Players take turns clockwise, starting with the start player. When it is your turn, you carry out either [A. Investigate and Move] or [B. Finish] once.
If you have no investigation markers left, or you can no longer move a boat, you must choose [B. Finish].
A. Investigate and Move
Step 1 — Investigate the number of fish
The number of fish (0-5) is printed on the face of the fish cards.
Choose one fish card you would like to investigate. Place one of your investigation markers next to it, and — you alone — check the number on the face of the fish card you chose. Then return the card to its original place, face down.
Once you have placed one of your investigation markers next to a fish card, you may check that card again whenever you want.
Once per round, at any point during their turn, a player may use their radar to flip one face-down fish card and reveal it to everyone. After using the radar, turn it face down and place it next to yourself.
In a 2-player game you may use the radar twice per round. However, you may only use it once per turn.
Step 2 — Move a boat to a place where the whale or the orca might appear
If you investigate and do nothing else, somebody will get angry! If you investigated in step 1, you must proceed to step 2. Choose either (a) or (b).
(a) Move one of your boats with its tourists out of your dock and place it on top of any area.
(b) Move one of your boats that you have already placed in an area to an adjacent area.
Rules to follow when moving a boat
- The maximum number of boats that may be placed in one area, counting all players, is equal to the total number of players. (Several boats of the same colour may be placed in the same area.)
- You may not move into an area if a fish card lies between the two areas — areas are adjacent across the diagonal corners of the cards.
Anchor bonus
Once per round, when moving a boat, each player may drop their anchor on the area they are moving into. Place the boat on top of the anchor. If your anchored boat scores, you gain +2 points.
Things to remember when dropping the anchor:
- Only 1 anchor may be placed in each area.
- A boat that has been anchored may no longer be moved.
- You may not drop the anchor under a boat until you move that boat.
B. Finish
At the start of your turn, if you do not want to (or cannot) move your boat, or you have run out of investigation markers, say "Done!" and turn your dock face down. After that you no longer take turns, and the next player continues with their turn.
Keep taking turns until all players have chosen [B. Finish].
4. Scoring
After all players have chosen [B. Finish], flip all the fish cards face up.
For each area, add up the numbers on the 4 adjacent fish cards. Then, according to the following table, all players check which areas the whale and the orca appear in. As a marker for the players, place the whale token in the area where the whale appears, and the orca token in the area where the orca appears.
| Where it appears | |
|---|---|
| The area where the WHALE appears (grey) | The area where the sum of the 4 adjacent fish cards is the highest. If several areas have the same total, the area with the higher printed number counts. |
| The area where the ORCA appears (black) | The area where the sum of the 4 adjacent fish cards is the lowest. If several areas have the same total, the area with the lower printed number counts. |
For the areas where the whale and the orca appeared, each player who placed a boat in those areas receives scoring chips equal to the number of tourists on each of those boats. In addition, if they dropped their anchor there, they receive +2 points.
5. End of the Round
Return your boats, investigation markers and anchor to your dock. Turn your dock and any used radar face up.
Shuffle the trending cards face down and flip 1 of them face up. For details, see the Trending Card guide below.
Start the next round from step 4 of [2. Setup].
The player with the most points in the first round becomes the start player for the second round. If several players are tied on points, the player who is furthest clockwise from the first round's start player becomes the new start player.
6. End of the Game
The player with the most points after two rounds is the winner.
In case of a tie, the player with the higher score in round 2 is the winner. If it is still a tie, the player who took their turn later wins.
Trending Cards
A trending card is revealed for the second round and adds an extra scoring condition.
Whale-watching season — Gain 2 points for each of your boats on the whale tile.
Fishing Season — Replace 1 tourist with 1 fisher on your boat. Place the boat as normal. At the end of the second round, if the boat with the fisher is not on the whale tile or the orca tile, gain 3 points.
Whale & Orca Season — If at the end of the second round you have a boat on both the whale tile and the orca tile, gain 4 points.
Orca-watching season — Each player with a boat on the orca tile gains 3 points. Even if you have several boats there, you gain only 3 points.