4 Seasons
4 Seasons Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
48 playing cards, divided into 4 seasons (colors) with 12 cards each in different values: 4x value 1, 6x value 2, 2x value 3. The back of each card also shows the card's value, but not its season.
- 12 x Spring
- 12 x Summer
- 12 x Autumn
- 12 x Winter
- Card back
- 4 season figures
Setup
Sort all cards by their backs into 3 piles by value 1, 2 and 3. Shuffle each pile separately and set it aside for now.
Take the pile of 1s first and form 8 new piles from its cards. Then take the pile of 2s and distribute its cards onto the same 8 piles. Finally do the same with the pile of 3s. This gives you 8 piles whose cards, from bottom to top, have the values 1-1-2-2-2-3.
Now remove 2 of these piles from the game and set them aside without looking at them. Each player takes 3 of the remaining 6 piles and stacks them on top of each other, without looking at the cards or shuffling them. This creates a draw pile of 18 cards for each player. Each player draws 8 cards from it into their hand.
Place the 4 season figures in the middle so that there is enough room next to each figure for 1 row of cards.
Determine a starting player in any way you like.
Table Layout
During the game you gradually lay the cards out on the table. There are 3 different areas:
- The area in the middle with the 4 figures is the season area. Cards placed here determine the victory points at the end.
- In addition, each of you has your own influence area directly in front of you. Cards placed here determine your influence points at the end. (The area on the far side of the season area is your opponent's influence area; the area nearest you is your influence area.)
Always lay out the cards in every area matching their color. Fan several cards of the same color in an area on top of one another so that both players can see all values at all times.
Overview
A game of 4 Seasons lasts 9 rounds. In each round you both take 1 turn each, the starting player always going first.
Each turn consists of choosing 2 cards from your hand and giving them to your opponent; they place 1 of them in the season area and 1 in their influence area. At the end of a round both players draw 2 cards each and the next round begins.
After 9 rounds, each of your influence areas holds 9 cards and the season area holds 18 cards. Whoever has more influence points for a season receives the victory points of that season. Whoever has the most victory points in total over the 4 seasons wins.
Playing a Round
As the starting player, you take your turn as follows:
- Choose 2 of your hand cards and give them to your opponent. They may look at the fronts.
- Your opponent now chooses exactly 1 of the two cards and lays it face up in the season area next to the figure of the same color. This increases the victory points for that season.
- Then they lay the remaining second card into their influence area, also matching its color. This increases their influence points for that season.
It is not allowed to place both cards in the season area or both cards in the influence area.
Then your opponent takes their turn in the same way. They give you 2 of their hand cards; you place 1 card in the season area and 1 card in your influence area.
This means the cards in your hand are the cards your opponent will play (and vice versa)! But you decide when your opponent may play which card.
At the end of every round you both draw 2 cards each from your personal draw piles and begin the next round. When your draw piles are used up, you no longer draw cards and continue the game until you have laid out all the cards. Then scoring takes place.
Scoring
For each season, compare the sum of your influence points. Whoever has the higher value receives the victory points of that season and takes the corresponding season figure. In a tie, nobody receives the victory points of that season.
Whoever has the most victory points in total over all 4 seasons wins. In a tie, the player with more season figures in front of them wins. If there is also a tie here, there is no winner.
Example
Stefanie has 6 influence points in Spring (1+2+3); Jens has only 5 influence points (1+2+2). Stefanie wins Spring and receives 7 victory points (1+2+2+2). Had Jens had another green "1" in his influence area, his influence would also have been 6. In this case neither of them would have won that season.
Notes
- The value of each card is also shown in the corners on the back of the card. You may ask your opponent at any time to show you all their card backs. This lets you better judge which card values your opponent still has in hand and will later give you.
- Since the starting player does not change during the whole game, we recommend playing a second game with a new starting player and adding the victory points of both games to determine the winner.