Aloha Pioha Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Card Descriptions
  • Hair Cards
  • Louse Cards
  • Louse Card Backs (two types)
  • Tickle Cards
• How to Play Aloha Pioha
  • Playing a Louse Card
  • Pualani Gets Tickled
• End of the Game
  • How to Resolve a Hair
• Tickles in Detail
  • Unbearable Tickles
  • Bearable Tickles
• Variants
  • Aloha Pioha by Rounds
  • Crazy Aloha Pioha
  • Aloha Pioha with Children
  • Aloha Pioha for Lonely Lice (Solo)
  • La Rasta and Customizable Cards
• Achievements

Components

111 cards.

Setup

Shuffle the tickle (cosquilleo) cards and reveal three of them. Shuffle the hair cards and place in a row in the centre of the table:

• 3 hairs with 2 players
• 5 hairs with 3 players
• 6 hairs with 4 players

Give each player a complete tribe of lice, their comb and their help card. Shuffle and form a deck with your cards, and draw two cards to start the game. The player with the longest hair is the starting player. Give them the starting player card.

If you wish, in your first game do not play with the tickle cards. Add them once you know how to play. If you play with the promotional card "La Rasta", see its rules on its back.

Card Descriptions

Hair Cards

• Hair endurance value, and the points it gives to the player who wins it at the end of the game.
• Number of louse cards Pualani endures before she gets tickled.

Louse Cards

• Strength value of the louse.

Louse Card Backs (two types)

The numbers indicate the possible values of that card. The exceptions are the lice of value -1 and 0, which are cards meant to deceive the other players.

All louse tribes have the same cards, following the distribution shown on the help card.

Tickle Cards

• What happens when the card is placed.
• Type of tickling: unbearable (lightning bolt icon) or bearable (hourglass icon).

How to Play Aloha Pioha

Playing a Louse Card

Starting with the starting player and going clockwise, each player on their turn must choose and play one louse card from their hand. They play it at one of the ends of Pualani's hairs, or on a hair where they already are. The same player can never play at both ends of the same hair. On each hair only two tribes can play (one at each end), so be careful and take advantage of free spaces!

You may choose to play your louse in one of two ways:

FACE DOWN. Play a louse face down and discard all the cards in your hand except one, under your comb (so the other players do not know their values). The card played can never be looked at again.

FACE UP. Play a louse face up, and do not discard any card from your hand. There is no hand limit.

After playing a card, always draw two cards from your louse deck.

Playing face down forces you to discard cards but lets you hide your play from the other players. Playing face up does not force you to discard cards but everyone will know which cards you have played.

Pualani Gets Tickled

(Skip this part if you are playing without tickles.)

The girl endures the lice until she gets tickled. At the moment a player plays the louse that makes Pualani get tickled, that player must choose one of the 3 available tickle cards and place it on that hair. They may also draw one from the deck face down and place it on the hair.

Some tickles are unbearable and take effect immediately (lightning icon) and others are bearable and take effect at the end of the game (hourglass icon). Once the tickle is placed, lice can keep being played on that hair unless otherwise indicated.

If after placing and resolving the tickle there are fewer than 3 cards visible next to the tickle deck, another tickle must be revealed.

Important: If at any time a tickle was forgotten to be placed, the next player who plays a louse on that hair must place it.

Example: On this hair Pualani endures 2 louse cards before getting tickled. The tickle card says "The endurance value of the hair is doubled". Therefore, the hair will now break when 14 is exceeded.

You may keep playing lice on a hair with a tickle unless the tickle says otherwise.

End of the Game

When the starting player draws their last two tribe cards, their next turn will be the last. When all players have played their last turn, the hairs are resolved. You will have played 7 louse cards each by the end.

How to Resolve a Hair

• Turn all lice face up.
• Add up the value of all the lice placed on both sides of the hair, taking the tickle (if any) into account, and check whether the hair breaks or not.
• A hair breaks when the sum of the strength of all the lice is greater than the endurance of the hair.

If the hair does NOT break: The tribe that pulls hardest (greater sum) wins. If there is a tie, the player who has played the greater number of cards on that hair wins the hair.

Example: The tension this hair endures before breaking is 14, since it is modified by tickle 18. The player on the left pulls with a strength of 7 and the one on the right with strength 6. The sum of both is 13, the hair does NOT break. The player on the left wins the hair because they are pulling harder.

If the hair breaks: The tribe that pulls weakest (lower sum) wins. If there is a tie, the player who has played the lower number of cards on that hair wins the hair.

Example: The tension this hair endures before breaking is 6. Both players tie because they each pull with strength 4 and the hair BREAKS. The player on the right would win the hair because they played fewer cards. The player on the left would gain 5 points due to tickle 19.

If the tie persists on a hair, it is discarded and nobody gets it.

The player with the best total of hairs wins the game! To determine this, add up the values of the hairs won. In case of a tie, the players share the victory or play another game to determine the winner.

Tickles in Detail

Tickles are always placed on the hair where they were provoked. Their effects, if unbearable, do not always occur on it. Remember that 0 is an even number. When a tickle says "the first of each side" it refers to the two louse cards that are to the left and right of the hair card.

The number in brackets (xN) is the number of copies of that tickle card.

Unbearable Tickles

1. Flip all the lice on this hair (x2): The lice played on this hair that are face down become face up and vice versa.
2. Look at a hidden louse on any hair (x2): You may look at a hidden louse of any player, including yourself, on any hair.
3. Eliminate all the lice on this hair except the first of each side (x1): Remove the indicated louse cards from the game.
4. Each player moves one of their lice from this hair to another (x1): Each player with a presence on this hair must move one of their lice whenever possible.
5. No more lice can be placed on this hair (x1).
6. Eliminate all the lice on another hair except the first of each side (x1): The player who places the tickle removes from the game the louse cards of another hair.
7. Swap this hair for one that is not in play (x1): The player who places the tickle chooses a hair and swaps it for the one in play. The tickle stays on this new hair.
8. Eliminate an available tickle or cancel one already applied (x1): Remove one of the 3 available tickles and reveal another in its place. If you cancel one of those already applied, flip it over and do not take it into account.
9. Eliminate a louse from any hair except the first of each side (x2): The first louse of each side can never be eliminated.

Bearable Tickles

10. All odd-numbered lice are worth 1 less (x1): For example a 1 becomes 0, a -1 becomes -2, etc.
11. All lice are worth exactly 1 (x1).
12. All even-numbered lice are worth exactly -1 (x2): Cards of value 0, 2 and 4 become worth -1.
13. All even-numbered lice are worth exactly 1 (x1): Cards of value 0, 2 and 4 become worth 1.
14. Lice of value 3 are worth exactly 0 (x1): Cards of value 3 become worth 0.
15. Lice of value 2 are worth exactly 0 (x1): Cards of value 2 become worth 0.
16. Lice of value 4 and 5 are worth exactly 1 (x2).
17. The endurance value of the hair is halved (x1): The endurance value is rounded down. It does not affect the points the hair gives.
18. The endurance value of the hair is doubled (x1): It does not affect the points the hair gives.
19. The loser of this hair gains 5 points (x1): At the end of the game the player who does not win this hair adds 5 points to their final score.

Variants

Aloha Pioha by Rounds

Before starting, decide the number of rounds you will play. A round is the same as a normal game of Aloha Pioha. Keep the hairs won in each round and add up the points after all rounds are finished.

Crazy Aloha Pioha

In setup, form the pile of tickles but do not reveal any. When you have to apply a tickle to a hair, take it directly from the pile. According to its intensity it is applied instantly or at the end of the game. The rest of the rules do not change.

Aloha Pioha with Children

To play with children, remove the tickle cards from the game; you will not play with them. At the start of each turn draw two louse cards from your tribe. Choose one of the two lice and play it face up or face down, but always discard the other under the comb. Keep playing this way until you all run out of tribe cards (you will each play 7 lice). Resolve the hairs as usual, count the points and applaud the winner.

Aloha Pioha for Lonely Lice (Solo)

Prepare a two-player game, but do not place any tickle face up; they will come out at random. Choose one of the two louse tribes for yourself; the other will be for the ghost player, Grunchie.

As in the normal game, you start by drawing two louse cards and play one of them on one of the hairs (face up). After playing a louse, you always discard the other. Now it is Grunchie's turn. Draw two of its cards face down and choose one of them, without looking at its real value. Play it face down on one of the hairs; the other is discarded. Keep playing this way until you run out of tribe cards, as does Grunchie (you will each play 7 lice). By the end of the game Grunchie must have played at least one louse card on each hair. The tickle cards are placed in the usual way, although they are drawn directly from the deck. If an unbearable tickle appears, apply it. If you have to make a decision for Grunchie, make it in your own favour. After all cards have been played, the bearable tickles take effect, the hairs are resolved and the points are counted. Will you have managed to beat Grunchie?

La Rasta and Customizable Cards

This edition includes the optional expansion La Rasta and three blank customizable cards (two tickle and one hair).

Achievements

Mark the achievements you have obtained!

• Peluquero (Hairdresser): You broke all the hairs you were on.
• Hippy: You won without breaking any hair.
• Pocas luces (Dim): You played a louse of value -1, or a louse of value 0 face up, in a game.
• Menos luces todavía (Even dimmer): You played a louse of value -1 and another of value 0 face up in the same game.
• Poli bueno (Good cop): You played all your cards face up.
• Poli malo (Bad cop): You played all your cards face down.
• Lendrera (Nit comb): You eliminated 1 louse from the game.
• Capitán Vinagre (Captain Vinegar): You eliminated 3 lice from the game.
• Sugestionable (Suggestible): You did not touch your head during the whole game.
• El Pelucas (The Wig): You gave away 1 copy of Aloha Pioha.
• Rasca y Pica (Scratch and Itch): You own both editions of Aloha Pioha.