Alpina Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• How to Play
  • 1 - Play a Card
  • 2 - Place a Hiker
  • 3 - Draw a Card
• End of the Game
• Scoring
  • Counting Points
  • Example Victory Point Conditions
  • Scoring Example

Components

• 56 cards
• 32 Hiker pawns
• 4 Victory pawns

Card anatomy: A. Hiker space; B. Animal type (spotted nutcracker, chamois, grass frog); C. Landscape type (mountain, lake, forest); D. Victory point condition.

Goal of the Game

Gain the most victory points by strategically placing your hikers on the cards.

Setup

1. Randomly choose 1 of the chamois goat cards and place it in the centre of the table. This is the starting card for the 5x5 grid of 25 cards you will build over the course of the game. Shuffle the rest of the cards.
2. Deal 6 cards to each player. Everyone should look at their hand, without revealing it to the other players. The remaining cards form the draw pile.
3. Take the number of Hiker pawns in the colour of your choice as indicated below:

Number of players	Number of Hiker pawns
2	8
3	5
4	4

Randomly select which player will go first. Turns proceed in clockwise order.

How to Play

On your turn:

1. Play a card (mandatory)
2. Place a hiker (optional)
3. Draw a card (mandatory)

1 - Play a Card

On your turn, you must play a card from your hand into the grid in the middle of the table, following the rules below:

• The card must be placed in the same orientation (horizontally or vertically) as the other cards, into an empty space in the 5x5 grid.
• It must be placed orthogonally (to the left, to the right, above, or below, but not diagonally) to a card that has previously been played.
• It may not form a 6th row or column.

2 - Place a Hiker

If you wish, you may place 1 of your Hiker pawns on the card you have placed or on an orthogonally adjacent card.

There can only be 1 pawn on a card.

3 - Draw a Card

Draw back up to 6 cards.

End of the Game

The game ends when the 25th card is placed into the grid. The current player finishes their turn. Determine your score by adding up the points scored by each of your Hiker pawns.

The player with the highest score wins.

In case of a tie, the player who is lower in the turn order wins.

Scoring

You score victory points for each card your Hiker pawns are placed on. Unless stated otherwise, the card the pawn is on does not count toward its victory point condition.

Some cards have guaranteed victory points (the number printed on a piece of tape; you always get these points), and conditional victory points (you'll get a different number of points depending on certain criteria).

During final scoring, each animal type offers a different way to score victory points:

• The spotted nutcracker scores points based on other animal cards in the grid.
• The chamois scores points based on Hiker pawns.
• The grass frog scores points based on landscape cards in the grid.

Counting Points

To keep track of your points during final scoring, use a Victory pawn and the edge of the box. Move your pawn along the track as you add up the victory points scored by each hiker to calculate your total score.

Example Victory Point Conditions

• 1 victory point + 1 victory point for each spotted nutcracker in the same row and column as this card.
• 2 victory points for each lake orthogonally adjacent to this card.
• 2 victory points for each different type of animal (regardless of landscape) to the right of this card (in the same row).
• 2 victory points for each Hiker pawn below this card in the same column (regardless of colour).
• 2 victory points for each type of landscape (regardless of animal) to the left of this card (in the same row).
• 1 victory point for each Hiker pawn (regardless of colour) on a chamois goat, including this card.
• 2 victory points for each spotted nutcracker in the same row as this card.
• 1 victory point for each Hiker pawn (regardless of colour) on a forest.
• 2 victory points for each spotted nutcracker in the same column as this card.
• 1 victory point for each nutcracker connected to this card. Connected: linked to this card by an orthogonally connected path of cards of the same type.
• 2 victory points + 1 victory point for each chamois orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to this card.

Scoring Example

Scoring the Hiker pawns from top to bottom and left to right:

• Red gets 4+6+5+5 = 20 points
• Yellow gets 9+4+4+6 = 23 points
• Purple gets 8+6+5+4 = 23 points
• Light blue gets 4+4+5+6 = 19 points

Purple wins the game, because it is lower in the turn order.