Bear Down! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Information
• Contents
• Idea and object of the game
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Rolling for waterfall events
  • 2. Water flows
  • 3. Salmon jump
  • 4. The bears go fishing
  • Starting the next round
• The end of game
  • Water tiles end the game
  • Salmon end the game

Game Information

Number of players: 2–4. Ages: 6 and up. Playing time: about 20 minutes.

Contents

• 4 bears (with bases)
• 4 bear tokens
• 70 water tiles
• 53 salmon
• 2 rocks/first player tiles (Note: One of the tiles is used as a rock, the other is used as the first player token.)
• 5 dice
• 1 gameboard

Idea and object of the game

Use your bears to catch salmon over several rounds. At the beginning of each round, the first player rolls the waterfall event dice: water flows into the individual streams and salmon jump up the waterfall. Each player then moves his or her bear once to catch as many salmon as possible. The salmon you bring back to the bear boulder are yours for good. But, if you slip down the waterfall, you lose the salmon that you haven't managed to get to safety yet and have to start again from the bear boulder. The game is over as soon as the supply of water tiles or salmon runs out. The player with the most salmon wins.

Setup

1. Take all of the contents out of the lower part of the box and turn it over. Put the gameboard on the box to form a waterfall.
2. Put six water tiles in each stream. Two of them will not be visible because they are underneath the bear boulder. The other four are in the area between the bear boulder and the edge of the waterfall.
   • Playing with two or three players: If you're playing with fewer than four players, you will not use all of the streams. If two people are playing, the two outermost streams are not used; if three people are playing, use only one of the outermost streams. Put aside the dice that are the same color as the streams that aren't being used. You won't need them to play the game this time.
3. Put the rest of the water tiles next to the gameboard as the water supply. Take ten tiles from the water supply and stack them. Put the rock tile on top of the stack.
   • Playing with two or three players: For two players, take 24 tiles out of the water supply. For three players, take 12 tiles out of the supply. Put these tiles aside: you won't need them to play the game this time.
4. Put all of the salmon on the gameboard below the waterfall. This is now the salmon supply. From the salmon supply, put one salmon on each of the two water tiles that are closest to the edge of the waterfall in each stream.
5. Each player chooses a bear and inserts it into a base. Put your bears on the bear boulder and put the matching bear token in front of you to remind you which bear is yours. Put the remaining bears, bases, and bear tokens aside: you won't need them to play the game this time.
6. The player who ate fish most recently gets to start and takes the first player token and the dice.

Gameplay

Use your bears to catch as many salmon as possible over several rounds.

The first player rolls the waterfall event dice for everyone: first the water flows, then the salmon jump. Then, beginning with the first player, each player moves their bear. After every bear has had their turn, the first player gives the dice and the first player token to the player on their left and the next round begins.

1. Rolling for waterfall events

If you have the first player token, roll all the dice at once. Each die shows an event that will happen in one of the streams. The colors of the dice determine which event happens in which stream.

• If the face of the die shows a water tile, slide 1 tile into the matching stream from behind the bear boulder (see 2. Water flows).
• If the face of the die shows one or more salmon, they jump up the waterfall and are placed on the water tiles in the matching stream (see 3. Salmon jump).
• If the face of the die shows two water tiles and a salmon, slide two water tiles into the matching stream first. After that, a salmon jumps up the waterfall into that stream.

2. Water flows

After the dice are rolled, water flows into the streams that have one or two water tiles showing on the dice. Take the tiles from the water supply and slide them into the matching streams from behind the bear boulder. This will make water tiles fall down the front of the waterfall. If bears or salmon are on those tiles, they simply fall along with them. This puts salmon back in the salmon supply. Bears that slide down the waterfall are immediately put back on the bear boulder – and any salmon that you haven't managed to get to safety yet are lost.

Note: To slide water into the streams, use the water tiles from the water supply that you prepared at the beginning of the game. Only start using the stack underneath the rock tile after the rest of the water supply has been used up. This signals the start of the last round (see The end of the game). Water tiles that have already fallen down the waterfall are not used again.

Example – Water flows: Water tiles were rolled for two streams. The players slide one new water tile into the stream with the green die and two into the stream with the blue die (a). In the blue stream, this makes Florian's bear fall down the waterfall with all of his salmon (b). The salmon go back into the salmon supply (c), and Florian puts his bear back on the bear boulder (d).

3. Salmon jump

Now the salmon start to jump. For each stream, take the number of salmon indicated on the dice and place them on the water tiles. Note the following while doing so:

• You can only put one new salmon on each water tile – regardless of how many salmon are already on the tile.
• Start with the tile that's closest to the edge of the waterfall.
• Jump over tiles that have a bear on them.
• If you rolled more salmon for a stream than there are tiles without bears, put the remaining salmon back in the salmon supply at the base of the waterfall.

Note: If there aren't enough salmon left in the salmon supply, the game ends immediately. Do not play to the end of that round (see The end of the game).

Example – Salmon jump: After the water is done flowing, salmon from the salmon supply are placed on the water tiles. Three salmon are supposed to go in the yellow stream (a). But because there are two bears there (b), only two water tiles are available, so it's only possible to put two new salmon in that stream (c).

4. The bears go fishing

Starting with the first player, each player takes one turn moving their bear. The following rules apply when making a move:

• You can move your bear as many tiles as you like. You can move backwards and forwards and from side to side to adjacent tiles.
• The bear boulder is a big area with room for several bears to stand at the same time. From the bear boulder, you can move to any stream onto an adjacent water tile, and vice versa, from any stream back to the bear boulder.
• You have to move your bear at least one tile, if possible.
• There is only enough room on each water tile for one bear. You are not allowed to end your move on an occupied water tile and you cannot jump over an occupied tile.
• If a rock is blocking your path from one stream to another, you can't move between the streams at that spot.
• Catching salmon is every bear's number one goal. If you move to a space with one or more salmon, your move ends immediately and you stay on that space. Collect the salmon in a stack underneath your bear. If you leave that space in the next round, you take all of the salmon underneath your bear with you.
• If you move onto the bear boulder, your move ends immediately and you have to stay there. If you have salmon underneath your bear at that point, get them to safety by putting them in front of you on the table. They will count towards your score at the end of the game.

Example – The bears go fishing: The first player begins the round and all of the players take turns moving their bears.

Starting the next round

The round is over once all of the players have moved their bears. The first player gives the first player token and the dice to the player on their left. This player starts the new round by rolling the dice.

The end of game

The game ends when either the water tiles or the salmon run out.

Water tiles end the game

The final round begins when you start using the stack of water tiles that you put underneath the rock tile when setting up the game. Put the rock aside, slide the water tiles shown on the dice into the streams and complete the round.

Salmon end the game

The game ends immediately if there are not enough salmon left in the salmon supply to place the number of salmon shown on the dice onto the water tiles. In this case, do not play the current round to the end.

If you still have salmon underneath your bear that haven't been brought back to the bear boulder, you have to put half of them (rounded down) back in the salmon supply. Add the remaining salmon to those you got to safety during the game.

Now count your salmon: The player with the most wins the game. If there's a tie, then all of the tied players are winners!

Example – The end of game: The game ends because the water tiles have run out (a). Emma still has two salmon underneath her orange bear (b) and has to put one of them back in the salmon supply. She adds the remaining salmon to the ones she has already taken to safety. Helena still has five salmon underneath her gray bear (c). She puts two of them in the salmon supply and can keep the remaining three to add to her final score.