Boussanga Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Competitive Mode: For 2 to 4 Players
  • Set Up
  • How to Play
  • Scoring
  • End of the Game
• Cooperative (or Solo) Mode: For 1 to 4 Players
  • Set Up
  • How to Play
  • End of the Game

Competitive Mode: For 2 to 4 Players

To win, you must have accumulated the most points at the end of the game by making alignments of 4 or more pawns of the same color.

Set Up

1. Place the game board in the center of the table, the player boards in front of each player, the reserve box and the deck of combination cards nearby (draw pile).
2. For reasons of visual comfort (accessibility), the combination cards have a front side with patterns and a back side without patterns. Choose to play with the front or the back: the cards must be played on the side chosen at the beginning.
3. Draw 4 cards and place them on the slots of your player board (4 cards are placed on each player board). The player board has a Points Area.
4. Choose the player who will start. Take turns playing clockwise.

In teams (4 players mode), the partners are placed diagonally.

There is a separate set-up diagram for a 2 players game.

How to Play

1. On your turn, choose a card from your player board.
2. Replicate exactly the combination of the card on the game board with pawns by playing the card orthogonally or diagonally, according to 8 possible positions. To replicate the combination, two possibilities: either get and place all the pawns on the card, or take and place only the missing pawns to complete an already partially existing combination on the game board.
3. The card played is then discarded for the rest of the game.
4. Draw a card to always have 4 cards on your player board and it's the next player's turn.

Note: It is possible to pass your turn by discarding a card to draw a new one.

8 possible positions to play a card: The card can be played orthogonally or diagonally (8 possibilities) but must not be turned over!

Master the transparency! To visualize the positioning of the pawns on the board, close one eye and move the card slightly (about 15cm) away from the board, bringing it closer to your eye to find the right angle! For the diagonal, move the card a little further away (about 20 cm) from the board.

Scoring

As soon as 4 or more pawns of the same color are lined up horizontally, vertically or diagonally, remove all the pawns from the completed line-up, return 3 of them to the reserve box and keep the rest which will be stored in the Points Area of the player board. As a team, store the earned pawns on one of the two team boards.

Each color has its own value and earns 1, 2 or 3 points: 1 pt, 1 pt, 2 pts, 3 pts (as shown on the player board).

BONUS: As soon as you have earned 4 pawns of the same color on your player board, you earn one more pawn of the same color, to be taken from the reserve box, only once per color and per game.

End of the Game

When a player or team reaches 15 points or more, or draws the last card or takes the last pawn of a color from the reserve box, the others play again once. At the end, the player or team with the most points wins the game.

Cooperative (or Solo) Mode: For 1 to 4 Players

To win, you have to reach 15 points with as few moves as possible, by making card combinations on the game board.

Set Up

1. Place the game board in the center of the table, with a single player board and the draw pile nearby.
2. For reasons of visual comfort (accessibility), the combination cards have a front side with patterns and a back side without patterns. Choose to play with the front or the back: the cards must be played on the side chosen at the beginning.
3. Randomly fill the board with all the pawns.
4. Draw 4 cards and place them on the player board.
5. Choose who will start. Take turns playing clockwise.

How to Play

1. In turn, choose a card from the player board.
2. Find the combination of the card that is completely represented on the game board. The card can be positioned orthogonally or diagonally but not turned over (as in the competitive mode).
3. Remove all the pawns corresponding to the played card and place them in the Collection Area (to the right of the game board).
4. The played card is discarded to the Discard Area (left side of the board).
5. Draw a card to always have 4 cards on the player board.
6. If there are 4 or more pawns of the same color in the Collection Area, then:
   • Place 3 of them on the board in the positions of your choice (*),
   • Then place the rest in the Points Area of the player board.

The Collection Area holds pawns collected but not yet earned; the Points Area holds earned pawns.

Note: If there are no cards matching a combination on the game board, you can pass your turn. Then:

• Discard a card to the Discard Area,
• Then place all the collected pawns of one color of your choice, back on the board (*).

(*) This allows you to prepare your next moves!

Each color has its own value and earns 1, 2 or 3 points: 1 pt, 1 pt, 2 pts, 3 pts.

Note: there are no bonus pawns in cooperative mode.

End of the Game

As soon as you reach 15 points (or more), the game ends. Count the cards in the discard area: if there are 12 or less, you win! To be a "Boussanga Scholar", the goal is 10 cards or less, and to be a "Boussanga Master", the goal is 8 cards or less!