Click & Crack
Click & Crack Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 8 action tiles (in 4 colors)
- 8 penguin pawns (in 4 colors)
- 25 floe tiles
- 16 crack markers
- 1 start player penguin marker
Preparations
Each player takes the penguin markers and action tiles of his color.
The player who loves penguins the most takes the start player marker.
Then, starting with the starting player, the players place their penguin pawns, one at a time, on the floe. When all have placed one penguin each, players continue placing their second penguin. Penguin pawns are never placed onto a floe tile; instead they are placed on the intersections between four tiles. The floe tiles are placed in a 5x5 grid. This is the giant floe that the penguins are walking on. Place the crack markers in a suitable pile beside the giant floe.
When all players have placed both their penguins, the game can start.
How They Move
In this game, penguins are NEVER on the middle of a floe tile; they are ALWAYS on intersections. They don't have to touch four floe tiles, though; they can be at the edge of the giant floe (thus touching just 2 tiles), or on the very corner of the giant floe (just touching one tile), but they are always placed on the corner of a tile, not in the middle of one.
The Action Tiles
Each player has 2 identical action tiles. One side symbolizes their penguin walking one step, and the other side symbolizes the penguin making a crack in the floe. Both sides have an arrow, pointing in the direction the action is made. Players will use these tiles to simultaneously choose what to do each turn. The arrow indicates in what direction you're going (or breaking ice), so it matters how the tile is turned when you choose action tiles, so that it's clear in which direction the action is done.
How to Play
Each round, players take both their action tiles and place them before them, covering or shielding them with their hands so that the other players can't see what they chose. Then all players reveal their tiles simultaneously. The tiles' facing is important, so the action tiles must align with the ice floe tiles, so that it's clear in which direction the action is done.
Starting with the starting player, and then clockwise around the table, each player chooses one of his revealed action tiles and performs it with either of his penguins (walk or break). When all players have performed one of their action tiles, they will continue in turn and perform their second action with either of their penguins. They may choose to do one action each with both their penguins, or do both actions with the same penguin, but there is no inherent order in what action tile to do first. You are not allowed to pass (unless you have no legal move to do – see below).
What a Penguin Can Do
A penguin's action is either WALK or BREAK (both in any of the four directions).
If you WALK, you simply move one of your penguins one step in the direction the arrow on your action tile points. You can walk on top of cracks, but you can NOT walk off the floe.
If there is another penguin on the place you should move to, you simply push it in front of you, effectively moving that penguin one step too. If there is a third penguin on that space too, you will push this third penguin as well. If pushing would result in you pushing another penguin off the main floe, that doesn't happen. Instead, the pushed penguin is pushed to either side (the current active player chooses which direction) instead of being pushed off.
If you BREAK, your penguin stomps the ice in the indicated direction, causing a crack to open in between two floe tiles; place a crack marker between the two floe tiles to mark that there's a crack there. Your penguin doesn't move. Nothing happens with just one lonely crack, but if there there are many cracks that are connected and that completely fence off a discrete area of the floe, the floe breaks into two parts (see below). You can NOT cause a crack in directions where there are no floe tiles.
If You Can't Perform Your Action
You can't walk off the floe, and you can't cause a crack outside of the floe either. However, you must perform either of your actions with either of your penguin as far as you can. If one of your penguins is standing on the north edge of the floe, and your action tile is walk north, then that penguin can't perform that action. In that case, you have to perform your other action with that penguin (unless you've already done it), or walk north with your other penguin. You can NOT voluntarily choose to perform an unallowed action if it's possible to do something else. Only if your only options are unallowed actions are you allowed to pass.
Breaking the Floe: Scoring
If a connected segment of cracks completely fences off an area of the floe, the floe breaks into two parts, and the smaller piece of the two is removed; those floe tiles going to the score pile of the player who made the final crack. Each floe tile counts as 1 point.
Penguins that are standing on the very crack when the floe breaks (including the penguin who made the final crack) remain on the bigger floe, and stay in the game. However, penguins that stand on the smaller floe (that is removed) are also removed from the game (their owners lose those penguins) AND the current active player lose as many points as the number of penguins that got lost.
Also, if the smaller (removed) floe is 3 tiles or bigger, the penguin that made the final crack loses his balance and ends up on the smaller floe, and is thus discarded too. However, this does not reduce the points the active player gets (he just sacrificed his own penguin).
If the floe breaks into two parts that are exactly the same size, the current active player gets to choose which of the two is counted as the "larger" and the "smaller" bit.
Round End
When all players have performed both their action tiles (after a full round has been completed), the starting player marker goes one step in clockwise direction, and the game continues with selecting actions and performing them, round after round, until the game ends.
Game End
The game ends immediately if either
- any player has 7 points or more
- the main floe consists of 6 tiles or less
- there are less than 3 penguins on the main floe.
in which case the player with the most points wins.