Compostate Bien: El Juego
Compostate Bien: El Juego Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Place the compost bin (brown boards with soil) in the center of the table. If there are less than 3 players, only a board containing 3 spaces is used.
Place the organic deck of cards next to the compost bin, within everyone's reach, and set up the supply with the resources:
- DRY MATERIAL
- HUMIDITY
- OXYGEN
Prepare the Deck of cards with the RECYCLABLE cards according to the number of players:
- 2 players: 1 RECYCLABLE card
- 3 players: 2 RECYCLABLE cards
- 4 or 5 players: 3 RECYCLABLE cards
The 3 cards are the same, so you can choose any of them for the game.
Each player takes a bug board at random and places it face up. This bug will represent you throughout the game and give you unique powers.
Player's Turn
The player who has composted most recently in real life will be the first to play. In your turn you can do the following actions, always respecting the order:
1. Take a Card and Put it in the Compost Bin
Draw the top card from the deck and place it in an empty space in the compost bin. This organic remains available to be composted by any player.
If the compost bin is full, place the card on another compostable of your choice. The new card steps on the previous one until it is composted and removed from the compost bin. Then the previous card is available to be composted again.
2. Do You Trade?
At this point you can choose whether to trade or not. There are two possibilities for trading:
- A) Trade 3 resources of the same color for 1 with the resources left in the supply.
- B) Negotiate with any of the other players, offering a number of your own resources in exchange for theirs.
You can perform these actions as many times as you want during this moment of the turn.
3. Roll the 2 Dice
Collect from the supply the resources both dice indicate and take them to your bug board.
The purple face of the Abundance Die gives you 3 resources, 1 of each type!
Keep in mind that OXYGEN is the hardest to get. You cannot have more than 9 resources of the same type.
4. Do You Compost?
During your turn you have the option to compost any organic card present in the compost bin, or not to compost and pass to the next player.
To compost, you must give the supply the resources that the card asks for, indicated with a color code. If you do not have enough resources you cannot compost it. You can only compost 1 organic per turn.
For example, to compost the Tomato we need:
- 4 DRY (red leaf)
- 1 WET (blue drop)
- 0 OXYGEN (green)
The player has enough resources for the Tomato but not to compost the Orange, so he decides to compost the Tomato and deliver the corresponding resources to the supply. He may also choose to let his turn pass, and continue to gather more resources for another card (risking that someone else blocks the Tomato by putting a card over it).
The composted organic cards are removed from the compost bin and placed in front of the player on the table, so that all other players can see how many points the player has accumulated throughout the game.
Abundance Die
When you compost, everyone wins! If you composted an organic, each player rolls 1 die and collects resources, starting with you and in round order.
5. End of Your Turn
The game continues with the bug on your left. If you have already composted 5 organics, the game ends and the winner is defined.
End of the Game and Winner/s
The game ends immediately at the moment a player manages to compost his/her 5th organic card.
Event cards do not count towards the end of the game.
Each player adds the points from the composted organic cards and the extra points from the event cards. Negative points from RECYCLABLE cards are subtracted.
If you play with the SECRET MENU variant, at this time the MENUS are revealed and 1 extra point is added for each organic from the menu you have composted (maximum 3 points).
The player with the most points has the most valuable compost harvest and is the best composter!
In case of a tie, the one with the most resources left over wins! If the tie continues, they share the win!
Event Cards
Within the compostable deck are hidden event cards. These will give us advantages (or disadvantages) on the way to being the best composter. We can tell them apart because they are vertical cards.
When an event card comes out, the player who picked it up reads it aloud and has to apply the effect written at the bottom before continuing to play.
These events not only provide new game mechanics but also teach us about best practices for our compost bins in real life!
Many event cards are ANCHORED (put next to) an organic card until they are composted. If the organic is covered by a new organic card, put the event on top of the original one so that, when it is released, the event ANCHORED to the card that was originally ANCHORED will reappear.
When the organic is composted (taking into account the rules of the event card), the event is also placed on the table of the player who composted it, next to his bug.
No organic can have more than one event card.
If the event card asks you to lose resources that you don't have, give to the supply the ones you have available.
If the event card cannot be applied to any organic, discard it and pick up another one from the deck.
Event cards do NOT count towards the end of the game.
Expand Your Game!
Incorporate these variants for more complex and strategic games.
You can incorporate 1 or all of them at once for a different game experience. These challenges raise the difficulty level. In your first games we recommend you not play with these variants, until you understand the different game mechanics.
Secret Menu
Add a secret factor to the game to get points at the end of the game.
All players start with a SECRET MENU card from the 10 available. If you compost any of the 3 compostables on that card, you earn 1 extra point for each one at the end of the game (maximum 3 points). If you don't compost any of them, nothing happens. These are SECRET objectives for each bug that do not repeat, so keep an eye on what falls into the compost bin. At the end of the game the SECRET MENUS are revealed and the points are added up.
HARD MODE: If another bug composted any organic from your SECRET MENU, that person earns 1 extra point for each organic at the end of the game.
Bug Powers
Each bug has a unique power that gives it a different playstyle, making the game asymmetrical. The game comes with 9 bugs for variety and replayability. Each bug's power is linked to attributes of its natural life and is explained on its own board.
Natural Predators
If you want to make the game a real challenge, we invite you to try the game with one of our natural predators that live around the compost surroundings. Choose randomly, or by difficulty level, one of the four predators in the setup and leave it present next to the compost bin, so anyone can read the new rules. Each predator explains how to use itself and what changes it applies to the base game.
Final Variant - Last Round
The game is intended as a race to compost the fifth organic and score the most points. Alternatively, once a player composts the 5th organic, all other players have 1 turn to catch up. This way of playing the game makes it more strategic.
Cooperative / Solo Version
The objective is to score points collaboratively rather than individually. The game is played with the following changes:
- Each bug has to compost 1 of the organics from its SECRET MENU for all bugs to win.
- MENUS are no longer secret.
- If the deck runs out, everyone loses.
- You cannot trade between players, but you can trade with the supply.
- If someone composts his 5th organic, the game is over and the points are added up, just like in the competitive mode.
- Depending on their final score, the players score together a different medal:
| Players | Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Bugs | 50 points | 60 points | 70 points |
| 3 Bugs | 70 points | 80 points | 90 points |
| 4 Bugs | 80 points | 100 points | 120 points |
The cooperative version is compatible with the expansion NATURAL DEPREDATORS (printed this way in the source; the section above is titled NATURAL PREDATORS). If you want, you can play the game alone, using 2 bugs and following the rules of the cooperative mode.
Endnote
To learn more about the fascinating world of compost, watch a video with all the instructions and different variants to adapt it to different ages, have your own compost bin and go from game to reality. We are waiting for you on our website: www.compostatebien.com.ar/eljuego