Coral Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• How to Play
  • A - Grow
  • B - Move
    • I - Slide
    • II - Float
• End of the Game and Scoring
• Falling Pieces
• Solo Mode
  • Solo Mode Setup
  • Solo Mode Gameplay
  • Solo Mode Scoring
• Gameplay Variants
  • Chaos (3-4 players)
  • Symbiosis (4 players)
• Credits

Game Components

24 Coral pieces divided into four different coral species. Each piece is composed of 3 cubes and each cube has icons indicating its species on all of its visible faces. During the game, pawns move across these icons and stand on top of the horizontal faces, as shown on piece D.

• A 6 pieces of Red Coral
• B 6 pieces of Tubular Coral
• C 6 pieces of Sun Coral
• D 6 pieces of Brain Coral
• E 4 Coral pawns, one for each species.
• F 1 Rock cube. It isn't part of any species, but is used to set up the game.
• G 18 cards, only used in the solo mode (12 special scoring cards and 6 setup cards).
• 1 Bag (not pictured) to store the pieces.

Game Setup

If you're playing solo, please read the Solo Mode section.

A Each player selects one coral species to play with, and takes its pawn. Then, in a 2 or 3 player game, choose one unused coral species that will be the neutral species for this game.

B Each player takes the following pieces to build their reserve:

• 2 players: 6 pieces of their own species and 3 pieces of the neutral species. Return the unused pieces to the box.
• 3 players: 6 pieces of their own species and 2 pieces of the neutral species.
• 4 players: 4 pieces of their own species and 1 piece from each of their two neighboring players' species.

C Place the rock in the middle of the table.

D The player who last touched seawater starts this setup phase. Starting with that player, players take turns in clockwise order placing 1 piece from their reserve until the rock is completely covered. To do so:

• At least one face of the piece you place must be connected to a face of the rock. In order for two faces to be connected, they have to be in contact and aligned by their respective centers.
• At least one icon of the piece you place must be connected to the table.
• You can't cover another player's piece.

If you can't place a piece following those 3 rules, place it following the first 2 rules; if you still can't, then place it following the first rule.

E Once the rock is completely covered, players continue to take turns in clockwise order now placing their pawns on top of any empty (i.e. not already occupied by another pawn) icon that doesn't match their own species.

How to Play

Once all the players have placed their pawns, players continue to take turns in clockwise order. On your turn, you must take either a GROW or a MOVE action.

A - Grow

Place a piece from your reserve following these placement rules:

• One icon of the piece you place must be connected to one icon of the cube on which your pawn is standing. In order for two icons to be connected, they must be in contact and aligned by their respective centers.
• The piece you place must stay in place by itself and mustn't fall when you release it. (If a piece falls, read the 'Falling Pieces' section.)
• The piece you place can't touch nor move any other player's pawn.

HINT: You may lift your own pawn to grow a piece using the icon beneath it. However, as a pawn can never stand on its own species, you can only grow this way using a piece from your reserve that doesn't match your species. This is a great way to cover another player's piece.

B - Move

Each time you take the MOVE action choose one of the options: SLIDE or FLOAT.

If you took 2 MOVE actions in 2 consecutive turns you must return 1 piece from your reserve to the box. That piece can no longer be used this game.

I - Slide

Move your pawn across the reef, from icon to icon, along paths that are visible when looking at the reef from above. Move across as many icons as you want, however:

• Your pawn can't move diagonally, only orthogonally.
• Your pawn ignores differences in height between icons when moving, and must finish its movement standing on top of an icon.
• Your pawn can't move through or finish its movement on an icon of your own species, nor on an icon occupied by another pawn.
• Your pawn can't exit the reef nor touch the table.
• Your pawn can move even if it starts its movement beneath a piece.

II - Float

Remove your pawn from the reef. At the start of your next turn, place it on top of any empty icon that isn't your own species, then end your turn. (You don't take another action on that turn.)

HINT: Coral is a 3D game where being aware of the shape of the reef is very important. To make sure you don't miss any hidden routes or placement opportunities, players are encouraged to stand up and move around the structure. This is also helpful to ensure you get a good score at the end of the game!

End of the Game and Scoring

1. When a player grows their last Coral piece, the end game is triggered. From then on, continue to take turns as normal, except that:
   • Players can only take a turn if they have at least one piece remaining in their reserve.
   • Players must return to the box a piece from their reserve at the end of each of their turns (if they can).
2. When the reserves of all the players are empty, players tally their points.
3. As coral need sunlight to survive, each player scores 1 point for each icon of their species that receives sunlight. An icon receives sunlight if it is visible when looking down at the reef from above. (An icon occupied by a pawn still receives sunlight.)
4. The player with the highest score wins the game.
   • In the event of a tie, the tied player with the most icons visible on the highest level of the reef wins the game. If there is still a tie, then count the visible icons on the next level down to break the tie. Continue until the tie is broken or the whole reef has been counted, in which case the game ends in a tie.

Example of Scoring: Greg, Maria and Liam have finished the game. Maria and Liam score 9 points and Greg 7 points. Liam has 3 visible icons at the highest level and Maria has none. Thus, Liam wins the game.

Falling Pieces

As coral reefs are at risk of extinction, it's important we maintain their structure and integrity. Be careful not to knock over other players' species, both for the good of the planet and in the spirit of fair game play.

At the start of the game players agree whether or not to apply penalties should pawns and/or pieces fall during gameplay. Either: place them back on the reef as they were and continue to play as normal, or apply a penalty to the player that caused the collapse. (When playing with young or new players, we recommend not to apply penalties to those players.)

If players agree on applying a penalty, follow these steps:

• Return to the box all the fallen pieces that are neutral or of the player that caused the fall. (This may include the piece that player was growing.)
• Return to their owners' reserve all the other fallen pieces. (Those pieces can be grown later on as per the normal rules.)
• Return to their owner's reserve all fallen pawns. Each player can place it back on the reef in a position of their choosing, at the start of their next turn and before taking their action. (Pawns can only be placed on top of any empty icon that isn't your own species.)

Solo Mode

In this game mode, you play all 4 of the Coral species simultaneously and score points for each of them. The goal is to achieve the highest total score, however, points are scored differently to the multiplayer game. Instead, each species is assigned a scoring card with unique scoring conditions, and at the end of the game you will score according to these 4 scoring cards. You must therefore balance the needs of each of the different species in order to create a harmonious ecosystem.

Solo Mode Setup

1. Take the 4 pawns, the rock, and 1 piece of each of the 4 species.

2. Mix the rest of the pieces into the bag.

3. Shuffle the deck of setup cards and draw one.

4. Set up the rock, the 4 starting pieces and the 4 pawns according to the configuration indicated on the drawn setup card.

5. Each species has 3 possible score cards. Shuffle each set of 3 cards and draw one at random from each. You should then have 4 scoring cards: one for each species.

   Alternatively, you can manually select the scoring cards to set the complexity of your game. Each scoring card has a number, indicating its complexity (I is lowest, III is highest). This can be helpful when setting up a game for a younger player or if you want a more challenging game.

6. Draw 3 random pieces from the bag. These pieces form your reserve of available pieces to grow.

Solo Mode Gameplay

You play in a succession of turns. During a turn, you must perform the following steps in this specific order:

1. Choose a piece from your reserve.
2. You MAY perform a MOVE: Slide action with the pawn of the matching species. All pawns treat visible faces of the rock as if they were an icon not of their species.
3. Grow the chosen piece, connecting it to the cube on which the active pawn is standing. If you can't, the piece is returned to the box and can no longer be used during this game.
4. Replenish your reserve by taking a new piece at random from the bag. If the bag is empty, skip this step.

All other move and grow rules apply as normal.

When both your reserve and the bag are empty, the game is over. You can now move on to scoring.

Solo Mode Scoring

Count up your points for each species according to the details on the matching scoring card. We recommend that you score the scoring cards that refer to "visible icons" first.

When a scoring card instructs you to "count visible icons", it always tells you from which side of the reef you must be able to see that icon.

When a scoring card instructs you to "count cubes", it means that at least one icon of that cube must be visible, regardless of the side of the reef you're looking at. Each cube matching the scoring criteria can only be counted once for each scoring card, even if you can see more than one of its icons.

Try to get the highest possible score! A perfect score would be 20, but this is very difficult to achieve. Check you score using the table below to see how well you did:

Score	Rating
0-4	Warning! The coral is disappearing
5-8	Try again, the reef is still endangered
9-12	Keep going, life is returning to the reef
13-15	Nice, the coral is looking healthy
16-17	Very good, you saved the reef
18-19	Excellent, the ecosystem is thriving
20	Amazing! You created the perfect reef

Gameplay Variants

Chaos (3-4 players)

GAME SETUP (STEP B): Each player receives 2 pieces of their own species. Mix all remaining pieces in the bag. Then, players take turns to randomly draw a piece from the bag until it is empty.

All other rules apply as normal.

Symbiosis (4 players)

Form 2 teams of 2 players each. When sitting around the table, players must face their teammate and have their 2 opponents at their left and right. This way, teams alternate in turn order.

HOW TO PLAY: When taking a MOVE: Slide action, your pawn can move through your team mate's pawn.

SCORING: Add the scores of the 2 players of the same team to get the team's score. The team with the highest total score wins the game. Ties are resolved taking into account the visible icons of both players in each team.

All other rules apply as normal.

Credits

© 2022 2Tomatoes Games S.L.

Author: Tangi Tabuteau

Illustration & Design: Tatiana Boyko

Rulebook design: Oliver Cereto

Thanks: Danaë, Alba, Dorian, Maxim, Karen, Esther, Hiro, LEN, Brendan and Liam.

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