Coraxis & Co.
Coraxis & Co. Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the game
The ravens' goal: The raven players try to stuff their nests full of fruits.
The farmer's goal: The farmer player tries to catch all ravens.
Game components and setup
Before you start setting up the game, you must find out who will be allowed to play the farmer. Take 1 farmer and the 6 raven tiles and place them in easy reach of all players. Each player, one after the other, reveals one tile until somebody reveals the farmer tile. This player assumes the role of the farmer. All other players assume the role of ravens.
Components and setup for the farmer
1 fruit tree board. The farmer places this board in front of him. There are storage spaces for 2 x 3 raven tiles, and for the farmer and his wife, on the board.
Components and setup for the ravens
20 square raven nest cards, showing the 4 different kinds of fruit:
- 5 x plum
- 5 x pear
- 5 x cherry
- 5 x apple
Depending on the number of raven players, you must sort out some cards. Look carefully at the cards' back sides (each card back shows an icon that identifies the cards to remove).
- With only 1 raven player, you need 10 cards with this icon.
- With 2 raven players, you need 18 cards with this icon.
- Take 18 cards with this icon for 3 raven players.
- All 20 cards are used for 4 raven players.
Mix all these cards well, the fruits not visible. Now, all raven players take 1 card each, one after the other, until no raven nest cards are left. Each raven player reveals their cards and places them in front of them. These are the players' nests, which they have to fill with the shown fruits.
Put all cards you do not need for this game back into the game box.
Components and setup for both the ravens and the farmer
42 round fruit tree tiles, showing:
- 20 x a fruit (5 x plum, 5 x pear, 5 x cherry, 5 x apple)
- 6 x a raven
- 2 x a cat
- 4 x a worm
- 2 x the wind
- 6 x leaves
- 1 x the farmer
- 1 x the farmer's wife
Thoroughly mix all fruit tree tiles and spread them face down on the table. Make sure all players can reach the tiles easily.
Note: the tile and card icons are pictograms in the printed rulebook; where a card back is identified only by its icon, the icon itself is not reproduced in this text. Minor typographical errors in the printed text have been corrected.
Sequence of play and possible actions
The farmer starts and reveals 4 round tiles. Then he performs all possible actions (see below). Take care! If you reveal the cat, your turn ends immediately.
After performing your actions, the ravens take their turns one after another.
The farmer's action
The farmer catches 3 ravens. After revealing four tiles the farmer (or the farmer's wife) and not less than three ravens are lying on the table. You managed to catch 3 ravens!
Collect the 3 ravens and the farmer tile and place them on their corresponding spaces of your fruit tree board. Put the ravens on their spaces in the tree, the farmer or the farmer's wife is standing under the tree.
- If less than three ravens are lying open on the table, the farmer may not catch any raven.
- If more than three ravens are lying open on the table, because ravens might eat a worm, you take 3 ravens only.
- If you take a raven just eating a worm, put the revealed worm tile back into the game box.
The raven's action
The raven collects fruits for its nest. Two of the revealed tiles show 1 raven and 1 fruit. If the raven player still has a free nest card for the revealed fruit, he takes the fruit tile and places it face open on their corresponding nest card. Then, put the raven tile face down back at that spot from where you had taken the fruit tile.
In case you have no free nest card for this fruit you may not take it.
If the raven player has revealed two ravens and two fruits, he may perform this action 2x.
A raven just eating a worm cannot collect fruits.
Actions for both the farmer and the ravens
The raven eats a worm. Two of the revealed tiles show 1 raven and 1 worm. A raven must always be placed on an open worm tile first, even if it could pinch a fruit. Place the raven tile face up on the worm tile. It remains there until:
- a cat is revealed, or
- the farmer catches that raven.
The cat chases the ravens away. You reveal 1 cat. Your turn ends immediately. Do not reveal any more tiles or perform any further actions. If there are any ravens just eating a worm, place the ravens face down anywhere on the table. Put the worm tile back into the game box.
The wind blows leaves from the trees. Two of the revealed tiles show 1 wind and 1 leaf. Put 1 revealed leaf tile back into the game box for each revealed wind tile. Then, put the wind tile face down back at that spot from where you had taken the leaf tile.
After the active player has performed all their possible actions, they turn over the revealed tiles on the table again. Only ravens just eating a worm remain face open on the table. Now, the next player to the left performs his turn and reveals 4 fruit tree tiles.
End of the game
The game ends immediately after:
- the farmer player has caught all 6 ravens, or
- one raven player has filled its nest completely with the appropriate fruits.
The player who has achieved their goal is the winner of the game about the bold ravens!
The detailed example on the next page shows the sequence of play.
Example of a game with 3 players
Ted, Alice and Marco are playing a game of Coraxis & Co. Before setup, Ted was determined to play the farmer, Alice and Marco playing ravens.
1. Ted begins and reveals 1 leaf, 1 raven, 1 wind and 1 worm. He performs the following actions: He places the raven face up on the worm (1). The wind blows the leaf from the tree; Ted puts the leaf back into the game box (2) and places the wind face down at that spot from where he had removed the leaf (3). The raven remains face up on the worm tile. His turn is finished now.
2. Next, Alice performs her turn. She reveals 1 raven, 1 apple, 1 pear, and 1 leaf. 5 tiles are lying face up on the table right now, 2 ravens among them. She performs the following actions: She takes the apple and stuffs it into her nest (1). Then, she replaces the apple with the raven tile she just had revealed (2), placing the raven face down at that spot from where she had picked up the apple. Finally, she turns the pear and the leaf face down again (3). This ends her turn; she cannot perform any further actions. The second raven is eating a worm and therefore cannot collect any fruits.
3. During his turn, Marco reveals 1 pear, 1 raven, and 1 cat. As soon as he reveals the cat, his turn ends immediately. He may not perform any actions, except he must put back the worm into the game box, which up to now was being eaten by the raven (1). He turns all open tiles face down again, including the raven which had been eating the worm (2).
4. It is Ted's turn again. He reveals the farmer's wife and 3 ravens. Ted places the 3 ravens (1, 2, 3) and the farmer's wife (4) face open on his fruit tree board. He only needs 3 more ravens and the farmer in order to win the game.
Next, it is Alice's turn again. She reveals another 4 tiles …