Edamame
Edamame Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 24 Dragon Cards
- 25 Edamame Cards
- 6 Scoring Cards
- 1 Action Board
- 1 Score Board
- 1 First-player Token
- 2 Reference Cards
- 4 Roof Tiles
- 4 Player Tokens
- 1 Cube Set
- 1 Action Tokens
- 1 Coin Set
- 1 Round Token
Overview
Do you know what an Edamame is? An Edamame is a kind of soja bean you can eat in japanese restaurants. It is also what you are in this game.
As the chief of an Edamame clan, you will raise a dragon because you need his vital energy to bring you to live. To do so, you will have to recruit new Edamames to reinforce your clan. You will send them to work to get resources and you will also make your opponent's Edamames work for you. Lastly, you will use your resources to breed your dragon.
A game of Edamame will be timed by the number of dragon cards that will be bought by the players. In a 2 players game, a round is 3 dragon improvements. In a 3 or 4 players game, a round is 4 dragon improvements. At the end of each round, everybody will check for a common intermediary objective. After 3 rounds, the game will be end by an honorship championship in which each clan will fight each other one. So, how does it work ?
Game Setup
- Prepare the Edamame market in the center of the table
- A. Shuffle the level 3 Edamame cards and put them face down on the table
- B. Shuffle the level 2 Edamame cards and put them face down on top of the level 3 cards
- C. Shuffle the level 1 Edamame cards and put them face down on top of the level 2 cards
- D. Then reveal the first 4 cards to create the market
- Place all resources next to the market. It will be the bank.
- Prepare each player's starting set as follow:
- A. Take all the components of their chosen color.
- B. Place their baby dragon in from of them. It is composed of a forward and a rear card.
- C. Place their 2 Edamame cards above their dragon so as to make it easier for other players to reach them.
- D. Take 5 golds and 1 yellow cube from the bank.
- Place the scoring board next to the Edamame market
- A. Place it on the side corresponding to the number of players
- B. Place the dragon token on the "0" of the time track.
- C. Place each player's token on the "0" of the score track
- D. Shuffle the objective cards and draw one that will define the objectives for this play
- Prepare the dragon market next to the score pad
- A. Take all the forward cards of the blue dragon and place them face up, from 4 to 1, as shown above. face up
- B. Do the same with the rear blue dragon cards.
How to Play
If you need some rules to decide who will be the starting player, here are some options:
- the one who best imitate the roar of a dragon
- the last one to eat Edamame
- the one who ask who has to play first
Traditionally, the last one is the one which works best as there is always someone to ask.
Action
Starting from the first player, the game is played clockwise. During your turn, you must choose one of the four actions shown below:
- Work
- Recruit
- Grow up
- Rest
Place your action token on the corresponding action on the board, and proceed the action accordingly.
1. Work
You can choose one of the following three actions to use the work action.
- Send my Edamame to work.
- Send opponent's Edamame to work.
- Send my Edamame & opponent's Edamame to work. (Total 2 Edamame you can use)
Send my Edamame to work
When you choose this action, you must pay to the bank what is written in the top left of the Edamame card to get in return what is written in the top right.
For example, sending to work your librarian, you will pay 2 gold to the bank to get 3 yellow cubes in return.
Send opponent's Edamame to work
When you choose this action, you must pay to owner of selected Edamame card instead of pay to the bank. Your resources that paid for using opponent's Edamame are placed on the selected Edamame card. However, that player cannot use these cubes and coins immediately. (It will be available when the player choose 4.Rest action.) Then you get resources in return are taken from the bank.
For example, sending to work an opponent's fighter, you will place 3 of your yellow cubes on its card and take 7 golds from the bank for it.
The only restriction to having an Edamame go to work is to be able to pay its price. So, a player may send to work an Edamame that has already worked previously. The only question is whether or not the active player wishes to give resources to one same other player, helping on its way to victory.
2. Recruit
The Recruit action allows the player to buy an Edamame card from the market. To do so, they pay the cost that is indicated in the lower left of the card and add it to their team. Then, they must check that they have enough vital energy for everyone between their Edamames and their dragon.
The vital energy is symbolized by the red hearts. Edamames require such vital energy as indicated by the grey hearts on their cards. Thus, the player must have a number of red hearts at least equal to the number of grey hearts present on their cards. If not, the player will need to sacrifice Edamames, replacing it with the newly acquired one. Or they can also discard the new Edamame if they prefer doing so. Be careful though as if the player sacrifices an Edamame, they automatically lose every resources that may have been put on it previously as a work payment!
If possible, after the recruitment has been completed, add a new Edamame card to complete the 4 cards market. It may happen around the end of the game that less than 4 Edamame cards are left available for buying.
For example, to buy the librarian, you will have to pay to the bank 5 golds. Then, you need to fill 2 grey hearts, but as the Edamame also comes with one, you just need 1 extra unused red heart to recruit it. Otherwise, you will have to sacrifice an Edamame to balance the number of red and grey hearts.
3. Grow up
When the player plays the "grow up" action, they must buy a dragon card. They are not allowed to play this card just to get new yellow cubes.
If played, the player performs the following actions in order:
- get one yellow cube for each symbol "attack" they have on their team (both Edamames and Dragon) within the limit of 3 cubes,
- pay to the bank the price of the dragon card
- place the new card on top of the corresponding side of the baby dragon, slightly off so as to show all symbols at the bottom of the previous cards,
- move the time marker one step on the score pad,
- if it reaches the end of the round, follow the "end of round" section in this rules.
Remember that the newly acquired cards always improve your dragon. Thus, the existing characteristics are retained till the end of the game (that's why the dragon cards are stacked slightly off instead of being replaced).
Make sure to move the time marker one step forward on the score pad. It drives the rhythm of the game, and the rhythm of the race to victory!
For example, after paying 1 blue cube and 3 yellow cubes, you can buy this forward part of the blue dragon. Stack the cards on top of the previous one, slightly off so that the previous characteristics are still visible (you dragon becomes stronger as he grows up!). Don't forget that you have to take at least one yellow cube from the bank before paying this card (as the forward part of your baby dragon shows an "attack" symbol).
4. Rest
Playing the "rest" action allows the player to take back in all resources on your Edamame cards. The following actions are then performed in order:
- get one gold for each symbol "speed" you get on your board (both Edamame and Dragon) within the limit of 4 golds.
- remove from you Edamame cards all payments received from other players for their work. These resources are yours now.
At the start of the game, playing the "rest" as your first action is not a very interesting option. However, during the game, it may become much more efficient in order to retrieve the resources the other players paid for using your Edamames.
Don't forget to move the time cursor on the score board one step forward.
End of a round
When the time cursor is moved onto the last column of the score pad, it is the end of the round. It is time to check the intermediary objective for each player and hand victory points as needed. Meeting the requirements earns a player 2 / 3 / 4 victory points respectively at the end of the 1st / 2nd / 3rd round. Every player that miss the objective receives resources instead (2 golds or 1 yellow cube) to help them getting back in the game. If this is the 3rd round, then the game is over.
Points are scored on the score pad.
For example, with this scenario card, at the end of the second round, each player that totalize 4 red heart on their board (dragon and Edamame) will score 3 points. The others will take 2 gold and 1 yellow cube from the bank.
Game End
The game ends after the 3rd round. A final championship will then take place, each dragon fighting all others in a one to one combat. Each fight is resolved independently from the others (1 fight for a 2-player game, 3 for a 3-player game, and 6 for a 4-player game).
To resolve a fight, you have to tally each one of the three characteristics of your dragon (that you calculate for your entire board, i.e. both Edamames and Dragon, as some powerful Edamames may help your dragon in his fights).
- Speed (blue feather icon): The "speed" determines their initiative, that is to say who strikes first. As dragon are susceptible creatures, they will only attack one single time (if they have enough time to do it). If they don't knock their opponent out, they go home sulking. It is not a fight to the end but just a prestige tournament!
- Attack (yellow lightning icon): The "attack" is their power. It is the amount of damages they can deal to their opponent. So, if you have at least as many "attacks" as the number of "hearts" your opponent has, you're able to defeat your opponent's dragon and win the fight.
- Vitality (pink heart icon): The number of hearts is their vitality. It is the number of damage they can sustain before being defeated.
Fight resolution diagram (dragon 1 is the faster dragon, dragon 2 the slower):
- Speed of dragon 1 is greater than speed of dragon 2, so dragon 1 attacks first.
- Attack of dragon 1 is greater than vitality of dragon 2: Win for dragon 1. The fight ends.
- Otherwise, dragon 2 attacks in reply. Attack of dragon 2 is greater than vitality of dragon 1: Win for dragon 2.
- Otherwise: Draw.
So, starting from the fastest dragon (1), you will check if he knocks out his opponent (2). If he does, he (1) wins the fight. The other dragon (2) cannot reply. If not, the slowest dragon (2) may retaliate. Compare his power (2) to the vitality of the first dragon (1). If there is a knock out, then (2) wins the fight. If not, it ends in a draw.
If the two dragons have the same initiative, the fight is resolved simultaneously. Thus, there is a new potential situation: both dragons are knocked out, in which case it is considered a draw.
For each fight, the winner scores 4 victory points and the other scores nothing. In case of a draw, each player scores 1 victory point.
Victory
After each fight has been resolved, the player with the most victory point wins the game. In case of tie, the player with the dragon of highest rank wins the game. In case of second tie, the tie breaker is the amount of money. In the improbable event of a final tie, then it is a draw.