Einfach Genial Junior
Einfach Genial Junior Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 1 bag (cloth bag)
- 60 ice floe tiles (printed as "with 2 food pieces each"; see the note below)
- 160 cardboard food pieces (in four types: green, red, orange and violet)
- 16 penguins (8 with light blue backs, 6 with dark blue backs, and 2 with black backs)
- 1 game board
- 1 Professor Eisstein figure with stand
Note on the tiles: the component list describes the 60 ice floe tiles as "with 2 food pieces each". The game board diagram and the setup instructions describe four of these tiles as the smaller tiles that show only one food piece each, and place them on the board at the start of the game. The four smaller tiles are therefore placed on the board, and the remaining larger tiles, each showing two food pieces, go into the bag.
Goal of the Game
Help Professor Eisstein feed the penguins! To make a penguin full, you need four different food pieces. The player who can feed the most penguins wins.
Setup
- Place the game board in the middle of the table and get Professor Eisstein ready.
- Put the cardboard food pieces into the box and get them ready.
- Place the four smaller ice floe tiles, which show only one food piece each, on the board fields with the same picture.
- Place the remaining larger ice floe tiles, which show two food pieces each, into the bag and mix them.
- Stack the penguins with holes next to the game board:
- In a 2-player game, take only the eight penguins with light blue backs.
- In a 3- and 4-player game, add the six penguins with dark blue backs, for a total of 14 penguins.
- (The two penguins with black backs are only needed for the advanced variant.)
- Each player draws one ice floe tile from the bag and places it face up in front of them.
Playing the Game
The youngest player begins, and play then proceeds clockwise.
On your turn, ...
1.) ... place an ice floe tile on the game board.
2.) ... and you may take food pieces for it.
3.) If you have collected four different food pieces, you may feed a penguin.
4.) At the end of your turn, draw a new ice floe tile from the bag for the next round.
After your turn, the next player takes a turn.
1. Place an ice floe tile on the game board
Where an ice floe tile may be placed on the game board depends on the number of players:
- In a 1- and 2-player game, only the light blue fields of the game board form the play area. Ice floe tiles may only be placed there.
- In a 3- and 4-player game, you play on the entire play area, so both the light blue fields and the darker fields on the outside.
On your turn, place the ice floe tile on two free fields of the play area of your choice. Ice floe tiles that are already on the game board may never be moved!
Tips for placing tiles:
- Place as many ice floe tiles as possible where the same food pieces can be seen as on your newly placed ice floe. That way you can collect many food pieces!
- Pay attention to which food pieces you still need to feed a penguin.
2. Take food pieces
The pictures of the food pieces on your newly placed ice floe determine which food type(s) you may collect on your turn:
- EITHER only one type of food, when there are two identical pictures (here: orange).
- OR two different types of food, on two different pictures (here: green and orange).
Then the player whose turn it is places the Professor figure in the middle of the newly placed ice floe. Now check whether Professor Eisstein can collect food from the adjacent fields:
- First, from the one food piece on the ice floe, check the three adjacent fields.
- Then, from the second food piece on the ice floe, check its three adjacent fields.
That means:
- If on one of the three adjacent fields the same food piece can be seen as on the field from which Professor Eisstein is collecting food, the player may take one food piece of this type from the box and place it in front of them.
- If there are even several identical food pieces on the adjacent fields, the player may take correspondingly many food pieces from the box.
- Is there no other ice floe on the three adjacent fields, or are other food pieces depicted there? Then the player takes nothing.
Pay attention: for food pieces that are depicted on your own newly placed ice floe, you do not get food pieces from the box!
Summary of this step: For each identical food piece visible on directly adjacent ice floes, the player may take one food piece of this type from the box and place it in front of them.
3. Feed a penguin
If a player has collected four different food pieces (green, red, orange and violet), they may feed a penguin:
- Take a penguin from the stack, place it in front of you, and press the four matching food pieces into the holes so that the penguin is completely filled.
- Any remaining food pieces may be kept, to feed more penguins later.
4. Draw an ice floe tile from the bag
The player whose turn it is draws a new ice floe tile from the bag for the next round. This ends the turn, and the player to the left is next.
Optional rule that the players may agree on: If a player only still needs one particular food piece, and that food piece is not depicted on the new ice floe tile, they may exceptionally quickly put the tile back into the bag and draw a different one. This is only possible once per turn!
End of the Game
The game ends when all penguins have been fed, or when no ice floe tile fits on the game board anymore (that is, no two adjacent free fields remain in the play area).
The player who was able to feed the most penguins wins. In case of a tie, the players with the most penguins count their remaining food pieces, and the player with more food pieces wins.
Variants
Advanced Play (for experienced players and older children, approx. 8 years and up)
- Older children can also play without the Professor Eisstein figure.
- Take the penguins with black backs into the game as well, so that there are 10 penguins in the game with 2 players, and 16 penguins in the game with 3 or 4 players.
- The following rule is added to the basic rules:
- At the start of the game, all players each draw two ice floe tiles from the cloth bag. The player whose turn it is may decide which of their two ice floe tiles they want to place on the game board.
- Once the player has placed the ice floe tile and taken their food pieces, they may decide again: do they want to keep the second ice floe tile for their next turn, or rather give it up?
- If the player keeps the second ice floe tile, they draw only one ice floe tile from the bag and may use one of their two ice floe tiles in the next round.
- If the player does not want to keep the second ice floe tile, they put it back into the bag. Then they immediately draw two new ice floe tiles from the bag for the next round. If the player again has two ice floe tiles lying in front of them, the next player takes their turn and places one of their two ice floe tiles on the game board.
Solo Play (1 player)
You can also play alone and set your own record. You play only on the light blue fields of the game board, but use all 16 penguins. Draw one ice floe tile after another from the bag and place them cleverly so that you collect as many food pieces as possible. How many penguins can you feed?