Flippers Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Object of the Game
• How To Set Up The Game
• Explorer Cards
• Food Cards
• How To Play
• Card Powers
• End of Game
• Game Example
• Team Up!
• Meet Your Explorers
• Quick Set Up Guide

Contents

• 6 Teams of Explorers, 9 cards in each Team
• 6 Block Markers, 1 per Team
• 6 Food Cards (double sided)
• 38 grey fish Food Tokens (1 point each)
• 22 orange fish Food Tokens (2 points each)

Object of the Game

In Flippers, players compete to grow their stash of food, and food means points. The player with the largest amount of points wins! Stash away as much food as you can by using the powers on your Explorer Cards. Manoeuvre your team into position as you Switch, Bump and Flip your way to victory!

How To Set Up The Game

1. Each player chooses a team to play with. Take the deck of 9 cards as well as the matching Block Marker. There is no advantage between the teams, they all share the same cards.
2. Give each player a collection of Food Tokens totalling 6 points. This will create a player's 'Stash' which is kept in front of them - players can win or lose tokens during the game. Keep the remaining tokens in the box or off to the side, this will form a 'Supply'. (A 1-point Food Token is a grey fish; a 2-point Food Token is an orange fish.)
3. Players choose which Food Cards they wish to fight over - these cards will reward points at the end of the game. Food Cards are double sided, pick any side you wish to start the game! A set number of Food Cards will be needed depending on the number of players. (See reference table on page 4.)
4. Place the chosen Food Cards in the centre of the table. If you are playing with more than one Food Card, arrange the cards in a line horizontally or vertically in any order or orientation you wish.
5. Each player must now separate the Leader Card from the rest of their deck. Pick a player to go first and then, in clockwise order, place all Leader Cards adjacently along one of the edges of the Food Cards. A Leader Card gives you 1 bonus point if next to a Food Card at the end of the game. This is an example of the set up for a 3 player game.
6. Once all Food and Leader Cards are in the centre of the table, all players must now carefully pick which Explorer Cards to play with.
   1. Each player shuffles their remaining 8 cards and places them facedown in front of them, forming a Draw Deck.
   2. Next, each player draws 3 cards from the top of their Draw Deck and decides which cards to discard. These cards will be placed back into the box and will not be used during this game. The amount of cards to discard will depend on the number of players.
   3. If players now have less than two cards in their hand, they must draw cards from the top of their Draw Deck until all players have a hand of two cards to start the game.

Reference table (Step 3 and Step 6.2):

Amount of Players	Cards To Discard	Food Cards To Use
2	1	1
3	1	2
4	2	2
5 & 6	3	3

Explorer Cards

• This symbol shows which team the card belongs to.
• This arrow shows which other card is being targeted by the power on this card.
• This icon shows the card's power.

All Explorer cards have a Faceup and Facedown side. See page 7 for a description of all card powers.

Food Cards

Food cards award points at the end of the game, after all Explorer Cards have been played and resolved.

Each arrow shows which player will receive the displayed points. Award these points by using Food Tokens from the supply.

Food Cards will only award points to faceup cards, facedown cards won't receive points.

Both Explorer & Food Cards can be affected by card powers.

How To Play

1. On a player's turn, they will pick one card from their hand and place it along the edge of another card already in play. A card can be placed in any orientation the player chooses.
2. The power on the played card must now be activated.
3. The player must then activate all available (faceup) powers of their own team in any order the player chooses. These can only be performed once per turn.

Once the player has used their card's powers they draw one card from their Draw Deck, bringing their hand back up to two cards. Now it is the next player's turn. Repeat steps 1 to 3.

Card Powers

Explorer Cards have Powers as well as a Faceup & Facedown side. On a player's turn they will activate a card's power. When a card's power is activated it will affect the card it is targeting. This could be a Food Card, an opponent's card or your own card.

For cards targeting only empty spaces, nothing happens.

	Faceup Cards	Facedown Cards
Activate power	Yes	No
Earn or lose points	Yes	No
Moved, Flipped, or Turned	Yes	Yes

To summarise, Facedown Explorer Cards can be affected by card powers, but cannot be activated nor affect the player's total points. Faceup Explorer Cards can be activated, affected by card powers and earn or lose points.

Leader - This card is placed next to a Food Card as you set up the game. Their power is only activated at the end of the game, adding 1 bonus point from the Food Card if targeted.

Flip - When activated this card will flip over the targeted card. When flipping a card ensure it is flipped in the same direction indicated by the arrow. This will affect Food Cards and both Facedown and Faceup cards.

Bump - When activated this card will move all cards one space away in the targeted direction. The activated Bump card does not move. This will affect Food Cards and both Facedown and Faceup cards. This will result in a space between the Bump Card and affected cards at the end of the turn.

Switch - This card will target up to two cards. When activated swap the positions of the two targeted cards. If only one card is targetable move it into the position of the empty space. The activated Switch card does not move. This will affect Food Cards and both Facedown and Faceup cards.

Replace - When activated replace the card's position on the table with the position of the targeted card. The two cards will now have changed places. This will affect Food Cards and both Facedown and Faceup cards.

Plus (+) - When activated this card will reward the player of the targeted team with a single Food Token worth 1 point from the Supply. Add the token into their stash. This will only affect Faceup Explorer Cards and has no impact on Food Cards.

Minus (-) - When activated this card will discard Food Tokens equal to 2 points from the player of the targeted Team. These Food Tokens are removed from a player's Stash and put back into the Supply. This will only affect Faceup Explorer cards and has no impact on Food Cards.

Turn - When activated this card will rotate the targeted card clockwise by 90 degrees. This will affect Food Cards and both Facedown and Faceup cards.

Block - When activated this card will stop another card from being available to activate. Place your Block Marker on top of the targeted card when a Block power is activated.

A faceup Explorer Card with a Block Marker cannot be activated but can still be affected by all other card powers as well as earning points from Food Cards.

If a Block card has been turned or moved positions, the Block Marker will also move to the newly targeted card. The Block Marker will only be removed if a Block card has been flipped facedown or if your Block card has been affected by an opponent's Block card. Reassign the Block Marker when it is activated on the following turn.

End of Game

The game ends when the last player has played their final Explorer Card and performed all actions on their faceup cards. Note the position of the Food Cards and award the targeted players with the required Food Tokens from the supply. Players add up the points from all of their food tokens and whoever has the most points wins!

Game Example

The following example will follow the first three turns of a 2 player game. Remember, once a player has finished their turn, they draw a card from their Draw Deck. Food Cards will award points at the end of the game.

Turn 1

• Player A plays and activates their Turn card.
• Player B plays and activates their +1 card. They add a 1-point fish token from the supply to their stash. Player B now has 7 points!

Turn 2

• Player A plays and activates their Replace card. They now activate their Turn card.
• Player B plays and activates a Block card, adding their Block Marker to the Leader Card of Player A.
• Now the +1 card is activated, giving 1 fish token to Player A from the supply. Player A now has 7 points!

Turn 3

• Player A plays and activates their Bump card. Then they activate their Turn card. The Replace Card activates but has nothing to target so nothing happens.
• Player B plays and activates their Switch card. The Block card is activated again. They also give 1 fish token to Player A from the supply. Player A now has 8 points!

Team Up!

The main game mode puts all players against each other but if you want to buddy up you can! To make it fair, this game mode works best in a 4 or 6 player game, dividing teams into 2 or 3 players. Follow the set up as normal (shown on pages 2 - 4) then every other player around the table is a teammate. Communicate and strategise as much or as little as you want, points between teammates are combined at the end of the game.

Meet Your Explorers

• Chinstrap Penguins
• Macaroni Penguins
• Emperor Penguins
• Weddell Seals
• Leopard Seals
• Elephant Seals

Quick Set Up Guide

For a full set-up description, please refer to pages 2 - 4.

1. Pick your team, matching Block Marker and Food Tokens worth 6 points.
2. Arrange the Food Cards and Leader Cards in the middle of the table.
3. Shuffle your remaining Explorer Cards and discard cards according to the number of players.
4. Start the game with a hand of 2 cards.

As You Play, Remember...

• Leader Cards & Food Cards only activate at the end of the game.
• Only Faceup cards can activate & win or lose points.