Floating Floors Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setting the Scene
• Navigating the Floating Floors
  • Phase One: Acquiring Jutsu
  • Falling or Causing a Collapse
  • Phase Two: Navigating the Floors
    • Action 1: Placing Jutsu
    • Action 2: Placing Floorboards
    • Action 3: Moving Your Ninja
    • Action 4: Claiming Bansen
  • Ending Your Turn
• Winning
• Master vs Apprentice (Playing with Different Skill Levels)
• Challenge Your Skills!
  • Challenge 1: Scattered Seals
  • Challenge 2: Move with Grace
  • Challenge 3: Skirting the Lake
  • Challenge 4: Shifting Floors
  • Challenge 5: A Rival's Advantage
  • Challenge 6: Shaky Footings
  • Challenge 7: Scarce Supplies
  • Challenge 8: Non-Dominant Hand

Components

• 12 x Terrain / Lake Cards (Terrain side and Lake side)
• 12 x Floating Floorboards (Light and Shadow sides)
• 60 x Jutsu Pieces
• 3 x Jutsu Dice
• 4 x Chakra
• 4 x Ninja Meeples
• 16 x Bansen Seals (front shows the Ninja; number side shows the number, used in Challenge 1)

Setting the Scene

1. Shuffle the Terrain cards, Lake side down, and randomly create the map.

   • For 2 players, the map is 6 cards in a 2x3 grid.
   • For 3 or 4 players, the map is 9 cards in a 3x3 grid.

2. Each player chooses a Ninja. In a 2 player game, players must select Ninjas of different colors. Each player should take: a. The Ninja Meeple. b. The Bansen showing their Ninja (number side down). The number of Bansen depends on player count. Select Bansen randomly, and return unused Bansen to the box.

   Players	2	3	4
   Bansen	4	3	2

   c. The Chakra showing their Ninja. d. Three Jutsu, one of each shape in their color.

3. The oldest player is the starting player. Beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, each player places their Chakra in an empty Alcove on their side of the board and places their Ninja Meeple on top. This is your starting location.

4. Next, the starting player takes everyone's Bansen and places them clockwise starting from the left of their Chakra, alternating each ninja into the remaining alcoves of the map, numbered side down (i.e., player 1, player 2, player 3, player 4, player 1 etc.)

5. Shuffle the Floorboards and place them near the map. The side facing up does not matter.

Navigating the Floating Floors

Beginning with the starting player and proceeding clockwise, each player will complete a turn. Each turn has 2 phases:

• Phase One: Acquiring Jutsu
• Phase Two: Navigating the Floors

Phase One: Acquiring Jutsu

Roll all 3 Jutsu Dice. You must then take a Jutsu to your player area matching each of the 3 dice rolled. You may take each Jutsu from one of three places:

1. The public pool of Jutsu sitting near the board, if the correct shape and color is available.
2. From on top of any Terrain or Floorboard, unless a Ninja is standing on that piece.
3. From under a Floorboard. You may lift the Floorboard to take Jutsu but must replace the Floorboard in the same orientation it was before you lifted it.

Falling or Causing a Collapse

If at any point during your turn, you cause a Floorboard to tilt and touch the Terrain or table, or a Ninja Meeple or Jutsu falls from a Floorboard and touches the Terrain or table, then you must End your Turn immediately.

• The next player in turn order resets the Terrain card. All Jutsu, Ninja Meeples, and the Floorboard are gathered and must be arranged or rearranged into any legal configuration on that Terrain card.
• Pieces and cards may be flipped, rotated, and moved from above the Floorboard to below and vice versa.
• If the player causes a fall or collapse while rearranging, they may regather and continue to set up the pieces.
• Once the rearranging is complete, the same player who resolved the rearrangement begins their turn.

Phase Two: Navigating the Floors

In the Navigating the Floors phase, there are four possible actions. You may take any of the actions, in any order, as many times as you like until you either choose to end your turn, or are forced to due to Falling or Causing a Collapse. You may even complete multiple actions at the same time (e.g. placing Jutsu with one hand and moving your Ninja Meeple with the other, or placing multiple Jutsu at once with the same hand), with the exception of the Claiming Bansen action which must be completed by itself.

• Action 1: Placing Jutsu
• Action 2: Placing Floorboards
• Action 3: Moving Your Ninja
• Action 4: Claiming Bansen

Action 1: Placing Jutsu

• You may place Jutsu that you acquired this turn, or that were stored from a previous turn.
• You may place Jutsu fully within a land space of a Terrain card, or fully within any Floorboard space.
• You may not place Jutsu:
  • On the water spaces of Terrain cards.
  • Underneath a Floorboard or on a Terrain card which has a Floorboard on it.
  • On top of Ninja Meeple or other Jutsu.
  • Touching more than one space.
• Jutsu may be placed in any orientation and on any side.
• When placing Jutsu onto a space, you may nudge a Jutsu or Ninja Meeple already in that same space with the piece you're placing without changing those pieces' orientation or moving them to a different space. All pieces must fit within the space they began.

Action 2: Placing Floorboards

• Once there is at least one Jutsu on a Terrain card, you may attempt to place a Floorboard. To do so, take the top card of the Floorboard deck and balance it on top of the Jutsu over the Terrain.
• You must center the Floorboard over the Terrain, covering all the land and water spaces below.
• You may place the Floorboard either side up.
• Each Terrain card may only have a single Floorboard card above it.
• Once all Terrain cards have a Floorboard on them, this action can no longer be taken.
• Floorboards have the same pattern but the opposite coloring on the flip side.

Action 3: Moving Your Ninja

• You may move your Ninja Meeple to an orthogonally adjacent space (not diagonally), including to an adjacent Floorboard.
• Your Ninja Meeple's move must end:
  • Fully within a matching colored Floorboard space, or
  • On top of one or more matching colored Jutsu which are within the same Floorboard space.
• Your Ninja Meeple may finish in any orientation (e.g. upright, lying down, on its head, etc.)
• You must lift your Ninja Meeple, rather than nudge or shuffle it; i.e. at some point during the move, there must be clear air between your Ninja Meeple and all other pieces and cards.
• When moving a Ninja Meeple to a space, you may nudge a Jutsu or another Ninja Meeple already in that same space with your Ninja Meeple without changing those pieces' orientation or moving them to a different space. All pieces must fit within the space they began.
• You must take your hand away from your Ninja Meeple to check for balance at the end of each step of movement, even if you intend to immediately continue moving.
• Until you let go of your Ninja Meeple, you may change your mind and return it to its original position.
• Ninja may only stand on spaces or Jutsu that match their color!

Action 4: Claiming Bansen

• To attempt to claim one of your Bansen, your Ninja must be in the space adjacent to the alcove the Bansen is hidden in.
• Next, pick up the Floorboard, rotate it 90 degrees in the direction shown by the arrows on the Bansen (clockwise or counterclockwise), and place it back down onto the Terrain card and its supporting Jutsu.
• If any piece falls or a Floorboard touches the Terrain, your attempt to claim a Bansen fails and you must end your turn immediately (see Falling or Causing a Collapse).
• If no piece falls, you are successful. Take the Bansen and place it in front of you on the table.
• You may not take any other action while attempting to claim a Bansen.
• You may continue to take actions after successfully claiming a Bansen.

Ending Your Turn

Once you are satisfied with your progress, or are forced to due to Falling or Causing a Collapse, your turn ends.

• If you have any unplaced Jutsu, you may keep up to three Jutsu matching your ninja's color for use on future turns.
• All other unused Jutsu are returned to the public pool.
• Play then passes to the player on the left.

Winning

The first Ninja to recover all of their Bansen Seals restores honor to their Clan and is immediately declared the winner!

Master vs Apprentice (Playing with Different Skill Levels)

If you are playing with Ninjas of varying skill levels, we recommend the Master Ninja (the more experienced player) takes on one or more of the following variations:

• Master of Balance: The Master Ninja may roll only two (or one!) Jutsu Dice at the start of each turn.
• Master of Contemplation: The Master Ninja may move only four steps each turn.
• Master of Navigation: The Master must recover Bansen in sequential order (per Challenge 1, page 8). Set up with the Master's Bansen number side up, and the Apprentice's Bansen number side down.

Challenge Your Skills!

Once you master the base rules of Floating Floors, you may take on these challenges! There are 8 challenges that increase the difficulty of Floating Floors as you hone your Ninja skills. Each challenge provides additions or alterations to the base game rules.

For a campaign style game, play through the challenges 1 through 8 keeping all previous challenge's rules in play! Alternatively, pick and choose your favorite challenge(s) to play a different game every time.

Challenge 1: Scattered Seals

Navigating the Floors - Claiming Bansen: Players must claim their Bansen in numerical order: one, two, three, four. You may not attempt to claim a Bansen unless all of your lower numbered Bansen are already claimed.

Setting the Scene - Changes to Setup:

• Step 2b: Instead of choosing Bansen randomly, use sequentially numbered Bansen: one, two, three, four.
• Step 4: Instead of randomizing their positions, players pass their Bansen to the player on their right. Then, in reverse turn order (beginning with the player to the right of the oldest player and proceeding counterclockwise), players take turns placing a Bansen, number side up, into an empty alcove. Players will need to collect the Bansen in order, so make sure you don't make it too easy for your opponents!

Challenge 2: Move with Grace

Navigating the Floors - Claiming Bansen: When claiming Bansen, you may use only one hand to pick up and rotate the Floorboard you are on.

You may not attempt to claim a Bansen while your Ninja Meeple is lying down. A sleepy Ninja cannot learn the ways of the Bansen.

Challenge 3: Skirting the Lake

Setting the Scene - Changes to Setup:

• Step 1: When setting up the map, use one Lake Terrain per player, adding more water spaces to the game. The Lake Terrain are found on the back of each Terrain card.

Challenge 4: Shifting Floors

Navigating the Floors - NEW ACTION 5: Using Bansen

• At any time after claiming a Bansen, except during the same turn you claimed it, you may discard it to the game box to rotate your Ninja's current Floorboard by 90 degrees in the direction indicated on the Bansen.
• When rotating a Floorboard, placement and dexterity rules are the same as for the Claiming Bansen action.
• Used and unused Bansen count equally toward winning Floating Floors.

Challenge 5: A Rival's Advantage

Navigating the Floors - Falling or Causing a Collapse: If a player who is rearranging pieces after a Fall or Collapse causes a Floorboard to tilt and touch the Terrain or table, or a Ninja Meeple or Jutsu falls from a Floorboard and touches the Terrain or table, they too must End their Turn immediately.

That player misses their turn entirely, and the subsequent player in turn order now resets the same Terrain card.

Challenge 6: Shaky Footings

Navigating the Floors - Placing Jutsu: When placing Jutsu on a Terrain card, there may only ever be 1 Jutsu per land space on the card.

Challenge 7: Scarce Supplies

Setting the Scene - Changes to Setup:

• Step 6: Before placing the Jutsu near the map, return the following Jutsu pieces to the box. They will not be used this game.
  • 4 black cubes
  • 4 black triangles
  • 4 black hexagons
  • 4 white squares
  • 4 white triangles
  • 4 white hexagons

Challenge 8: Non-Dominant Hand

Navigating the Floors - All Actions: When taking any actions while in the Navigating the Floors phase, you must primarily use your non dominant hand.

If taking multiple actions at once, you must use your non dominant hand for the action higher in the list below:

• Rotating a Floorboard
• Moving a Ninja
• Placing a Floorboard
• Placing Jutsu