Fox Grove Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Setup (Example for 4 Players)
  • Meaning of symbols in the rules
  • The 6 different owls
  • Notes on resources (wood, nut, maple)
• Game Concept
• Gameplay
• A Round in Detail
  • Phase 1: Play 9 tricks and receive rewards
    • a) Deal cards
    • b) Exchange cards
    • c) Play 9 tricks
  • Phase 2: Deliver supplies for the winter
    • a) Advancing in forest houses
    • b) Prepare next round
• The Owls
• Final Scoring
• Pro Variant
• 2-Player Game
  • Changes in Setup
  • Changes in Gameplay
• Owl Combinations
• The Forest Houses
• Owl Abilities

Game Components

• 52 Cards in 4 colors (Suits) numbered 1-13. Yellow (Fox) is trump
• 12 Animal Markers: 3 in one color per player
• 24 Blackberries
• 74 Resources: 30 Wood (1 = 15x, 3 = 5x), 22 Nut (1 = 10x, 3 = 4x), 22 Maple (leaf) (1 = 10x, 3 = 4x)
• 1 first player marker
• 3 Forest houses
• 24 Owls, 6 per player
• 1 Round track
• 1 Woodpecker

Setup (Example for 4 Players)

1. Place the 3 forest houses side-by-side with side A facing up. Place the round track next to the forest house on the right. Place the woodpecker on round 1 of the round track.
2. Shuffle the 24 blackberries and place them face-up as a general supply next to the forest houses.
3. Place the 74 resources as a supply next to the forest houses.
4. Each player takes 3 animal markers of one color and places 1 marker below each forest house.
5. Each player takes 2 owls: For your first game, we recommend using the 2 owls pictured in the rulebook (Owls for the first game). Place them in front of you with the active side (front) facing up.
6. The youngest player receives the first player marker (Fox).

Meaning of symbols in the rules

• Green arrow: Receive
• Red arrow: Discard
• Blue arrow: Activate / Deactivate
• Any one resource
• Pay all resources
• Owl: Double resources
• Owl: Discount

The 6 different owls

Each owl has an active side and an inactive side. See page 9 (Owl Combinations) for more owl combinations.

Notes on resources (wood, nut, maple)

• A "3" token is equivalent to three "1" tokens of the same type.
• The supply is unlimited: In the unlikely event a resource runs out, please use a suitable substitute.
• You may exchange three "1" resources for a corresponding "3" resource at any time.

Game Concept

By playing cards, you collect wood, nuts, and maple leaves, which you deliver to the forest houses to prepare for winter step-by-step and earn points.

Gameplay

Fox Grove is played over 4 rounds. Each round is divided into 2 Phases:

• Phase 1: Play 9 tricks and receive rewards
• Phase 2: Deliver supplies for the winter

On your turn, you may use your owl abilities at any time to gain an advantage. After use, the owls become inactive and must be activated again before they can be used a second time.

After the 4th round, final scoring takes place, where you receive points for resources delivered to the forest houses and for your blackberries. The player with the most points wins!

A Round in Detail

Phase 1: Play 9 tricks and receive rewards

Overview of the cards: Each card has a color and a number. There are 4 colors, each with numbers 1-13. All cards in blue, purple, and orange are suit cards. All Yellow cards (Fox cards) are trump cards.

If you win a trick (see page 4) or if you have discarded a card, you receive the following rewards based on the card:

• Cards 1-11: Take the depicted resources from the supply and place them in front of you. You need resources to climb the levels of the forest houses and earn points.
• Card 12: Take 1 blackberry from the supply. These provide points at the end of the game or can be exchanged for 1 resource, if needed, during the game.
• Card 13: Allows you to advance 1 level in a forest house and pay 1 fewer resource (of any type) than required.

a) Deal cards

Shuffle all cards face-down and deal 9 cards to each player. Keep the remaining cards as a face-down draw pile. Leave extra space for a discard pile.

b) Exchange cards

Choose 2 cards from your hand. Pass 1 card face-down directly to your left neighbor and 1 card to your right neighbor. Everyone adds the received cards to their hand, restoring their hand size to 9.

Game Tip: Try to keep your high cards and try to void a color (have no cards of that color) in your hand (see page 4).

c) Play 9 tricks

The player with the first player marker leads the first trick. When playing cards, the following rules apply:

• The person leading the trick may play any card from their hand (suit or trump).
• All other players must follow suit in clockwise order. This means:
  • If the first card is a suit card, you must play a card of the same color.
  • If the first card is a trump card, you must play a trump card.

Note: You may NOT play a trump card as long as you can follow the led suit.

Example: The blue 4 is led. Wibke must follow suit and play a blue card. She chooses the 8. She cannot play a trump because she has blue cards.

• If you cannot follow suit: If you have no matching suit card (or trump card if trump was led), you may do the following:
  • If the first card was a suit card, you have two options:
    • a) Play a trump: Play a yellow card to try to win the trick.
    • b) Discard a suit card: Play any suit card from your hand. You immediately receive the reward shown on that card (see "Receive Rewards"). Then place the card on the discard pile.
  • If the first card was a trump card (yellow), you must discard a suit card. Play any suit card, receive its reward (see page 5), and place it on the discard pile.

Example: Two blue cards are played. Caro has no blue cards - she plays a trump, the yellow 2.

Example: Three cards are played. Quinn has no blue cards - he discards a purple 9, places it on the discard pile, and takes 2 nuts from the supply.

Determining the winner: Once everyone has played or discarded a card, check the remaining cards on the table to see who won the trick:

• If only suit cards are on the table, the person who played the highest number wins.
• If suit cards and trump cards (or only trump cards) are on the table, the person who played the highest trump card wins. A trump wins even if a suit card has a higher number.
• The winner of the trick chooses 1 card from the table and receives the reward shown on it. Then, the played cards are moved to the discard pile.

Example: Caro won the trick with the yellow 2. She chooses the Blue 8 (played by Wibke) and receives 3 wood from the supply.

Note: It is possible that only 1 card remains on the table if everyone else discarded. In this case, the person with the last card on the table wins and receives the reward of their own card.

Receive rewards:

• Cards 1-11: Take the indicated resources from the supply.
• Card 12: Take 1 blackberry from the supply. You may spend a blackberry at any time (Phase 1 or Phase 2), to take 1 resource of your choice (wood, nut, or maple) from the supply. Return the blackberry to the box. You may look at the points on the back of your blackberries at any time, but keep them hidden from other players. Blackberries kept until the end of the game score the points shown on the back (1-4).
• Card 13: Immediately advance 1 level in a forest house. You pay 1 fewer resource (of your choice) than required. If you still do not have enough resources, you cannot advance.

Example: Michael wins a trick and chooses the yellow 13. He immediately moves up 1 level on a forest house and pays only 1 nut instead of 2.

The next trick: The winner of the previous trick leads the first card of the next trick. Repeat this until 9 tricks have been played. The winner of the last (9th) trick receives the first player marker.

All hand cards have now been played. Proceed to Phase 2.

Phase 2: Deliver supplies for the winter

a) Advancing in forest houses

Going clockwise, starting with the first player, deliver your collected resources to the forest houses. You advance level by level, from bottom to top. For each level, you must pay the required resources (shown on the right of the level) to the supply. Then place your animal marker on a free space on that level.

Bonus Action: If you land on a level with a bonus symbol, perform it immediately. You have 2 options:

1. Take 1 blackberry from the supply.
2. Reactivate 1 or 2 inactive owls. Flip them back to their front side. You can use their abilities again immediately (see owls on page 7).

You may advance as many levels as you wish in all forest houses, provided you can pay the resources. If you are already at the top level, you cannot deliver more resources to that house. If you cannot or do not want to advance further, it is the next player's turn. Once everyone has had a turn, proceed to the next step.

Important: You must always pay all shown resources for a level! Even when the "any one resource" symbol is shown.

Example: Advancing in forest houses for Caro:

1. Caro pays 2 wood to move her hedgehog marker up one level on the tree house.
2. Caro spends 2 wood and flips her discount owl to inactive to pay 1 resource less for the next level. She reaches a bonus space and takes 1 blackberry.
3. Caro pays 1 nut and 1 blackberry (replacing a missing nut) to move up 1 level on the mushroom house. She reaches a bonus space and reactivates both of her used owls.

b) Prepare next round

If this is NOT the end of round 4, you prepare the next round:

• Keep 3 resources: You may keep up to 3 resources (wood, nut, maple) for the next round. If you have more than 3, choose which 3 to keep and return the rest to the supply. You may keep all blackberries.
• Move the woodpecker: Advance the woodpecker to the next round number.

Start the next round.

Example: Caro has a total of 6 resources left. She decides to give away 2 wood and 1 nut. This means she keeps 1 wood and 2 maple for the next round. She can also keep the blackberry.

If this IS the end of round 4, proceed immediately to final scoring.

The Owls

Each owl provides a unique ability that you may use at any time during your turn (Phase 1 and 2). You may use multiple owl abilities in a single round. Once used, flip the owl tile to the back (inactive). You cannot use it again until it is reactivated.

You reactivate owls by reaching a level with a bonus action in the forest houses. The owl abilities are explained on the last page.

Note: Using the reward from card 13 allows you to advance on a forest house during phase 1, potentially triggering a bonus action to reactivate owls mid-phase.

Final Scoring

After the end of round 4, scoring takes place. Calculate points as follows:

1. Reached levels on forest houses: For each of the three houses, check the level of your animal marker and score the points printed on the left of that level.
2. Collected blackberries: Reveal your blackberries and score the points printed on the back.
3. Lowest overall level: Check which of your animal markers is on the lowest level across all three houses. You receive bonus points equal to the value of that same level number on the round track.

Sum up all points. The player with the most points wins Fox Grove! In case of a tie, the player with the most blackberries wins. If still tied, you share the victory.

Example: Final scoring for Wibke: Wibke scores 5 + 8 + 22 points for her Hamster markers. Her lowest marker is on the tree house. This grants her 15 additional points. She gets 8 points for blackberries. Total: 58 Points.

Pro Variant

In this variant, you may own more than 2 owls, but you start the game with no owls. Place 1 owl of each type per player as a supply next to the forest houses. Whenever you reach a forest house level with a bonus action, you now have 3 options:

1. Take 1 blackberry.
2. Take 1 owl from the supply that you do not already own.
3. Reactivate all your inactive owls.

All other rules remain unchanged.

2-Player Game

An imaginary third person, Frank, plays with you. Frank plays cards but does not collect resources, deliver to houses, or earn points. Frank creates excitement and a few surprises during the tricks.

Changes in Setup

Place the draw pile between you. The rest of the setup remains unchanged.

Changes in Gameplay

In Phase 1 at b) Exchange cards, give 1 card to the other player and put 1 card under the draw pile. Then draw 1 card from the pile so you have 9 cards again.

At c) Play 9 tricks: One real player always leads. Then, reveal the top card of the draw pile for Frank. Then the second real player plays.

Rules for Frank's card:

• Frank does not follow suit, he simply discards the card to the discard pile.
• Frank does not win the trick: The real player who won chooses between the played cards (including Frank's).
• Frank does win the trick: All cards go to the discard pile. The person with the first player marker starts the next trick. If Frank wins the 9th trick, the first player marker goes to the person who does not currently have it.

All other rules remain unchanged.

Owl Combinations

Here are suggestions for owl pairs to use in a game. You can also choose your own pairs. Ensure everyone uses the same combination. (The suggested pairs are shown as pictures in the rulebook, labelled: Pick 2 cards; Draw 2 extra cards; Double resources; Convert resource; Switch resources; Convert resource.)

The Forest Houses

Forest houses have an A-side and a B-side. Decide before the game which side to use. For the first games all houses should show the same side. When you are more advanced you can mix them.

Owl Abilities

• Draw 2 extra cards: After exchanging cards in Phase 1 (see page 3), you may draw 2 cards from the pile. Then choose 2 cards from your hand to place face-down under the pile.
• Pick 2 cards: When you win a trick, you may choose 2 cards from the table and receive both rewards. You choose the order of taking the rewards.
• Discount: When advancing a level in a forest house, pay 1 fewer resource (wood, nut, or maple) of your choice.
• Switch resources: When advancing a level, you may change 1 required resource type into 1 other resource type of your choice.
• Double resources: When you choose a card from a trick or discard a card, take double the amount of the resources shown on that card.
• Convert resources: When you choose a card from a trick or discard a card, you may convert the resource shown on the card into any other resource. Take the chosen resource instead.

Note: You cannot use the owls "Double resources" and "Convert resources" on the same card.