Grund Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Summary
• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. Revealing the cat tile and moving the cat
  • 2. Movement
  • 3. Evaluating the seesaw or the merry-go-round
  • 4. Evaluating the other tiles
  • 5. Passing on the first player marker clockwise
• Game End and Scoring
  • Happiness points collected in the game
  • Points for the Sandcastle
  • Points for the Photo cards
  • Points for the goal cards
  • Points for energy cards
• Summary of Components
  • Energy cards
  • Playground tiles and their evaluation
    • Competition
  • Sandcastle tiles
  • Photo cards
  • Grund cards
  • Goal cards
  • Happiness points
  • The cat
• 2 Player Mode
• Advanced Mode
  • Using the angry cats
• Playground Tiles
  • Competition Tiles (red border)
  • Non-competitive Tiles
• Goal Cards
• Grund Cards

Game Summary

The game takes place at a playground (the Grund) where the players, while controlling groups of kids try to collect as many "happiness points" as they can in 9 rounds by building bigger sandcastles, taking cool pictures of the flowers and insects. But the cat prowling around the Grund can spoil their plans. The players have to take into consideration their opponents' moves to compete with them or even to avoid conflicts so that they accomplish the special goals successfully.

Components

• 30 Grund cards
• 24 photo cards
• 12 goal cards
• 2 goal marker cards
• 46 energy cards (with values of 1-2-3)
• 24 playground tiles
• 32 sandcastle tiles
• 13 cat tiles (9 cool and 4 angry)
• 8 goal marker cubes (in 4 colours)
• 32 figures (in 4 colours)
• 50 happiness point markers (with values of 1-5-10)
• 1 cat figure
• starting player marker

Setup

1. For the first game, construct a board from 4x4 tiles as according to the picture. A mandatory-tile icon marks the mandatory tiles, which you should also use in later games. Pay attention that the tiles face in the same direction!
2. Prepare the sand castle tiles face up in 8 separate piles grouped by their type.
3. Shuffle the Grund cards and place them next to the playground facing down.
4. Shuffle the photo cards and place them next to the playground, reveal 2 of them next to it.
5. Shuffle the 9 cool cat tiles in a face down pile next to the playground. Put the angry cats back in the box for now.
6. Deal to each player two value 1, one value 2 and one value 3 energy cards. Place the remaining 1s in a face up pile, and shuffle the remaining other values in another face down pile.
7. All players should choose a colour and take the figures of the selected colour. Put, in case of 2 players 5-5 figures, in case of 3 players 4-4 figures, in case of 4 players 3-3 figures onto the Parents/Grandparents card lying down.
8. Take out the happiness point markers!
9. Shuffle the goal cards and randomly choose three, place these next to the play area facing up. Put the remaining goal cards back in the box. If the most cats and/or the most bids goal card was chosen, put a goal marker card underneath it and all players put a goal marker cube next to the cards.
10. The player that was last on a swing will be the starting player. Take the starting player marker, and place the cat on one of the tiles on the playground.

Gameplay

The game is played in 9 rounds. Each round consists of the following phases:

1. Revealing the cat tile and moving the cat
2. Movement
3. Evaluating the seesaw or the merry-go-round
4. Evaluating the other tiles
5. Passing on the first player marker clockwise

1. Revealing the cat tile and moving the cat

Each round begins by revealing a cat tile. Orient the tile in line with the playground and move the cat according the arrow shown by 1 or 2 tiles; or if there are no arrows, the cat stays put. If the cat should move off the board, it will move to the opposite side. If the last, the 9th cat tile is revealed, this indicates the last round.

2. Movement

Beginning with the starting player and in clockwise order, taking turns, each player must move a figure to a neighbouring tile. An exception to this rule is the Swing tile (see Playground tiles). This continues until all figures on the board have been moved. During movement, adjacent and diagonal movement is allowed, after moving, the figure will stand up to show that it has moved this round. The players may move a figure by 2 or more tiles, but in this case for each extra step they must pay one energy card, ignoring its value.

Example: It is the yellow player's turn. She may move the figure on the climbing wall as it is still lying down. It may move to the seesaw, or also to the swings with 1 space only, as that figure has to still move somewhere else. The Housing estate is full as all 2 spaces there are filled. Also using 1 energy card, she may move to the Relax or the Bush.

Important: All figures must be moved, they may not remain and stand up on the same tile, where they were in the last round!

Important: Particular tiles (yellow borders) contain a restriction, only a limited number of standing figures may be on the tile at one time, as indicated by the number of figures shown on the top left part of the tile (from here on: limited access tiles). This restriction does not apply to figures laying down, as they are sure to move still in the current round.

Note: It may rarely happen that a figure cannot move according to the rules. At this time the player must use an energy card to move further. If that player doesn't have any energy cards, the figure simply stands up to indicate that it has moved, the player takes a value 1 energy card from supply. This player also takes part in the evaluation as usual.

3. Evaluating the seesaw or the merry-go-round

After all figures have moved, we begin the evaluation. This starts with the seesaw or the merry-go-round tile, depending on which one is in the game. These tiles are competition tiles, so players must compete for them (see Playground tiles -> Competition). The player that wins here will carry out the tile action, then evaluation continues with the other tiles.

4. Evaluating the other tiles

After you are done with the seesaw or the merry-go-round, evaluate the other tiles on the playground one by one starting from the top left and moving to the right and then down to the next line. The order is quite important, as energy gained in a particular site may be used already in later ones. Lay the figures down on the tiles that have already been evaluated to show your progress. Once you reach the tile with the cat on it, first evaluate the cat tile (see: Cat), then the playground tile itself.

Example: Evaluation starts with the seesaw. As it is a competitive tile and there is a 2-way tie, the 2 players closest to the starting player participate in the bids (yellow and green). Yellow wins the bid and using the seesaw action invites over a black figure from the Bush. Both gain a happiness point. Then, starting from the top left the other tiles are evaluated. Yellow draws a grund card at the Parents, then green gains 3 energy and black 1 energy at the Relax tile; this tile is non-competitive, so all carry out the action. As the yellow player removed a black figure from the Bush earlier, yellow is now in majority, and thus wins and gets a photo card.

5. Passing on the first player marker clockwise

Game End and Scoring

If the last, the 9th round has been evaluated, the game is finished, final scoring and determining the winner begins.

Adding up the scores should proceed as follows.

Happiness points collected in the game

Points for the Sandcastle

Add the happiness points on the sandcastle tiles: on some tiles only one, on others there are two scoring possibilities. If a sandcastle is incomplete, then the left one, if it is complete, then the right-hand side happiness points are scored, in addition to the points for the sandcastle tiles with only one option.

Points for the Photo cards

Points are scored for photo cards of the same type (plants or animals) according to the table printed on them. 1/2/3/4/5 photos of the same type score you 1/2/5/8/9 points. Several series of the same type can be collected if the first one is complete. A complete series consists of 5 photos of the same type! Take the points you score from the common supply.

Points for the goal cards

The player that completed the goal on a card the most successfully will gain 8 happiness points, the second one will gain 4, while the third player will gain 2 happiness points. In case of a tie for first, the involved players will split the points scored for first and second (6-6), while the third place gets 2 points. Important: A player that has not contributed to completing a given goal card will not score points for it at the end of the game!

Points for energy cards

At the end of the game, add up your left-over energy, and divide it by 3. For example, 14 left-over energy would score you 4 happiness points.

The player with the most happiness points will be declared the winner. In case of a tie, the player with most figures on the board is the winner. In case of a tie still remaining, the game has several winners.

Summary of Components

Energy cards

Keep your energy cards secret, all the other players should know is if you have any of them. Store the supply of value 1s face up next to the board, while the value 2s and 3s are mixed up and facing down. Anytime you use up a value 1, simply place it on top of the stack, while the other value cards are discarded to a discard pile. If the supply of these runs out, simply reshuffle to form a new pile.

Playground tiles and their evaluation

The playground consists of several different tiles or games, the actions for these are carried out in the evaluation phase.

There are two types of tiles:

• Competition (red borders): These tile actions can be performed only by 1 player, being decided by competition. The winner performs the action only once irrespective of the number of figures on the tile.
• Non-competitive (blue and yellow borders): No competition is required for these tiles, all players on them perform the action with all their figures.

Competition

In case of these tiles, players decide who carries out the action by competing against each other.

Competition is won by having the most standing figures on the given tile. (It may rarely occur that a lying down figure is also on the same tile at the evaluation [e.g. the effects of a Grund card], these are ignored for the purposes of the competition).

Important: the tile action is carried out only once, even if more figures are in the same location.

In case of a tie, the players decide the winner by bidding.

Only 2 players may participate in the bidding! If more players are tied, only the two that are the closest to the starting player (including the starting player) participate in bidding.

Bidding: Choose at least 1 energy card from your hand, and exchange them with the other player, keeping them face down. Without revealing the values to the other players, announce the winner. This will be the player that passed the most energy to the other player. The winner then performs the tile action. If the same amount of energy is exchanged, then repeat the process. If it is tied again, then the involved players' figures are moved to the Punishment tile.

If players still have figures on the tile after this, then further competition continues.

If you have no energy cards, then the opponent may win with only 1 energy. If none of the players have energy, then there is no winner.

Sandcastle tiles

You can collect sandcastle tiles in the sandpit. It is worth trying to build the biggest castle that you can. If a player should draw a sandcastle tile, he/she shall choose and draw one from the top of any of the 8 piles, and if they have an incomplete sandcastle, must add the tile to it according to the rules. Sandcastles cannot be modified later on, and are considered as finished if they don't have any open sides. A player can start several sandcastles, but to begin a second one, the first one must be finished, if possible. If the required tiles have already run out, then a second castle may be built.

Photo cards

The kids will find and photograph different animals or plants near the bushes, these will score them happiness points at the end. When a player should draw a photo card, they will choose one of the revealed cards and place this in front of them. A new card is revealed now. The player can spend 1 energy card – even several times – to clear the revealed cards, the 2 cards are put on the bottom of the pile and 2 new ones are drawn.

Important: The collected photo cards are stored visible to the other players.

Grund cards

Parents/Grandparents will help the kids in various ways, which can be called upon in the current of future rounds. Draw Grund cards from the top of the pile and keep them hidden from each other. A player may use only one Grund card in a round, it is discarded after use. The icons on the cards will indicate their time of use in a round:

• These cards are played after the movement phase
• These cards are played during competition
• These cards are played during movement
• These cards are played before bidding

Goal cards

There will be 3 goal cards revealed in each game. Completing these cards successfully will win you happiness points in the game.

In case the most won cats/bids goals are in use, put the goal marker cards underneath the goal cards and use the cubes to indicate current status in the game.

Happiness points

Your aim in this game is to collect the most happiness points. These can be gained during the game, or at the final scoring for your sandcastles, for collecting photos or by completing the goal cards. If you gain a happiness point in the game, take one from the supply and put it in front of you.

The cat

The cat will move throughout the playground in a random way. The cat tile that is valid for the current round will be revealed at the start of the round, this defines the movement and behaviour of the cat. There are two types of cat tiles in the game:

To win the cool cat, you must compete for it (see Competition) when you reach the tile with the cat on it. The winner will take the bonus indicated on the cat tile. This may be happiness points, sandcastle tile, photo card or a Grund card. The cat card and the playground tile it's on is determined once in the same competition (if needed), thus if a tie is present, the winner for both rewards is determined once with the same bidding. You must still compete for the cat even if it is on a non-competition tile. In these cases, start evaluation with the cat.

The angry cat on the other hand does not give any bonuses, so there is no competition for it. However, all figures that complete their movement in a row or column that is indicated on the cat tile must discard an energy card. If you don't have any energy cards, you may not move there! The angry cat doesn't count for the cat goal card either. The angry cat is only in effect during moves in the movement phase, so if a Grund card is played after the movement phase, or during relocation in a seesaw/merry-go-round evaluation no energy cards need to be spent.

Example: Now it's time to evaluate the sandpit. As it is a competitive tile, therefore the players must compete. Yellow is in majority here, so she gets the cat bonus first, then chooses a sandcastle tile. If there was only 1 figure for each player here, then a round of bidding would decide the fate of both the cat and the sandpit.

Example: Time to evaluate the Bench. Even though the Bench is not a competitive tile, there is still competition for the cat. As they are tied for majority, the cat bonus is decided by bidding. The winner takes the cat bonus, then both players get an extra energy of 2 or 3 value that is provided by the Bench tile.

Example: There is an angry cat in this round, which blocks the tiles in a defined column. If the yellow player on the Relax tile would want to move to the Sandpit, he must then discard an energy card.

2 Player Mode

If only 2 players are playing, create a 3x4 playground by omitting 4 compulsory tiles (2 relax, 1 seesaw/merry-go-round, 1 bush). The other compulsory tiles are still used.

Both players start the game with 5-5 figures. The other rules are the same as in a normal game.

Advanced Mode

If you are already familiar with the base game, you may change the rules as follows:

Setup the 4x4 play area as you prefer also using the tiles that were left out of the base game. Pay attention that the compulsory tiles marked with the mandatory-tile icon are still in the game. The 2 sides of some tiles differ, try all possibilities!

Using the angry cats

• At the start of the game shuffle all 13 cat tiles and choose a random 9 from those. Put the others back in the box.
• The angry cat is only in effect during moves in the movement phase, so if a Grund card is played after the movement phase, or during relocation in a seesaw/merry-go-round evaluation no energy cards need to be spent.

Important: In the rounds in which the angry cat is revealed, you should use the rules for the angry cat!

Playground Tiles

Competition Tiles (red border)

These tiles have only one winner, the tile action can only be performed once irrespective of the number of figures.

• Seesaw: Invite (and move) any figure on the playground to seesaw with yours, from any unlimited access tile. Both of you take a happiness point (You may invite your own figure from another tile, in this case you get both points).
• Ship: Choose any unlimited access tile and evaluate it out of turn. It does not matter if it was already evaluated earlier or will be later on. The winner here will only do the tile action, not the cat action if the cat is present (see Cat). If the tile being evaluated by the ship out of turn is tied for the winner, then separate bidding is done for this action. Therefore, it is possible that there will be two different winners for this tile in a round.
• Bush: Take a photo card!
• Pingpong table: If only 1 figure is present, it gains two value 1 energy cards. If more, then there is competition, the winner will gain 2 happiness points.
• Sandpit: Take a sandcastle tile!
• Bike track: When this tile enters the game, do not put the remaining playground tiles back in the box, but form a draw pile from them. At the start of each round reveal one new tile from these. The bike track counts as the tile revealed for this round. Take into account the access restrictions too. (If the bike track counts as the zipline, and there are more figures lying on it at the beginning of the round, then all figures may move to any tile).
• Monkey bars: Take 1 happiness point and 1 energy of value one!
• Climbing wall: Take as many happiness points, as the number of occupied neighbouring tiles (could belong to any player). Diagonal does not count here, only adjacent, so the maximum points to be gained is 4.
• Slides: When you move here and there is another standing figure, move it to any Relax tile standing up. Thus, this tile may not contain more than 1 figure at any time. At evaluation, take 2 happiness points.
• Merry-go-round: Move any figure standing up from the merry-go-round to a neighbouring tile, respecting any restrictions on access. The moved figure will count for the evaluation of the new tile as well.
• Skating rink: Evaluate this tile last of all, irrespective of its location on the board. Take a happiness point, then swap 2 tiles of your preference on the playground. The figures and the cat move with the tiles.
• Wooden castle: Take 1 happiness point for every second figure of any colour that is in the sandpit.
• Bunker: Take 1 happiness point for every second figure of any colour that is in the bush.

Non-competitive Tiles

The tile action can be carried out by all players for each of their figures on the tile.

• Bench (2 spaces): Take an energy card from the extra pile (2 or 3 value).
• Grandparents (2 spaces): Draw 2 Grund cards, keep one.
• Housing estate – A-side (2 spaces): Discard energy with a value of 10 (to the right piles) to invite a new friend from the houses. Put a new figure on the housing estate tile lying down. After this, you may take a Grund card, a photo card or a sandcastle tile! The action for this tile is optional.
• Swings (1 space): Take a value 1 energy. You can move to the swings from any tile on the playground directly without spending any energy cards.
• Relax: Take a value 1 energy.
• Housing estate – B-side (2 spaces): Discard energy with a value of 10 (to the right piles) to invite a new friend from the houses. Put a new figure on the housing estate tile lying down. Then you regain two value 1 energy cards. The action for this tile is optional.
• Punishment: This tile has no effect.
• Horsey (1 space): If you have less than 5 energy, fill up your reserves to 5 with value 1s. If you have more, discard all and take 5 value 1s.
• Trampoline: If you step on the trampoline, you do not stop, but make a jump to join a standing figure belonging to the player on your right (figure can be anywhere). However, you may not use energy cards to get to the trampoline, or to make further moves after jumping. You may not jump back to your starting location. (Even the cat does not stop on the trampoline, but moves to the next tile in the same direction).
• Zipline (1 space): Take a value 1 energy. The figure on the zipline can move anywhere in the next round considering the space restrictions.
• Parents (2 spaces): Take a Grund card.

Goal Cards

• Collecting the most photo cards.
• Collecting the most animal photos.
• Collecting the most plant photos.
• Collecting the most photo cards or sandcastle tiles. You only count the one that you have less of. For example, if you have 6 sandcastles and 4 photos, the value 4 counts.
• Building the biggest complete castle.
• Building the tallest complete castle.
• Building the widest complete castle.
• Building the complete castle with the most towers.
• The most winning bids (uses the goal marker card).
• The most won cool cats (uses the goal marker card).
• The most friends invited from the housing estates.
• The most leftover energy at the game end.

Grund Cards

• Ball / Labda: Choose a Relax tile, all players take happiness points equal to the number of their figures on it.
• Look mummy! / Anyu figyelj! (row): If you have figures on all tiles in a row, you gain 3 happiness points.
• Look mummy! / Anyu figyelj! (column): If you have figures on all tiles in a column, you gain 3 happiness points.
• Better bend / Okos enged: Move one of your standing figures from a competition tile to a Relax tile. You gain 2 happiness points.
• My daddy is stronger! / Az én apukám erősebb!: Cancel the effect of any Grund card played by an opponent.
• Big brother / Nagytesó: You can participate in bidding with as little as 1 figure on a competition tile.
• Newspaper / Újság: At the end of the game, it counts as a photo card of the animal type.
• Bus ticket / Buszjegy: You can invite a friend for only 7 energy at the Housing estates.
• Pile up / Kicsi a rakás: Move to a limited access tile ignoring the restrictions.
• Coffee break / Kávészünet: In this round, the other players may not play any Grund cards!
• Postcard / Képeslap: At the end of the game, it counts as a photo card of the plant type.
• Come here son! / Gyere csak ide kisfiam!: Move one of your opponent's figures from an unlimited access tile to the Parents/Grandparents tile.
• Recycle / Újrahasznosítás: Take a Grund card from the discard pile.
• Come on mate! / Gyere haver!: Reposition an own figure from a neighbouring tile to a competition tile, where you are already present.
• Rest / Nyugi: One of your figures does not move this round.
• Comforting / Vígasztalás: If you lose a competitive tile due to majority or bidding, you may also carry out the site action.
• Scooter / Roller: Move any of your figures to any tile respecting the access restrictions.
• Fight / Veszekedés: Starting from the player to your right, everyone moves one of their own figures to the Punishment tile.
• Shoo / Sicc: Move the cat to a neighbouring tile.
• Hug / Ölelés: Take 2 happiness points from stock.
• Snack / Nasi: Take 3 value 1 energy cards from stock.
• Jungle fighter / Dzsungelharcos: In a bush that you won, take another photo card.