H2Olland Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Game Contents
• Setup
• Sequence of Play
• Spring
  • Placement Rules
  • The Tulip Track
  • The Workers
• Summer
  • Placement of Dikes
  • Claiming New Land
  • Rewards for Draining
• Autumn
  • Weather Cards
  • Harvesting
• Winter
  • Trading with the Co-op
  • Trade
  • Stock Limitations
• End of Year
• End of the Game
• The Tulip Race
  • Scoring

Object of the Game

Players compete to drain the lake by placing dikes and using their windmills. On the new land, they can plant various crops, and they use their income from their harvest to buy tulip bulbs that can also be planted on the new land. At the end of the game, the colourful tulip fields need to be claimed in a final tulip race. The player that is able to claim the most valuable tulip fields wins the game!

Game Contents

• 28 water/land tiles
• 2 connecting tiles
• 4 barn cards, 1 of each colour
• 108 crop tiles:
  • 28 carrots
  • 28 beans
  • 28 corn
  • 24 potatoes
  • 24 cow tiles
• 84 tulip tiles:
  • 10 red
  • 10 yellow
  • 12 orange
  • 18 pink
  • 18 white
  • 16 purple
• 6 windmills in each colour
• 6 farmhouses in each colour
• 15 workers in each colour
• 12 dikes
• 4 tongues, to connect the board edges
• 1 wooden shoe
• 12 weather cards
• 1 set of rules

Illustration 1 and illustration 2 in the rulebook show the setup for 3 or 4 players and for 2 players.

Setup

3 or 4 players

• Put the 4 board edges together.
• Place 4 of the water tiles, land side up, in the middle of the board to form an island.
• Shuffle the remaining 24 water tiles and place them with their water side up to form the lake (illustration 1).

2 players

• Put 2 board edges together using the 2 single land tiles supplied (illustration 2).
• Form the lake by placing the water tiles - there is no island.
• Players sit in front of the bridges that cross the rivers.
• Players place their farm and windmill on the marked areas closest to them. The farm and the windmill will be on opposite sides of the lake.
• The colours printed on the board do NOT match the player's colours.

All games

• One player is elected to act as the co-op and handles all distribution during the game.
• The co-op distributes to each player:
  • a barn card in the player's colour to store his items. Also on the card is a price list for tulips, dikes, mills and farms.
  • 2 farms and 2 windmills in the player's colour. One farm and one windmill are placed over the images on the board and the other farm and windmill are stored in the barn for placement during the game.
  • 1 cow, 1 corn, 1 bean, 1 carrot, and 1 potato tile, and 2 dikes.
• The weather cards are shuffled and placed face down next to the board.
• The player with the largest shoes becomes the starting player and receives the wooden shoe.

Sequence of Play

• The game is played in years, divided into the 4 seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
• Play is always clockwise, beginning with the starting player. When a player has passed, he may not take another turn in that season.
• When all players have passed, the next season begins.
• In spring, players plant their fields and build farms and mills.
• In summer, players build dikes and drain land.
• In autumn, players resolve the weather influences and harvest their fields.
• In winter, players buy from and trade with the co-op.
• At the end of the winter phase, the wooden shoe goes clockwise to the next player, who becomes starting player for the next year.
• A new year begins, starting with the spring phase.

Spring

Players may place their farms, windmills, cows, crops and tulip fields. Each player may place one item at a time in turn sequence.

Placement Rules

Each player may place the items he has in his barn in accordance with the following placement rules:

• A player can only build or plant on land. Land tiles represent 4 quadrants.
• Windmills and farms occupy 1 quadrant. Cow, crop and tulip fields occupy 2 quadrants.
• Farms and windmills can not be placed on top of cow, crop or tulip fields.
• Cow, crop and tulip fields may be placed so that they overlap two separate land tiles as long as normal placement rules are followed.
• Of the board edge, only the grid is playable.
• A player does not have to place all items he has in his barn.
• Farms can be placed anywhere on the board, except in the safe zone of another player (light shaded in illustrations 1 + 2), or adjacent to any other farm. A farm can only be placed on the island after the player has made a connection to the island.
• Windmills may be placed adjacent to any farm or windmill of the player's colour.
• Windmills may be placed adjacent to any cow or crop field that itself is adjacent to a farm or windmill of the player's colour.
• Windmills may be placed adjacent to a tulip field if that tulip field is occupied by a worker (see section "The Workers" below) of the player's colour.
• Windmills may not be placed in the safe zone of another player.
• Some land tiles show barren land squares that can only be used to build farms and windmills on. No crops, cows or tulips can be placed on this barren land.
• Cow fields must be placed directly adjacent to a farm of the player's colour.
• Only one cow field may be placed per farm. The farms of two or more players may share the same cow field.
• Crop fields may be placed adjacent to any farm or windmill of the player's colour.
• Any building or field directly next to a bridge is considered adjacent to any field or building directly on the other side of the bridge; a player can continue to build or plant across the bridge according to the placement rules.

Illustration 4: Orange wants to place more tulips but has to build a farm or mill next to any of his fields first. In the winter, he decides to buy a windmill. In spring, in turn sequence, he places the windmill and a white and a purple tulip field adjacent to his windmill, and puts a worker in his colour on both tulip fields.

Illustration 3 (3a, 3b, 3c): This spring, Red already placed a bean field and tulip field adjacent to his farm and cow field (3a). The purple tulip field cannot be placed adjacent to the white tulip field because it is not directly adjacent to a farm of his colour (or a windmill, crop or cow field) (3b). The corn field may not be placed adjacent to the cow and bean field, since it has no connection to his farm (or windmill). In his next turn Red decides to place a windmill for further expansion (3c).

The Tulip Track

Players are allowed to advance one colour on their tulip track (listed on the barn card) as a reward from the co-op for each windmill they have placed on the board. Each player's advancement is tracked by the number of windmills they have placed on the board. Example: 3 windmills on the board give that player the right to purchase and plant red, yellow and orange tulips.

The Workers

Players are awarded one worker of their colour to place directly on each tulip field that they place during the game. These workers tend the fields until the end of the game and then gather behind the starting lines of their village to participate in the tulip race. The more workers a player can collect during the game, the more chances he has in winning the tulip race!

Summer

Players attempt to strategically place their dikes to isolate parts of the lake, which can then be drained by windmills, in order to gain new land.

Placement of Dikes

Each player may place one dike at a time in turn sequence.

• The dikes have to be placed on the edges between two water tiles.
• Dikes may start from any shoreline on the board.
• Players can build on any existing dike on the board.

Players may choose to co-operate with each other to drain larger areas of the lake. If a player runs out of dikes or chooses not to place additional dikes, his turn is completed. The other players may continue to place dikes until they run out or do not wish to place any dikes. When all players are finished, the claiming of new land may begin.

Editor's note: the source prints the opening line of this section twice ("Each player may place one dike at Each player may place one dike at a time in turn sequence."). It is transcribed once here.

Claiming New Land

Water areas consisting of one or more water tiles may be drained if they meet the following criteria:

• Water areas must be surrounded on all sides by land or a combination of dikes and land.
• The water area consists of a maximum of 4 water tiles.
• There must be at least one windmill directly adjacent to each water tile in that area. No diagonal draining is allowed.
• Each windmill has a capacity to drain only one water tile per summer.
• A player cannot refuse to drain a water area if his windmill meets all the criteria.
• All dikes that were on top of a drained water tile are returned to the co-op.

Editor's note: the source prints "land or land or a combination of dikes and land" in the first criterion; the duplicated "land or" is transcribed once here.

The starting player chooses a water area that qualifies for draining where he has at least one windmill present. This area is drained immediately by all players involved. In turn sequence, each player that has a windmill on the shoreline of this water area turns over the tile directly in front of his windmill. If a land tile with barren land is exposed, the player that turned it over gets to rotate and place it in whichever direction he chooses. This completes the draining of that area. If additional areas can be drained, the next player in turn sequence chooses an area that qualifies for draining where he has at least one windmill present. This continues until all qualifying water areas have been drained.

Occasionally, a mill can be adjacent to two water areas that both qualify for draining. Since a mill has a capacity to drain only one water tile per summer, that player can only commit his windmill to one water area and has to wait for the next summer to participate in draining the second water area (illustration 5).

NOTE: if multiple mills are adjacent to the same water tile, it is determined by turn sequence who gets to turn over this water tile (illustration 6).

Illustration 5: It is the end of the summer, and White is starting player. All water areas qualify for draining. White decides to drain water area 1 where he has his mill placed. Red and Orange have no choice but to join the draining. White turns over tile 1a to its land side, Red takes tile 1b, and Orange turns over tile 1c. That completes this draining. Orange, next in line has no other areas to drain. Red cannot drain water area 2 as his mill already participated in draining water area 1 this year. Blue, next in line, decides to drain area 2. With the same mill, he can drain water area 3 next year.

Illustration 6: This summer, water area 1 will be drained. Four mills are present, although only three are needed. Red is starting player and chooses to turn over tile 1a. Blue has no mill adjacent. White cannot turn over a tile, as the only tile his mill is adjacent to was already turned over by Red. Orange turns over tile 1c. Finally, Red turns over the last tile 1b. Red receives two tulip fields from the co-op for participating with two mills. Orange and White both receive one tulip field each. Which tulip field the players receive depends on their advancement on the tulip track which equals the total of mills they have on the board. Note that White still receives a tulip field despite the fact that he could not turn over a water tile.

Rewards for Draining

Players receive a tulip reward to put in their barn from the co-op for each windmill of their colour that participated in draining a water area this summer. The player receives one tulip field up to his advancement on the tulip track (indicated by the number of windmills a player has on the board).

Example: Red has two mills that were involved in draining a three water tile area. Red has four mills on the board. His maximum reward would be two pink tulip fields. But he could as well choose to take one pink tulip field and one red tulip field.

Autumn

All influences from the weather card are applied to each player. Players harvest all fields (except tulips) adjacent to their farms and windmills.

Weather Cards

Before harvesting, the top weather card is turned over and the effects of the occasional disasters are applied:

• Flood: All crops of the type indicated on the flood symbol that are adjacent to water tiles are removed from the board and are returned to the co-op. Any crop fields that are located in the safe zone in front of a player's village are not affected. The removal of the crop fields indicates temporary flooding, allowing the affected land to be replanted in spring.
• Drought: Beginning with the starting player, each player may turn over any water tile even if it is not adjacent to a windmill. The co-op does NOT reward players with a free tulip field.
• Rot and Disease: Occasionally, the stock in the barn is lost due to rot or disease. When this occurs, all of the tiles of the depicted item must be removed from each player's barn and returned to the co-op.

Harvesting

After the disasters, players harvest from their fields. The lower section of each weather card indicates the direct influence of the weather on individual crops. Example: if a card indicates a +1 carrot, the co-op hands out one additional carrot tile to those players that have carrots planted. If a card indicates a -1 bean, the co-op hands out one less bean tile to those players that have beans planted.

• A player receives one tile from the co-op for each field of that type that is adjacent to a farm or windmill of his colour (illustration 7). If the field is adjacent to two or more of his own buildings, he may only harvest the field once. If a farm is adjacent to more than one cow field, the owner may only harvest one cow tile.
• Multiple players can harvest from the same field if the players involved all have a farm or windmill adjacent to that field (the land gets worked more efficiently by this multiple ownership).
• Crop or cow fields adjacent to a bridge also may be harvested if there is a farm or windmill directly on the other side of the bridge.
• Cow and crop fields are not removed from the board during the harvest.
• Tulip fields are not harvested.
• Players put their harvested items in their barn for future use.

Illustration 7: White may harvest from fields 1 and 2. Orange may harvest from fields 2, 3 and 4. Red may harvest from field 5. The tulip fields are not harvested.

NOTE: When in the previous summer the last water tile has been drained, or when a drought card caused the lake to be drained completely, or when the sixth weather card (or the fourth in a 2 player game) is played, the game now proceeds with the preparation for the tulip race. The regular winter phase is skipped.

Winter

Players may trade their accumulated cow and crop tiles with the co-op for commodities they need. They then check the stock in their barns and return any excess to the co-op.

Trading with the Co-op

Beginning with the starting player, players trade with the co-op for new items they expect will be needed for the next year. A player may buy tulip fields of and up to the colour (inclusive) that he has advanced on his tulip track. A player completes all his trading in the same turn, and all items are then stored in each player's barn until needed.

Pricing for items:

• Dikes: 1 potato
• Windmills: 1 cow, 1 bean + 1 carrot
• Farms: 1 cow, 1 corn + 1 potato

Tulip costs:

• Red tulips: 1 corn
• Yellow tulips: 1 potato
• Orange tulips: 1 corn + 1 bean
• Pink tulips: 1 potato + 1 carrot
• White tulips: 1 cow, 1 corn + 1 bean
• Purple tulips: 1 cow, 1 potato + 1 carrot

Trade

• Three identical crops may be traded in for any other crop (but no cows!).
• One bean, one carrot, one corn and one potato may be traded in for one cow.
• One cow may be traded in for any other crop (but no tulips!).
• A player may never trade tulips.

Stock Limitations

At the end of the winter, a player has enough space in his barn for only five items (crop, cows, or tulip tiles). Any excess tiles must be returned to the co-op. Farms, windmills and dikes have no storage limit.

End of Year

When every player has returned any excess tiles to the co-op, the wooden shoe is passed to the player on the left and a new year begins.

End of the Game

The game lasts until the lake has been fully drained, or 6 years (4 years in a 2 player game), whichever comes first. After the last harvest phase, play proceeds with the final phase: the tulip race.

The Tulip Race

After the last harvest phase, players trade in all cow and crop tiles they have in their barns for windmills and tulips only. No cow, corn, carrot, bean or potato tiles may be kept in the barns at the end of this turn. Farms may not be bought but any farms that were purchased in previous years may still be placed. The limitation of five items in the barn does not apply since players are planting the tulips immediately.

To make more land available to plant tulips, all cow, corn, bean, carrot and potato fields that are shared by two or more players are removed from the board and returned to the co-op (illustration 8). Then, all tulips, farms and windmills in each player's barn are placed on the board, in turn sequence and following placement rules. This continues until players have placed all their items or cannot place any more items. Each player's workers are removed from the tulip fields and placed behind the starting line in front of their villages.

Illustration 8: The two fields marked "X" are removed as they both share ownership.

Now that all the tulip fields are in full bloom, the race may begin! As agreed by the contest rules, the players earn the right to harvest the tulips from each field their workers are able to occupy during the race (illustration 9).

• The player who turned over the last water tile starts the race by placing one of his workers on a field adjacent to any of his windmills.
• Workers must go around farms and windmills.
• Each player may place one worker at a time in turn sequence.
• Every new worker joining the race must be placed either on a field adjacent to one of the player's windmills or on a field adjacent to a previously placed worker of his colour.
• Cow, crop or tulip fields may be occupied by only one worker during the race.
• Workers cannot occupy unplanted land sections or barren squares (the clay slows them down too much!).
• If a player's worker is on a field adjacent to a bridge, his next worker may be placed on the field directly adjacent to the other side of the bridge.

Illustration 9: In his first turn of the tulip race, Orange can place a worker adjacent to his mill on any of the fields marked with a red dot. In his next turn, he may place a worker on any one field adjacent to these fields, if not already occupied by a worker, or place a new worker adjacent to any one of his mills on the board, including his "first" mill. Neither player may occupy the unplanted land marked "X".

The tulip race continues until all players have run out of or cannot place workers, or when all tulip tiles are occupied.

Scoring

The tulip race is over and scoring begins:

• Every occupied red tulip field scores 1 point
• Every occupied yellow field scores 2 points
• Every occupied orange field scores 3 points
• Every occupied pink field scores 4 points
• Every occupied white field scores 5 points
• Every occupied purple field scores 6 points

The player with the highest total has won the game.