Hamsters vs. Hippos Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
• Game Overview
• Round Overview
  • Movement
  • Ending a Round
  • Beginning a New Round
  • End of Game Scoring
  • Buzzkill Rule
• Card Glossary
• Solo Play
  • Game Overview
  • Game Set-up
  • Movement
  • Different Card Functions
  • Ending a Round
  • End of Game
  • Final Scoring
• Optional Rule
• Credits

Game Components

• 52 lily pad cards
• 6 player boards
• 6 wooden meeples
• 68 wooden lotus tokens (44 common light pink lotus flowers worth 1 point, 24 rare Blue Star lotus flowers worth 3 points)
• Instruction booklet
• Organization tray
• General Supply Bowl

Game Setup

1. Remove two Hippo cards from the deck and set them aside.

2. Mix the remaining cards face down. At random, create a 5x5 grid for a 1-4 player game, or a 7x7 grid for a 5-6 player game. Set the leftover cards next to the removed Hippo cards.

3. Have each player choose a player board and matching hamster and place it in front of them. Player boards are used to permanently bank points at the end of each round.

4. Place 1-point lotus tokens onto each lily pad card matching the grid layout (1-4 players uses the 5x5 grid; 5-6 players uses the 7x7 grid).

5. Have one player gather all player tokens, mix and blindly reveal one meeple. The revealed colour represents the first player in turn order. Turns proceed in clockwise order. Each round begins with the next person in play order from the prior round.

Game Overview

The game plays over four rounds. The player with the most points at the end of the fourth round wins. Players must choose when the right time is to leave the pond. If they step on a Hippo or remain on the pond when a second Hippo is revealed, they lose any points gathered that round. The next round begins with the player who was next in the original player order. Cards may have hidden lotus points, actions, Hippos, or nothing at all hidden underneath.

Round Overview

A player has two actions on their turn:

Their first action will be to move onto a new lily pad card and flip it over and activate the event under it. They can only leave the pond if they are on a perimeter tile. If they start on any other tile, they must move. If they can't move they are out of the round and lose the tokens they collected that round.

Their second action is either to move again to an unrevealed card, OR leave the pond by removing their player token (which allows them to bank any collected points from that round).

Movement

At the beginning of each round, players start their turn and first action by moving their hamster onto a perimeter lily pad card. Players move one lily pad card per action in any direction (orthogonally or diagonally). A player may not move onto any previously revealed lily pad card. When landing on a face-down tile, collect any lotus tokens that may be on top of it, then reveal the card immediately by flipping it over. If lotus points are revealed, collect the respective number of points from the General Supply and place them in front of the player.

When revealing an action, perform it immediately (explained under Card Glossary). A player must use their actions to move off the pond before a second Hippo is revealed to bank collected points.

Once off the pond, a player is finished for the current round. However, points are not banked until the current round is over (points can still be stolen). Once the round ends, all hamsters that avoided being eaten bank their points by moving them onto their player board. If a player is still on the pond and has no legal moves left (i.e., all cards around them are revealed, and they are on their first action), they are now considered Hippo food and lose any non-banked points!

Ending a Round

A round is over when one of two conditions is met:

• Two hippo cards are revealed. Any players still on the pond at this time immediately lose the round, returning all lotus tokens in their temporary holding area back to the general supply.

• The last player leaves the pond, or there are no valid moves left for the remaining players. Any players that left the pond before being eaten move all gathered lotus tokens to their player boards to count toward their final score.

Beginning a New Round

To prepare for a new round, return all lotus tokens on the play area back to the supply, gather all pond cards together, add one additional Hippo card to the deck and repeat steps two to four from "Game Setup". The next round begins with the player who was next in the original player order.

End of Game Scoring

After four rounds, declare the person with the most lotus token points as the winner. In the event of a tie, play an additional two rounds. Any players who were not part of the tie are out for these two rounds. Follow the game board set up corresponding to the number of players attempting to break the tie game. If no victor is declared after two rounds, it's a tied game!

Buzzkill Rule

If a player steps on a Hippo card ON THEIR FIRST TURN, they are out of the current round but get three bonus points from the General Supply to add to their banked storage.

Card Glossary

• Hippo: The current round is immediately over for the person revealing the Hippo card. Remove their hamster and return any unbanked points to the General Supply.
• Peek: Peek under any card that is adjacent to the player.
• Move lotus flower: Move one lotus token from any card to an adjacent card.
• Steal lotus flower: Take one point value from another player's unbanked point stash. Make change if needed.
• Lose a lotus: Active player returns one unbanked point back to the General Supply.
• Splash: Active player falls off the lily pad, their turn is immediately over. They climb back onto the lily pad for their next turn.
• Springy Pad: Active player's next move (on this turn or the next) will be to a lily pad that is two lily pads away (orthogonally or diagonally).
• Empty lily pad: Nothing gained, nothing lost!
• One lotus flower: Pick up one lotus point from the General Supply.
• Two lotus flowers: Pick up two lotus points from the General Supply.
• Blue Star lotus flower: Pick up three lotus points from the General Supply (three light pink tokens or one blue token).

Solo Play

Game Overview

The object of the solo variant is to bank enough points over four rounds to get to Hamsterland. The solo player controls a four-hamster team with one player board and pays a toll at the end of each completed round to advance to the next pond.

Game Set-up

Similar to the multiplayer game, remove two of the Hippo cards from the lily pad deck for the first round and shuffle the rest of the cards together. Deal a 5x5 grid with each lily pad card face down. The second round will start with three hippos in the lily pad deck. The third and fourth rounds will have all four hippos in the deck. Begin each round by placing each of the four hamster meeples on different lily pad cards, with no hamsters on tiles adjacent to each other (diagonally or orthogonally).

Movement

Unlike in the multiplayer game, hamsters in this game ONLY MOVE ONE CARD PER TURN. To track which hamster was last moved, lay the hamster down after it is played. Lift that hamster back up again after the next hamster is laid down, and so forth. Like in the multiplayer game, when a hamster lands on a card, first collect any token on top of it, then flip the card and either collect the hidden tokens or perform the required actions.

The following constraints apply when moving:

• The same hamster cannot move twice in a row.
• Hamsters cannot occupy a lily pad card that is adjacent to another hamster or a revealed Hippo card (there must always be at least one card both orthogonally and diagonally between).
• If only one hamster is available to move, they get one move. If, after that move, the other hamsters still cannot move, the round is over.

Different Card Functions

The following cards have DIFFERENT functions from the multiplayer game:

• Splash: The hamster fell off the lily pad. All other "moveable" hamsters must be moved before this hamster can be moved again.
• Steal a lotus flower: Nothing happens; the hamsters just paused to play a game of catch!
• Move a lotus flower: Move one point directly from the General Supply to the player board (banking it).

Ending a Round

A round can end at any time with all hamsters leaving the pond together (the hippos spit out the hamsters that were gobbled up). Bank any collected tokens onto the player board.

A FOUR-POINT TOLL IS REQUIRED TO CROSS TO THE NEXT POND (ROUND). Pay four points to the General Supply before starting the next round.

End of Game

The following are END OF GAME conditions:

• Four successive rounds are completed
• If there are not enough points to pay the next-round toll
• If two hippo tiles are revealed in the same round

Final Scoring

Total up all banked points to calculate the final score.

• Live to be eaten another day: Four rounds completed with a final score ranging between 10-14 points - The hamsters live the rest of their life in the zoo but are no longer confined to a cage!
• Escape the zoo - freedom at last!: Four rounds completed with a minimum final score 15 points - The hamsters have left the zoo and will make a home in the nearest forest.
• Arrive at Hamsterland in Canada: Four rounds completed with a minimum final score 20 points - The hamsters have enough currency to live out a luxurious life in Hamsterland with their friends.

Optional Rule

Want more agency in your gameplay? Players may add the following rule to either the multiplayer or solo variant of this game:

PAY TO PEEK: Anytime that a player wishes to peek under an adjacent lily pad to their hamster (diagonally or orthogonally), they may do so for the cost of two points from their unbanked supply only.

Credits

For more information on rules and videos, visit tinrobotgames.com and follow us on social media @tinrobotgames

• Designers: James Freeman, James Staley & Adam Staley
• Illustrated: César Ayala Delgado
• Development: James Staley
• Publisher: Tin Robot Games
• Rules Polisher: Steven Hill