Hekla
Hekla Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
The game board: The volcanic area is partitioned into square playing fields with white borders, each of which is divided into two grey-bordered spaces on which stones are placed. Three fields are marked with a red circle - these are the zones of high activity. Around the volcanic area is the escape route in two concentric tracks.
23 volcano stones in the colors red, green, yellow and blue and in four values:
- no peak (value 0)
- one peak (one groove, value 1)
- two peaks (two grooves, value 2)
- three peaks (three grooves, value 3)
20 black lava stones:
- 10 without a peak (value 0)
- 10 with one peak (one groove, value 1)
4 vulcanist figures in the colors red, green, yellow, and blue.
Preparation
The lava stones are placed beside the board as a supply.
The volcano stones are distributed according to the number of players:
- 2 players take red and green; both get 2x0, 1x1, 3x2, and 1x3 = 7 stones.
- 3 players take red, green, and yellow; everyone gets 1x0, 1x1, 2x2, and 1x3 = 5 stones.
- 4 players take all the colors; everyone gets one stone from each value = 4 stones.
The vulcanists of the appropriate colors begin on the black space of the escape route.
Whoever was last in Iceland begins. If nobody has been to Iceland, the player who most urgently wants to go to Iceland begins.
Playing the Game
On your turn, you have two possible actions, one of which must be taken. You can place a volcano stone on the board or move one already on the board. In either case, scoring may occur.
Placing a stone
Place any of your volcano stones on a space. The (white-bordered) field must be empty - if one of the two spaces in it is occupied, the other space can only be filled by moving a stone, not by placing one.
Moving a stone
Move any one of your stones already on the board to a new space - the field it ends up in can either be empty or have one space occupied. You may only move stones horizontally or vertically, not diagonally, and normally you may only move to an adjacent field. You may move a stone more than one field only if your vulcanist is on a space that has a white line pointing at the field the stone is currently on. Such a stone can be moved any number of fields horizontally or vertically (see figure 1).
Figure 1 - Movement over more than one field: The red 1-groove stone may move vertically or horizontally as far as desired because the red vulcanist is on a space whose line points to the row containing the red stone.
You may move your vulcanist backwards as many spaces as you like before moving a stone so that it is in position to allow a stone to move more than one field. Naturally, this impedes your progress in the game.
Note that no lines project from two inside and eight outside corner spaces on the escape route, so a vulcanist on one of these spaces doesn't allow any stones to make the special move.
Scoring
Scoring can happen after either placing or moving a stone. It occurs if, after a move, there are three fields in a row that contain stones with a total of at least 8 grooves (with each field having at least one stone). Both volcano stones and lava stones count towards the total. One of the fields must be the one that the current player placed or moved a stone into. The final restriction is that the middle field can have at most one lava stone.
Escape of the Vulcanists
Any player with at least one volcano stone on any of the three fields involved scores. One point is scored for each such stone; two points are scored for each stone in a high-activity field (marked by a red circle). In addition, the current player (who caused the scoring to occur) scores one additional point for every groove over 7 on the scoring fields (so, one extra point for 8 grooves, two for 9 grooves, three for 10, etc. - see figure 2). Each player moves his or her vulcanist a number of spaces on the escape route equal to the points scored.
Figure 2 - Scoring: Escape of the Vulcanists: If the red 3-groove volcano stone moves upward, there will be 8 summit grooves on three fields in a row. The blue vulcanist scores 1 point as does the green vulcanist. The red vulcanist scores 3 points: 2 for the red stones and 1 for causing a scoring with 8 grooves.
After the first complete circle around the volcanic area, the vulcanists follow the arrows to the outside track of the escape route.
If a vulcanist should circle the board again and begin a third lap, turn the figure over to indicate this.
Eruption
From the middle field of the three, all volcano stones are removed and returned to their owner(s) who may use them again. A lava stone is now placed on this field. All the value 0 stones are placed first - when they are gone the value 1 stones are placed. Note that a given field can only be the middle field of a scoring formation twice, as after that it will contain two lava stones. See figure 3.
Figure 3 - Scoring: Eruption: The blue volcano stone on the middle field (from figure 2) is replaced by a value 1 lava stone (all the value 0 stones have been used up). Even though there are now 9 grooves on this row of three fields, the middle field cannot be used as the middle field of a scoring formation because it is filled with lava stones.
Special Cases
If, after a scoring, the row of three fields still contains eight or more summit grooves, the next player cannot simply declare a scoring. He or she must first place or move a stone into one of the fields.
It can happen that a play causes several different sets of three fields to be eligible for scoring. The current player decides which one to score first. After resolving this he or she may then score the remaining sets (again, one at a time), assuming that they are still eligible (see figure 4).
Figure 4 - Multiple scoring: The green 3-groove stone causes a double scoring. If the horizontal row is scored first, the green player receives 3 points (1 for the stone, 2 for causing a scoring with 9 grooves) and another 3 for the subsequent vertical row scoring (2 for the stones, 1 for causing a scoring with 8 grooves). If the vertical set is scored first, the horizontal row would not score because the green 3-groove stone and the red 2-groove stone would both have been removed.
If there are eight or more grooves on just two fields in a set of three, with the third empty, they cannot score. At least one stone must be present on each of the three fields.
The End of the Game
The game ends immediately when the last lava stone is placed on the board. The winner is the player whose vulcanist is furthest ahead on the escape route.