Holiday!
Holiday! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Player age: 10 and up
No. of Players: 2 to 8
Time to play: 45 to 120 minutes
Equipment needed:
- Gameboard (included)
- 64 Sightseeing Cards (included)
- 64 Card sleeves (not included)
- Play money: (included)
- 48 $1000
- 48 $500
- 80 $100
- 1 Die (not included)
- 1 Plane marker (not included, you can use any marker of your choice)
- 8 Scoring markers (not included, you can use any marker of your choice)
Game Idea
Each player is trying to play all of their Sightseeing Cards. They bid to charter the plane to go to locations where those cards can be played for the most valuable points. At game end, whoever has the most points + remaining dollars is the winner.
Preparation
Put the board on a table and place the Die and the Plane marker near the board. Post-it Notes work well to hold the four quadrants of the game board together. Each player gets $10,000 as such:
- 6 $1000
- 6 $500
- 10 $100
The remaining money is placed in the bank.
Shuffle the Sightseeing Cards and deal them as follows:
- 2-6 players - 10 cards each
- 7 players - 9 cards each
- 8 players - 8 cards each
Undealt Cards are not used.
Players move their Scoring markers along the scoring track to indicate the current score.
The First Play
Players bid for the right to "charter a plane" to take the entire group to any city the high bidder wishes. Bidding is open and continues until no player will top the last bid. During the bidding, players do not announce their intended destination.
The high bidder deposits the amount of his bid in the bank announces the destination, and moves the plane marker (pawn) to that city. He then throws the die, and counting Monday as 1, places the die on the week track, one day for each number in the throw. This day represents the day that the group is in the city. After all players have seen the sights they wish to see, the die is advanced on the week track to the next day (the die only rolled at the start).
Subsequent Plays
Players bid for the right to "charter a plane" to the next destination, but are now limited to cities that are directly connected by line to the city they are in. The high bidder must move to an adjacent city, not being permitted to remain in place. After all players have seen the sights they wish to see, the die is advanced to the next day and bidding is held to choose the next destination.
Explanation of Sightseeing Cards
Each Sightseeing Card has a named city where the sight is to be seen. It also has a day which (for purposes of the game) is the best day for seeing that sight. This is an important consideration in the play of the game, since a player always strives to be in the city on the best day, or as soon after as possible.
A player seeing a sight on the best day receives 7000 points. If he sees it on the next day he receives 6000 points and loses 1000 points for each additional day late, down to a minimum of 1000 points for being six days late or, in other words, a day ahead of time.
The Day of the Week is kept track on the Week Dial on the game board.
Sightseeing
Any player who has a Sightseeing Card for a city may use it any time he is in that city. He is not compelled to use a Card if he doesn't wish to. A player with more than one Sightseeing Card for a city may use only one on a visit.
Note: The player who "chartered the plane" to a city does not have to have a Sightseeing Card for that city.
Running Out of Money
A player who runs out of money continues in the game but, naturally, cannot bid to "charter a plane."
A player who, after winning a bid, finds that he doesn't have the money to cover the bid, forfeits all of his money to the bank. The other players then bid again.
Ending the Game
As soon as one player sees all of his sights (uses all of his cards) the game is ended. Other players may sightsee in the last city but no further cities are visited. Sightseeing Cards remaining in their hands are discarded.
If no player wishes to, or is able to, "charter a plane" the game is also ended.
Winning the Game
To each player's points, add 1 point for each dollar he has remaining at the end of the game. The player with the highest total is the winner.
A Few Words on Strategy
It is an advantage to "charter the first plane" if you have two or more Sightseeing Cards from the same city. Then you start in that city and have a good chance of a good score regardless of which day the throw of the die brings. You also have the possibility of returning quickly to the city and seeing another sight.
Do not bid too high for the right to "charter." Don't figure that if you bid $4000 for a chance to make 7000 points you are still 3000 points ahead. You only receive $10,000, and once that is gone you can only go where other players take you.
Keep an eye on players who only have a few cards left and try to keep them from winning a bid, except if you are well ahead in the score and would like to end the game.
Variation
Instead of keeping intended destinations secret during the bidding, allow players if they wish to announce their choice as they bid. This can lead to some wild wheeling and dealing as players form coalitions to share the "charter" costs, to block opponents, and even to map out a common itinerary.
Holiday! Connections
The "Holiday! Connections" chart lists, for each city, the cities directly connected to it by line. The chart appears twice on the same printed sheet; it is transcribed once here.
| City | Directly connected cities |
|---|---|
| Abi Djan | Cairo, Hong Kong, Lima, Montego Bay, Nairobi, Rome |
| Athens | Cairo, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Montego Bay, Rio De Janeiro, Rome |
| Cairo | Abi Djan, Athens, Madrid, Moscow, Nairobi, Singapore |
| Copenhagen | Delhi, Istanbul, London, Moscow, Paris, Rome |
| Delhi | Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Moscow, Nairobi, Singapore |
| Hong Kong | Abi Djan, Delhi, Honolulu, Singapore, Tokyo |
| Honolulu | Hong Kong, Lima, Mexico City, Singapore, Tokyo |
| Istanbul | Athens, Copenhagen, Delhi, Jerusalem, Moscow, Rome |
| Jerusalem | Athens, Delhi, Istanbul, London, Nairobi, Tokyo |
| Lima | Abi Djan, Honolulu, Mexico City, Montego Bay, Rio De Janeiro, Rome |