Ice Hike: Beware of the Bears
Ice Hike: Beware of the Bears Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Preparation
On the top right (north-east corner) you'll find the fishing hamlet (start). On the bottom left (south-west corner) the small village (finish). These brown tiles are land tiles. All white tiles are ice with snow on top. On the edge of the board, you'll find some blue half tiles. This is water.
Place the START & FINISH tiles on their positions. Note: These brown land tiles are LEVEL 2 (altitude 2). This distinguishes them from the water and ice on the board which is LEVEL 1 (altitude 1).
There are 20 WATER-tiles (four with fishes). These are LEVEL 1, like the water on the game board.
There are 16 snow-covered LAND-tiles. These are LEVEL 2, like the start and finish tiles.
And there are 24 snow-covered MOUNTAIN-tiles. These are LEVEL 3.
All these tiles are turned upside down, shuffled, and placed on the side of the board.
NOTE: During the game, these tiles are placed on the game board. It's good to realize that in a correct 3D game the WATER-tiles would be the same height as the game board. And the MOUNTAIN-tiles would be higher than the rest.
The four polar bears are placed next to the board. The cave finds go into the grab bag. The cave finds are: 5x blueberries (blue cubes), 5x torches (red cubes), 5x ropes (yellow cubes), 5x bear caves (white cubes), and 4x nothing/an empty cave (black cubes).
Every player chooses a colour and takes the matching puppet (with backpack) and the 2 belonging snow huts (igloos).
The Game
All puppets start on the START tile. The youngest player begins. Then play clockwise.
In your turn you can do 2 things:
- First, you pick a tile. This is mandatory. If this is a mountain, you have to grab a cave find from the grab bag. Then, place the tile (with possibly the cave find) on an empty spot on the game board.
- After placing a tile, you have to choose whether you play this turn with your puppet, or with a Polar Bear. (Exception: See Blueberries.) A puppet can: walk, build and/or search caves. And make use of cave finds (such as blueberries, a torch or a rope). A polar bear can only walk.
1. Place a tile (and possibly a cave find)
Take a tile from the closed tiles to the side of the game board and place it on a free hexagon space on the game board. Note: Hexagons that already have a tile, puppet, igloo, and/or polar bear on them are not free. Also, when placing a tile, make sure to stay within the game board: a tile may not be placed over the edges of the board.
Grab a cave find from the bag if you've picked a mountain tile. And then place the mountain tile with the cave find on top of it. Note: you only do so when it's a yellow, red, or blue cube. If it's a black cube, that cube goes out of the game and you just place the tile. If you've grabbed a white cube, you exchange it for a polar bear and then place the mountain tile with the bear on top of it. Notice there are five white cubes and only 4 polar bears. The fifth white cube will therefore count as a black on.
By placing tiles you can, in addition to roads over the snow-covered ice (level 1), also create roads over snow-covered land (level 2) and snow-covered mountains (level 3). And you can make parts impassable by placing water (level 1).
2. Do you play with your puppet or with a polar bear?
After you have placed a tile, you first have to choose whether you will play with your puppet this turn, or with a Polar Bear? The latter is of course only possible if there are already one or more Polar Bears in the game.
If you choose to play with your puppet, you have 2 steps (or: 2 energy) in your turn. (Sometimes more, but we'll discuss that later.) If you choose to play with a Polar Bear, you have 3 steps. You can always choose not to use all or any of your steps. Unused steps are lost.
The picture shows how many steps (or energy) it will cost for a puppet or bear to: walk over tiles of the same level, ascend, descend, build igloos, and/or search caves.
| Walk (same level) | Ascend | Descend | Build igloo | Search cave | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Puppet | 1 | 2 | 1* | 2 | 2 |
| Polar bear | 1 | 2 | 1 | X | X |
2A) Walk
See table on the previous page: 1) Walking on tiles of the same level with a bear or a puppet costs 1 step per tile. 2) Ascending costs them 2 steps. And 3) Descending costs them 1 step. *However, If it is a puppet that is descending, then, it will get its step back. So for a puppet descending is kind of free. The idea is: Going down, the puppet uses skis. But beware: You first must have and take the step, before you can get it back. Skiing thus makes it possible to sometimes take 3, or even 4 steps. ;)
A polar bear or puppet can never go directly from level 1 to level 3, or vice versa. The only exception is a puppet using a rope. See rope. Also, a polar bear or puppet cannot cross a water tile. In real life, this could be possible of course, but it's no fun for the game, and therefore, it isn't allowed. ;) And a puppet is never allowed to walk to a tile with a polar bear on it. Exception: see torch.
To walk with a polar bear
If you walk with a bear, you can block or attack another player. You attack another player by stepping onto, or over the tile with someone else's puppet on it. You are never allowed to walk onto, or over a tile with your own puppet on it. (You can't attack yourself!) Also a bear may never walk onto, or over the start or finish tile, or onto, or over a tile with an igloo. And there may never be two bears on the same tile. Not even to pass each other.
If you are attacked by a bear, you have to go back to the start. Or back* to one of your own igloos. Or back* to a fellow player's igloo. The latter is only allowed if you can pay the owner of the igloo a cave find of your choosing. If you don't have one, you can't stay there. (* in this case, back means: to an igloo on the same north-south row of hexagons as where you are when you are attacked, or to an igloo on a north-south row closer to the start tile.)
Note: With a torch, you can fend off one bear attack. See torch. You can also remove a bear from the game by letting it walk onto a water tile with fish on it (level 1). It will then stay there for the rest of the game. So this is the only reason a bear can go into the water.
The edges of the game board
At the edges of the game board, some hexagons are only partly visible. As already indicated tiles cannot be placed there and as we will soon read building is not allowed there either, but a puppet or bear is allowed to walk there! (Provided it is not water.) This way there are still roads along the edges that cannot be blocked. Even though they are mainly in places where you are not likely to visit.
We already saw that the START & FINISH tiles are LAND tiles. But this also applies to the two LAND tiles to the left of the finish tile. These are also level 2.
So if you want to walk from a (whole or half) snow-covered ice hexagon to a (whole or half) land hexagon, you have to go up 1 level. And that takes (the usual) two steps.
2B) Build
If you play with your puppet, you can also choose to build an igloo. This takes two steps (see picture at the beginning of Chapter 2) and is only allowed where your puppet is located. In principle, you can build on all hexagons. It does not matter whether this is at level/height 1, 2, or 3. However, you cannot build on: water, half hexagons along the edges of the game board, the four corners of the game board, the start or the finish tile and places where there already is an igloo. The maximum number of igloos you can build in a game is two.
An igloo protects against bears: Bears are not allowed to enter a tile with an igloo. If another player wants to take shelter in your igloo after a bear attack, or simply walk via the tile with your igloo on it, that player must pay you a cave find. If you build an igloo on a tile with another player's puppet on it, that player does not have to pay. The igloo was still under construction, as it were.
2C) Searching caves
If your puppet stands on a mountain with a cave find on it, you can "retrieve" it from the cave. This takes 2 steps (see picture at the beginning of chapter 2). The find remains in your possession until you decide to use it.
Using cave finds (i.e.: berries, torches or ropes)
If you have cave finds, you can use them when you play with your puppet. You may use several at the same time. However, you can only use each cave find once (as blueberries, torch, or rope respectively). Once they have been used in this way, they are removed from the game. However, you can also use a cave find as payment to stay in someone else's igloo. The cave find then passes to the player who owns the igloo. If the cave find is used as a means of payment, it will remain in the game.
Blue berries: A blue cube can give your puppet 2 extra steps (or 2 extra energy) once. With these steps, you can do the same things as with the steps you get every turn. You can use them immediately or save them until they are really useful. Once you use the cube, it goes out of the game. Even if you only use one of the two extra steps. The other step is then lost. You may never use a blue cube to walk with a polar bear!
Exceptional situation: In your turn, you can decide to play with a polar bear, which has 3 steps. Use one or more blue cubes (whether or not in combination with other cubes) to perform actions with your puppet. This is the only situation where you can play with both a Polar Bear and your puppet in one turn.
Torch: With a red cube, you can fend off a bear attack once. This is the only action you can take outside your own turn. The bear then goes back to the place it came from, and the cube is removed from the game. Please note: if the bear steps onto a space with several puppets on it, only 1 of them needs to use a torch to fend off the attack. (Decide among yourselves who will do so.) If the bear first walks to a puppet with a torch and then to a puppet without a torch and the first puppet uses the torch, the bear goes back to where it came from, and the second puppet remains out of harm's way. If the bear first wants to go to a puppet without a torch, and then to a puppet with a torch, the first will not be protected, and the second will be. If the second decides to use the torch that is. In that case, the bear goes back to the place where the first puppet was attacked. However, if the bear then blocks the only free route from start to finish, then the bear returns to its original position. (see: three important rules for blockades)
What's also possible, is that you use a torch in your own turn to once move a bear one spot aside, so that you can pass it. You do this by stepping with your puppet onto a tile with a polar bear on it and then moving the bear one space aside. Note: You are not allowed to move the bear to the tile you came from, because then you would pass each other and that's too dangerous. Also: While moving the bear aside, no other player can be attacked. So you can't move it to a spot with another puppet on it. And of course, other rules also apply, such as: a bear cannot suddenly go from level 1 to level 3, etc. This bear move doesn't cost you any steps! It will cost you a torch though. This torch will leave the game.
Rope: With a yellow cube you can descend once from level 3 to level 1, or climb from level 1 to level 3. Descending costs one step, but you get it back. In other words: this descent is kind of free. (But you must have and take the step first, before you get it back!) And it will cost you the rope.
Ascending costs 2 steps and a rope. A rope once used for ascent or descent leaves the game. A rope can never be used to ascend or descend only 1 level.
3) Blockades
By placing water or mountain tiles, building igloos and walking with a bear you can create blockades for other players.
A water blockade: By placing a water tile you make a hexagon impassable for the rest of the game. Note: Also the white edges of this tile cannot be walked on. Exception: A water tile with fish can be entered by a polar bear, but the bear will then remain there for the rest of the game.
A mountain blockade: As we already read, a player can never walk directly from the game board (level 1) to a mountain (level 3) or vice versa. This means that we call a mountain, or mountain range (several mountain tiles together), that you cannot cross, a mountain blockade. Such a blockade can often be overcome by placing one or more land tiles. And for someone with a rope, such a blockade does not have to be a problem at all.
An igloo blockade: As soon as an igloo is built on a hexagon, we call this an igloo blockade, because every player who wants to go via this tile must also go via this igloo, which means that they have to pay a cave find to the owner of the igloo. This blockade does not have to be a problem for someone with a cave find. And of course an igloo is never a blockade for the player who owns the igloo.
A bear blockade: A tile with a bear on it, is called a bear blockade. This blockade is usually temporary, because every player can every turn choose to walk with the bear and thus remove the blockade. However, as we'll read later, during the endgame it's possible that bears are no longer allowed to walk. (See Endgame) Then a bear can become a permanent blockade.
Three important rules for blockades
1) From the start tile to the finish tile, there must always be at least one blockade-free road. This means: without a water, mountain, igloo, or bear blockade.
The only exception is: When someone is walking with a bear, and the one free road is temporarily blocked during the walk. But beware: Before the bear starts walking and as soon as he stops walking, there must always be at least one blockade-free road from the start tile to the finish tile.
Examples rule 1
[Diagram: a board position with the START tile at the top right, the FINISH tile at the bottom left, water, mountain tiles, a bear and puppets. A yellow arrow marks a hexagon.]
A) Orange wants to place a water or mountain tile here (yellow arrow). Is that allowed? No, because then there isn't a blockade-free road anymore from the start tile to the finish tile. To clarify: If orange were to place a mountain, then a mountain range would arise. Although white is on a land tile that makes the mountain range accessible from one side, there is no land tile on the other side yet. Which makes it impossible to walk down on the other side.
Thus, at least for now, a mountain blockade would arise. Thus, there would be no blockade-free road from the start tile to the finish tile anymore. Since this isn't allowed, orange can't place the mountain tile here. Had there been a land tile on the other side of the mountain range, then it would have been allowed.
B) Also orange can't send the bear to the place of the arrow, or to the grey puppet, because the bear then, when it stops walking, would be blocking the one free road from the start tile to the finish tile.
C) By the way, grey isn't allowed to build an igloo where he is at the moment either. Because then again, the one free road from the start tile to the finish tile would be blocked.
2) From somebody else's puppet to the finish tile (note: this does not have to be the same as from the start tile to the finish tile) there must always be at least one blockade-free road or a road via a polar bear. This means without a: water, mountain, or igloo blockade.
Note: Someone who possesses cave finds cannot be blocked harder than someone without cave finds. For everyone there should always be, without having to use cave finds, at least one blockade-free road to the finish tile, or a road via a bear.
Also note that here the only "free" road to the finish can be via a bear. The thought here is: a bear can be moved quickly anyway. However, it is possible that in the endgame, the bears are not allowed to walk anymore. So, then a puppet can become completely trapped. (See endgame)
As we already mentioned an igloo doesn't create a blockade for its owner. Thus, a road from someone's puppet via its own igloo to the finish tile is seen as a blockade-free road.
Examples rule 2
[Diagram: a board position with the START/FINISH tiles at the top right, brown and orange puppets, a bear, water, mountain and igloo tiles. A red arrow and a yellow arrow mark hexagons.]
A) Brown wants to place a water or mountain tile here (red arrow). Is that allowed? Yes, because for players white and orange, there's still a blockade-free road to the finish.
B) Imagine that brown then wants to move the bear one step north-east and then one or two steps north. Is that allowed? Yes, that also is allowed. Because a bear is allowed to block the one free road from someone else's puppet to the finish.
C) Would white be allowed to build an igloo at the position where white is now? No, because for orange there would not be a blockade-free road to the finish anymore. Notice: How easy it is for someone to get 'trapped' on a mountain (!)
D) If brown had placed a mountain tile, would white be allowed to build an igloo one position south-east from where white now is? Yes, that's allowed. It may seem that for orange there isn't a blockade-free road to the finish anymore, but since orange's own igloo doesn't count as a blockade there still is at least one blockade-free road to the finish tile. And so, it is allowed.
Note: Also make sure there's always at least one blockade-free road from start to finish. (See yellow arrow)
3) From your own puppet to the finish there doesn't have to be a blockade-free road. I.e., You are allowed to block the road from your puppet to the finish with a mountain, bear, water, or someone else's igloo. Why would you do this? Probably because you hope to gain tempo and that the block will only be temporary.
Example: You block yourself by going via someone else's igloo to a mountain or mountain range, without knowing if you'll be able to leave that area again.
However, when you enter a blocked area or create a blocked area for yourself, you take a big risk. Because then the other players are allowed to completely block you. And thus sort of kick you out of the game.
Examples rules 2 & 3
[Diagram: a board position with the FINISH tile at the bottom left, brown and orange puppets, a white igloo and a bear. A red arrow marks a hexagon.]
A) Brown wants to build an igloo here (red arrow). Is that allowed? No, because then there isn't a blockade-free road to the finish for orange anymore. Had orange not been in this area, then it would have been allowed because for white there still is a road via white's own igloo.
B) Imagine Orange being on the same spot as brown. Then brown would be allowed to build because then orange isn't completely blocked. After all, orange can still go "back". For example, in a north-easterly direction. However: Orange could in this case also choose to take a risk and go south. Because you're not allowed to completely block someone else, but you are allowed to take a risk by entering a blocked area yourself. However: If orange decides to do so, then the other players are allowed to completely block orange.
C) Imagine that orange had been in the same spot as brown, brown had built, and orange decided to take a risk and move south. If white now picked a land tile and placed it one position south of white's puppet, would white then be able to go there and build an igloo? Yes, because for brown there is still a way out (via brown's own igloo) and orange took the risk of going into this 'dangerous' area.
[Summary diagram, as printed: (1) Start to Finish: at least 1 route; crossed out: water, mountain, igloo and bear blockades. (2) Others to Finish: at least 1 route; crossed out: water, mountain and igloo blockades. (3) You to Finish: "All blocking allowed".]
Two more tips:
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Let's take another look at part C of the examples on the previous page. Notice that white does something special: walking down the mountain and building that is. Is white allowed to do both? Yes, because descending is sort of free: the step white used to go down white gets back and so white still has two steps left to build.
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Imagine everything is like the picture on the previous page that shows examples for rules 2 & 3. And that it's white's turn and that white already has a blue cube. Would white now be allowed to go to the position of orange and use the blue cube already in possession to pick up the blue cube that is on that tile? Yes, white is allowed to do so, because a blue cube (berries) gives you two extra steps, and searching a cave (or: picking up a cave find) costs exactly two steps.
4. Endgame
The game ends as soon as one of the players reaches the village (finish). That player then wins the game. If you like, you can play on to see who will be number two etc.
Tiles finished
It is possible that there are no more tiles, and no one has reached the finish yet. Then, continue playing without placing tiles. All cave finds can still be used, caves can still be searched to gain more cave finds, igloos can be built, etc. But beware: THE BEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WALK ANYMORE!
However, a torch can still be used to move a bear one position. Note: You are not allowed to move the bear to the tile you came from, because then you would pass each other and that's too dangerous. Also: While moving the bear aside, no other player can be attacked. So, you can't move it to a spot with another puppet on it. And of course, other rules also apply, such as: a bear cannot suddenly go from level 3 to level 1, etc.
Two Player Game
Both play with two colours, but take turns. (For example, Antonio plays with orange, José with white, Antonio with brown, José with grey and then Antonio again with orange etc.) Tip: Both take one igloo from the fifth colour (for example: black) and use this as a marker to mark with which of your colours you're playing. You do so by, at the end of your turn, placing the marker next to the colour that's playing next.
Both your colours are working together. I.e., in a turn of your one colour you could place a tile that helps your other colour. And it doesn't cost you anything to stay with your one colour in the igloo of your other colour. Thus, a hut of your one colour also isn't a block for your other colour. However: cave finds cannot be exchanged between your two colours.
You win when one of your puppets is the first to reach the finish.
Shorter Game
Place the finish tile at the cross on the game board. The start stays where it is. And also the goal stays the same: Be the first to reach the finish.
This game is played with 48 tiles (50 if you are with five players). Above you see how many tiles and black cubes you need to remove.
[Removal table, as printed. Columns: players 2 to 4 / 5 players. Rows: water tile, land tile, mountain tile, black cube. Water tile: -4 / -4. Land tile: -4 / -3. Mountain tile: -4 / -3. Black cube: -4 / -3.]
If you play with three players, then in their first two turns players only place a tile (possibly with a bear or cube). They don't walk yet.
You can now also build an igloo west of the finish tile. The owner of that igloo can, after a bear attack, always go back to that igloo. (In a two-player game your other puppet is, when attacked by a bear, also allowed to go to this igloo. No matter where the attack took place!) Another player is, after a bear attack, only allowed to go to that igloo if the attack took place west of the finish tile. And of course, that player needs to pay the owner of the igloo a cave-find.