K2 FAQ
101 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
General
Game Preparation
Card Selection and Hand
- Do the three cards you do not play stay in your hand for the next turn?
- Are the cards you play discarded even if you use none of their points?
- Must you play three cards each turn even if you choose not to move?
- Must you use all the movement points on the cards you play?
- After one of your climbers dies, how do you use your cards each turn?
- Can players look through the cards they have already played?
- What is the 0 acclimatization card for, and does it protect a climber?
- Can a player do more than one action in the action phase?
Risk Tokens
- Can a risk token be applied to a climber that was given only the 0 acclimatization card?
- Can a risk token be applied to a climber that was given a movement card but does not physically move?
- Can a risk token reduce a card's points so that you use fewer of them, or none?
- Can a risk token come straight off a climber's acclimatization track instead of a card?
- For a rope card, must you choose its direction before applying a risk token?
- Which value of a rope card counts when deciding who takes the risk token?
- Can a two-point risk token be split between movement and acclimatization?
- When two or more players tie for the most movement points, does anyone take the risk token?
- Who takes a risk token each turn, and how do the face-up tokens refill?
- Are used risk tokens returned to the pool or reshuffled?
- Can a risk token fall on a climber that pitches a tent?
Climber Movement
- Can a climber pass through a space that is already at its climber limit?
- Can two of your climbers swap places, even when both spaces are at the climber limit?
- Can you score a higher space by moving up through it and back down in the same turn?
- Does a climber still score an altitude it reached if it later moves back down?
- Can a rope card's upward number be used to move a climber down?
- Can the down number of a rope card move a climber down one space and then back up with the same card?
- Can a rope card's downward points move a climber up or pay for a tent?
- Can you move a climber down with a normal, non-rope movement card, and split one card between up and down?
- Can movement points from several cards be combined to enter one space, and spent across several spaces?
- Can one card's points be divided between two climbers?
- Can movement points be used for acclimatization, or acclimatization values for movement?
- Does a space's movement cost add on top of the one point used to step in?
- Must you move a climber when you play movement cards?
- Can one movement card's points be split between moving a climber and pitching a tent?
Tents
- Do climbers of the tent's colour on its space each get the tent's +1, and can two of your climbers share one tent?
- Does a climber gain an extra point for each same-coloured tent on its space?
- Can a climber use a tent of a different colour on its space?
- Does a tent cancel the weather or space acclimatization penalty on its space?
- Does a tent stay on the board when the climber who built it dies?
- Is there a limit to how many tents can share one space?
- Do tents count toward a space's climber limit?
- Does pitching a tent end a climber's movement for the turn?
- Can a climber pitch a tent on the summit?
- Can a climber build more than one tent?
- Can a rope card's down number pay for a tent?
- What does a tent do in K2?
Acclimatization and Death
- When does a climber die from low acclimatization?
- Does a climber who will die this turn still block paths for players who move later?
- Are acclimatization checks done all at once, or one climber at a time?
- Can acclimatization go above 6, and does the marker reset to 6 each turn?
- What does the Rescue card do, and where does a rescued climber go?
- If both of a player's climbers die, does that player keep taking turns?
- Do you gain or lose acclimatization for every space a climber passes through?
- Do acclimatization checks and space penalties apply to a climber that stays put?
Weather
- Do weather penalties add to a space's acclimatization modifier?
- Do weather tiles add movement cost, or only acclimatization?
- Does weather affect the cost of pitching a tent?
- When does weather take effect relative to climber moves?
- Can bad weather kill a climber at low altitude at the start of the game?
- Is the area between two weather marks, such as 6000 and 7000 metres, affected by a weather tile?
Game End
- How is a tied final score broken?
- If one player loses both climbers, does the game end early and does the other player win?
- Do you have to return to base camp to score?
- How many victory points does a dead climber score?
- Can you still win after one of your climbers dies?
- If a climber on the summit dies, does the summit become available to score again?
Solo Play
The Board
K2: Broad PeakExpansion
- Can a snow cave be built in winter with the winter weather movement penalty added to its cost?
- Does entering an empty snow cave on your own space cost movement points?
- When several climbers share a space with an empty snow cave, who may enter it first?
- How does a climber stay in a snow cave when the cave token flips?
- Does a snow cave's acclimatization stack with the space's own acclimatization bonus?
- Can a climber enter a snow cave that became empty after its own turn had already passed?
- Is there a limit to how many snow caves can be built on one space or in one turn?
- Who starts with a tent in the Broad Peak setup?
- Which end of a rope is at the higher space on Broad Peak?
- In the Traverse variant, can a rescued climber restart from the other side of the mountain?
- Do the green and yellow flag colours on the Traverse side affect scoring order?
- Can you play the Broad Peak traverse scenario solo?
- Does the Broad Peak solo variant use the base K2 solo setup?
- Does the solo Race to the Top scenario use tents or snow caves?
- In Race to the Top with 15 cards, how does the deck run out?
- Can the Broad Peak expansion be played on the base K2 board?
K2: The AvalancheExpansion
- How do you set up the avalanche tiles in the weather deck?
- Does a tent protect a climber from an avalanche?
- Which space's acclimatization applies to a climber hit by an avalanche?
- Can a space end up with more climbers than its limit after an avalanche?
- In what order do players choose landing spaces for climbers swept down by an avalanche?
- How many avalanche tiles does K2: The Avalanche add, and how many avalanches are on each set?
- What does the yellow avalanche tile mean?
- Does the tent's +1 still apply on a space when an avalanche tile is active?
- How do the avalanche tiles pair with the weather tiles?
- How much acclimatization does a climber lose when an avalanche hits its space?