KAWA: A Game About Flow
KAWA: A Game About Flow Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 16x Basic River tiles (5x Right Bend, 2x Whirlpool, 5x Left Bend, 4x Straight)
- 9x Special tiles
- 9x Special Reference cards
- 4x Starting tiles
- 4x Score Tracker tiles
- 4x Water Wheel tiles
- 24x Single Petal tokens
- 4x Double Petal tokens
- 1x Water Strider token
- 8x Player tokens
- 4x Nymph tokens
- 1x Setup sheet
- 1x Rules sheet
Note: the effects of the Special tiles, Special Reference cards, Basic Specials and Special tokens (such as the Sparrow, Water Strider, Crab and Abandoned Katana) are printed on the separate Special Reference cards and tiles, which are not part of this rules sheet and are not transcribed here.
Setup
Setup 1: The River
Take the 16 Basic River tiles and replace two of the Straight tiles with two Special tiles of your choice. These are your River tiles for this game.
Keep the relevant Special Reference cards within reach of all players. Set up any needed Special tokens.
Then, shuffle all 16 River tiles together and randomly lay them out to create a 4-by-4 grid. Ensure that all River tiles are oriented such that their Setup Markers point in the same direction. All the Setup Markers should point in the same direction when you first lay out the river.
First Flow: For your first few games, you should use either no Specials or just Basic Specials to focus on getting a hang of learning core gameplay.
Example River Setup: This is the River's Start (the left edge of the grid, where the River begins). This is the River's End (the right edge of the grid, where the River finishes). The arrow across the grid is the River's Direction of Flow. The edges of the grid above and below the River are the River's Edge. No petal should ever flow against the Direction of Flow.
Setup 2: The Tokens
Next, each player chooses a colour and takes all components of that colour, specifically:
- 1x Starting tile
- 2x Player tokens (to track turn order and score)
- 6x Single Petal tokens
- 1x Double Petal token
Each player also takes a Score Tracker tile.
Setup 3: The Water Wheel (Turn Order)
Finally, assemble the Water Wheel by making sure the numbers go in sequence clockwise around the four Water Wheel tiles (i.e., 1 → 2 → 3 → 4).
The Water Wheel determines turn order. The player whose token is on the tile with the number "1" on it is at Position 1, and is Player 1; the player at Position 2 is Player 2 and so on.
Setup 3 (continued)
The youngest player places one of their Player tokens at Position 1 on the Water Wheel.
Then, going clockwise around the table, each player places their Player token at the next available position on the Water Wheel (Position 2, then 3, and so on).
Example Water Wheel: the tile marked Position 1 holds the player who is first in turn order this round.
Playing With Fewer Than 4 Players
When setting up the game for 2 or 3 players, start with Player tokens at these positions:
- 3 players: start at Positions 1, 2, and 4.
- 2 players: start at Positions 1 and 3.
Gameplay proceeds normally. But since not all positions on the Water Wheel are filled, turn order starts with the smallest number and counts up to the next largest number with a token on it.
Empty positions on the Water Wheel are skipped in turn order. This can lead to turn order jumping a number, such as 1 → 2 → 4. This is normal for games with fewer than 4 players.
2 Player Advanced Play
An experienced pair of players can try a special double-weaving game variant.
During setup, each player selects two different colours to control. One player starts at Positions 1 and 3 on the Water Wheel, and the other at Positions 2 and 4.
Gameplay proceeds normally, except that a player's score is the sum of both their chosen colours.
Game Overview
Each round of Kawa is split into 3 phases. The game moves to the next phase only after all players have completed the current one.
- Placing Starting Tiles
- Flowing Down The River
- The River Flows
Phase 1: Place Starting Tiles
Starting with Player 1 and going clockwise around the Water Wheel (in turn order), each player places their Starting tile along the River's Start.
Note: You can only place your Starting tile in a spot that's empty. You cannot overlap your tile with another player's!
Phase 2: Flowing Down The River
This phase follows reverse turn order. Player 4 will go first, then Player 3, and so on, ending with Player 1. The player currently flowing down the River is known as the Active Player.
In reverse turn order, each player first swaps an adjacent pair of tiles and then flows their petals down the River.
Note that the player who is last in turn order (and hence going first in this phase) swaps an additional pair of adjacent tiles, as indicated by the icon in their corner of the Water Wheel.
Players flow from their Starting tile to the River's End, and as they flow down the River, they score points along the way.
Upon entering a River tile:
- All players with Petal tokens on that tile gain points equal to the number of their petals on it. (The Double Petal token is counted as 2 petals and is thus worth 2 points.)
- Then, the Active Player MUST place one of their Petal tokens onto that tile from their pool if able. (If they have no Petal tokens left in their pool, they place no token but continue flowing and scoring points.)
- Move to the next River tile, following the direction of flow indicated by the white flow line on the tile. (If you are unsure, look for the white ripples.)
Note: The pool is where any Petal tokens of your colour that are not currently on the River go.
Example: After Blue flows into this tile, Red gains 1 point and Blue gains 2 points. Then, Blue places one of their Petal tokens onto the tile before continuing to the next tile.
After the Active Player has finished flowing down the River, all of their unplaced Petal tokens remain in their pool. Then, the next player (still in reverse turn order) swaps tiles and flows down the River. This repeats until everyone has flowed down the River.
Remember to use your other Player token on your Score Tracker tile to keep track of points.
The River's Edge
If you would ever flow across the River's boundary (across the River's Edge), simply move to the corresponding tile on the opposite side of the River, as though the path your petals are taking "wraps around" to the other side of the River.
Example: a player who flows from tile (1) off to the right would continue down the River from tile (2) on the left. Then again off the left from (2) to (3) in the next row.
Whirlpools
Tiles with the Whirlpool symbol are Whirlpools.
Players flow through and score points on Whirlpool tiles normally. However, after a player flows through a Whirlpool tile, they MUST rotate it to a new orientation that:
- Remains in line with the grid.
- Does not cause petals to flow upstream (that is, directly towards the River's Start).
This tile has only two positions it can take: pointed to the left or right.
Ripples
If unsure which direction a tile flows into, simply look at its Ripples.
Example: Pink follows the Ripples to flow along the River.
Phase 3: The River Flows
Each player takes back their Starting tile and then returns Petal tokens from the River to their pool, following turn order.
When doing so, players must return Petal tokens to their pool following the quantity shown on the Water Wheel. If they cannot, they must return as many as they can up to the stipulated amount.
- Player 1 takes back three Petal tokens.
- Player 2 takes back two Petal tokens.
- Player 3 takes back a single Petal token.
- Player 4 takes back no Petal tokens.
Note: Double Petal tokens are a single physical token, and count as one token for this step.
Then, remove all River tiles in the row closest to the River's End. All Petal tokens on that row are returned to their respective players' pools. Shuffle the tiles in that row, and make a new row at the River's Start, shifting all other rows downstream.
Remember to place this new first row with all Setup Markers pointing in the same original direction.
Finally, move each Player token clockwise by a single position on the Water Wheel, as indicated by the following diagram.
After moving the Player tokens clockwise, Yellow has moved from Position 4 to Position 1.
Ending the Game
Every time Phase 3 ends, announce to all players which round has just ended.
At the end of the fourth round, the game ends and the player with the most points wins.
FAQ
What do I do in the case of ties for Special River tile effects? (E.g. Sparrow, Water Strider.)
In the case of ties, all players who meet the criteria resolve the effect, following player turn order (so Player 1 will resolve it first, then Player 2 and so on).
If a player reaches the River's End twice in a single turn (through the use of Abandoned Katana or another effect), does the Crab move twice?
Yes. So, when the Active Player reaches the River's End the first time, the Crab will move once, then they return to the Abandoned Katana and flow down the next path. This will cause the Crab to move again.
How exactly does the Crab move?
As indicated by the small white arrow, the Crab should swap with the tile on its left.
When it would move but there are no tiles in that direction, instead flip it to the other side.