Kodama 3D Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Component Anatomy
• Game Play
  • 1. Move a kodama meeple
  • 2. Grow your tree
  • 3. Draw a goal (optional)
• End of the Game
• Credits

Object of the Game

Kodama 3D is a competitive tree building game in which players will grow a three-dimensional tree by using their kodama meeples to gather branch tiles from the forest. Each branch has a feature and a kodama. Whenever players add a branch card to their tree that does not match the feature or kodama of the connected branch, they will draft a new goal card. At the end of the game, players will score victory points (VP) based on the goal cards they have successfully completed. The player with the most VP wins.

Components

• 38 goal cards
• 64 branch tiles
• 8 kodama meeples (two each in four colors)
• 8 trunk pieces (which connect to form four trunks)

Setup

1. Give each player a trunk piece with a kodama on it and a trunk piece with no kodama on it. Each player assembles their trunk by sliding one piece into the other. Finally, stand up your trunk on the table in front of you.
2. Give each player the two kodama meeples of the color that matches the kodama on their trunk.
3. Shuffle the branch tiles. Create 16 stacks of random branch tiles with four tiles in each stack. Place those stacks in the middle of the table so that they form a 4 x 4 grid. This grid is called the forest.
4. Shuffle the goal cards facedown to form the goal deck. Set the goal deck on the table next to the forest.
5. Deal each player three goal cards. Each player secretly chooses two of them to keep. The other card is placed on the bottom of the goal deck.
6. Place the top four cards of the goal deck faceup in a row next to the deck to form the display.
7. Players choose their starting positions. Starting with the youngest player and moving clockwise, each player places one of their kodama meeples on an unoccupied stack of branch tiles in the forest. Once the last player has placed one of their kodama meeples, that player places their other kodama meeple on a different stack in the forest. Then, moving counterclockwise, each player places their second kodama meeple. You must place your kodama meeple on a stack where there is not already a kodama meeple.

Component Anatomy

Branch tiles have four parts:

1. Connection point
2. Stems — Slide the stem of a branch tile into a connection point of another branch tile or trunk piece in order to add it to your tree.
3. Feature — Branch tiles have one of four different features: blossom, caterpillar, firefly, or mushroom. These features are referenced on goal cards.
4. Kodama — Branch tiles have one of four different kodamas: blue, green, orange, or pink. Each player starts with a trunk that has one of the kodamas on it. These kodamas are referenced on goal cards.

Goal cards have four parts:

1. Image
2. VP value — This is the amount of points you will score if you meet the requirements of the goal.
   • Some goal cards score if you meet the requirement list on the card. Those goal cards will show a VP value in the middle of the card.
   • Other goals will score for each time you meet the requirement listed on the card. Those goal cards will show "VP/PER" on the middle of the card.
3. Requirement — This section lists what is required to score the VP shown on the goal. The requirement will tell you how many of which feature or kodama that you need in certain locations or configurations on your tree.
4. Card number

Game Play

In Kodama 3D, each player will add 12 branch tiles to their tree. During your turn, you will move one of your kodamas to a new stack of branch tiles and add a branch tile from the stack you just left to your tree. Since you add branch tiles from the stack you left, and not the stack you move to, you will need to plan ahead to grow your tree in a way that best satisfies your goal cards.

Each player will take 10 turns. After which, players will add to their tree the two branch cards that their meeples currently occupy, and then the game will end.

Starting with the youngest player, players will take turns. Each turn involves three steps:

1. Move a kodama meeple
2. Grow your tree
3. Draw a goal (optional)

1. Move a kodama meeple

You will start each of your turns by choosing one of your two kodama meeples to move. You then move it any distance in a straight line to an unoccupied stack of branches. You may move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. You must move one of your kodama meeples on your turn. You cannot move over any other kodama meeples.

When the last branch tile in a stack has been added to a tree, that stack is empty. Players can no longer move their meeples to that stack, but can continue past it in a straight line.

If you cannot move either of your meeples in a straight line to an unoccupied stack, you may move that meeple to any unoccupied stack.

Example: Abby is the blue player. She chooses to move her meeple that is in the bottom left corner of the forest. She cannot move it to the right because there is a pink kodama meeple directly to the right of her meeple. She can move it up one stack. She can't move it up more than one stack because there is a green kodama meeple on the next stack. She could choose to move diagonally over the first empty stack to the next stack since there is no kodama meeple there. She could not have moved down, left, or any other diagonal direction because there are no stacks of branches there because this kodama meeple is on the edge of the forest.

2. Grow your tree

During this step, you will add a branch tile to your tree. The branch tile you add is the top tile of the stack that the meeple you moved was on at the start of your turn.

If you add the last branch tile of a stack to your tree, that stack is empty. Play continues without replacing that stack.

To add a branch to your tree, insert the stem into one of the available connection points on your trunk or a branch tile that is already on your tree.

You will need to grow your tree in a balanced way so that it doesn't fall over. If your tree does fall over after you add a branch tile to it, you will need to remove that tile and connect it to a different part of your tree.

Tip: When adding and placing branch tiles on your tree, you want to be aware of what goal cards you have in hand as that is how you score VP to win the game.

Continuing the previous example, Abby has just moved her kodama meeple from the stack of branches in the lower left corner of the forest. During this step, she will add the top branch tile of that stack to her tree. She can choose to add it to any open connection point on her tree. Abby has a goal card that scores her 7 VP if she has four blue kodamas in a row, so she chooses to connect this branch tile to another branch tile with a blue kodama on it.

3. Draw a goal (optional)

You will draw a goal card during this phase if both of the following are true:

1. The feature on the branch tile you just added to your tree doesn't match the feature on the part of your tree you connected it to.
2. The kodama on the branch tile you just added to your tree doesn't match the kodama on the part of your tree you connected it to.

When checking to see if you draw a goal card, you only look at the branch tile you just added at the part of your tree it immediately touches.

When you draw a card, you either draw one from the top of the goal deck or choose one of the faceup goal cards in the display and add it to your hand. If you choose one from the display, replace it with a card for the top of the goal deck.

The goal cards in your hand are kept secret from the other players until the end of the game. There is no limit to how many goal cards you can have in your hand.

Note: If the branch tile you add to your tree has a feature or kodama that matches the part of the tree you connected it to, you will not draw a new goal card.

Example: On Bob's turn, he added the circled branch to his trunk. His trunk has a green kodama and no feature. The branch tile that he added has a pink kodama and a caterpillar. Since neither the kodama nor the feature on the branch he added matches the feature or kodama on the part of the tree he connected it to, Bob draws a goal. He chooses the faceup goal card that says "Have caterpillars that can be traced back to each of the tree connection points of the trunk." and adds it to his hand.

End of the Game

The game ends once each player has 10 branch tiles on their tree. Then, each player adds to their tree the two branch tiles that their kodama meeples currently occupy. You do not draw goal cards when adding these last two branch tiles to your tree.

Once each player does that, each player scores VP based on the goal cards they have in their hand.

Some goal cards score if you meet the requirement listed on the card. Those goal cards will show a VP value in the middle of the card.

Other goals will score for each time you meet the requirement listed on the card. Those goal cards will show a "VP/PER" in the middle of the card.

The player with the most VP wins the game! If there is a tie, the player with the most total goal cards among the tied players wins. If there is still a tie, all tied players win.

Credits

• Design: Daryl Andrews and Erica Hayes-Bouyouris
• Development: Nick Little, Brian McCarthy, and Jon Zierden
• Graphic Design: Daniel Solis
• Illustration: Kwanchai Moriya
• Editing: Rachael Mortimer
• Playtesters: Sydney Engelstein, David Bauer, Ryan Schoon, Rod Currie, Bogdan Tudose, Dana Marie Werpny, Tanya Andrews, Brad Taylor, Robin Baksh, Andrew Wolf, JC Dorias, Oriole Park Junior Public School, Eli Gingerich, Charles Warman, Brian Malott, Isaac Shalev, Aaron Boyouris, Christopher Chung, Snakes & Lattes designer nights, and Game Artisans of Canada