Kokonana!
Kokonana! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
1 Village riverbank • 1 sandbank • 1 Temple riverbank • 20 Shallow Water tiles • 20 Deep Water tiles • 4 runners • 5 keys • 8 Temple tiles (5 Lock tiles and 3 Wall tiles) • 13 Talisman tokens
Object of the Game
Find matching tiles in the river; this creates stepping stones in the river to help you race to the other side. On your way, you and the other runners each collect a key that opens one particular lock of the temple on the other side of the river. If you are the first to unlock the temple once you reach the other side, you win the game!
Setting Up
A. Set up the play area as shown from left to right: first the Village riverbank, then the 20 Shallow Water tiles (shuffled face down in 4 rows of 5), then the sandbank, then the 20 Deep Water tiles (shuffled face down in 4 rows of 5), and finally the Temple riverbank.
B. Shuffle the 8 Temple tiles face down and place them to the right of the Temple riverbank.
C. Place the 5 keys on the sandbank.
D. Make a supply pile of Talisman tokens near the board.
E. Each player picks a runner and places it on the Village riverbank.
Now the river race can begin!
Gameplay
The oldest player begins. After that, the game proceeds clockwise. Your turn has two simple steps:
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HOP: Move 1 space forward or sideways. When you get to the sandbank, grab 1 key for yourself! This step is not always possible, so it might be skipped; for example, the first player will have nowhere to hop to, so he must skip this step!
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FLIP: Reveal 2 tiles; if they match, get a free HOP. If there's nowhere for you to hop to, take a talisman instead.
Keep taking turns like this until you reach the Temple bank; then your turn changes a little as you search for the lock that your key will unlock (see The Temple Riverbank for details).
1. HOP
Move your runner 1 hop forward, or diagonally forward, or sideways to an adjacent face-up stepping stone, the sandbank, or the temple.
- You can't hop onto a face-down Water tile!
- You can't ever hop back toward the village.
- At most, 2 runners may share a stepping stone. In a 2-player game, stepping stones may not be shared! One runner per stepping stone only!
If there is nowhere for you to hop to, or if you don't want to hop to a space that is available, simply skip this step.
Examples: Blue may hop forward to either turtle, or share the catfish that Green is standing on. Green could hop forward to the catfish, diagonally forward to the rocks, or sideways to the turtle. Red could hop forward to the Sandbank. Yellow has nowhere to hop to.
2. FLIP
Choose one face-down Water tile and flip it over in place, revealing it to everyone. Then choose a second face-down Water tile and do the same.
Before you reach the sandbank, you may choose only Shallow Water tiles (unless there are none left; then choose Deep Water tiles). Once your runner has reached the sandbank, you may choose only Deep Water tiles.
Do they match?
If not, call out "KOKONANA!" (This is how Kona runners traditionally voice their frustration!) Then flip the two tiles back face down in their places. Your turn is over!
If they do match, congratulations! Leave the two tiles face up in their places; now they are stepping stones that runners can hop onto! As a reward for making a match, you get a free hop, following the hop rules described above.
With your free hop, you don't have to hop to a tile that you just revealed... but if it is in legal hopping range, you may.
If you earn a free hop and you can't (or don't want to) make the hop, take a talisman from the supply instead. (See Talismans to learn how to use it.) Once you've taken your free hop or talisman, your turn is over!
Examples: Yellow flips over two tiles; they are a turtle and a log. No match! Yellow calls out "Kokonana!" and flips them back over. Yellow's turn is over. Then Red goes; she flips over a tile to reveal a turtle and—remembering the turtle that Yellow revealed earlier—flips that one over as well. It's a match! For her reward, Red could take a free hop from the Village bank to the near turtle, or she could take a Talisman from the supply. She chooses the hop, and then her turn is over.
Talismans
Talismans are earned when you make a match but can't (or won't) take the free hop. You can hold on to your talismans until you want to use them. At any time on your turn (in addition to the turn's usual actions), you may discard a talisman back to the supply to do one of two things:
- Take a free hop. (Follow the normal hop rules.)
- OR only if you already hold a key, peek at one of the Temple tiles on the Temple riverbank, then return it to the same spot face down.
The Sandbank
Immediately when your runner hops to the sandbank, you may choose any one of the keys remaining on the sandbank, and keep it in front of you. Your goal when you reach the Temple riverbank will be to discover the lock that matches your chosen key! (See The Temple Riverbank for details.)
Also, once you have reached the sandbank, you have progressed beyond the shallow part of the river; from now on when you flip tiles, they must be Deep Water tiles.
Example: Blue arrives at the sandbank with a free hop. He decides to take the black key, which is still there.
The Temple Riverbank
Once your runner hops onto the Temple riverbank, your turn changes. Instead of the normal two-step turn, your turns now consist of one step:
Peek
Select any one of the Temple tiles, pick it up and peek at it. (Make sure nobody else sees it!) If the tile is a Wall tile or doesn't match the key you are holding, return the tile back face down to the same spot; your turn is over.
If the Temple tile does match the key you are holding, you have won the game! Reveal it to everyone to prove it; with this, you are the best river runner of the Kona and win this year's race!
Note: If you have already flipped on the turn you arrive at the Temple riverbank, you don't get a peek action on that turn. If you haven't already flipped on that turn, then you do get a peek on that turn.
Examples: Green arrives at the Temple riverbank using his normal hop. He hasn't flipped yet on this turn, so he gets to peek. He peeks at a Temple tile and it is a Wall tile... too bad! Without telling the other players what it is, he puts it back in place. Red goes next; she arrived at the Temple riverbank on an earlier turn, so her whole turn is now just the peek action. She picks a Temple tile and peeks at it... it's the purple lock! Red is carrying the purple key, so she shows everyone the purple lock to prove that she has won the game!
Variant for Younger Children
To make the game a bit easier, remove the 3 Wall tiles from the Temple tiles and return them to the box before laying out the Temple tiles during the set-up. Also, the talismans are used only for additional hops, never for peeking!