Kraby
Kraby Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- game board
- 120 crab tiles (24 in each of five colors)
- 4 ship-screens
- 15 crab figures (3 in each of 5 colors)
- tile bag
- 4 fisher scoring markers
- 5 crab scoring markers (in the crab colors)
- rulebook
(Figure 1 labels the parts of the game: crab tiles, the island, the area of the board excluded in a two-player game, the holds, the scoring track, ship-screens, crab figures, fisher scoring markers, crab scoring markers, and a help chart giving the points for a group of crabs, including negative scoring.)
Goal of the Game
The winner is the fisher who catches more crabs than the others. Especially crabs of the species he planned to catch, because for those he will score the most points.
Setup
Before starting the game, punch the tiles and markers out of the sheets. Note: one marker of each kind is used in the game, but a spare set was also placed on the sheet, as well as additional crab tiles, two of each color.
The fishers place the board in the middle of the table. In front of themselves they set up their ship-screens so that the holds for crabs are visible to everyone. Each fisher has a symbol on the sails of his ship. On the scoring track, on the space of value zero, the players place the fisher scoring markers and the crab scoring markers.
Depending on the number of fishers taking part in the game, a different number of crabs (tiles and figures) must be prepared:
- With two players, put 80 crab tiles (20 in each of 4 colors) into the bag; set the remaining crab tiles aside, they will not take part in the game. Lay out next to the board 12 crab figures, 3 in each of the colors of the tiles put in the bag. The remaining 3 figures will not take part in the game. The game is played on the light (central) part of the board.
- With three players, put all the crab tiles (120) into the bag and lay out all the crab figures next to the board.
- With four players, put all the crab tiles (120) into the bag and set out next to the board 10 crab figures, 2 in each color. The remaining ones will not take part in the game.
The players each draw 6 tiles from the bag and hide them behind their ship-screens so that the other players cannot see them.
The youngest participant starts the game.
Course of Play
A Player's Turn
Turns are played clockwise. On his turn a player may make one or two moves:
- Crab move (mandatory)
- Placing a crab figure in one of the three holds of the ship (only if the fisher wants to and is able to make that move)
Crab Move (mandatory)
During his move the player must place on the board one crab tile (of any color) from those he has behind his ship-screen. Placing consists of sliding the tile onto the board from any side. (Figure 2: entry onto the board is allowed from four sides.)
The slid-in crab tile moves along a straight line; it cannot turn and cannot go off the board. If on its way it meets an obstacle (the island or another crab), it must stop before it.
Figure 3 shows several possible moves. The pink crab (3a) "walks" until it stops at the island (3b). The blue crab cannot be slid onto the board, because it has nowhere to stop. The pink crab (3e) moves forward and stops at the yellow crab (3f).
If as a result of a move a hole or an area appears into which a crab cannot be introduced, such a move is considered illegal; it must be taken back and a legal move made.
Forbidden Moves
In Figure 4, the yellow crab—marked with a red circle—made an illegal move. As a result, a place (marked with the letter A) was created into which another crab cannot be introduced. Also the green crab—marked with a red circle—is placed in a forbidden place, because an empty area (hole) marked with the letter B was created.
Groups and Scoring Values
As a result of moves, players create clusters of crabs in one color—thanks to this they become more valuable to the fishers. Clusters are sets of crab tiles that touch with their sides, not corners. For a single crab you receive minus 1 point, for 2 crabs 0 points, for 3 crabs 1 point, for 4 crabs 3 points, and for five or more crabs 5 points.
| Crabs in the same color | 1 crab | 2 crabs | 3 crabs | 4 crabs | 5 or more crabs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points for the given group of crabs at the end of the game | -1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
After placing a crab, the player draws another tile—so that he has six crabs behind the screen.
Placing a Crab in the Ship's Hold (optional move)
(Figure 5, the ship-screen: the screen (sail), top view showing the place for tiles hidden by the sail, front view, and the hold—the place for crab figures.)
On his turn, after placing a crab on the board, the fisher may place one of the crab figures lying next to the board on one of the three spaces on the ship-screen. On a ship there may be only one crab figure of a given color, and it may not be placed on a space the same as one at another player's ship. This means that if player A has a pink crab on space x3, then player B can place the pink crab figure only on space x2 or x1.
Which spaces on the ship the crabs occupy shows how many points at the end of the game the fisher owning that ship will score (a precise description of scoring is given later in the rulebook).
In a given turn a player may put only one crab on the ship, and he must do so at the latest in his last move. If during the game a player does not place one, two or three crabs on the ship, he cannot do so after the end of the game.
In a 4-player game a player may place on his ship at most two crab figures. Which holds he puts them into depends solely on him.
End of the Game
The game ends when all the crabs have been laid out on the board. Then you can begin counting points.
Scoring
Crabs
After the end of the game the points scored by the individual crab species are counted: first orange, then green, blue, yellow and pink. All points—positive and negative—scored by the given species of crabs are summed.
For example, on the board (Figure 6) the orange species scored the following points (counting groups from top-left to bottom-right):
- 1 crab = -1
- 1 crab = -1
- 4 crabs = 3
- 6 crabs = 5
- 2 crabs = 0
- 1 crab = -1
- 1 crab = -1
- 4 crabs = 3
- 3 crabs = 1
- 1 crab = -1
In total the orange species scored 7 points.
The species scored respectively:
- orange = 7 points
- green = 9 points
- blue = 10 points
- yellow = 16 points
- pink = -3 points
Scoring is marked with the crab markers on the scoring track.
Fishers
Next the players add up the points they scored thanks to loading crabs onto their ships. Thus (each ship's two crab figures are shown as icons in the original; each line is 2x the points of one species + 3x the points of another):
- Fisher 1 = 2x (orange, 7) + 3x (green, 9) = 14 + 27 = 41 points
- Fisher 2 = 2x (green, 9) + 3x (blue, 10) = 18 + 30 = 48 points
- Fisher 3 = 2x (pink, -3) + 3x (yellow, 16) = -6 + 48 = 42 points
- Fisher 4 = 2x (yellow, 16) + 3x (orange, 7) = 32 + 21 = 53 points
The players mark their points with their markers on the scoring track.
The player who scored the most points wins—in the example above, the fourth fisher. In case of a tie, the player who scored the most points from one of the species wins.