Kuhfstein
Kuhfstein Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components and Setup
- Place the score track at the edge of the table. Insert the 3 rectangular bonus tiles into the recesses, as shown. The meaning of each bonus tile is explained under "Points and the Bonus Spaces" on page 6.
- Shuffle all 55 cards. Lay 4 of them face up in a row in the middle of the table. Place the remaining cards as a face-down deck next to them.
- Shuffle all 71 landscape tiles. Lay 5 tiles face up in a row below the cards. Place the remaining tiles as several face-down stacks next to them.
- With 3 players, first set aside 1 tile of each landscape type back into the box.
- With 2 players, first set aside 2 tiles of each landscape type back into the box.
- From the 8 trees per player, place 2 trees into the general supply. Return the remaining trees to the box.
- Choose a color and take the following for yourself:
- 6 cows of this color. Place 1 of them on each of the two special spaces shown on the score track. Place the remaining 4 cows in your personal supply in front of you.
- 1 scoring marker of the same color. Place the scoring marker on space 0/65 of the score track.
- 2 scoring tiles. Shuffle all 9 scoring tiles face down and deal 2 to each player. Return the remaining scoring tiles to the box unseen. Look at your 2 scoring tiles, then place them face down in front of you. You may look at your own scoring tiles again at any time. The meaning of the tiles is explained under "End of the Game and Scoring" on page 7.
- 1 card from the face-down deck. Also take 1 card from the face-down deck into your hand.
Whoever among you has most recently seen a cow takes the fox marker and begins the game.
In later games
Once you have played Kuhfstein a few times, you can use these rules to add variety to the game:
Random bonus spaces: Instead of placing the bonus tiles as described in step 1, you can also distribute them randomly. To do this, simply take all 3 tiles in your hand and drop them onto the table. Then insert the tiles into the recesses in the score track, starting with the tile that landed closest to the score track and inserting it face up into the first free gap. (With random bonus spaces, it is possible that you begin the game with 5 cows.)
Choosing a starting card: Instead of drawing a card from the face-down deck at the start of the game, you can instead choose to take a card from the face-up display. First, the fox marker must be assigned. Then the person to its right chooses a card from the face-up display and takes it into hand. After that, everyone else follows counterclockwise. The person with the fox marker chooses a card last. Only after everyone has chosen a card do you refill the card display back up to 4 and begin the game.
Card and Tile Layout
Layout of the cards: The colored fields on a card are only there to help you at a glance — they show which landscapes are pictured on the card. For example, the blue color field shows that the card calls for a lake.
The landscapes on the cards are shown using simplified symbols. The shape formed by these symbols shows the condition you must fulfill in order to place cows. See "Playing a Card from Your Hand" on page 5 for details.
Each card also shows a point value in its corner — the number of points you score when you play that card.
The landscape tiles: The following landscape tiles are in the game: 16 hay tiles, 15 meadow tiles, 15 forest tiles, 13 lake tiles, and 12 house tiles. Small differences in how the tiles are illustrated have no effect on how the game is played — the landscape is simply meant to look attractive.
Game Play
When it is your turn, you may carry out exactly 2 actions. You may choose from the following possible actions:
- A. Place a landscape tile.
- B. Take a card into your hand.
- C. Play a card from your hand (score points).
- D. Bring back a herd.
You may choose 2 different actions, or choose the same action twice.
Once you have carried out all your actions, refill the open tile and card displays. Then your turn ends and the person to your left takes their turn.
A. Place a Landscape Tile
Take 1 of the face-up landscape tiles from the general display and place it in your play area. Place your first landscape tile in front of you. Place each further tile horizontally or vertically so that it touches at least one side of your other tiles (your play area). You may place any landscapes next to each other, in any combination.
If you form a square of 4 different or 4 identical landscape tiles, you may place a tree in the middle of the 4 tiles. For doing so, you immediately move your scoring marker forward 5 spaces on the score track.
Note!
- Each landscape tile may only be used for 1 tree.
- You must decide whether you want to place a tree during the same action in which you placed the landscape tile. You may not place the tree afterward.
- If there are no more trees in the general supply, you can no longer place a tree.
- You may still place cows on these tiles later (see "C. Play a Card from Your Hand", page 5).
Special case: If you have chosen the action "place 1 landscape tile" and the display shows 4 or 5 landscape tiles of the same type, you may exchange the entire general tile display before taking a tile. To do this, set aside all 5 face-up landscape tiles and reveal 5 new landscape tiles. If 4 or 5 landscape tiles of the same type are again on display afterward, you may exchange again. When you reveal the last face-down landscape tile, shuffle the tiles you set aside and place them as a new face-down stack.
B. Take a Card into Your Hand
Take 1 of the face-up cards from the display into your hand. There is no hand-card limit — you may hold as many cards in hand as you like.
Special case: If you have chosen the action "take 1 card into your hand" and all 4 cards in the display show at least 1 matching landscape type, you may exchange the entire card display before taking a card.
Place all 4 cards on a face-up discard pile and reveal 4 new cards. If all 4 cards again show at least 1 matching landscape type afterward, you may exchange again. To help you spot which landscapes are shown on the cards more quickly, there is a color bar on the left side of each card. If the draw pile is empty, shuffle the face-up discard pile and place it as the new draw pile.
Example: All four cards on display show the same landscape (in this case, the lake). You may therefore exchange the entire display before taking a card.
C. Play a Card from Your Hand (Score)
Play 1 card from your hand to place cows from your supply onto your play area. In return, you score the points shown on the card. Each card shows landscape tiles arranged in a certain shape.
You may only play a card if you fulfill all of the following conditions:
- Your play area contains the shape shown on the card.
- The openly pictured landscapes are in the correct positions.
- No cow stands on any of the openly pictured landscape tiles.
- You have enough cows in your supply to place 1 cow on each of the openly pictured landscapes.
Most cards also show the backs of some landscape tiles. Any landscape type at all may lie in these spots, and you may still play the card even if a cow already stands on those landscapes.
You may rotate the card freely to fulfill the conditions. However, you may not mirror the shape.
Once you have fulfilled all the necessary conditions, you may play the card, and you must place 1 cow from your supply onto each of the openly pictured landscape tiles. Do not place a cow on any landscape tile shown as a tile back!
Example: You want to play this card. Your play area shows the pictured L-shape. 1 lake and 1 field are in the correct positions. Both tiles are empty, and you have 2 cows in your supply. You place these cows and score 8 points for doing so.
Then move your scoring marker forward on the score track by the number of points shown on the card, and place the card face up on the discard pile.
D. Bring Back a Herd
When you bring back cows, you free up spaces again on your play area while also refilling your supply.
With this action, you may bring back exactly 1 herd. A herd is a group of cows standing directly adjacent to each other, horizontally or vertically. A herd can consist of 1–6 cows.
Take 1 entire herd from your play area and place it back in your supply.
Example: There are 2 "herds" on your play area. You can bring back either the herd of 4 or the single cow with one action.
Once you have carried out all your actions, refill the open tile and card displays.
Points and the Bonus Spaces on the Score Track
Whenever you score points, move your scoring marker forward on the score track by that many spaces. If you reach or pass one of the bonus spaces while doing so, you immediately receive the bonus shown there.
Example: Playing this card earns you 8 points. You move your scoring marker forward 8 spaces on the score track and, in doing so, pass a bonus space. You immediately receive the bonus shown there.
- Extra cow: Immediately take your cow from this bonus space and place it in your supply. You now have an additional cow available for the rest of the game.
- Extra action: Immediately carry out one further action (place a landscape tile, take a card into your hand, play a card, or bring back a herd).
- Extra tile: Immediately take a landscape tile from the display and add it to your play area.
- Extra card: Immediately take a card from the display into your hand.
- Recall all cows: Immediately take all your placed cows back from your play area into your supply.
End of the Game and Scoring
As soon as someone reaches at least 65 points at the end of their turn, the end of the game is triggered.
You finish playing out the current round, so that everyone has had the same number of turns. The person to the right of the fox marker therefore takes the last turn.
Now choose one of your two scoring tiles and reveal it. If you have fulfilled the stated condition, move forward by the stated number of points. (Bonus spaces you reach as a result no longer have any effect.)
Discard the other scoring tile. You score no points for it.
There are 9 scoring tiles in total. Each shows one of these conditions:
- If you have at least 2 lakes at the edge of your play area (at least 1 side open), you score 4 points.
- If nobody has more hay tiles than you (a tie is enough), you score 4 points.
- If nobody has more meadow tiles than you (a tie is enough), you score 5 points.
- If nobody has more forest tiles than you (a tie is enough), you score 5 points.
- If you have reached at least 65 points, you score an additional 3 points.
- If you have at least 3 trees on your play area, you score 6 points.
- If you have at least 4 cows in your supply, you score 4 points.
- If your play area has at least 13 landscape tiles, you score 5 points.
- If you have at least 1 house that is completely surrounded by landscape tiles, you score 5 points.
Whoever has the most points afterward wins the game. In case of a tie, the higher number of placed landscape tiles decides.
Note! Should it happen that, at the end of a turn, you can no longer refill the landscape tile display back up to 5 before someone reaches 65 points, the game ends early.