Mein Lieber Biber Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • 1. General Notes on Moving the Beavers
  • 2. A Beaver Leaves the Raft
  • 3. The Game Board Tips Over
  • 4. Drawing Cards
• End of the Game

Components

• 1 game board
• 1 stand for the game board
• 6 different beavers (each beaver has its own colour!)
• 48 movement cards (for each coloured beaver, a set of 8 cards with the values 1 through 8)
• 60 sticks
• these rules

Setup

• The game board is placed on its stand in the middle of the table.
• The 6 beavers are carefully placed in the middle of the raft. Take care that no beaver slides off the raft.
• The 48 movement cards are thoroughly shuffled. Each player then receives 3 cards face down. The players look carefully at their cards.
• The remaining cards are placed in two equal face-down piles. The piles are placed next to two opposite sides of the game board.
• The 60 sticks are divided into two piles of roughly equal size and placed near the card piles.

Gameplay

1. General Notes on Moving the Beavers

• On the game board, the raft, there are 30 coloured swim rings arranged in a spiral. The colours of these swim rings match the colours of the different beavers. The beavers will move along these swim rings by means of the movement cards.
• The red-and-white swim ring with the white arrow represents the first space, while the green-and-white swim ring that already lies on the beaver dam represents the last space.
• All beavers may be moved by the players. No player has a beaver of their own.
• The game is played clockwise. The player with the longest incisors begins.
• When a player's turn comes, they choose a card from their hand and lay it face up in front of them. In this way a discard pile is created for each player.
• The player then moves the beaver figure of the same colour as the card they played on the game board. The beaver is moved forward along the swim rings, towards the dam, by as many swim rings as the card indicates. The player must always carry out the full number indicated, and swim rings occupied by other beavers are always counted.
• Each beaver must be placed so that it fits perfectly on its swim ring. The position of the tail does not matter here. It is even allowed for the beaver's tail to lie partly on an adjacent swim ring.
• Only one beaver may stand on each swim ring. A swim ring on which the tail of another beaver lies is not occupied! This does, however, make it difficult to place a new beaver on that location.
• It is not allowed to play a card that would result in two beavers standing on the same space. A beaver must always be moved to a free swim ring.
• If a player has only cards that would land a beaver on an occupied space, they may not skip their turn but must take cards. That is to say, the player lays a card down each time and takes a new card from the draw pile until they obtain a card with which they can move a beaver. In other words, a player must always move a beaver during their turn.
• If a beaver's movement ends on a swim ring of a different colour, nothing happens. If, however, the movement ends on a space with the same colour as the beaver, then this player may take an extra movement card (to increase their movement options) or a stick (to increase their chance of winning).

2. A Beaver Leaves the Raft

• If a player moves a beaver past the last green-and-white swim ring, that beaver leaves the raft and jumps onto the beaver dam. This beaver has left the game and no longer takes part. When a beaver leaves the raft, any remaining movement points are automatically forfeited.
• The player who places a beaver on the beaver dam may take, as a reward, an extra movement card or a stick.
• The movement cards of beavers that have left the raft are regarded as jokers. With these cards a player may move any other coloured beaver that is still in the game. The number on the card nevertheless still indicates the number of spaces to move.

3. The Game Board Tips Over

• It is possible that the raft will tip over during the game and all the beavers fall into the water. At that moment the game ends immediately. The player who succeeded in tipping the raft over must, as a penalty, return two sticks to the supply. If this player has fewer than two sticks in their possession, they give up the sticks they do have.
• It is not allowed to play a different card when one notices that the raft is about to tip over. A card that has been played must be carried out!

4. Drawing Cards

• After a player has moved a beaver, they may each time take one card from one of the draw piles. A player therefore always has the right to one card, but may obtain a second card (when the colour of the beaver and the space are the same, because the beaver was placed on the beaver dam) as a result of the beaver's movement. There is no limit on the number of cards in hand a player may hold.
• If a player forgets to draw a card, they may take a card at any time, provided they have fewer than 3 cards in hand. In other words, each player may top up their cards to 3 at any moment. If, however, a player has 3 or more cards in hand and forgets to draw cards during their turn, they are out of luck. In that case it is not permitted to take these cards from a pile after the turn.
• When both card piles are exhausted, the players can no longer draw cards. The game then continues with the cards the players still hold in hand.

End of the Game

The game ends:

• after a player has played and carried out their last card in hand
• after the last beaver leaves the raft
• after the raft tips over

Then the players count the sticks they have collected.

The player who collected the most sticks (building material for the dam) wins this round of the game.

In principle, a maximum of 3 rounds are played, or until the supply of sticks is exhausted. The player who has collected the most sticks in total after these rounds wins the game.

After a first and possibly a second round, the beavers are again placed in the middle of the raft. The movement cards are gathered and thoroughly shuffled. Then each player again receives 3 cards in hand. The player who gathered the smallest number of sticks may begin first. If several players gathered the smallest number of sticks, then one of these players takes the turn, namely the player who would come next in turn order had the previous round not ended.