Mermaid Rain Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• The Ocean Board Explained
  • The Scoring Board
• Details of the Cards, Tokens, and Tiles
  • Mermaid Princess Cards
  • Prince Card
  • Adventure Cards
  • Undercurrents Cards
  • Treasure Tokens
  • Surf Tiles
• Preparation for Play
  • Distribution of Mermaid Princess Cards and Mermaids
  • Shuffling Cards and Tiles
  • Choosing the Dealer of the First Round
• Game Round
• "Surf-Predicting" Phase
  • 1. Dealing Adventure Cards
  • 2. Checking an Undercurrents Card
  • 3. Making the Melds
  • 4. Determining Player Order
  • 5. Picking a Surf Tile and Applying the Effect of the Meld
  • 6. Passing Prince Card to the Next Dealer
• "Surf-Riding" Phase
  • 1. Choosing the Starting Spaces and Placing Surf Tiles
  • 2. Moving the Mermaid
  • 3. Gaining Treasure Tokens
  • 4. End of a Round
• The End of the Game
  • 1. Tribute to the Witch
  • 2. Scoring
• Board Setup Details
  • Scoring Example

Contents

• 6 Mermaid Standees
• 6 Scoring Tokens
• 72 Treasure Tokens
• 36 Surf Tiles
• 72 Adventure Cards
• 8 Undercurrents Cards
• 6 Mermaid Cards
• 1 Prince Card
• Scoring Board
• Game Board

The Ocean Board Explained

The color of Adventure cards and that of the rims of treasure spaces correspond to each other. The details will be explained later (see "Moving Mermaid").

• The starting spaces: The places where players put their Mermaids at the beginning of the game.
• The ocean: The area where players place the Surf Tiles.
• The treasure spaces: The spaces where treasure tokens are placed. You can get one treasure token (and only one) if there is at least one treasure token when your Mermaid enters one of these spaces. Each treasure space has a symbol of a wrecked ship, a small island or a submarine cave. To enter a treasure space, you have to use a matching Adventure card.
• Obstacle spaces: These spaces are rocky islands. They will prevent the movement of the Mermaids. You can neither place Surf tiles nor move your Mermaid onto these spaces.

The Scoring Board

Whenever a player gains any points, he moves his scoring token on this track.

Details of the Cards, Tokens, and Tiles

Mermaid Princess Cards

These cards are played to declare the end of a player meld in "surf-predicting" phases. A lot of data relating to the game procedure is shown on these cards.

Prince Card

This card indicates the start player and current dealer. During the game play, this card should be placed in front of the dealer so that every player can see it.

Adventure Cards

There are three types of Adventure cards: "Dolphin" cards, "Sea gull" cards and "Sea turtle" cards. They are very important because you use them both to make melds in "surf-predicting" phases and to move the Mermaids in "surf-riding" phases. The small symbols shown on the diagonal edges of each card correspond to those on Surf tiles.

Undercurrents Cards

These cards show the types and number of Surf tiles revealed in the "surf-predicting" phase of each round. The numbers in the vertical columns show how many of each type of Surf tiles will be revealed depending on the number of players.

Treasure Tokens

There are five types of treasure: Sea shells, Coral, Crystal, Pearl and Dragon Scale. The player who gathers the most treasure tokens in each type earns more points.

Surf Tiles

Players place these tiles on the ocean board, then move their Mermaids on them. There are four types of tiles: curved Surf tiles, triangular Surf tiles, long Surf tiles, and short Surf tiles.

To move your Mermaid onto one of these tiles, you have to play a card with the same symbol as the one on the destination tile.

The different hue of tiles (dark or light) indicates if the tile remains on the ocean-board or not when the round is over (see "Removing Surf Tiles"). The darker Surf tiles will be removed after play. The lighter Surf tiles stay on the board after being placed.

Preparation for Play

Place treasure tokens on treasure spaces, as indicated below.

Important: the number of each type of token that can be placed face up in a 5-player game is always fixed as follows:

• 6 Dragon Scale and Pearl tokens
• 7 Crystal tokens and Coral tokens
• 10 Sea shell tokens

After all face-up tokens are placed at random, place face-down tokens without checking their symbols on the depicted spaces. Place the rest of treasure tokens face down beside the ocean board, making a "treasure pool".

For set up information on differing number of players, see "Board Setup Details" below.

Distribution of Mermaid Princess Cards and Mermaids

Each player draws a Mermaid card and receives the Mermaid and Scoring token of the corresponding color. Then, place your Scoring token on the "0" spot of the Scoring board and keep the Mermaid at hand.

Shuffling Cards and Tiles

Shuffle Adventure cards and Undercurrents cards separately and make a pile (face-down) for each. Divide Surf tiles by shape, shuffle them separately and place each pile face down.

Choosing the Dealer of the First Round

The player who has been to an aquarium most recently becomes the dealer for the first round. Of course, you may decide the first dealer at random if you want. The dealer receives the Prince card.

Game Round

One game consists of five rounds, which follows the sequence shown below. When the fifth round ends, each player scores their points.

Here is the game sequence:

"Surf-Predicting" Phase

1. Dealing Adventure Cards
2. Checking an Undercurrents Card
3. Making the Melds
4. Determine Player Order
5. Choosing Surf Tiles and Applying the Effects of the Melds
6. Passing the Prince Card to the Next Player

"Surf-Riding" Phase

1. Choosing the Starting Spaces (first round only) and Placing Surf Tiles. The player who made the most valuable meld takes the following actions first, followed by others in order of the meld ranking from high to low.
2. Moving Mermaids
3. Gaining Treasure Tokens
4. End of Round: Removing Surf Tiles (Drifting Move); Adjusting Hand Cards

Game End (after the fifth round is concluded)

1. Tribute to the Witch
2. Final Scoring

"Surf-Predicting" Phase

In a "Surf-Predicting" phase, players make melds using cards in their hands, and gain Surf tiles. They take their turns in order of the ranking of meld (from high to low) in each round. Players also gain various effects by the melds they have made.

1. Dealing Adventure Cards

The dealer deals seven Adventure cards to each player. Mermaid Princess Cards have to be kept in their hands with Adventure cards.

Note that the dealer does not deal Adventure cards until every player has seven cards in his hand, but should deal exactly seven Adventure cards to each player.

2. Checking an Undercurrents Card

Draw one card from the Undercurrents card pile. Check the vertical column that matches the number of players. Reveal the Surf tiles according to the indication on the column. Players will choose one of the face-up tiles in order of their turn. If any pile of Surf tiles is empty, reshuffle the discarded tiles face down and make a new pile.

3. Making the Melds

Players make melds by showing some of their Adventure cards.

At first, every player chooses two Adventure cards from his hand and places them face down in front of him, then all players turn their chosen cards. Thereafter, players choose another Adventure card and show them one by one (each "next card" is selected by each player and then revealed simultaneously).

In short, first you play two Adventure cards together face down and then reveal them, then play one card face down and reveal it, and so on.

If a player wants to finish their meld anytime after he has played the first two cards, he just chooses his Mermaid Princess Card instead of an Adventure card. Note that players cannot include the Mermaid Princess Card as one of the first two cards they play. He may not add to the meld again once he has played the Mermaid Princess Card.

You have to play your Mermaid Princess Card face down as if it were an Adventure card and turn it face up simultaneously with other players.

This phase ends when all players have played Mermaid Princess Cards or if any player has five Adventure cards revealed in front of him.

For example, if in a five player game and four of them have finished making melds with only two Adventure cards, the fifth player can continue playing, making his meld until he plays the fifth card.

4. Determining Player Order

The order of players' turns in this round is decided by the ranking of melds (from high to low). Players choose and gain a Surf tile among the face-up tiles in accordance with the order of their turns. There are eight types of melds. Explanations below are shown in order of their ranking from high to low, with their bonus effects:

Meld Name	Description	Bonus Effect
Mermaid Rain	Five of a Kind	Warp = Player can move his Mermaid onto any legal space without using a movement card. He can choose a treasure token at that location if one is available. His move then begins from there.
Mermaid Squall	Four of a Kind	7 Victory Points
Ocean March	Full House (three of one, two of another)	Take one treasure token from the treasure pool, and place it face-up in front of you.
Twin Splash	Two Pairs	6 Victory Points
Aquamarine Waltz	One of each card type (Gull, Turtle, Dolphin)	Player draws any size Surf tile from the reserve stack but cannot check its symbol. He places this at the same time as his normal Surf tile.
Mermaid Mist	Three of a Kind	4 Victory Points
Mermaid Drop	One Pair	1 Victory Point
Octopus	Two Different Cards	No Bonus

If there are any revealed cards unnecessary for the meld, they are ignored. For example, if you play one Dolphin card and four Sea Gull cards, the meld is considered a "Mermaid Squall" of four Sea Gull cards, ignoring the Dolphin card.

If more than one player plays the same ranking of meld, the player nearest to the dealer (who has the Prince card) clockwise is considered to be of higher ranking than the others. That is, if all players' melds are the same ranking, the dealer's meld is considered the highest, and the player to his left the second highest, and so on.

The types of cards have nothing to do with the ranking. The ranking of "Mermaid Rain" of Dolphins and that of Sea Gulls are completely equal.

5. Picking a Surf Tile and Applying the Effect of the Meld

All melds except the Octopus have some effect (see the list of melds above and on the Mermaid card). This effect can be applied before or after you choose the Surf tile.

After resolving the melds is over, play proceeds as follows. All the Adventure cards used in the melds are discarded. But keep your Mermaid Card. Each player chooses a Surf tile in turn order according to the ranking of meld (from high to low).

6. Passing Prince Card to the Next Dealer

After every player has chosen a Surf tile, the player who had the highest ranked meld in the "Surf-Predicting" phase receives the Prince card. He will be the next dealer. This transfer of the Prince card is always done at the end of each "Surf-Predicting" phase.

"Surf-Riding" Phase

In the "Surf-Riding" phase, players place the tiles on the ocean-board, move their Mermaids and get treasure tokens in player order. A player takes these actions in succession: a player places his tile, moves his Mermaid and gets treasure tokens, and then the next player takes his turn.

1. Choosing the Starting Spaces and Placing Surf Tiles

Choosing the Starting Spaces (only in the first round)

Players have to decide their starting spaces before they place their Surf tiles. Players can choose any starting space among unoccupied starting spaces.

Placing the Surf Tile

You have to place your Surf tile on the ocean board, only on ocean spaces. You cannot place it on any of the starting spaces nor treasure spaces nor obstacle spaces. You cannot place it on top of a Surf tile that has been already placed. You cannot place it in a way where some part of it protrudes from the board, either. As long as these conditions are met, you can place a Surf tile anywhere you like.

You don't need to place the Surf tile you have gained. The tiles that are not placed are discarded at the end of the round.

2. Moving the Mermaid

After you place the Surf tile, you move your Mermaid. As described above, you place the tile and move your Mermaid in succession. You move your Mermaid by discarding Adventure cards from your hand.

You can move your Mermaid only onto a Surf tile or a space adjacent to the tile or space where your Mermaid has been before movement. To move your Mermaid, you have to discard an Adventure card whose symbol is the same as that of the destination tile or space.

If you want to move the Mermaid onto a tile whose symbol is Mermaid, you discard any one of your Adventure cards. Also, you can move the Mermaid onto the starting spaces by discarding any one of the Adventure cards you have.

Note that it is not necessary to discard any Adventure card when you place your Mermaid onto a starting space in the first round, nor when you have to move your Mermaid by drifting movement (see "Removing Surf Tiles").

Playing a card allows you to move onto the entire tile, not just a single hex. Movement is tile-to-tile, not hex-to-hex.

Deep Sea Movement

By discarding any two Adventure cards, you can move your Mermaid onto any tile or space whose symbols do not match the Adventure cards discarded. This means of movement is called "Deep Sea Movement".

For example, you can move your Mermaid onto a Dolphin tile by discarding a Sea Gull card and a Sea Turtle card. Of course, you can do the same by discarding two Sea Gull cards or two Sea Turtle cards.

You can continue moving your Mermaid as long as you have Adventure cards in your hand and have intent to use them. Your Mermaid can either pass through any space already occupied by other Mermaids or stay there. When you finish moving your Mermaid (and gaining treasures - see below), the next player places his tile and moves his Mermaid.

3. Gaining Treasure Tokens

When your Mermaid moves onto a space where there is one or more treasure tokens, you can get one token. If there are any face-down tokens, you can look at all of them, but you may not tell or show them to other players. If you gain a face-down token, you have to place it in front of you, keeping it face down until the game is over. These face-down tokens will be revealed at the end of the game.

Players gain two points per token they have gotten in a round. They have to score these points immediately.

You can get only one treasure token from one space in a round. Of course, you can get treasure tokens from other spaces in the same round. You can get treasure tokens from the same space again in the following rounds.

If your Mermaid starts in a space with treasure tokens and you want to take a treasure from that space, you have to move out of the space and then come back to it to do so.

You can move your Mermaid onto a space as many times as you want in a round, but you can take a treasure token only when your Mermaid first enters the space.

4. End of a Round

When all the players finish their turns, a round ends. At the end of each round, players do as follows.

Removing Surf Tiles (Drifting Move)

The darker Surf tiles are removed and discarded at the end of each round. If one or more Mermaids are on a darker Surf tile at the end of the round, the players who own these Mermaids have to move them onto any starting space they choose.

This movement is called "Drifting Move". You cannot move your Mermaid onto the starting space already occupied by another Mermaid. If there is more than one player who has to do a Drifting Move, every player chooses a starting space in player order.

Adjusting the Adventure Cards in Hands

Players who have more than two Adventure cards have to discard cards until they have two cards or less in their hands. In other words, if players have only two cards in their hands, they may keep them for the next round. Seven Adventure cards will be dealt again at the beginning of the next round, so players can have nine Adventure cards at the most.

Take care not to count the Mermaid Princess card as an Adventure card.

The End of the Game

Players play both a "Surf-Predicting" phase and a "Surf-Riding" phase in each round, and then when the fifth round is finished, the game is over. You can track how many rounds have passed at the moment by counting the already turned-up Undercurrents cards.

After the game ends, players decide the winner as follows.

1. Tribute to the Witch

Each player turns up all the treasure tokens he has gained. He has to return one Abalone token, one Coral token, one Crystal token, one Pearl token and one Dragon Scale token to the treasure pool (that is, one token of each treasure type). This is the tribute to the witch to get the potion that changes Mermaids into humans.

If he has not gathered the five types of treasure tokens, he has to ask the witch to use her own treasure to fill up the shortage: the player loses five points per missing type of treasure token.

2. Scoring

After you pay tribute to the witch, you dress yourself with the remaining treasures to go and declare your love for the Prince. Each player counts the remaining treasure tokens separately by the treasure types.

The ranking is decided by how many tokens of that type each player has gotten. Players gain points according to the respective ranking of the treasure types. Players who have no tokens of the type are excluded from its ranking.

Ranking by Treasure Type	Points
First	12 points
Second	6 points
Third	4 points
Fourth	2 points
Fifth or Sixth	0 points

If one player monopolizes the tokens of a treasure type (no other players have tokens of that type after they have paid tribute to the witch), he gains three more points as a bonus per monopolized treasure type.

If more than one player has gathered the same number of treasure tokens of the same type, first they add the points which would be given to the next ranking player, then divide the total points by the number of players who have gathered the same number of treasure tokens of the type.

Those players gain the divided points. If there is a remainder, it is rounded down but those players can gain one point at least.

For example, if three players are tied for the second ranking group in Coral, they add 4 points (which would be given to the third player) and 2 points (which would be given to the fourth player) to 6 points (which would be given to the second ranking player), then divide the total points by 3, for a total of 4 points gained to each of the tied players. ((6+2+4)/3=4).

The player who gains the most points after all treasure is calculated wins both the Prince's heart and the game.

Board Setup Details

3-Player: Do not use the area shown by the shaded out hexes. For the face-up spaces, use 3 Dragon Scale tokens, 3 Pearl tokens, 4 Crystal tokens, 4 Coral tokens, 4 Abalone tokens, for a total of 18 face-up tokens.

4-Player: Use the entire board. For the face-up spaces, use 4 Dragon Scale tokens, 4 Pearl tokens, 6 Crystal tokens, 6 Coral tokens, 8 Abalone tokens, for a total of 28 face-up tokens.

6-Player: Use the entire board. For the face-up spaces, use 6 Dragon Scale tokens, 7 Pearl tokens, 9 Crystal tokens, 9 Coral tokens, 11 Abalone tokens, for a total of 42 face-up tokens.

Mermaid Free: Place the face-up tokens completely randomly!

Scoring Example

Player 1 (yellow):

• Coral Monopoly: 15 pts
• Abalone 1st Place: 12 pts
• Total: 27 pts

Player 2 (red):

• Pearl (tied with Player 3): 12+6/2 = 9 pts
• Abalone 2nd Place: 6 pts
• Total: 15 pts

Player 3 (pink):

• Crystal Monopoly: 15 pts
• Pearl (tied with Player 2): 12+6/2 = 9 pts
• Dragon Scale missing from tribute: -5 pts
• Abalone missing from tribute: -5 pts
• Total: 14 pts

Player 4 (green):

• Dragon Scale Monopoly: 15 pts
• Pearl missing from tribute: -5 pts
• Total: 10 pts