Mountains Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Material
• Preparation
• Big and Small Favors
• The Golden Rules of the Mountains
• How to Play
  • 1) Select a hike
  • 2) Put together equipment
  • Are you well prepared?
  • Do you need help?
  • Do you have all the equipment?
• In the Mountain Hut
• Correctly Assess Day Hikes
• Rest Day
• End of the Game
  • Tips on the Stamp
• Short Rules of the Game
  • Before the First Game
  • Preparation
  • How to Play
  • End of the Game

Game Material

• 1 cloth bag with 70 blue and 10 yellow favor stones
• 1 summit stamp with case
• 1 stamp pad
• 32 equipment cards (16 blue, 16 green)
• 5 summit books
• 1 mountain plan
• 1 tear-off pad with season sheets
• 62 hiking cards

Preparation

Before the first game: Fold the summit books along the fold edge to create a booklet. Place it in front of you or lay it down and take care that no one can peer into it.

You need a little preparation for your mountain adventure.

• Lay out the mountain plan (1) in the center of the table. Shuffle the hiking cards (2) according to their degree of difficulty* and place the respective decks face down on the appropriate field of the individual day trips (degree of difficulty = number of rucksacks on the back of the card). The fields are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5*.
• Shuffle the equipment cards (3) and distribute the corresponding number, depending on the number of players (see table). Place the remaining equipment cards face down as the draw pile.
  • 2 players: 8 equipment cards
  • 3 players: 6 equipment cards
  • 4 players: 4 equipment cards
  • 5 players: 3 equipment cards
• Take your equipment cards into your hand. Do not show them to the other players.
• Each player takes a summit book (4) and places a season sheet (5) inside it. Tabbed corners in the booklet allow for paper to be kept neatly.
• In addition, each player gets eight blue favor stones (6). The remaining stones (blue and yellow) (7) are placed into the common stockpile which is kept beside the cloth bag (8).
• Keep the summit stamp (9) and stamp pad (10) ready.

Big and Small Favors

In the game, you must always give your fellow players one blue favor stone for favors.

Note: The yellow favor stones correspond to five blue stones. You can therefore swap them if you have too many blue favor stones in front of you.

The Golden Rules of the Mountains

• On the mountain, you always disburse favors immediately! If you want to borrow a piece of equipment from another player, you must first give them a favor stone! Only afterward may you inquire about a piece of equipment!
• On the mountain, you help each other! When another player asks for a piece of equipment and you have it in your hand, you must share it.
• On the mountain, you must not be greedy! If you are missing equipment, you may ask others for it. However, you must ask for only one piece of equipment for one favor stone at a time. There must be no trading and no requests for more than one favor stone for one piece of equipment.
• The mountain is full of secrets! You must not reveal which pieces of equipment you have or how many summit stamps are in your summit book. If all of the players keep their summit books open, the game becomes a little more dynamic. If the players keep their summit stamps secret, the suspense increases.
• On the mountain, you must not cheat! Cheating is therefore prohibited! You may only stamp as many stamps in your summit book as are displayed on a hiking card at the end of a successful hike.

Some bluffing is allowed! To make the game somewhat livelier, you can confuse the other players and lead them astray. For example, you pretend in a conversation that you have the sought after piece of equipment in your hand in order to earn a favor stone.

How to Play

Play in a clockwise direction. The player who has previously climbed the highest mountain begins.

This is how you start a day hike: Each move corresponds to the attempt to conquer a day hike. To do this, you must carry out the following two tasks:

1) Select a hike

Turn over any top hiking card. You can freely choose the degree of difficulty. The higher the degree of difficulty (that is, the further right the deck is), the more equipment you will need. In return, you will, however, also receive more favor stones and/or summit stamps. Place the hiking card face up in front of you.

2) Put together equipment

If you want to complete the day hike, you will need all of the pieces of equipment depicted on the hiking card. You will either have it in your hand or you will borrow the missing pieces of equipment from the other players.

Note: Two identical pieces of equipment are depicted in decks 4* and 5*. These must therefore also be displayed twice.

Are you well prepared?

If you have all the pieces of equipment in your hand, lay out these equipment cards face up in front of you. Perfect. You have successfully completed your hike and will get the favor stones and/or summit stamps depicted on the card.

Do you need help?

If you are missing one or more pieces of equipment for your hike, you can borrow them from the other players. To do this, you must:

1. Choose one fellow player,
2. First give this player a favor stone, and
3. Then ask them for one missing piece of equipment.

Note: You must give your fellow player the favor stone, even if they cannot help you with your equipment! During the course of the game, you must try and remember who holds which pieces of equipment in their hand.

If the player has the requested piece of equipment, they must display the card face up in front of them so that all the players can see it.

If the player does not have the requested card, they say so and keep the favor stone.

Important: The player must answer honestly.

You can ask as many players for pieces of equipment as you like. But bear in mind that you must always first give them a favor stone.

Do you have all the equipment?

When all of the necessary equipment cards for your hike are displayed face up in front of you and/or the other players, you have successfully completed the hike and will receive the favor stones and/or stamps for your summit book that are depicted on the hiking card.

If you do not manage to display the required equipment cards face up, you must abandon your hike and will receive no favor stones and/or stamps for your summit book.

At the end of your successful or unsuccessful turn, discard the hiking card face up on the discard pile beneath the deck of the appropriate degree of difficulty. This action ends your turn. Everyone can take their displayed pieces of equipment back into their hand. Then the next player takes their turn.

In the Mountain Hut

The path to more equipment or to a coveted summit stamp is arduous. That's why a visit to a mountain hut can make the path easier.

Additional equipment: Do you need more equipment? If you turn over one of these cards, you may draw an equipment card from the draw pile. In return, however, you have to put two favor stones back into the stockpile. The other players will also benefit from this card. As long as the supply lasts, each subsequent player may in turn hand in two favor stones and draw one new equipment card.

Quick summit stamp: Do you want to get a summit stamp quickly without undertaking a strenuous hike? If you turn over one of these Mountain Hut cards, you can earn the summit stamp shown on the card by placing the depicted number of favor stones in the stockpile. But be careful! The other players will also benefit from this card. In turn, each of the subsequent players may also earn the depicted summit stamp by turning in the required favor stones.

Discard the mountain hut card face up on the discard pile beneath the deck with the corresponding degree of difficulty. You now have another turn; turn over another hiking card and place it in front of you.

Correctly Assess Day Hikes

When you place a hiking card in front of you and feel that you will not be able to display face up all the necessary equipment for this hike, it's a wise decision not to start this hike. Discard the hiking card face up on the discard pile beneath the deck with the corresponding degree of difficulty and sit out a round. In return, you take one blue favor stone from the stockpile.

Rest Day

If, at the beginning of your turn, you do not have any favor stones at all, you can take a day off in order to obtain new favor stones. Say at the beginning of your turn that you don't want to go on a hike but instead take a day off. Now you must not turn over any hiking card and in return you will receive three blue favor stones from the stockpile.

End of the Game

Even the most exciting mountain adventure must come to an end, and the annual hiking season ends at some point. The game ends immediately when, at the end of a turn, two hiking card decks of the degrees of difficulty 3 to 5* are used up.

The player with the most stamps in his summit book wins the mountain adventure. If several players have the same number of summit stamps, the player with the most favor stones wins.

Tips on the Stamp

After the game, it is best to stamp the stamp dry before you insert it into its case and close the case. Then you can place the game material back in the packaging.

If the stamp pad no longer delivers as much stamp color, moisten it lightly with some water. The stamp color will then be released, and you can continue to stamp.

Short Rules of the Game

Before the First Game

Fold the summit books along the fold edge to create a booklet.

Preparation

• Lay out the mountain plan in the center of the table. Sort the hiking cards according to their degree of difficulty, shuffle them, and place them face down on the day hike fields. Distribute the equipment cards depending on the number of players.
• Take a summit book with a season sheet and hold the equipment cards concealed in your hand.
• Each player gets eight blue favor stones. The remaining stones form the stockpile. Have the stamp and stamp pad ready.

How to Play

The player who has previously climbed the highest mountain begins. Each move consists of two tasks:

1. Choose a day hike:
   • Turn over any hiking card.
2. Put together equipment:
   • If you can lay out from your hand the required pieces of equipment in front of you, you immediately receive the favor stones / summit stamps depicted on the hiking card.
   • If pieces of equipment are missing, you must choose another player. First give the player a favor stone and then ask about a piece of equipment.
   • If the player has the piece of equipment, they place the card in front of them. The card is now part of your equipment for the day hike.
   • If the player does not have the card you are looking for, they still keep the favor stone. Important: All must answer honestly.
   • You can repeat questions about pieces of equipment as needed depending on the number of your own favor stones.
   • When all the pieces of equipment that the active player has been looking for are displayed, the player gets the favor stones / summit stamps depicted on the hike card. If the player does not manage to get all the required equipment, they do not get any favor stones / summit stamps.

After your turn, place the hiking card on the appropriate discard pile. All the players take their equipment cards back into their hands.

Furthermore:

• If necessary, draw new favor stones by taking a day off.
• Turn over special cards (which apply to all players).
• Optional: Acquire additional equipment cards for two favor stones.
• Optional: Acquire a summit stamp for handing over the corresponding number of favor stones.

End of the Game

The game ends when at the end of a turn two hiking card decks of the degrees of difficulty 3 to 5* are used up.