Nanahoshi
Nanahoshi Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What's in the box
One board, 12 pawns, this rulesheet.
How to prepare
Mix the pawns face down (so the clover is up), and line them up on the board.
Determine start player in any suitable way. The starting player chooses colour (red or yellow).
Goal
The goal of the game is to find the ladybirds hiding among the clovers, and use your own ladybirds in order to capture the other player's ladybirds.
If you manage to capture ladybirds with a total of 7 dots or more, you win.
The different pawns
All pawns have a clover side (back side) and a ladybird side.
Ladybirds can be either red or yellow, and each colour has 2 ladybirds each with 1, 2 and 3 dots respectively.
All ladybirds can advance one space in the direction of its dots.
- The one-dot ladybirds can only advance straight forward.
- The two-dot ladybirds can advance diagonally forward, left or right.
- The three-dot ladybirds can go straight or diagonally forward.
What you do on your turn
On your turn, you do one of the following three actions. You're not allowed to pass. Once you've done an action, turn goes to the other player.
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Reveal what's beneath a clover. Flip a pawn. You may place it in any direction.
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Change direction of one of your own ladybirds. You may turn one of your ladybirds to the left or the right. You cannot turn it around.
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Advance one of your ladybirds in the direction of the dot.
How to advance the ladybirds
Ladybirds can advance to an empty space, to a clover leaf (climbing up on it), or capture a ladybird of the other colour (remove the captured ladybird from the board). However, a ladybird can not climb up onto a ladybird of the same colour.
* Please note: You may not reveal a clover that has a ladybird on top.
The printed rulesheet illustrates the following cases:
- You can NOT go onto a ladybird of your own colour.
- You CAN go to empty spaces.
- You CAN climb up onto clovers.
- You CAN capture ladybirds of the other colour.
- You CAN capture ladybirds of the other colour, sitting on a clover leaf.
Counting points and game end
The dots on the ladybirds' backs are how many points they are worth.
The game ends when one player has captured ladybirds with a total of 7 points or more. The game also ends when one player can't take his turn (can't move a pawn, or reveal a clover).
Special case "All found"
If all six ladybirds of one colour have been found, and none of the other colour, the found colour dominates the board and wins. This might be your lucky day!
Competition rules (for advanced players)
For a more advanced competition, you play several games. Once each game ends, you get as many points as the difference between you and your opponent.
Example: Red has 8 points, yellow has 5 points. That's a 3 point difference, so red gains 3 points.
The player who got points becomes the start player for the next game. Continue until one player has gained 7 points or more. He wins the competition.