Niagara: The Spirits of Niagara
Niagara: The Spirits of Niagara Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Set up everything as for the Niagara game, with the following changes:
- Before playing The Spirits of Niagara for the first time, attach the round Whirlpool sticker to any one of the river discs.
- Place the Whirlpool disc next to the Purple Deposit.
- If you are playing with 3 players, place only 6 gemstones on each Deposit. If you are playing with 6 players, place 8 gemstones. (The base Niagara game already includes one extra stone of each colour.)
- The Beaver is placed next to the weather scale.
- Each player places their two-seat canoe and their one-seat canoe of their colour in the Camp. (You will not need the second one-seat canoe, as in Niagara.)
- Attach the Swift Elk figure between the holders and place it on the Red Deposit.
- You may stick the rectangular Discard card sticker (for the sixth player) onto the game board.
- Each player receives 3 new Movement cards of their colour (in addition to the 7 cards in Niagara). This expansion also includes a complete set of cards for a sixth player.
Figure 1 (setup illustration).
Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is the same as in Niagara: the first player to collect 5 different gemstones, 4 gemstones of one colour, or 7 gemstones of any kind becomes the winner.
Playing the Game
The rules of Niagara remain unchanged. Several new rules have been added.
Two-Seat Canoes
Two-seat canoes are moved, loaded and unloaded by the same rules as one-seat canoes. The following rules are new:
- A player may load and unload up to 2 gemstones into a two-seat canoe (Figure 2). However, this may be done only at one Deposit.
Figure 2: Ben in the Brown canoe has 7 Movement points. He moves his canoe one space and reaches the Yellow Deposit. There he places a Purple stone and takes 2 Yellow stones, using 6 Movement points.
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Two-seat canoes may steal gemstones according to the rules of Niagara. The following additional rules apply to them:
A player in an empty two-seat canoe may steal two gemstones in one turn, even from different canoes. However, if there is already one stone in the canoe, only one may be stolen (see Figures 3a and 3b).
Figure 3a: Gina in the Green canoe uses a Movement card worth 3 points. She places one Purple stone from her canoe and moves one space up the river. There she steals one Red stone from Ian and one Blue stone from Bridget.
Figure 3b: Bert in the Black canoe moves up the river and occupies the same space. Since he already has one gemstone, he may steal only one. He chooses Gina's Red stone.
Whirlpool
A canoe may never stop on the Whirlpool space.
Down the River
If a canoe is moving down the river and passes through the whirlpool, it counts as a simple space.
If a canoe stops in the whirlpool, it must be moved one space down the river (Figure 4a).
Figure 4a: Rose in the Red canoe played a Movement card worth 4. She moves the canoe down the river and stops in the whirlpool. Since she may not stop there, she must move the canoe one space down the river.
Up the River
If a canoe moves up the river, it is harder to get past the whirlpool. A canoe that crosses the whirlpool needs additional Movement points (Figures 4d and 4e). If a canoe stops in the whirlpool, it must be moved one space down the river (Figures 4b and 4c). A player in this canoe may not steal while it remains on that space.
Figure 4b: Bert in the Black canoe played a Movement card worth 2 points. His canoe stops in the whirlpool. It may not remain there, so Bert is forced to move his canoe one space back down the river.
Figure 4c: Bridget in the Blue canoe has 4 Movement points. Her canoe reaches the whirlpool but cannot cross it, because she spent her last Movement point when she entered the whirlpool. She must move her canoe one space back down the river. Since the whirlpool moved her down the river, she may not steal from Bert's canoe.
Figure 4d: 5 points. Ian in the Yellow canoe has enough to get past the whirlpool. He needs 3 points to reach the whirlpool, spends the 4th point on the whirlpool space, and uses the 5th point to cross the whirlpool and stand on the space after it.
Figure 4e: Gina in the Green canoe has 6 points. First she takes a stone (for two points). With the 4 remaining points she crosses the whirlpool. Now she may take a stone from Ian.
If the whirlpool is at the river fork (near the Yellow Deposit) and your canoe ends its turn in the whirlpool, you may move the canoe to the right or to the left arm of the river (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Ian has 3 points and starts his movement from the right arm of the river. Three Movement points are not enough to cross the whirlpool. Ian must move his canoe one space down the river. He chooses the left arm of the river.
If during the River Movement the whirlpool falls off the waterfall, the whirlpool card is returned to the board near the Camp, behind the taut rope.
Three New Movement Cards
- "7" card: A player with this card may use 7 Movement points.
- "Lasso" card: A player using this card may pull their canoe onto the nearest river bank (Figure 6a).
Landing on the bank is not possible where the Blue and Red Deposits are located (Figure 7a).
Figure 6a: Ian in the Yellow canoe played the Lasso card. He moved his canoe onto the river bank.
Figure 7a: The river bank is out of reach for canoes. Bridget in the Blue canoe will have to pull her canoe onto the other bank.
While a canoe is on the bank, nobody may steal from it, unload it, or place gemstones into it. After the River Movement, players return their canoes to the water, to the same space on which the canoe stood before.
- If the whirlpool is now on that space, the canoe is moved one space down the river (Figure 6b).
- If the whirlpool is next to the Yellow Deposit, the player may choose to place the boat on the right or the left arm of the river.
- If the whirlpool is near the Red Deposit, the canoe falls off the waterfall (Figure 7b).
Figure 6b: After the River Movement, Ian returns his canoe to the water. One canoe lands in the whirlpool and is carried one space down the river.
Figure 7b: Rose's bad luck: she pulled her canoe onto the bank near the Red Deposit. After the River Movement, the whirlpool was located right at that spot, and now her canoe fell into the waterfall.
Canoes that are on the bank when the Lasso card is played may not be returned to the river after the River Movement.
Translator's note: the printed Russian text of this last sentence, read literally, conflicts with the return rule directly above it (canoes are returned to the water after the River Movement). It is transcribed as printed; the intended meaning should be checked against the original English rules.
Cards 1/2/3
A player with this card may move only one of their canoes. They may choose how many points to use: 1, 2 or 3.
The Cloud, 1/2/3 and Lasso cards are not counted when determining the speed of the river (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Bridget in the Blue canoe has 7 points. Rose in the Red canoe and Ian in the Yellow canoe chose the Lasso card. Ben in the Brown canoe and Bert in the Black canoe played the 1/2/3 cards. Gina in the Green canoe chose the Cloud card. The river moves 8 spaces (lowest Movement card = 7; weather = 1; 7 + 1 = 8).
Special Spirits of the River
The Bathing Beaver
As soon as a player moves the Cloud onto the +2 mark, the Beaver is placed on the first river disc (next to the Camp). If there is a whirlpool on that disc, the Beaver is placed one disc further down the river. Several canoes may be on the same disc as the Beaver.
As soon as the Beaver falls into the Waterfall, the cloud on the weather scale is again set to "0", and the Beaver waits for its next appearance.
The Swift Elk
If, at the start of their turn, a player's canoe is next to the Red Deposit, that player may take the Elk with them. They place the Elk card on the river, and their canoe inside the card.
While the Elk is in a canoe, its owner has two additional Movement points (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Ian in the Yellow canoe has 5 points. Since one of his canoes is next to the Red Deposit, he puts the Elk into the canoe. Now he has 7 points. He takes the Red stone and crosses the whirlpool.
A player may not take the Elk from another player.
If a player uses a 1/2/3 card while the Elk is on board, their points become 2/3/4 respectively.
If a player uses the Cloud or Lasso card, they cannot move a canoe, and therefore cannot move a canoe carrying the Elk.
The Elk stays in the same canoe until it falls into the waterfall or reaches the Camp. After the next River Movement, the Elk returns to the Red Deposit.
End of the Game
The game ends and the winner is determined by the rules of Niagara.