Niwa: Japanischer Garten
Niwa: Japanischer Garten Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
66 playing cards: each card value from 0 to 10 appears twice in each of three colours: pink, green and orange.
8 objective cards.
Setup
First, shuffle the objective cards and place one of them face up at the edge of the playing area where everyone can see it. It determines your goal and the scoring for the round. Set the remaining objective cards aside; you will need them again in the next round.
Then shuffle the playing cards and deal 9 cards face down to each player, to be taken into hand. Place a face-down stack of 9 further cards in the middle. Next to this stack, place 3 cards face up. Set the remaining playing cards aside; they too are not needed until the next round.
Now the game can begin!
Turn Sequence
The player who had their birthday most recently begins. Play then continues clockwise. On your turn, you have the following options:
- Exchange a card: Place a card from your hand face up in the card row in the middle, then take any other face-up card from the middle into your hand. All other players must be able to see which card you exchange for which. Your turn is then over.
- Or reveal a card: Reveal a new card from the face-down stack and place it face up in the card row in the middle. Your turn is then over.
- Exception: If a trio lies in the middle, your turn does not end yet. A trio consists of 3 cards of the same card value in 3 different colours. If, after revealing a card, there are open trios in the middle, you may take one of them. To do so, first place 3 cards from your hand face up in the card row in the middle, then take the chosen trio into your hand. Your turn is then over.
- Note: Even if more than one trio lies in the middle, you may take only one of them. To take a trio from the middle, you must first choose the action of revealing a new card.
- If you exchange a card during your turn, you may not take a trio afterwards, even if one is open in the middle.
Tip: Depending on the objective card in play, it can be more sensible to collect duos or other card combinations rather than trios. Therefore always consider the objective card in play and the points that the respective card can contribute as a trio or in another combination.
End of Round
The round ends as soon as the last card from the face-down stack is revealed. The player who revealed this card may finish their turn and take a trio from the middle, if one is available. The other players are no longer taking turns after that.
Then the points of each player are added up and recorded. The player with the most points wins the objective card.
We recommend playing a tournament of 3 rounds, with a different objective card in each round. After the end of the third round, the point totals are compared. The player who has reached the most points wins the game as the master of the Japanese art of gardening.
Scoring
After the end of a round, everyone lays out the 9 cards from their hand in front of them and scores them as follows.
- Important: Trios are always scored first! All possible trios must be scored. The cards belonging to them may not be kept for the second scoring type of the objective card in play.
- Trio: Each trio consists of 3 cards of the same card value in 3 different colours and scores as many points as are shown in the middle of the card. A trio of 3 x 0 is therefore the most valuable, as it scores 20 points. A trio of 3 x 10, on the other hand, scores the fewest, only 10 points. Each card may be used in only one trio. After the trios have been scored, all players must set the corresponding cards aside.
- Objective cards: Then the remaining cards are scored according to the right-hand side of the objective card in play. Each card scores the value shown in its corners, i.e. 0 to 10. Remaining cards that cannot be scored for the objective bring no points.
Objective 1
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and all remaining hand cards.
Objective 2
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and all remaining hand cards of one colour of your choice.
Objective 3
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and the highest card of each colour.
Objective 4
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and duos of the same card value (colour does not matter).
Objective 5
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and same-coloured duos of the same card value.
Objective 6
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and all remaining odd hand cards.
Objective 7
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and all remaining even hand cards.
Objective 8
Trios of different colours with the same card value, and the longest contiguous card sequence of one colour.
Example
Example: 1 trio of 8s (12 points), 1 duo of 10s (2 x 10 points) and 1 duo of 4s (2 x 8 points) give a total of 40 points.
Transcriber's note: The example sentence above is transcribed as printed in the German source ("1x Duo der 4 (2 x 8 Punkte)"). This is a misprint in the source: a duo of 4s is two cards of value 4, scoring 2 x 4 = 8 points. The example graphic reads "Duo: 2 x 4 Punkte", and the stated total of 40 (12 + 20 + 8) only works with 8 points for this duo. The arithmetic is therefore: trio of 8s = 12 points; duo of 10s = 2 x 10 = 20 points; duo of 4s = 2 x 4 = 8 points; total = 40 points.