Nunami
Nunami Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Glossary
Cards: Any triangular card.
Community: Cards of the same color.
Category: Human cards (pink and yellow) or Nature cards (green and blue).
Inua card: The Inua cards are optional, they expand the gameplay.
Neutral card: Snow cards (black) and Sand cards (sable) are considered neutral cards, not part of a community or category. The Sand cards are used only when there are 4 players.
Board: Any hexagonal board, designed to contain the cards. The color of the board does not matter.
Life: Number on each card that indicates that card's influence (−3 to +3) on the board it occupies.
Strength: A trio of triangles on each card indicating their individual strength (0 to 3). During the game, cards often cover other cards; however, a card can never be covered by a weaker card.
Game point: This is how you track who is winning. You need 4 points to win the game! Game points are represented by triangular wedges; they will be added to and removed from boards as influence on the boards changes. These can simply be called points.
Content
nunami has three main game components: 86 triangular cards, 10 hexagonal boards, and 24 point pieces.
- Triangular cards: 86 in total
- Nature category cards: 14 Qarqamiut cards and 14 Inuullamiluut cards (14 community cards each)
- Human category cards: 14 Nunamiut cards and 14 Qairtumiut cards (14 community cards each)
- Neutral cards: 14 Snow cards and 10 Sand cards
- Expansion cards: 6 Inua cards
- Hexagonal boards: 10 for 4 players, 6 for 2 players
- Point pieces: 4 per community (2 additional pieces in case of loss)
Setup
nunami is intended to be played by 2 players or 4 players, a balance between nature and humans.
- Each player chooses a community/color: Qarqamiut, Nunamiut, Qairtumiut, Inuullamiluut.
- Nunamiut and Qairtumiut represent humans.
- Qarqamiut and Inuullamiluut represent nature.
- There must be an equal number of nature and human communities in the game.
- In a 2-player game, there are several different ways you can play (choose A for your first game):
Mode A
A. Nunamiut or Qairtumiut versus Qarqamiut or Inuullamiluut. Each plays 1 community. Use only those 2 communities' cards, plus the snow neutral cards.
Mode B
B. Nunamiut or Qairtumiut versus Qarqamiut or Inuullamiluut. Each plays 1 community. Use all 4 communities' cards, plus the snow neutral cards.
Mode C
C. Nunamiut and Qairtumiut versus Qarqamiut and Inuullamiluut. Each plays 2 communities. Use all 4 communities' cards, plus the snow neutral cards.
Modes D & E
D. Nunamiut and Inuullamiluut versus Qarqamiut and Qairtumiut. Each plays 2 communities. Use all 4 communities' cards, plus the snow neutral cards.
E. Inuullamiluut and Qairtumiut versus Nunamiut and Qarqamiut. Each plays 2 communities. Use all 4 communities' cards, plus the snow neutral cards.
4 Player Mode
- In a 4-player game, each player is one of the communities: Qarqamiut versus Inuullamiluut versus Nunamiut versus Qairtumiut. Each plays 1 community. Use all 4 communities' cards, plus the snow and sand neutral cards.
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If you want to include the Inua expansion (cards with four dots in each upper corner), each player gets 1 random Inua card. Your Inua card gives you a special ability that lasts for as long as you keep the card. See pages 13 & 14 of the rulebook to see what ability your Inua card grants you.
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Each player takes 4 point pieces (solid chunks of plastic) of their chosen color.
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Create a deck from selected community cards and from neutral cards (snow, plus sand if it's a 4-player game). Shuffle the deck, and deal 5 cards to each player.
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Hexagonal boards: For a 2-player game, use 4 white and 2 black boards; for a 4-player game, use all 10 boards (6 white, 4 black). Set up the gameboard with any contiguous configuration of the boards.
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Take 8 cards from the deck, keeping them face down, and place each in any empty space on any board; however, do not completely fill any single board.
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Randomly select a start player.
Play
On your turn, do the following:
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Draw 1 card from the deck. If you have included the Inua expansion, you may instead place your Inua card on a board to permanently freeze that board so it can never change again; if you do, you also sacrifice the ability it granted you.
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Place 1 card from your hand on a space on the board.
Rules for Placing a Card
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When a card is face down, it represents a rumored, but unexplored area. Exploring an area will cause a cascade of discoveries as each face-up card immediately flips adjacent cards face up, too.
You can place the card in an empty or occupied space; however, there are some rules governing placing in occupied spaces. In general you can play a card on any space, but there are four exceptions (see: A, B, C, F):
(In the following rules, "Tom's card" means "a card of a specific other player's community".)
For example, if you are playing as the green community, Tom is either magenta, yellow, or blue.
- A. You cannot place the card atop a face-down card.
- B. You cannot place the card atop a card whose strength (white triangles in the upper-right corner) is higher; however, you can play several same-community cards together atop a card whose strength is no higher than their total strength. Beware: This will make your hand of cards permanently smaller!
- C. You cannot place Tom's card atop Tom's card, they have the same color.
- D. You can place Tom's card atop a neutral card.
- E. You can place Tom's card atop your card.
- F. You can place your card atop Tom's card; however if Tom's card is flanked on all 2 to 3 sides by Tom cards, and each of those cards has a higher strength than your card, you cannot.
- G. You can place your card atop a neutral card.
- H. You can place your card atop your card, even if they have the same color.
- I. You can place a neutral card atop Tom's card.
- J. You can place a neutral card atop a neutral card.
- K. You can place a neutral card atop your card.
- L. A covered card is buried and inactive (until exposed again).
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You can place the card face up or face down:
Diagram caption (p. 11): Life points = -2. Majority of colour: Human. Human: 1 game point. Nature: 1 game point.
Scoring Full Boards
Once a board is full, and whenever a full board's cards change, immediately evaluate the board as follows:
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If it is no longer full (see steps below), abort scoring the board; everyone removes their point pieces from it.
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Check for human imbalance: If the total of the visible life (numbers in the upper-left corner) on the six cards is 7 or more, discard all of the currently visible human cards.
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Check for nature imbalance: If the total of the visible life on the six cards is −7 or less, discard all of the currently visible nature cards.
Diagram scale labels: Out (−7), Safe zone (0), Out (7).
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Determine how many points each player should have on this board:
- A. Check for human points: If the total of the visible life on the six cards is greater than zero (and of course less than 7), each human player with a card visible on this board has 1 point here.
- B. Check for nature points: If the total of the visible life on the six cards is less than zero (and of course greater than −7), each nature player with a card visible on this board has 1 point here.
- C. If one community has the single most cards visible on this board, that player has 1 point here.
- D. Each player updates their point pieces on this board (you can put yours on your cards); each player will have zero to 2 total point pieces on this board, and no more than 1 player will have 2.
Note: You gain and lose points on any given full board as the game progresses.
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If anyone has 4 points, the game ends and that player wins.
Inua Expansion
The Inua expansion cards provide each player with unique abilities as they play; the Inua are spirits that allow players to access their supernatural abilities, the add to the game's dynamism. Passa Mangiuk's artwork are based on Inuit legends.
The text below detail how they can be played.
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Each person should randomly choose one Inua card prior to playing. All players should show their Inua cards simultaneously once everyone has taken one. The cards become effective as soon as the game starts.
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Some Inua cards identified with * beside their name in this tutorial can be activated per turn and not allow the current player to play the cards at hand nor to take a card from the deck. The use of these Inua cards is considered as a turn.
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Instead of taking a card from a deck, a player may place an Inua card onto a board to permanently freeze all cards on the board, disallowing any change from then on. The player then loses the card's ability. The board becomes protected from receiving any new cards.
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Inua cards cannot be replaced during a game, cards cannot be laid on them.
Katjutayuuq
Allows the player to disregard community card colours, removes a restriction. For example, a green card in hand can be laid on another green card on a board even if your community cards are yellow.
Tarniq
After taking a card from the deck, play a card from hand and replace any card on any hexagonal board from the top of the deck, move the replaced card into the middle of the deck.
Arsaniit
If you don't like the card from the deck, replace it with a random card from any player's hand. This means that the originally drawn card is placed back randomly into the middle of the deck.
Lumaayuuq*
Exchange two cards with the same strength of any community between two hexagonal boards instead of playing with cards from the deck and from hand.
Angakkuk*
Exchange any two cards of the same community between two hexagonal boards instead of playing with cards from the deck and from hand.
Tuurngaq*
Exchange two cards with the same life points of any community between two hexagonal boards instead of playing with cards from the deck and from hand.
Components
Component list as printed on the tutorial's final page (publisher and credit lines omitted).
- 14 Nunamiut cards
- 14 Qarqamiut cards
- 14 Inuullamiluut cards
- 14 Qairtumiut cards
- 14 Snow cards
- 10 Sand cards
- 6 Inua cards
- 1 Cards holder
- 10 Hexagonal boards
- 6 Pink point pieces
- 6 Green point pieces
- 6 Blue point pieces
- 6 Yellow point pieces