NUT Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Game Round
  • Foraging
  • Placing Cards
• Placement Examples
• Squirrels
• Wild Nuts
• Game End and Scoring
  • Player Score Example
• Credits

Components

30 Cards:

• 20 Standard Cards
• 6 Squirrel Cards
• 4 Wild Nut Cards

Setup

1. Choose a player to be the first "Forager". They shuffle all 30 cards face down to form the Draw Deck.
2. Deal cards from the Draw Deck to create three separate columns, each with cards equal to the number of players:
   • 2 players: 3 vertical columns of 2 cards each (face up).
   • 3 players: 3 vertical columns of 3 cards each (face up).
3. Finally, the first Forager places the Draw Deck in front of themselves and the game is ready to begin.

Each card in the game has a trunk-side and a sky-side. The Draw Deck will rotate clockwise to the new Forager each round.

Game Round

The role of the Forager will rotate clockwise each round.

When you are the Forager, you must:

1. Take possession of the Draw Deck.
2. Replenish the previously taken column.
3. Initiate the foraging and placing of cards.

Foraging

Take 1 card from a column, and place it in your playing area. Then in clockwise order, remaining player(s) must also take 1 card from this same column and place it in their playing area. The game continues with the next player becoming the Forager, and so on.

When the Draw Deck is exhausted, the Forager does not refill a column, but selects a card from one of the remaining columns. The game ends and players score when all cards of the last column are taken and placed.

Placing Cards

Cards collected and placed in a player's playing area create trees with nuts on both sides.

Rules for placing cards in your playing area:

1. Cards must be placed vertically and touch a previously placed card, trunk-side to trunk-side or sky-side to sky-side.

   The white lines on the edges of the cards are guides to show how cards should line up.

2. Cards with a Squirrel must be placed with the Squirrel upright (facing you), not upside-down.

3. You may have any number of trees and cover as much of a previously placed card as you wish, in portions denoted by the white lines.

Once cards are placed in a player's playing area, they may not be moved for the remainder of the game. However, as previously mentioned, they may be covered.

Placement Examples

The 2 green outlined cards are valid placements:

• Card A is placed sky-side to sky-side.
• Card B is placed trunk-side to trunk-side and covers a portion of a previously played card.

The 2 red outlined cards are invalid placements:

• Card C is placed horizontally.
• Card D is placed such that the lines on the edge of the cards are not aligned. Also, the trunk-side is placed against the sky-side.

Squirrels

A Squirrel will double the points of a connected Cluster of the same color, if that Cluster is your largest of that color. Squirrels can only be placed facing right-side up. Additionally, squirrels can join same-color clusters together into a single large cluster, but only vertically/horizontally, not diagonally. (See Scoring Example below.)

Wild Nuts

A Wild Nut is considered the same color as the nuts that are vertically or horizontally (not diagonally) connected to it and are worth 1 point each, but only if paired with at least one other colored nut. A single Wild Nut may be counted in several Clusters.

Game End and Scoring

The game ends when the Draw Deck is exhausted and there are no columns left in play.

Each player counts their highest valued nut Cluster in each of the 6 colors for a cumulative score.

• Each nut in a color Cluster is worth 1 point each.
• Double a Cluster's point value if it's your largest in that color and contains a matching-colored squirrel.

In some cases, a player's largest Cluster in a color will be a single nut. It's easiest to calculate a total in this order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.

The winner is the player who earned the most points from their 6 Clusters of nuts.

If tied, the player with the highest valued nut Cluster(s) is the winner.

Player Score Example

• Red Cluster: 3 points
• Orange Cluster: 3 x 2 = 6 points
• Yellow Cluster: 4 x 2 = 8 points
• Green Cluster: 3 points
• Blue Cluster: 1 point
• Purple Cluster: 2 points

Player A scores: 23 points.

Note: Branches and tree elements have no effect in the game.

Credits

• Design: Chris Handy
• Editing: John Brieger, Breeze Grigas
• Illustrations: Kevin Cornell

Source: official rules sheet, published by Perplext (perplext.com/packogame/nut), 2016.