Okanagan: Valley of the Lakes
Okanagan: Valley of the Lakes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Players explore the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada by drawing tiles that represent different territories. On each of these territories are rewards that players will claim to score victory points. The player with the most victory points after two rounds of play is declared the winner.
Content
- 48 structures — 4 Silos, 5 Warehouses & 3 Farms in each player color.
- 60 tiles (Front / Back) — On the front are the territories. On the back are special actions. (The special actions are detailed on page 8.)
- 1 Starting Tile
- 36 Objective cards — Each card indicates a way to score victory points at the end of the game.
- 1 Second Round card
- 1 Explorer card
- 144 Reward tokens — Each token represents one of 12 game Rewards.
- 17 Gold Nugget cards
NOTE: Male pronouns have been used for simplicity and readability.
Setup
- Place the Explorer card, the Second Round card and the Golden Nugget cards on the table within easy reach of the players.
- Shuffle the Objective cards and deal 5 to each player. Each player chooses 3 and discards the remaining 2 Objective cards face-down.
- Depending on the number of players, distribute to each player a number of structures in his player color according to the table below, separated by round. The structures for the first round are kept in front of each player as their inventory and the structures for the second round are stored on the Second Round card.
2 players
| Round 1 | Round 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Farms | 1 Farm | 2 Farms |
| Warehouses | 3 Warehouses | 2 Warehouses |
| Silos | 2 Silos | 2 Silos |
3 players
| Round 1 | Round 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Farms | 1 Farm | 1 Farm |
| Warehouses | 3 Warehouses | 2 Warehouses |
| Silos | 2 Silos | 2 Silos |
4 players
| Round 1 | Round 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Farms | 1 Farm | 1 Farm |
| Warehouses | 2 Warehouses | 2 Warehouses |
| Silos | 2 Silos | 2 Silos |
- The different Reward tokens are sorted by type to form a reserve available to the players.
- The Starting Tile is placed in the center of the table.
- Shuffle all territory tiles and give one face-down to each player. Form 3 face-down stacks of equal sizes with the remaining tiles, face down. Then draw the first tile of each stack and place it face-up in front of its stack, showing its territory side.
- The first player is chosen randomly.
How to Play
Okanagan is played over 2 rounds. Each round is made up of several turns played in a clockwise direction.
On a player's turn, he must take the following actions in order:
- Play the tile that is face-down in front of him.
- Build one of his structure on the tile just played.
- Check if a territory has been completed.
- Choose a new tile.
1. Play a tile
When a player plays a tile, he must respect the following conditions:
- Each new tile played must be adjacent to at least one tile already on the table.
- Each side of the new tile must match the same type of territory as each adjacent tiles it touches.
- Tiles must be connected by their sides. Corner connections do not count.
2. Build a structure
The player chooses one of the buildings still available in his inventory and builds it on the tile he just played, placing it on the location defined by his structure type:
- A Silo is built in the center of the tile and is connected to all its territories.
- A Warehouse is built between 2 different types of territories.
- A Farm is built on a single type of territory.
IMPORTANT: A player always builds on the tile he has just laid.
NOTE: When all players have built all the structures available, the 2nd round of the game begins (see End of Round 1, below).
3. Check if a territory has just been completed
If one or more territories are completed by the placement of the new tile, then players take the following steps in order, territory by territory, sequenced by the player who completed the territories.
- Calculate the influence in the territory
- Take a special action
- Collect Rewards
1. Calculate the influence in the territory
Players calculate their points of influence in this territory, as follows:
- 3 points for a farm
- 2 points for a warehouse
- 1 point for a silo
In the case of a tie, the player who completed the territory determines order of influence for the tied players (see the worked example below).
If a player is alone in a territory that has just been completed, he must choose between the special action or collect the rewards.
2. Take a special action
The player with the lowest total influence in the territory immediately wins a Special action (see Special Actions, below).
The special action is chosen from one of the 3 special actions tiles available (at the top of the 3 stacks of tiles formed during setup).
The tile used for its special action is placed under its stack.
3. Collect Rewards
A stack is made with the tokens of each of the rewards represented in the territory.
The player with the most influence claims a total number of rewards, of his choice, equal to his influence.
Then the other players do the same, in decreasing order of influence.
It is possible that a player with less influence will collect fewer Reward tokens than he is normally entitled, or even collect no Reward tokens at all.
Note: If a Reward stack become empty, that Reward type is no longer available for the rest of the game.
Worked example
This forest has just been completed by the Red player. The points of influence in this territory are distributed as follows: 4 points for White (1 farm & 1 silo), 2 points for Yellow (1 warehouse), 2 points for Red (1 warehouse).
- Calculate influence: White = 4 points, Red = 2 points, Yellow = 2 points. White is first with his influence of 4. Red, who completed the territory, must decide between himself and Yellow for the second and third position (because they are tied). He chooses the following order: White > Yellow > Red.
- Special action: Red has the lowest influence and wins the special action. He chooses the special action: Draw a Gold Nugget card.
- Claim Rewards: First White claims 4 rewards because he has an influence of 4. He collects 3 Lumbermen & 1 skin. Then Yellow claims 1 skin & the last wood. Red gets nothing because the territory has now run out of Rewards.
4. Choose a new tile
The player must choose a new territory tile from one of the face-up tiles or from the top tile of one of the face-down piles.
If he chooses one of the tiles face-up tiles, he replaces it with a new tile from the corresponding stack. The player then put the chosen tile face-down in front of him to play on his next turn.
End of Round 1
Once all players have built all the structures from their inventory, then the first round is over. Each player takes all the structures in his color, set aside on the Second Round card.
Then, each player draws 2 new Objective cards, adding them to the 3 Objective cards from the first round.
Out of the 5 objective cards they now have, each player can only keep 3 cards.
The remaining 2 Objective cards are discarded face-down.
Game's End & Final Score
The game ends when the second round is finished, after each player has built all their structures. The Objective cards are then revealed and players calculate their victory points in the following way:
- The Explorer card awards 4 victory points (VP) for each set of 4 different colors Rewards regardless of their shape.
- The conditions of their 3 Objective cards (see Objective Cards, below).
NOTE: A Reward token can be used to fulfill the conditions of several Objective cards.
Worked scoring example
Rewards collected by the player, scored against the Explorer card and the 3 players' Objective cards:
- Explorer card: 2 x 4 = 8 pts
- Objective card 1: 3 x 5 = 15 pts
- Objective card 2: 4 x 3 = 12 pts
- Objective card 3: 2 x 7 = 14 pts
Total = 49 points
- Gold Nuggets scoring: 3 Gold Nugget cards, placing the player in the first position: +10 points
Final total = 59 points
Gold Nuggets scoring
- 10 VP for the player with the most nuggets
- 5 VP for the second
- 2 VP for the third
- 0 VP for the player with the fewest
NOTE: In case of a tie, the players gain the maximum points corresponding to their position. If two players finish in the lead with the same number of Gold Nuggets, they gain 10 VP each, the third player will then score 2 VP and not 5 VP.
The player with the highest total of victory points is the winner.
In case of a tie, the player with the most Rewards breaks the tie.
If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Objective Cards
There are three families of Objective card, each shown as a fan of reward icons with a point value:
- Reward set — For each set of Rewards of a given shape, score 7 victory points.
- Territory set — For each set of Rewards for a given territory, score 5 victory points.
- Specific reward — For each Reward of the given type, score 3 victory points.
Special Actions
The back of each territory tile carries one of the following special actions, won by the player with the lowest influence when a territory is completed (see "Take a special action" above):
- +1 Reward of the indicated shape.
- +2 Rewards of the indicated type.
- Collect your Rewards first.
- Draw 1 Gold Nugget card.
- Draw 2 new Objective cards and then discard 2.
- Each player gives you a Reward of his choice.
- Exchange 1 reward with another player.
- Discard the 3 face-up tiles, return them back to the box, and replace them with 3 new tiles.
- Exchange rewards with the reserve supply. Different shapes, same color. Twice.
- Exchange Rewards with the reserve supply. Same shape, different colors. Twice.