OlymPeak Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
  • Key to reading the symbols upon the progress cards
• Summary of play
• Preparation
  • When playing with 2-3 players:
  • When playing with 4 or more players:
• Game play
  • Order of play in a round:
  • When will a player not place a card during his turn?
  • Example of a round in a 4 player game:
  • Remember and order cards
  • End of round
  • An example of a four player game:
• End of game and victory
  • Comments regarding the place of contenders:
  • Points and declaring the winner of the game:
  • Scoring table:
  • Example:
  • Sharon and Danny's predictions and the final results:

Contents

1. 4 contender cards
2. 105 progress cards (ranging from -2 to 4)
3. 15 order cards (stop, remove and insert card)
4. 6 player cards
5. 24 tiles with contender images (6 of each contender)
6. 4 colored cubes (one color for each of the contenders)
7. 1 round marker
8. 1 scoreboard

Key to reading the symbols upon the progress cards

• Star: used to distinguish between cards and tiles used for a 2-3 player game.
• Contender signs: designates for which contenders the card can be played.
• Hydra: designates which player will go first in each round.
• Progress value: the amount of steps that the contender progresses or regresses.

Summary of play

Players take turns placing progress cards or order cards below the contender cards, either progressing or regressing the contenders on their way to the top of Olympus. Each player tries to play his cards so that they will progress the contenders he predicted will win the race.

The task is made difficult as the other players try to progress their contenders...

The player who correctly selected the two winning contenders will have the most victory points and will win the game.

Preparation

When 2 to 3 players are playing, remove all cards and tiles with a star on their upper right hand corner. They will not be in play. (The star has no purpose during play.)

The contender cards are shuffled and organized in a row, face down (hidden). The cards are turned over and their faces revealed. The number of rounds in the game (1-3 rounds) is determined by the number on the card of the contender on the far left of the row.

The scoreboard is placed on the table and the colored cubes representing the different contenders are placed on the "Start" point. The round marker is placed on the scoreboard on the place marked "1". Each player receives a player card which is placed before them and contender tiles – in a 2-3 player game the players will get a blue, a red and a green contender tile while in a 4-6 player game each player gets a red, a blue, a green and a white contender tile. The rest of the tiles and player cards are returned to the box and will not be in use.

Shuffle the progress cards and order cards together and deal each player 6 cards face down. The rest of the cards are stacked in a face down pile near the play area, they will be the draw pile.

As each player looks at the cards in their hand, they try to determine which contenders they can potentially progress the most. At this point, if a player is dissatisfied with the cards in their hand, any number of cards may be discarded in exchange for new cards from the draw pile. Cards that were discarded during this stage are shuffled in with the rest of the draw pile.

When playing with 2-3 players:

Before looking at the cards in hand and deciding whether or not to exchange some of them, take from the box a set of contender tiles (a blue, a red and a green contender tile), place them face down in the center of the table and mix them well. Each player discreetly takes one of the tiles and places it face down (hidden) on their player card as the contender that will come in second place. Now, looking at the cards in hand and deciding whether to exchange any of the cards, each player will decide which contender they think will come in first place and will discreetly mark it in the proper place on the player card by placing the contender tile from their set. (It is not allowed to select the same contender for first place as was already placed for second place.)

When playing with 4 or more players:

Now, it is up to each player to discreetly mark upon their player card which two contenders they think will win the race. This is done by placing the two contender tiles face down (hidden) upon the player card (one contender tile below the first place spot and one contender tile below the second place spot). Contender tiles that are not in use are to remain face down next to the player.

From this point on the players are not allowed to change their decision although they may look at the contender tiles they have placed at any time.

Game play

Each player selects one card from their hand and places it face down before them. After all players have placed their cards, the players reveal their cards simultaneously and determine the order of play for that round.

Order of play in a round:

The player who played the card with the hydra with the most heads (there are hydra with 1, 2, 3 or 4 heads) will play first. In the chance that two or more players played a hydra with the same number of heads, the player who played the card with the lower progress value (cards range from progress value -2 to +4) goes first. If multiple players have played cards with the same progress value, the younger of the players will go first. After the first player, the rest of the players will take their turns in clockwise direction.

The player whose turn it is will place the card they selected in a column, beneath one of the contender cards from among those appearing among the "contender signs" upon the card they played. The following player will place their card in the same row, beneath one of the other contenders who haven't had a card placed beneath them in the current round, but only from the contenders appearing among the "contender signs" upon the card being played. The rest of the cards are played in the same way until all players have taken their turn. After a player has played a card, he draws a new card from the draw pile.

In each round the cards will be placed in a new row below the previously placed row. Only once all the places in a row have been occupied during a round, meaning below each of the contender cards a card has been placed during the current round, the remaining players who have not yet placed a card during that round will be able to open a new row in which to place their cards. In such a case, it is possible that during a round a contender will have two cards placed in the column beneath them. This can only occur in a game of 3 or more players. A player whose turn has come and cannot place his card looses his turn, returns the card to hand and draws an additional card from the draw pile. (In this case a player will hold more than six cards in hand.)

When will a player not place a card during his turn?

When a player has played a card that can be played under contenders who have already had cards placed in their column during the current round and a new row has not yet opened during the current round or a new row has opened but cards have already been played in the columns below the contenders that the player can play his card under.

Example of a round in a 4 player game:

Danny, Roni, Sharon and Tammy have revealed the cards they have chosen to play. Roni and Tammy have each selected a card with a hydra with 4 heads. Roni will play first since the card he has selected to play has a lower progress value than Tammy's card. Roni plays his card below the white contender card and after him, following clockwise rotation, Danny plays his card below the red contender card. Sharon decided to play a card which can only be played beneath the white contender or the red contender and cannot play the card she has selected and therefore looses her turn, returns the card to her hand and draws a new card from the draw pile. Tammy plays the card she has selected beneath the blue contender. During this round only 3 cards were placed, beneath the white contender, the red and the blue.

After all the players have taken or lost their turn, one of the players will move the contender cubes upon the scoreboard in response to the cards that were played in the round which has just ended – progressing or regressing each of the contenders accordingly. Now a new round of selecting and placing cards will begin.

Remember and order cards

Remember:

1. Players who have been prevented from placing a card will hold more than 6 cards in their hand. There is no limit to the number of cards a player can hold in their hand.
2. In each round the cards are placed in a new row, even if the previous row was not fully occupied, meaning not all contenders had cards placed beneath them in the previous round.

Order cards:

Order cards can be placed for each of the various contenders, although because they do not have a hydra symbol upon them, a player who will choose to play an order card cannot be the first player in the round. Playing an order card is mandatory although activation of the card is optional. Meaning, a player who has played an order card can decide whether or not to activate the order on the card based upon the current situation during the round that the card is being played.

Stop card – After this card is played under one of the contenders, the player who played the card is entitled to end the turn immediately after the card has been played (cards which have already been played during the round remain in place). In such a case, players who have not yet played return their card to hand, do not take their turn and draw a card from the draw pile. Note: This card has no effect when played by the last player in the round aside from adding an additional card to the column beneath one of the contenders.

Remove card – After this card is played beneath one of the contenders, the player who played the card is entitled to remove a card which has been played in the current round and only in the row in which the remove card has been placed. Note: Players who play after this card has been played are allowed to place a card in the spot which has been cleared by the remove card. A card which has been removed from play will be placed in the discard pile.

Insert card – After this card is played beneath one of the contenders, the player who played the card will draw a card from the draw pile and add it to the cards in hand and is now entitled to select a card from their hand and place it under one of the contenders which have not had a card placed in their column during the current turn and under the condition that the card allows it. Note: In case the "insert card" is played by the last player in the round and cards have been placed beneath all of the contenders, the player is allowed to play a card of his choice in a new row.

In a round where all players have chosen to play order cards, the order cards are all discarded to the discard pile and each player draws a new card. After that, a new round begins as usual.

End of round

A round ends at the end of the turn where a contender card has a column of 6 or more cards beneath it (progress cards and order cards).

In case players play more than one round, at the end of each round the round tile is moved upon the scoreboard to indicate the current round. The progress and order cards which were played in the previous round are discarded to the discard pile.

Before a new round, each player can discard as many cards from their hand as they would like and draw new cards from the draw pile instead. Cards that are discarded at this stage of play are added to the discard pile and are not mixed in with the draw pile.

If during play the draw pile is emptied, the discard pile is shuffled and turned face down and functions as the new draw pile.

An example of a four player game:

Number of rounds in the game: 2 (determined by the left hand card – the blue contender)

So far 4 turns have been played: In the first turn (row 1) the second player prevented other cards from being played after his, therefore only 2 cards have been placed in the columns beneath the contenders. In the second turn (row 2) one of the players could not play his card and therefore only 3 cards were placed. In the third turn (row 3) a card has been omitted using the "Remove card" order card. In the fourth turn (rows 4 and 5), row 4 was filled (4 cards were placed, one under each contender), when the third player in the turn played an "Insert card" order card and therefore placed 2 cards in his turn which caused the row to fill up and therefore the fourth player was eligible to start a new row in the same turn – row 5 and chose to place his card in the column of the blue contender. .

At the end of the fourth turn, there are 4 cards in the column beneath the white contender, 3 cards in he column beneath the red contender, 2 cards in the column beneath the green contender and 4 cards in the column beneath the blue contender. The first round will end at the end of the turn where one of the contenders will have 6 cards placed in the column beneath them.

As only the cards are counted, without the empty spaces, it is possible that a round will end with more than 6 rows of cards. This is due to the fact that sometimes no cards are placed in one or more of the contenders' columns (like in the aforementioned example).

End of game and victory

The game ends at the end of the last round as determined at the beginning of the game or at the end of the turn where one of the contenders has reached the peak of Olympus (reached 35 on the scoreboard).

Comments regarding the place of contenders:

1. A contender cannot progress upon the scoreboard beyond 35 and cannot regress below -5. A contender who has reached one of these two spots will remain there until moved. (Progression or regression which was not used is not "remembered" for the next turns.)
2. In case a number of contenders are in the same place on the scoreboard at the end of the game, they share their place in the competition: share first place, second, etc.

Points and declaring the winner of the game:

At the end of the game players turn their contender tiles to reveal the contenders they predicted will come in first and second place. Each player receives victory points according to the scoring table and according to the places the contenders came in regarding to the player's predictions as were indicated by the contender tiles on the player card before them.

The winner is the player who has the most victory points at the end of the game. In case two or more players have the same amount of victory points and more than the rest of the players, they will all be declared the winners.

Scoring table:

Race Results (columns) against Player's Predictions (rows):

Player's Predictions	First Place	Second Place	Third/Fourth Place
First Place	5	3	0
Second Place	3	4	0

Example:

Sharon predicted that the green contender will come in first place and the blue contender will come in second place. Danny predicted that the blue contender will come in first place and the red contender will come in second place.

The results of the competition were that the blue contender came in first place and the green contender came in second place.

Sharon and Danny's predictions and the final results:

Race Results (columns) against each player's predictions (rows). Points awarded in the printed table are circled there; the values below are the points for each cell.

Sharon's Predictions	Blue - First Place	Green - Second Place	Third/Fourth Place
Green - First Place	5	3	0
Blue - Second Place	3	4	0

Danny's Predictions	Blue - First Place	Green - Second Place	Third/Fourth Place
Blue - First Place	5	3	0
Red - Second Place	3	4	0

Sharon was incorrect regarding the place of the two contenders although both contenders were the victors in the competition. Therefore, Sharon will get 3 points for the blue contender and 3 points for the green contender giving her a total of 6 points.

Danny was correct regarding the blue contender coming in first place although the red contender did not come in second place as he predicted. Therefore, Danny will get 5 points for the blue contender and 0 points for the red contender giving him a total of 5 points.

In this game Sharon won with 6 points.