Ovo
Ovo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
20 eggs marked with a symbol: 4 eggs with a circle symbol; 4 eggs with a triangle symbol; 6 eggs with a diamond symbol; 6 eggs with an asterisk symbol; one playing board.
Aim of the Game
Players must cross the board to their opponent's camp, then return to their own camp with all of their eggs. Once an egg reaches the opponent's camp, it is flipped over so that its symbol is no longer visible and it can be played by anyone. The first person to return all of their own flipped eggs back to their camp wins.
Set Up
- 2 players: each player takes 6 eggs marked with the same symbol and lines them up, with the symbol showing, on opposite sides of the board. These two lines are the players' camps (fig.1a).
- 4 players: each person takes 4 eggs marked with the same symbol and places them, symbol-side-up, in one of the four corners of the board, to form a square. Each square corresponds to a player's camp (fig.1b).
Playing the Game
The first player is chosen randomly, play continues clockwise.
On their turn, a player can choose any one of the following three actions:
- Action 1: move one of their eggs. There are two types of move:
- the single move: an egg can move one space in any direction (forwards, sideways or diagonally), provided that the space it is moving into is empty;
- the jump move: an egg can jump over another egg of any symbol or a flipped egg, as long as there is an empty space beyond the "jumped" egg. It is possible to jump over several eggs one after the other, provided that there is always an empty space between the "jumped" eggs. (fig.2: the two types of move)
- Action 2: move a flipped egg. Once an egg reaches one of the spaces in another player's camp, it is flipped over immediately and permanently (fig. 3); once an egg is turned over, its symbol is no longer showing and it can be played by all players using either the single or the jump move.
- Action 3: secretly check the symbol of a flipped egg. In this case, the player can't make any move, so they take the flipped egg of their choice, discreetly look at its symbol and put it back in the same place.
Important:
- You cannot play another player's egg when the symbol is showing;
- When the active player moves their egg whose symbol is showing onto a space in another player's camp, the egg is flipped over, and the player's turn ends. It is now the next player's turn;
- It is not necessary to turn over all your eggs before starting to return them to your camp;
- With 4 players, you can flip your eggs in any of the three opposing camps.
End of the Game
The first player who thinks they have returned all their eggs to their camp stops the game by saying "The eggs are done!", then discreetly checks the symbol on their eggs.
If they are correct, they reveal their eggs and win the game (fig.4).
If they have made a mistake:
- with 2 players: the game ends, the opponent is the winner.
- with 4 players: they discreetly look for their four eggs and remove them from the board so that the other players can continue the game. If two other players then make the same mistake, the only player not to have said "The eggs are done!" wins the game.