Papua (2020)
Papua (2020) Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 32 double-sided task boards: 128 normal tasks (side A) and 128 hard tasks (side B), plus 1024 tasks in an easier variant of the game, e.g. for young players.
- 52 bridge tiles (13 in each of 4 colours).
- 4 pawns.
- 8 bonus tokens (1 with value 1; 3 with value 2; 3 with value 3; 1 with value 4).
- 4 volcano tokens (used only in the easier variant).
- 1 spinner (used only in the easier variant).
- 1 die.
- Animal symbols on the boards are used in the easier version of the game.
- The volcano appears only on side B, and it is a field that cannot be covered with bridges.
Setup
- Take the 32 task boards. Decide whether you will use the normal (side A) or the hard (side B) side. Shuffle the boards and place them in a stack with the unused side facing up. Tip: adults may use the hard side and children the normal side, to even out the chances.
- Each player receives 13 bridge tiles and 1 pawn in a colour of their choice. If there are fewer than 4 players, return the unused components to the box.
- Place the scoring board in the middle of the table. Each player places their pawn on the "0" space.
- Shuffle the 8 bonus tokens and place them face down around the scoring board.
- Return the spinner and the volcano tokens to the box. They are used only in the easier variant of the game (described at the end of the rulebook).
Goal of the Game
Players place bridge tiles on their own task board so as to connect the islands with the indicated start road. Each connected island gives 1 victory point. A player who manages to connect the road to all 4 islands also gains a bonus token. The player who has the most points after 8 rounds is the winner.
Course of Play
The game lasts 8 rounds. Each round proceeds as follows:
- Each player takes 1 task board and places it in front of them (with the chosen difficulty side facing up).
- One of the players rolls the die, which indicates the start road.
- All players simultaneously and as quickly as possible try to place bridge tiles on their boards so as to connect the start road with the 4 islands.
- Tiles may be freely turned and rotated.
- The player who connects all 4 islands to the start road calls out "PAPUA!". The other players must stop building.
Bridge Tiles
- The bridge tiles must form one continuous road (which includes the roads already printed on the islands).
- The rulebook illustrates this with a placement marked "WRONG – the road is cut!", where a gap breaks the road, and a placement marked "CORRECT!", where the road is continuous.
- Bridge tiles may be placed only on the blue fields. You may not cover the green fields of the islands or other roads.
- On the harder side of the task boards (side B), you also may not cover the fields with the volcano.
Scoring
- Each player checks the correctness of the roads built by the player to their right.
- Each player scores as many points as the number of islands they correctly connected to the start road (0–4 points). Points are recorded by moving the pawns along the scoring track accordingly.
- A player who placed a tile on their board incorrectly may still score, but only for the islands that they correctly connected to the start road.
- A player who connected all 4 islands also gains a bonus token. They choose any token from the board and place it face down in front of them. The player may look at the token, but does not show it to the other players. It gives additional points at the end of the game (1–4 points).
- If the player who called "PAPUA!" built the road incorrectly, then none of the players receives a bonus token in this turn. Instead, a random bonus token is returned to the box without checking its value. In addition, that player returns to the box one of the bonus tokens they have already gained (if they have any).
End of the Game
The game ends after the 8th round (when the last bonus token has been taken). The players reveal their bonus tokens and add the points shown on them to their score on the scoring track. The player who has scored the most points in total wins.
Scoring Variant
If you want to remove the random factor from scoring, you may agree before the game that every bonus token gives 3 points regardless of the value printed on it.
Easier Game – 3-Island Variant
- Choose which side of the task boards you will use ("A" or "B").
- The goal of the players is to connect 3 islands instead of 4. The spinner and the volcano tokens are used.
- Take the task boards. The youngest player spins the spinner's arrow. The arrow points to the island symbol that will be removed from the game. Each player marks this island by placing a volcano token on it. The game then proceeds under the normal rules. Roll the die to determine the start road. The player who connects the 3 islands to the start road first calls out "PAPUA!" and takes a bonus token from the board.
- Roads may not be placed on any part of an island that has been removed from the game.
- The rulebook gives an example: the connection of start road no. 1 to three islands. The island on which a volcano token lies is removed from the game, so a road may not be led through it nor may it be covered with bridges.