Pistengaudi
Pistengaudi Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 6 ski figures
- 1 lift card
- 6 overview cards
- 6 slope cards
- 1 start player card
- 1 goal card
- 42 piste cards
Setup
Place the lift card centrally at the top end of your playing area. Below it, in a vertical row, place the 6 slope cards with the rock side visible, and at the lower end place the goal card (see Figure 1). This is your playing area, which expands over the course of the game.
Each player chooses one ski figure and places it on the lower half of the lift card. Everyone starts there together.
Shuffle the piste cards and place them as a face-down stack.
Whoever last ate a Kaiserschmarrn begins and places the start player card in front of them.
Abb. 1: Playing area (Spielfeld).
Game Flow
Play proceeds clockwise, beginning with the start player. On your turn, perform the following two actions in this order:
- Draw and place a card.
- Move your ski figure.
1) Draw and Place a Card
Draw a card from the piste stack.
Each card consists of two spaces that you can add to the existing playing area. You may turn the card upside down, but you may not place it sideways.
Placing a card
- At least one space of your card must border a space that is already in play. (The lower half of the lift card is your first space.)
- The first card must be placed with one of its spaces against a blue arrow on the lift card.
- Slope cards may be built over (simply place the card on top of them, or exchange them). Placed piste cards may never be built over.
- Because the playing area is meant to expand downward toward the goal and to the sides, a space may never be placed above the highest (uppermost) ski figure!
- The playing area may become as wide as you like (the edge of the table is the boundary).
- The placement rules can create "holes" in the piste. These cannot be ridden.
- If placing a forest space would leave a ski figure with no possible way out, the forest may not be placed there. Likewise, the goal card may not be blocked by forest spaces.
Piste spaces always have a sign with a number on it.
2) Move Your Ski Figure
You ride at different speeds depending on the space you start on:
- Blue pistes have a blue sign with a 1 in it. They are the least steep: you move forward 1 space.
- Red pistes have a red sign with a 2 in it. They are moderately steep: you move forward 2 spaces.
- Black pistes have a black sign with a 3 in it. They are very steep: you move forward 3 spaces.
A step is always a move of 1 space sideways or downward, not diagonally! You may never ride uphill. Moving sideways back and forth within a single turn is also not allowed.
Any number of ski figures may stand on the same piste space.
You must move exactly the number of steps given by the space you start on.
Falling: If you cannot use all of your steps, because the piste ends or is blocked (for example by a forest), you are too fast and fall. Lay your ski figure flat on the last piste space you were able to ride. The special effects of that piste space are triggered at the end of your turn, even though you fell.
Standing up: If you fell in the previous round (your figure lies flat on a piste space), then in action 2) "Move your ski figure" you stand it upright again instead of moving on. You still perform action 1) "Draw and place a card."
Game End
The game ends when the first ski figure is moved onto the goal card (see "Entering the Goal" under Examples). The current round is then played to the end, up to the start player. The winner is whoever's figure ends that round furthest down in the goal.
Two- and Three-Player Variant
In a game for two or three players, when performing action 1) "Draw and place a card," you always draw two cards and place them according to the placement rules. They may be placed in different places on the playing area. All other rules remain in effect.
No Piste Cards
If the piste cards run out, you may either forgo drawing further cards (if your route to the goal is already ready), or you take the card lying furthest up on the slope. If several cards are equally high, you may choose one of them.
Special Occurrences
Special Effects at the End of a Turn
These effects are triggered by your ski figure if, at the end of your turn, it stands on a corresponding space (including when it fell on that space):
- Forest: You cannot ride through a forest. You must find another route around the forest.
- Hut: Regardless of how many steps you have remaining, you end your turn at a hut when you ride onto a corresponding space. Even if steps remain, you stop for refreshments and can only continue normally in the next round.
- Ski jump: When your figure passes over a ski jump, do not count that space. You may jump over a ski jump downhill or sideways. It is possible to combine several ski jumps; in that case none of them counts for your movement. If you are too fast and the last space of your movement is a ski jump, you fall onto the last piste space before the ski jump.
- Chasm: The placement rules can create "holes" in the piste. The same rules apply as for falling.
- Snowball: If your turn ends on a snowball space, you immediately throw a snowball at any ski figure, which falls over (see Falling).
- Piste groomer: If your turn ends on a piste groomer space, you call out to a person of your choice: "Caution, piste groomer!" and immediately move their figure to an adjacent piste space with a sign (even upward!). The figure moved this way does not trigger a special effect there. You may also move fallen figures with the piste groomer. If there is no rideable space, you cannot move anyone. Figures that have reached the goal can no longer be moved by the piste groomer.
The overview card helps you quickly look up the special features and effects. Its printed summary reads: Forest – cannot be ridden; Piste groomer – move a ski figure onto an adjacent piste sign space; Hut – your turn ends here; Snowball – knock over a ski figure; Ski jump – is jumped over.
Examples
Example: Placing, Movement and Effects
Diagram 1: GREEN places the card it drew and may move 3 spaces. The piste ends after 2 spaces, so GREEN falls and lies flat.
Diagram 2: RED places the card it drew and may move 2 spaces. The ski jump does not count, and RED could go 2 further spaces beyond it. However, the hut stops the movement, and the turn ends here.
Diagram 3: BLUE places the card it drew and may move 2 spaces. The ski jump does not count, so BLUE moves up to the piste groomer. With the piste groomer's effect, BLUE chooses the fallen GREEN ski figure and moves it one space up. The piste groomer's effect is not triggered there.
Example: Entering the Goal (each shown without action 1) "Draw and place a card")
Whoever first moves their ski figure onto the goal card triggers the end of the game. The current round is then played to the end, up to the start player.
The goal card can only be approached from above, through its upper space, and from the side. Entering the card puts you in the goal. However, if you still have steps left from your speed, you may continue moving, as far as area 3 of the goal card. The winner is whoever's ski figure ends the round furthest down in the goal. If several figures are on the lowest spot, the one who arrived there first wins.
In the example: GREEN is on turn and rides 2 spaces. This triggers the end of the game and the final round. Since GREEN reaches the goal with one step, one further step takes it into the area marked 2. RED is next and may move 1 space, so it stays in area 1 of the goal card. Finally BLUE moves; BLUE may move 3 spaces, overtaking all other ski figures. The movement ends in area 3 of the goal card. BLUE wins this game!
Forest Variant: Alternative Setup
The slope cards have rock on the front and forest on the back. You can make the descent more exciting by using some of the cards during setup as forest. Forest cards may not be ridden during this game.
Turn these slope cards to their forest side, as seen from the lift card:
- "Little Grove": 3, 4
- "Slalom Run": 1, 3, 5
- "Timber Track": 1, 2, 5, 6
Use one of the above arrangements, or invent your own.