Plucky Penguins
Plucky Penguins Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What's Inside the Box
- 1 Rulebook
- 8 Penguin meeples
- 8 Penguin player cards
- 60 Action cards
- 20 Orca Event cards
- 20 Walrus Event cards
- 20 Fish tokens
- 1 Walrus token
- 1 Penguin Leader token
- 1 Board
Set-Up
Before starting the game, Penguin player cards are given to each player, either randomly or by the player's choice.
Each penguin has a peculiar ability which makes it unique; this can be used only once during every round of the game.
Penguin's name / Timing descriptor / Penguin's ability (the card's labelled parts).
The youngest player (or the pluckiest one) is the first to move and receives a token which identifies it as the Penguin Leader. At the end of every turn, the token will pass clockwise to the next player, who will become the new Leader.
Every turn the player with this token is the first to move.
The players start the game placing their meeple in any of the 12 ice squares in the corners. The Penguin Leader places first. The Walrus token is placed in the central square of the map.
Shuffle and place the Orca and Walrus Event decks face-down next to the board. During the first round players do not draw Event cards in any case.
Each player draws 4 Action cards and the game starts.
Game Flow
At the beginning of their turn, each player draws an Action card. At the end of their turn, before the next player's turn, the player can not have more than 4 cards in its hand: excess cards will be discarded. Players can use as many cards they want at any time during their turn.
Card parts: Deck type / Card's title / Timing descriptor / Card's effect.
Action cards have different ways and timing to be played:
- Cards without timing descriptors can be used during your own turn only.
- Cards with the padlock symbol can be used in your turn only and their effect lasts until the end of the round.
- Cards with the lightning symbol can be used any time out of your turn and in response to other cards with the same symbol.
If an Action card says to draw an Event card, the player picks it from the Walrus Event deck if it is standing on an ice square, or from the Orca Event deck if it is on a water square, regardless the walrus' position.
Movement
During its turn each player can move two times, moving one square each time. If at the beginning of one of these movements the player is in the water, it instantly moves one additional square. No movements through corners are allowed.
Fishing
To collect fish, the player must finish its turn on one of the squares with the fishing holes.
Once every player's turn is over, who is on the hole square gains one fish.
It is not possible to fish from the same hole again before having fished from a different one. If the player is in the walrus' area, it can not fish.
Each penguin can hold 5 fishes max.
Board key: ice square / water square / fishing hole.
Moving the Walrus
After the fishing phase, the walrus moves two squares towards the nearest penguin. If there are two or more penguins at the same distance from the walrus, he will go toward the one owning more fish.
If there are two or more penguins at the same distance from the walrus and with the same amount of fish, the Penguin Leader will choose in which direction the walrus moves.
To be in the square of the walrus means to be exactly in the same square as him. To be in his area means to be either in the same square as him or one square from him.
The walrus moves on the central island only, he can not move on water.
Event Cards
When all players have completed their turn, Event cards are drawn.
Starting from the Penguin Leader, each player in water draws a card from the Orca Events deck, and each penguin in the walrus' area standing on ice draws a card from the Walrus Events deck.
If an Event card says you get eaten and you can not avoid the effect of the card in any way, you are out of the game.
Watch out!
Card parts: Deck type / Card's title / Evade cost / Card's effect.
The fish symbol shows how many fishes you can discard to prevent the card effect.
Example cards as printed: an Orca Event card reading "If you are in the walrus' area or water, you get eaten.", and a Walrus Event card reading "Discard a card from your hand." (the evade cost is shown by fish symbols).
At the end of the turn the Penguin Leader token moves to the next player, every Action card with the padlock symbol on the table is discarded and the next turn starts, until the Final phase.
Melting
When the first penguin is eaten and knocked off of the game, the Melting phase happens: all the ice squares in the corners of the map become water squares until the end of the game.
Endgame
When the last card is drawn from the Actions deck, the game ends at the end of the round. In this case the winner is the living penguin holding more fish.
Final Phase
When only two players are left, both draw immediately Action cards until they have 4 in their hand.
Penguins can not fish anymore and can not finish their turn out of the central island on purpose.
From now on the walrus moves 3 squares. The game ends when only one player is left or both penguins are eaten by the walrus, which makes him be the winner!
Alternative Game Modes
2 Players Mode
Players form their own team of penguins alternately choosing one each, until both have 4 penguins.
Once the team is formed, players place their meeples one by one in the 12 ice squares in the corners; the player holding the Penguin Leader token places one of its penguins first, then the opponent places one of its, and so on until all penguins have been placed on the map.
Each player gets 7 Action cards and each turn 2 cards are drawn; at the end of its turn, the player can not have more than 7 cards in its hand: excess cards will be discarded. The player's hand is shared among its team and cards can be played also against its own penguins. Fishes are individual for each penguin.
When two allied penguins meet in the same square, it is possible for them to trade any quantity of fish spending one movement.
During the turn all penguins move, alternating between the movement of a penguin from one of the teams and the movement of one from the other team.
The end of the turn, which is the Fishing and Event cards phase, happens when all penguins have finished their actions. The Penguin Leader token then passes to the other player. In case players end up with only one penguin each, the Final phase rules are the same as in the Multiplayer mode.
3 Players Alternative Mode
Players choose 2 penguins each and get 5 Action cards. Each turn, one Action card is drawn.
The rules for everything else are the same as the 2 Players mode explained before.
Golden Fish
This mode is suggested for 4 players and up. The round's rules are the same as in the standard game mode.
The goal is being the penguin holding the Golden Fish at the end of the 10th round of the game.
At the beginning of the game the Golden Fish token is placed in the central square together with the Walrus token. To pick it up, the players have to stand in the same square where the token is and spend one movement.
When a player is holding the Golden Fish, if it wants to prevent the effect of an Event card or play any card which says to discard a fish, the Golden Fish is always the first one to be discarded.
When discarded, the token stays in the square where the player who was holding it was.
In case the Golden Fish falls in the water or on the ice squares in the corners of the map, it will automatically move in the nearest ice square in the central island.
The Golden Fish can be discarded but not be stolen, neither using penguins' abilities nor Action cards.
The walrus will always consider the penguin holding the Golden Fish as the one owning more fish, so he will always try to reach it first.
The penguins who get eaten will lose the Golden Fish and discard it, to then leave the game as in the standard mode of the game.
Capture the Fish
In this mode 8 penguins are divided into two teams made of 4 penguins each. It can be played by any number of players, from 2 to 8, following the composition of the teams.
The first team chooses one of the corners in the map and places its Golden Fish there. The rival team does the same by placing its own fish in the opposite corner.
The goal of this mode is to carry the rival Golden Fish in your team's island.
The Golden Fishes follow all the rules explained in the "Golden Fish" mode, except for one thing: when they fall, the fishes stay in the square where they have been dropped, including water squares and ice squares in the corners.
If at the end of the round any fish is on the ground, it automatically returns in the place it was at the beginning of the game.
The Golden Fish can be passed to an ally by spending one movement as explained in the 2 players mode.
FAQ
How do I know where the orcas are?
Orcas are continuously moving in the water, for this reason it is not possible to know where they are! Orca Event cards will tell you if you have been lucky or not...
In case several Action cards were played at the same time, in which order will they be resolved?
They will be resolved starting from the last one played.
Is it possible to avoid the effect of an Orca or Walrus Event card by moving?
In case an instant Action card (lightning symbol) or an ability puts you in the condition of not being in the water or in the walrus' area/square anymore, the Event card will not affect that penguin.
When the effect of a card is targeted to a penguin in the player's area/square, is its own penguin included as possible target?
Yes, it is.