Polar Dare! Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object
• Contents
• The First Time You Play
• Setting Up the Game
• A Bird's Eye View of the Game
• Gameplay
  • Penguin Roll
• Ice Floes
• Moving Penguins on the Gameboard
  • Penguin Roll Example
• Polar Dare
  • Polar Dare Roll Example
• When the Polar Bear Lands on Penguins
• Winning the Game
• Gameplay Example

Object

Be the first to get all three of your penguins to the North Pole.

Contents

Gameboard, polar bear, die, label sheet, 12 penguins, 16 ice floes, 16 plastic pegs.

The First Time You Play

1. Push a plastic peg up through each of the 16 holes from the underside of the gameboard as shown in Figure 1. Discard any waste cardboard.
2. Attach an ice floe onto each peg as shown in Figure 2. Floes should slide freely, back and forth.
3. Label the blank die. It doesn't matter which label is on which side of the die.

Figure 1: Push up peg until it snaps into the hole. Figure 2: Line up peg with center slot to fit.

Setting Up the Game

1. Place the polar bear on the shore marked "North Pole."
2. Each player chooses a set of 3 matching color penguins and places them anywhere on the shore marked "START." Place any unused penguins out of the game.
3. Slide the ice floes to starting position (closest to "START") as shown in Figure 3. During the game, these ice floes will be moved back and forth.

Figure 3: Ice floes in the starting position (3-player game).

A Bird's Eye View of the Game

During the game, penguins move from the "START" shore towards the North Pole by "riding" on the plastic ice floes on the gameboard. The ice floes slide back and forth on their plastic pegs between two positions. The polar bear also "rides" on the ice floes. Use the bear to send your opponents' penguins back to "START"!

Gameplay

Choose a player to roll the die first. Play continues to the left.

On your turn, roll the die and move. You must move the full amount shown on the die.

If you roll a penguin (shown with a 2, 3 or 4), it's a Penguin Roll! Move penguins, ice floes or combinations of these.

If you roll a polar bear (shown with a 3), it's a Polar Dare! Move the polar bear, ice floes or combinations of these.

Penguin Roll

Rolling a 2 gives you 2 moves, a 3 gives you 3 moves and a 4 gives you 4 moves.

One move equals any of the following:

• Move one of your penguins from the shore to an adjacent ice floe (or vice versa).
• Move one of your penguins from one ice floe to another adjacent ice floe.
• Slide one ice floe forward or backward once. The floe can be empty or it can be carrying penguins (even if the penguins are not your own).

IMPORTANT: The only time you may move another player's penguin is by moving the floe it is on!

Do any combination of the above to move the full count on the die. After moving, your turn is over.

Ice Floes

To move an ice floe once, slide it forward (towards the North Pole) or backward (towards "START") from its present position (see Figures 4A and 4B).

Figure 4A: Slide the ice floe forward. Figure 4B: Slide the ice floe backward.

Penguins may only move from shore to floe, from floe to shore or from floe to floe when these surfaces are adjacent. This means they are next to each other horizontally or vertically but not diagonally. See Figures 5A and 5B for examples.

Figure 5A: Penguins may go from the "START" shore to floes B and C, but not to floes A or D. Figure 5B: This penguin may move onto ice floes A and C, but not diagonally onto floes B, D or E.

Moving Penguins on the Gameboard

Once a penguin leaves the shore, it must always be on an ice floe. Maximum capacity for each ice floe is 3 penguins. One to 3 of your penguins may be on any given ice floe. You may also share ice floes with other players' penguins (as long as there are no more than 3 penguins per ice floe).

Penguin Roll Example

On your turn you roll a Penguin 3 on the die. Although there are many ways to use your roll, here are just 3 examples:

• Move each of your 3 Red penguins onto 3 separate ice floes.
• Move 1 of your Red penguins 3 times:
  1. Move your penguin onto an adjacent ice floe.
  2. Slide the ice floe forward once.
  3. Move your penguin onto the next adjacent ice floe.
• Move 2 of your Red penguins onto an ice floe, then slide the ice floe forward.

Polar Dare

When you roll a Polar Dare, you can move the polar bear, ice floes or combinations of these. Try to move the bear away from your penguins and towards those of your opponents!

The polar bear always gets 3 moves and moves from ice floe to ice floe just as the penguins do.

One move equals one of the following:

• Slide one ice floe forward or backward once. The floe can be empty or carrying the polar bear.

  IMPORTANT: You may not move ice floes with penguins on them.

• Move the polar bear from the shore to an adjacent ice floe.

  IMPORTANT: Once the polar bear has been moved off the North Pole and onto an ice floe, you may not move it back onto either shore.

• Move the polar bear from one ice floe to another adjacent ice floe.

Do any combination of the above to move the full count of 3.

Polar Dare Roll Example

See Figure 6 and 6A for an example of how the polar bear leaves the shore of the North Pole in 3 moves:

1. Slide an ice floe towards the North Pole.
2. Move the polar bear onto the ice floe.
3. Slide the ice floe towards "START."

After moving, your turn is over.

Figure 6 and Figure 6A show the three moves described above.

When the Polar Bear Lands on Penguins

Any time the polar bear moves onto an ice floe with one or more penguins on it, all of those landed-on penguins must return to the shore marked "START" (see Figure 7). The polar bear may move onto more than one occupied ice floe during a turn. In this case, all of the landed-on penguins must return to "START."

Of course, don't move any of your penguins onto the same ice floe the polar bear is on. They'll have to "swim" back to "START!"

Figure 7: The polar bear landed on this red penguin and sends it back to "START."

Winning the Game

If you're the first player to get all three of your penguins to the North Pole, you win the game!

Gameplay Example

Here's an example of a 3-player game in progress. It's Blue's turn:

• Blue rolls a Penguin 2 and:

  1. slides an ice floe toward "START",
  2. moves 1 Blue penguin onto the adjacent ice floe.

• Green rolls a Polar Dare (polar bear 3) and:

  1. moves the bear onto an adjacent ice floe,
  2. slides the ice floe toward "START",
  3. moves the bear onto an adjacent ice floe.

• Red rolls a Penguin 3 and:

  1. slides an ice floe toward the "NORTH POLE",
  2. moves 1 Red penguin onto an adjacent ice floe,
  3. moves the same Red penguin onto an adjacent ice floe.

• Blue rolls a Polar Dare (polar bear 3) and:

  1. moves the bear onto an adjacent ice floe,
  2. moves the bear onto an adjacent ice floe,
  3. moves the bear onto an adjacent ice floe.

  The bear lands on an ice floe occupied by 1 Red and 1 Green penguin. Both penguins must return to "START."