Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Goal of the Game
  • Winning the Game
  • Losing the Game
• Set-Up
• Assembling the Rescue Ship
• Ship Board Anatomy
• Turn Order
  • 1. Action Phase
    • Possible Actions
      • Sailing
      • Data Tokens and Upgrades
      • Loading
      • Unloading
      • Ice-breaking
• Support Tiles and Support Cards
• New Alert Token
• 2. Growth and Reproduction Phase
• 3. Increase Temperature Phase
  • Ice-melting
• Fleeing
• Sinking and Helicopter Rescue
• Restarting
• Solo Rules
• Game Variants
  • It's Too Late
  • Rough Road Ahead
  • Rapid Warning
• Components
• Credits

Goal of the Game

Winning the Game

Players must collect 20 Data Tokens (15 Data Tokens in a 2 player game).

Losing the Game

If either of the following occurs, all players lose immediately.

1. Any polar bear sinks into the ocean and players have no remaining Helicopter Tokens for an emergency rescue.
2. After Ice-Melting, the temperature is higher than 20 degrees.

Set-Up

The list of all game components and the rule for a solo game is at the end of this rule book. This section teaches how to set-up a basic game.

1. Put the Game Board in the center of the table. Put the four Ice float Tiles back into the box as you don't need them in a basic game.
2. Place the two Base Tiles on the hexagons at the top and bottom of the Game Board.
3. Shuffle the remaining 37 Hexagon Tiles face-down and randomly place them on the Game Board to form the play area.
4. Flip all of the Hexagon Tiles face-up and remove all the Ocean Tiles. Only the Ice Tiles and Support Tiles remain on the Game Board.
5. Place the Polar Bears onto the Hexagon Tiles according to the following chart. Put the remaining Polar Bears next to the Game Board as the Polar Bear Supply.

Polar bear starting supply chart (number placed on tiles is shown by tile type; the right-hand column is the number left in the supply):

	Bear cub	Bear cub	Mother and child	Couple	Family	Number in the supply
Male				1	1	1
Female			1	1	1	2
Bear cub	1	1	1		1	4

6. Place the 6 Upgrade Tokens onto the Data Track marked spots numbered 3/6/9/12/15/18. In a two player game, use only 4 Upgrade Tokens. Put them on numbers 3/6/9/12 of the Data Track.

7. Place 3 Helicopter Tokens onto each Base Tile.

8. Shuffle the 37 Position Cards to form a Position Deck. Place the Position Deck on the indicated corner of the Game Board.

9. Put the Location Flag onto the center Hexagon (the flag has no effect in gameplay but makes it easier to find where to place Data Tokens according to Position Cards).

10. Flip a Position Card face-up from the Position Deck and place a Data Token onto the corresponding Ice Tile or Hexagon. Discard the Position Card into a discard pile near the Position Deck.

    Example: If a Position Card is drawn, place a Data Token onto the Ice Tile or Hexagon it indicates.

11. Shuffle the 10 Support Cards to form a Support Card Deck. Place this deck on the indicated corner of the Game Board.

12. Shuffle the 20 Alert tokens. Put them face-down in the indicated corner of the Game Board as Alert Token Supply.

13. Randomly flip an Alert Token face-up. Place it on the spot of the Temperature Track with the matching number. Example: If the #13 Alert Token is flipped, place it on the 13th spot of the Temperature Track.

14. Put the Ice-melting Token on the Ice Tile which has the same number as the current Alert Token.

15. Place the Temperature Token on the 8th spot of the Temperature Track.

16. The first player will be the player who feels the hottest. The first player takes the 3 Action Tokens.

17. The first player randomly draws a Ship Board. Place the corresponding Rescue Ship on the 1st Starting Position.

18. In clockwise order, each of the remaining players draws a Ship Board and places the corresponding Rescue Ship on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Starting Positions respectively.

Assembling the Rescue Ship

Each Rescue Ship is assembled from cardboard pieces: the hull, the bow, and the bridge slot together to form the finished ship, which is then set on its Ship Board.

Ship Board Anatomy

Each Ship Board shows:

• Name — the ship's name (for example, Breeze Dragon).
• Turn Sequence — the order in which the ship's possible actions are shown.
• Possible Actions — the icons for the actions this ship can take.
• Starting Speed, Capacity, and Special Ability — for example, Breeze Dragon starts with Speed 3 and Capacity 2.
• Upgrade Ability — the abilities that can be unlocked by placing Upgrade Tokens on the ship (for example, +1 red action token).
• Polar Bear Capacity — the loading area on the ship's hull showing how many Polar Bears it can carry.

Turn Order

A player's turn consists of the following 3 phases after which play continues clockwise. Players take turns until the winning or losing condition(s) are met.

1. Action Phase

In the Action Phase the current player may take any of following actions: Sailing, Loading, Unloading, or Ice-breaking. After completing each action, pass an Action Token to the next player. When all 3 Action Tokens have been passed to the next player, move on to the Reproduction Phase.

Possible Actions

Sailing

Sailing allows you to move your Rescue Ship. The number of Hexagons you may move onto and/or through are limited by the speed of your ship. (For example: Breeze Dragon can move up to 3 Hexagons when Sailing.)

When moving your Rescue Ship, you may not pass through any Base Tile or Ice Tile. You may move onto and/or through the Ocean Hexagons (including the outermost light-colored Ocean Hexagons) and Support Tiles. You may move through a Hexagon occupied by another Rescue Ship but you may not end your movement there.

If you end your movement on a Support Tile, remove the tile and draw a Support Card. (Descriptions of the Support Cards are listed in the appendix.)

If you end your movement on an Ocean Hexagon containing a Data Token, you may collect the Data Token immediately without spending another action.

If you end your movement on a Support Tile containing a Data Token, first collect the Data Token (without spending another action) and complete any Rescue Ship upgrade (if an upgrade is triggered) and then draw and resolve the effect of a Support Card.

Data Tokens and Upgrades

When a player gets a Data Token, place it on the next number of the Data Track. If the 20th Data Token (15th in a 2-player game) is collected, the players win immediately.

For every 3 Data Tokens collected by the players, 1 Upgrade Token is rewarded. (At the beginning of the game, the Upgrade Tokens are placed on the Data Track.)

The current player must decide which of the players' Rescue Ships to upgrade (this should ideally be a group decision, but the current player has final say). Place the Upgrade Token on the chosen Ship Board and choose an upgrade ability to activate. The player may use this ability immediately if able. If the ability is a one-time use, resolve the effect immediately.

Note: Each upgrade ability on any ship can only be activated once unless otherwise stated.

Note: Resolving the upgrade effect may interrupt a player's turn. If this happens, the player needs to completely resolve the effect before taking their next action.

After collecting a Data Token, if there are no Data Tokens in the play area, flip a Position Card from the Position Deck and put a Data Token on the corresponding Hexagon. If the new Data Token would be put on a Hexagon containing a Rescue Ship, discard the Position Card and draw a new one.

Normally, there will only be 1 Data Token on the board. However, some Support Cards and upgrade abilities place multiple Data Tokens in play. In these cases, players will draw new Data Tokens only after the last Data Token already in play is collected.

Loading

Loading allows you to collect one Data Token or Polar Bear on an adjacent Ice Tile.

Remember: Data Tokens on an Ocean Hexagon or a Support Tile can only be obtained by ending your movement there. If you choose to take a Polar Bear on an adjacent ice tile, place it onto the loading area of your Ship Board.

Important: Remember your Rescue Ship has a maximum capacity. If your Rescue Ship is at full capacity, you may not load Polar Bears. (Collecting Data Tokens does not affect your capacity.)

Note: Adjacent Ice Tiles are those on any of the 6 Hexagons surrounding your Rescue Ship.

Unloading

Unloading allows you to place ALL Polar Bears on your Rescue Ship back to the Polar Bear Supply. This action may only be taken when your Rescue Ship is on an Ocean Hexagon adjacent to a Base Tile.

Ice-breaking

Ice-breaking allows you to clear Ice Tiles from the Game Board. When taking this action, choose an Ice Tile adjacent to your Rescue Ship. Any Polar Bear on the chosen Ice Tile must flee to an adjacent Ice Tile (see Fleeing below). Remove the Ice Tile and return it to the box. Next, move the Temperature Token down by 2 degrees.

If the chosen Ice Tile has the same number as the Alert Token on the Temperature Track, remove the Alert Token and draw a new one placing it on the spot of the Temperature Track with the matching number and move the Ice-melting Token to the Ice Tile with the matching number.

Caution: Ice-breaking may cause the game to end more quickly.

Support Tiles and Support Cards

A player may only activate 1 Support Tile in his turn. If the player ends movement on another Support Tile in the same turn, the Support Tile will be removed without rewarding a Support Card.

The ability of a Support Card must be used immediately and cannot be saved for future turns. A player may, however, choose not to use the ability of a Support Card. It does not require any action to use a Support Card. (For detailed explanation of the effect of the Support Cards, see the appendix.)

New Alert Token

Normally, when removing any Alert Token from the Temperature Track, flip over a new Alert Token from the Alert Token Supply. Place the new Alert Token on the spot of the Temperature Track with the matching number.

However, some effects of Support Cards or Rescue Ship special abilities may cause players to flip Alert Tokens face-up in the Alert Token Supply. In that case, when an Alert Token is removed from the Temperature Track, you MUST choose to replace it with an Alert Token already face-up. You may choose a face-down Alert Token only after you run out of face-up tokens.

Note: Sometimes the Ice Tile matching the number of a new Alert Token has already been removed (i.e. from previous Ice-breaking). In this case, immediately remove this Alert Token and choose up a new one.

Remember: According to the number of the Alert Token, put the Ice-melting Token on the Ice Tile with the matching number as a reminder.

2. Growth and Reproduction Phase

Roll the blue 20 sided die. Check which Polar Bear(s) are on the Ice Tile with the matching number. Resolve the die roll according to the following flow-chart (also available on the player aid).

1. Is the ice tile with the corresponding number still on the board?
   • If No: no bear or only adult bears — go to Increase Temperature (below).
   • If Yes: continue.
2. Is there any bear cub on the tile?
   • If No: no bear or only adult bears — go to Increase Temperature (below).
   • If Yes: continue.
3. Are there both a male bear and a female bear on the tile?
   • If Yes — Reproduce: Add 2 bear cubs to the tile.
   • If No — Grow: All the bear cubs become adult bears.
4. Are there enough bears in the supply?
   • Continue to the notes below on running out of bears.

Increase Temperature (when there is no bear cub, or only adult bears, on the matching tile): The number of the die roll is increased by 1 in the Increase Temperature Phase.

When Reproducing: Place 2 bear cubs from the Polar Bear Supply onto the tile with the matching number. But beware! The maximum number of Polar Bears an Ice Tile can hold is 3. If, when placing cubs, there are ever going to be more than 3 bears on the tile, you must place the extra bear cub(s) on adjacent tiles. If there is no space for the bear cub(s) on adjacent tiles they sink into the ocean and must be rescued by removing a Helicopter Token from either Base Tile.

When Growing: Replace the bear cub(s) on the tile with the same number of adult bears. When more than one adult bear occupies an Ice Tile there must be at least 1 male AND 1 female bear represented. Otherwise, you may choose whether a cub grows into a male or female bear.

If the outcome of the rolling of the 20-sided dice is Growth, replace all the bear cubs on the tile by the same number of adult bears. The player may determine the number of male bears and female bears freely. However, there must be at least 1 male bear and 1 female bear after the Growth.

When reproducing or growing, if the following happens:

• There are less than 2 bear cubs in the supply when Reproducing.
• There are not enough male bears or female bears to replace all the bear cubs when Growing.
• After replacing all bear cubs with adult bears, there are only male bears or only female bears on the tile when Growing.

The player must follow the rules for the placing or replacing as much as possible and then add 1 to the red 6-sided die roll in the subsequent Increase Temperature Phase.

3. Increase Temperature Phase

Roll the red 6-sided die. According to the number rolled, move the Temperature Token on the Temperature Track up by that amount. If the Temperature Token is lower than the Alert Token, nothing happens. If the Temperature Token is higher than or equal to the current Alert Token, execute Ice-melting and select a new Alert Token.

Ice-melting

When Ice-melting, all Polar Bears on the Ice Tile matching the current Alert Token on the temperature track must flee to adjacent tiles (see Fleeing below). Remove the Ice Tile and the current Alert Token and put them back into the box. Lower the Temperature Token on the Temperature Track by 5 degrees. Select a new Alert Token.

Note: If the Temperature Token is higher than or equal to the new Alert Token, Ice-melting will NOT occur again immediately. The Ice-melting condition will be checked again on the next player's turn.

If after Ice-melting occurs, the temperature is higher than 20 degrees, all players lose immediately.

Fleeing

When Ice-breaking or Ice-melting happens, the players must move all Polar Bears on the original Ice Tile to adjacent Ice Tile. The current player may decide how to distribute the Polar Bears.

Remember: There can be at most 3 Polar Bears on each Ice Tile. If there is not enough space on adjacent tiles for the fleeing Polar Bears, the extra Polar Bears sink into the ocean and must be rescued by removing a Helicopter Token from either Base Tile.

Sinking and Helicopter Rescue

Whenever there is a Polar Bear sinking into the ocean, remove a Helicopter Token from either Base Tile for an emergency rescue.

If there are any Polar Bears sinking into the ocean and there are no Helicopter Tokens remaining, all players lose the game immediately.

Restarting

If players want to start a new game, we suggest the following set up to save time:

1. Put the Base Tiles back to their original Hexagons. (see step 2 of set-up)
2. Shuffle all Ocean Tiles, Support Tiles and Ice Tiles which have been removed from the previous game. Place them face-down on the Ocean Hexagons on the board. Flip them face-up and remove all Ocean Hexagons.
3. Proceed from the step 5 of set-up of the game.

Solo Rules

A single player game is set up as either a 2, 3, or 4-player game. The player controls all the rescue ships in turn order.

Game Variants

If the players complete the basic game easily, there are 3 sets of variation rules to increase the difficulty of the game, each set can be used with any other set.

It's Too Late

In step 15 of setting up a game, players may choose to put the Temperature Token on 10 or 12 of Temperature Track. If the game is still completed successfully, players may set the starting temperature even higher.

Rough Road Ahead

In step 1 of set-up, replace 4 Ocean Tiles by 4 Ice Float Tiles. Shuffle all the tiles and place them on the board randomly. The Ice Float Tiles act as normal Ice Tiles with the following exceptions:

1. Ice Float Tiles will not melt spontaneously in the game.
2. A player may still use the Ice-breaking action or a Support Card to remove an Ice Float Tile, however, the temperature will not be lowered when breaking an Ice Float Tile.
3. When the Polar Bears flee, they can not move onto Ice Float Tiles.

Rapid Warning

In the reproduction phase, if the result is Increasing Temperature, add 2 to the 6-sided die roll.

Components

• Game Board x1
• Polar bears x45 (Male bears x10, Female bears x15, Bear cubs x20)
• Hexagon tiles x43 (Ice tile x20, Ocean tile x12, Support tile x5, Base tile x2, Ice float tile x4)
• Rescue ships x5
• Rescue ship board x5
• 20-sided die x1
• 6-sided die x1
• Card x51 (Position card x37, Support card x10, Player aids x4)
• Large round token x13 (Normal action x3, Blue action x6, Speed decreasing x2, Red action x2)
• Small round token x15 (Upgrade x6, Helicopter x9)
• Square token x21 (Data x21)
• Large hexagonal token x3 (Temperature x1, Ice melting x1, Location flag x1)
• Small hexagonal token x20 (Alert x20)
• Wooden flag x1 — the function of the wooden flag is the same as the Location flag token; players choose either one to use.

Credits

Game Designers: Jog Kung, Huang Yiming Cover Art: Xue wawa Graphic Design: Lauren Hsiu, Allison Litchfield, Colling Wang Producer: Ryan Bruns Editor: Jui-En Chang, Kenny Montaño Developer: Daniel Peterson

Mayday Games, Inc. ©2018 All rights reserved. Published under exclusive English Edition license from Boxed Lightning Games. www.maydaygames.com

Boxed Lightning Technology Co., Ltd. — Rm.2908, Building A, Longhu san Qian Xingzuo, No.2, 3rd Jian she N Rd, Chenghua Dist., Chengdu, Sichuan, China

2Plus Games — Rm. 6, 4F, No. 8, Ln.151, Sec. 2, Fuxing S Rd., Da'an Dist., Taipei City 106, Taiwan. www.2plus.com.tw