Serendipity Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Playing the Game
• End of the Game and Determining the Winner
• Scoring
  • Example
• Quick Summary of the Playing Process
• Variant for 2-5 Players

Components

91 coloured tiles in the shape of a regular hexagon: 13 tiles each in blue, violet, red, yellow, orange and green, plus 13 Serendip tiles.

Rules booklet.

Setup

All tiles are placed face down on the table and mixed thoroughly.

Then the tiles are laid out into a large hexagon whose side is made up of 6 tiles, as shown in the setup illustration.

Goal of the Game

Each player tries to grow the largest flower carpet from their own flowers. The player who scores the most points at the end of the game wins.

Playing the Game

Before the game starts, each player chooses one of the following colours: blue, violet, red, yellow, orange or green.

With 2 or 3 players, you may choose not just one colour but 2-3 colours (for 2 players) or 2 colours (for 3 players). Colours that are not chosen have no owner and are therefore not counted.

The youngest player starts, and play passes clockwise. The first player chooses one of the tiles and turns it face up so that all players can see its colour. Then:

1. If the revealed tile is of a "foreign" colour, it must be immediately returned to its place, face down, and the turn passes to the next player.
2. If, after revealing a tile, the player finds that it is their own colour, they may either:
   • Leave the tile face up in its place and reveal one more tile.
   • OR move the revealed tile and join it to their flower meadow, swapping it with any face-down tile. The colour of the face-down tile remains hidden from all players!
3. If the player is lucky enough to reveal a Serendip tile, they may either:
   • Leave the tile face up in its place (the "flower" may also be turned round, bringing the colour of choice to the front), and then swap any tile on the board (face down or face up) with any other tile (face up or face down).
   • OR move the Serendip tile, swapping it with any other tile (face up or face down). In this case, after the move, the player has the right to reveal one more tile.

Important: In this game a general rule applies to moving tiles: all face-down tiles remain face down, and all face-up tiles remain face up!

Important: A Serendip tile that has been left in place (and possibly turned to the required colour) or moved can no longer be turned or moved until the end of the game.

End of the Game and Determining the Winner

The game ends when all 13 Serendip tiles are face up AND at least one of the players has revealed all the tiles of their one colour. At the end of the game the points are counted, and the player who has the most points wins.

Scoring

Each player scores points only for the tiles that form the largest flower carpet of one colour. A tile or group of tiles may connect to the common carpet through one or more Serendip tiles.

• Each tile that is part of a player's flower carpet scores 1 point. (Tiles lying separately, or "islands" cut off from the common carpet, unfortunately do not count.)
• Each Serendip tile connected to a player's flower carpet scores 2 points.
• Each Serendip tile joined to the flower carpet in the same colour scores an additional 2 points.

Important: If a Serendip tile matches the colour of another player's flower carpet (or the carpets of other players), then that player (or those players) also receive an additional 2 points.

Example

The illustration below shows the flower board as it stands at the end of the game.

Let us count the players' points.

• Red: 12 red tiles are connected, forming a carpet (one tile lying separately is not counted), plus 3 joined Serendip tiles. The player therefore scores 12+6=18 points.
• Blue: 11 blue tiles are connected, forming a carpet, plus 4 joined Serendip tiles, 2 of which are joined to the blue flower carpet by a blue segment. In total, the player scores 11+8+4=23 points.
• Green: 8 green tiles are connected, forming a carpet, plus 4 joined Serendip tiles, 3 of which are joined to the green carpet by a green segment. The player scores 8+8+6=22 points.
• Yellow: 10 yellow tiles are connected, forming a carpet, plus 3 joined Serendip tiles, and all 3 are linked to the yellow carpet by a yellow segment. Thus the player scores 10+6+6=22 points.
• Orange: 11 orange tiles are connected, forming a carpet, plus 3 joined Serendip tiles, 2 of which are linked to the orange carpet by an orange segment. The player scores 11+6+4=21 points.
• Violet: 12 violet tiles are connected, forming a carpet, plus 3 joined Serendip tiles, and all 3 are linked to the violet carpet by a violet segment. The player scores 12+6+6=24 points.

In this game the violet player won, with the highest number of points!

Quick Summary of the Playing Process

1. Each turn begins by turning over a face-down tile.
2. Foreign colour: turn the tile back over.
3. Own colour:
   • Option 1: leave the tile face up in its place and reveal one more tile.
   • Option 2: swap it with a face-down tile.
4. Serendip:
   • Option 1: leave the tile face up (it may be turned) and swap two other tiles with each other (face up or face down).
   • Option 2: swap the Serendip tile with any other tile (face up or face down) and reveal one more tile.
5. A Serendip tile can no longer be turned or moved once it has been placed for the rest of the game.
6. Face-down tiles always remain face down when moved, and face-up tiles remain face up.
7. The game ends when 13 tiles of at least one colour and 13 Serendip tiles are face up.
8. For the scoring rules, see above.

Variant for 2-5 Players

You may leave the tiles of the colours that were not chosen by any player lying face up once they have been turned over. This can be done from the very start of the game or, for example, after the 10th Serendip tile has been revealed.