Skåål
Skåål Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Note to the Readers
Take the time to read these rules. Every word has importance and helps in the understanding of this game. It may be wise to put the different elements of the game in place as you advance in your reading. It will help you to really visualize the important phases of the game.
Goal of the Game
To possess more "respect points" than your adversaries at the end of the game.
Components
- 1 gameboard representing Skaalland.
- 90 Dwarf figurines.
- 12 Royal Inn figurines.
- 1 sack of gold nuggets.
- 1 sack of red "Ooops".
- 1 Prospecting Pawn.
- 1 special die, not very normal.
Skaalland
12 different colored regions make up this country. Each of them is joined to three others by roads. Thus, for example, it is impossible to pass from Kamau directly to Salud because no direct link exists.
Illustration: possible movement between regions.
Ringing Skaalland is the respect points track on which every player's Dwarf Accountant moves, as well as the Prospecting Pawn.
Illustration: a Dwarf Accountant; the respect points track; the Prospecting Pawn.
Setup
The most bearded player begins (toupees are accepted). In case of doubt or general lack of hair, the youngest starts, followed by the player to his/her left and so forth.
Each player chooses the color of his/her clan.
Each player puts one of his/her Dwarfs in turn in an empty region. Continue several times around the table.
You must not put a Dwarf in an adjacent region (bound by a road) to one that you already occupy, except if you no longer have a choice.
- With 3 players, each places 4 Dwarfs and keeps a reserve of 1l Dwarfs and 2 Inns. [Printed as "1l" in the source.]
- With 4 players, each places 3 Dwarfs and keeps a reserve of 10 Dwarfs and 2 Inns.
- With 5 players, each places 2 Dwarfs (2 regions remain empty) and keeps a reserve of 9 Dwarfs and 2 Inns.
- With 6 players, each places 2 Dwarfs and keeps a reserve of 8 Dwarfs and 2 Inns.
The unused Dwarfs are placed back in the box.
Every player places one of his/her Dwarfs then on the first space of the respect track. This is the Dwarf Accountant.
The Prospecting Pawn is placed on the space that follows the one with the Dwarf Accountants.
Illustration: starting position of the Dwarf Accountants and the Prospecting Pawn.
Game Turn
Hi ho! Hi ho! It's off to work we go!
Every player on his/her turn does one action and one only.
The Dwarf is a simple being...
The possible actions are:
- Place a new Dwarf of his/her clan
- Move one of his/her Dwarfs
- Prospect a region
- Harvest nuggets of gold
- Build a Royal Inn
- Move a Royal Inn
1 - Place a New Dwarf on the Board
The player places in the region of his/her choice one of the Dwarfs from his/her reserve. Put one of your Dwarfs in the region of your choice. This region can already contain other Dwarfs of your clan or opposing clans.
If all your Dwarfs are already on the board, this action is, of course, impossible.
2 - Move One of Your Dwarfs
You can move a Dwarf of your clan from a region toward one of the three adjacent regions joined by a road.
The Dwarfs move using the roads to go from one village to another. Although robust, the Dwarfs have small legs. You cannot therefore move more than one Dwarf at a time and from only one region to another. It is impossible to pass from one region to another if there is not a road.
Illustration: possible moves during a turn.
There is no limit to the number of Dwarfs present in a region.
3 - Prospect
Prospecting allows, by a throw of the special die, the discovery of a new vein of gold or the enlargement of one already being mined.
Also, sometimes your Dwarfs find the Ooops...
Illustration: "Mines closed" space.
If the Prospecting Pawn has yet to reach the "mines closed" space, move it one space forward and roll the die to see what you have discovered.
If the Prospecting Pawn has reached the "mines closed" space, the prospecting action is no longer possible.
One always throws the die before choosing the region where it takes effect.
If the roll of the die is a number from 1 to 5:
This is the number of gold nuggets that is discovered.
You can place these nuggets in a non-prospected region or in an already prospected region whose vein is not yet exhausted (see "Harvesting the Nuggets").
As soon as you have placed one or more of the nuggets in the region of your choice, the rumor of the discovery spreads to the surrounding regions!
You must bring a Dwarf from every adjacent region (linked by a road) to the one where you placed the new nuggets (that is gold or the Ooops, the Dwarfs come to see either, they are too curious!). If an adjacent region contains several Dwarfs of several clans, it is the prospector who chooses the Dwarf who comes to see the new discovery.
Example: Cathy (yellow) gets a 2 on the die. She decides to place this however in Kamau (which contained 3 nuggets already). The rumor of the discovery of the new vein spreads to the three adjacent regions. Cathy benefits therefore from this to more a Dwarf of her color from the regions of Jarama and Topa to Kamau.
Illustration: the rumor of the discovery spreads to the adjacent regions.
On the other hand, as she doesn't have a Dwarf in Belsamati, she makes a red Dwarf travel (which doesn't present a danger anyway since it arrives alone among five yellow Dwarfs and two blue Dwarfs).
Attention, a rumor can never displace a dwarf innkeeper.
Rules of prospecting:
You can put new nuggets in:
- A region that has never been prospected: you discover a new vein there.
- A region where there already are nuggets: you enlarge an existing vein.
You cannot put any new nuggets in:
- A region that contains the Ooops: this region is definitely empty of gold.
- A region that contains a Royal Inn: to drink or to prospect - it is necessary to choose!
If the roll of the die is an Ooops!
You didn't discover any gold but rather the Ooops! The Ooops is never collected. It is the bane of the Dwarfs! It is rotten, it is red, and that is not worth anything!
You must place the Ooops in an empty region (that doesn't contain nuggets, nor Ooops, nor an Inn).
If no region can receive the Ooops, you lose your turn, since you don't have the right to any more than the one action. At the same time, no one forced you to prospect, so there is no point in complaining!
In order to visualize well that a region only contains the Ooops, place a small pinch (a few nuggets) of it.
Example: Paulo gets the Ooops on the die. No luck! He cannot put it down in Jarama because there is already a vein of gold in the region. Kamau already contains the Ooops put down on a previous turn. Belsamati already shelters an Inn and the Ooops coming from an old gold vein that played out. On the other hand, Topa has neither an Inn, gold, or Ooops. Paulo can put down the Ooops that comes from his turn there; which will then forbid all further prospecting for gold in this region.
Illustration: the appearance of Ooops comes with a migration of a Dwarf from every adjacent region.
As at the time of the discovery of nuggets, the appearance of Ooops makes Dwarfs come from the neighboring region, attracted by the rumor. Bring a Dwarf from every adjacent region to the one where the Ooops appears.
A good Dwarf doesn't forget anything!
Before throwing the die to prospect, you must always advance the Prospecting Pawn one space. If by accident you throw the die before advancing the pawn, the other players should hurry to denounce you and you immediately lose 1 Respect Point. What shame!
Before every throw of the die, the Prospecting Pawn must advance one space. When it reaches the space "mines closed", the prospecting action is no longer possible.
4 - Harvesting the Nuggets
It is good to discover gold; it is better to collect it!
You can collect as many nuggets as there are Dwarfs from your clan present in the region.
When the last nugget of a region is collected, the vein is exhausted. To indicate it, immediately place a pinch of Ooops in this region (it doesn't trigger a rumor).
Gold, it is good for the clan and the king of the Dwarfs is happy!
For every harvested nugget, advance your Dwarf Accountant one space on the respect track.
Even if a Royal Inn is placed in a region, you can always collect gold. It is an action that requires less attention than prospecting, so one can drink at the same time...
Illustration: situation at the beginning of Cathy's turn.
Example: Let's come back to Kamau. It is Cathy's turn to play (yellow). She has five Dwarfs in the region who are very determined to harvest more gold! The vein contains 4 nuggets that her Dwarfs collect quickly. Cathy advances her Dwarf Accountant 4 spaces therefore on the respect points track. In addition, to signal that the vein of gold is exhausted in Kamau, she puts down a few nuggets of Ooops on this region. Prospecting is henceforth prohibited in this region.
Illustration: with the arrival of the Ooops, it is the end of prospecting in Kamau.
5 - Open a Royal Inn
The Dwarfs like gold, but work makes them thirsty!
A clan of Dwarfs that has a majority in a region can construct a Royal Inn there in order to serve beer to their own kind.
The player takes an Inn from his/her reserve and builds it in the region where there is a majority.
One of the Dwarfs of the majority clan is then put on the Inn and becomes the Innkeeper.
The Innkeeper cannot harvest any nuggets, but he nevertheless counts in the total of the Dwarfs of that clan. He cannot be attracted ever by a rumor of gold or Ooops.
You cannot construct a second Inn if you already possess one. In the same way, there can only be one Inn in each region.
On the other hand, you can possess a second Inn if you succeed in winning supremacy in a region where there is an opponent's Inn! An innkeeper in this case has to leave his inn.
Selling your beer helps gain the respect of the clans!
At the beginning of your turn, and then in the beginning of each of your following turns, you gain 1 respect point for each Dwarf of opponents' clan(s) present in the region where you possess an Inn. The Dwarfs of your clan drink free! It is pleasant, but doesn't particularly gain respect!
Example: the region of Le Chaim attracts a lot of people! And for good reason! A vein of 12 nuggets cannot go unnoticed by a Dwarf! On the previous turn, Bob (red) constructed an Inn in the region. He could make it because with his 6 Dwarfs, he had more Dwarfs than the other players in this region. At the beginning of his turn, Bob therefore gains 7 respect points while serving beers joyously to his adversaries (2 yellow, 2 green, and 3 blue). His Dwarf Accountant therefore advances 7 spaces on the respect points track. In addition, he chooses as his action to harvest some nuggets. He therefore gathers five of them (and not six because his Dwarf Innkeeper is occupied serving beers!). He therefore advances his Dwarf Accountant five spaces again, which makes a total of 12 points for the same game turn!
Change of Innkeeper
If a clan has more dwards [sic] in a region than the clan of the present Innkeeper, the ownership of the inn is immediately switched and the Innkeeper is replaced by one of the Dwarfs of the new majority clan. It doesn't count as an action. Don't forget that it is at the beginning of the turn of the Innkeeper that the points are counted. If a player becomes Innkeeper because he brought a new Dwarf into the region, the points are not counted at the time of this change of power but were counted at the beginning of the turn, when he was not yet the Innkeeper.
Example: Cathy (yellow) possesses an Inn in Nazdravie. She has four Dwarfs in the region (of which one is the Dwarf Innkeeper). Following a move, Bob (red) has five Dwarfs in this same region. The opportunity is too beautiful!
Illustration: the reds are more numerous than the yellows.
Illustration: they decide therefore to take over the Inn!
Since the red clan counts more Dwarfs than the yellow clan, Bob can swap the yellow Innkeeper and install a red Dwarf on the Inn. At the beginning of his next turn, he will count as many points as opponents' Dwarfs remain in this region.
Note: Bob already possessed an Inn in Topa. He therefore becomes owner of a second Inn thanks to the swap with the yellow Innkeeper. This is the only way to possess more than one Inn.
Important: the color of the Inn is of little importance. The main concern is the color of the Dwarf Innkeeper.
6 - Move an Inn
The Inns are actually on enormous wheels. It allows them to change regions very quickly if need be.
A player with an Inn can thus decide to move an Inn (because of a shortage of clientele for example).
An Inn can be moved by its owner to the region of his/her choice (not necessarily adjacent). The Dwarf Innkeeper is left behind.
The new Innkeeper is chosen from the majority clan in the Inn's new region.
Illustration: when the Inn is moved, the innkeeper descends and remains in the region. Only the inn travels, it finds its innkeeper in the new region.
Example: The region of Topa doesn't attract crowds anymore! The vein of gold is exhausted and soon Bob (red) finds his Dwarf alone with its Inn (which is depressing for an Innkeeper). Seeing that Yambooi is very crowded at the moment, Bob, who has scoped out the move well, decides to move his Inn there. Since he is the majority in this region (he is strong, this Bob!), he therefore installs a new Dwarf Innkeeper while hoping to harvest some points on his next turn.
Winning Respect
When you win respect points, you advance your Dwarf Accountant on the track. If your movement allows you to pass the Prospecting Pawn, you don't count the space where the pawn is. You hop! An extra space is gained!
If the Prospecting Pawn joins your Dwarf Accountant on the same space, you move back behind him. Bad luck!
Illustration: the red Dwarf Accountant gains 6 respect points. Since it passes the Prospecting Pawn (above), it gains a space and therefore advances 7 spaces! Win!
Illustration: the blue player decides to prospect on his/her turn. Before throwing the die, he/she therefore advances the Prospecting Pawn one space ... which then catches up with the red Dwarf Accountant ... who moves back a space. Lost!
End of the Game
When all regions have delivered their gold and one sees only Ooops everywhere, the game ends immediately. The player whose clan has the most respect points becomes the Skaal and wins the game.
And what of the Dwarfs, in an Island that doesn't have any gold anymore? Well let me tell you. They take some boats and head toward the country of the Elves! But that is another story ...
Some Advice on How to Become a Respected Clan
Dwarfs Are Social
At the same time, the Dwarf is not very shrewd... Discoveries of new nuggets tend to create "heaps" of Dwarfs. And where there are heaps of Dwarfs, it is good for the one that owns the local Inn. As for the others...
The Dwarf is not very mobile, except...
You will learn very quickly that moving a Dwarf is very frustrating when one can only take one action per turn.
At the same time, the Dwarfs become very agile when there are rumors of a gold discovery in a region. Prospecting, therefore, is an ideal means of moving your Dwarfs ... and those of the others!
The War of Beer
To take control of an Inn from another clan is very pleasant. To do so you must possess more Dwarfs in that region than the opposing owner.
But don't forget that things can happen before your next turn. Most of the time, the former owner is not very happy and will send in more dwarves. In the final analysis, you will only have brought him more clientele...
The war of the Inns is risky enough that it is worth it to plan a little better in advance. If you fail, the penalty is very hard to manage, therefore eagerness rarely pays.
Collect Gold or Innkeeper?
Gold is a fast and obvious gain. But the shrewd Dwarf knows that the Inn is the way to become a respectable clan. In your first game, you will discover quickly that the Inns have considerable importance. To become Innkeeper in a region that is very populated is very lucrative. Alternatively, don't let an Innkeeper become rich too quickly. It is sometimes better to lose a turn to escape the opposing Inns than to let a player take too much gain.
The Good Plan to Become Innkeeper
When a region is full of Dwarfs, it is time to open an Inn. But be certain that your presence is sufficient to maintain a majority and therefore remain Innkeeper. With the progression of the game, you will learn that there are good moments to open an Inn. Too early, the clientele runs away; too late, it doesn't have time to provide you with a lot of respect points.
The ideal is to be surrounded with regions with exhausted veins. Then the customers are not tempted to go elsewhere.
If, moreover, your Inn is in a region that is full of gold, your Dwarves can collect it. Beer and gold - it is total respect. If the others let you get it...
Rules Summary
Game Turn
Every player, on his/her turn, does one only of the following actions:
- Place a new Dwarf of his/her clan. Place a Dwarf from your reserve on the region of your choice.
- Move one of his/her Dwarfs. Move one of your Dwarfs from one region to another by using a road.
- Prospect a region. Advance the Prospecting Pawn one space. Throw the die and apply the result in the region of your choice. A rumor spills into the neighboring regions. He/she is prohibited from prospecting in a region containing an Inn or the Ooops. If you discovered the Ooops, you cannot put it in a region that contains nuggets, or Ooops, or an Inn.
- Harvest nuggets of gold. You can take as many nuggets as there are Dwarfs of your clan present in a region (but the Innkeepers don't harvest). Every harvested nugget returns 1 respect point.
- Build a Royal Inn. Put an Inn in the region of your choice. One of the Dwarfs of the majority clan in the region becomes Innkeeper. At the beginning of a game turn of a player possessing an Inn, the player gains as many respect points as there are opposing Dwarfs present in the region. There can only be one Inn in each region.
- Move a Royal Inn. Take an Inn belonging to you and place it in the region of your choice. The former Innkeeper remains there. The new Innkeeper is taken from the majority clan in the region of arrival.
End of the Game
When all regions are filled with Ooops, the game immediately ends. The Ooops appears following a bad prospecting turn or at the end of a vein. The player who has the most respect points is declared winner and becomes the big Skaal!
Vein exhausted. When a player harvests the last nugget of a region, the vein is exhausted. Place the Ooops in the region to signify that players are no longer able to prospect there.
Closed mine. When the Prospecting Pawn reaches the space "Mines closed", no player can prospect anymore for the rest of the game.
Change of Inn owner. A player who possesses an Inn cannot construct another. He/she can take control of an opposing Inn when becoming majority in the region of this one. In case of an equal number of Dwarves, the Inn remains with its present owner.