Sliding Bears
Sliding Bears Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal of the Game
Four bear cubs have wandered off and need to get back to their parents on the other side of the ice floe. But the ice is fragile, and the seals do not like being disturbed during their nap.
Get all the cubs across to the other side of the ice floe before the ice has disappeared.
Contents and Setup
A. Unfold the box lid: it forms the game board.
B. On the starting line, place each Bear pawn on the square matching its colour.
C. Place the tiles as shown in the setup picture, starting with the Seal tiles and the Rock tiles (front side of the tiles), and finishing with the Ice tiles (back side of the tiles).
D. Choose one tile to remove:
- 1 Seal tile (normal level)
- 1 Ice tile (hard level)
E. Finally, take the 2 dice (the Bear die and the Weather die).
If you have trouble telling the colours apart, you can use the symbols printed on the faces of the die and on the pawns (▲ ■ ● ✳).
Turn Order
Take turns. The player who last saw snow starts.
On your turn, roll the 2 dice and apply the effects you obtained, in the order you choose.
Bear Die
Coloured Bear face (pink, green, blue or yellow): You may make the Bear pawn of the matching colour jump to a free Ice tile next to it, but never diagonally.
Two-colour Bear face (pink and blue, or green and yellow): You may make one Bear pawn of one of the 2 colours shown on the die jump to a free Ice tile next to it, but never diagonally.
Important: Bear pawns can never jump onto Rock tiles or Seal tiles (they must not wake them). They also cannot jump onto a starting or finish square that is not of their colour.
Example 1: The yellow bear can jump up or down, but not sideways.
Example 2: The green bear cannot jump for the time being.
You are never obliged to carry out an action shown by the Bear die. Also, if no Ice tile is free next to a Bear pawn, that Bear pawn cannot jump.
Weather Die
Crack face: The ice floe cracks. You must choose a free Ice tile on the game board and return it to the box.
Important: You may not remove a Seal tile, a Rock tile, or an Ice tile occupied by a Bear pawn.
Wind face: The wind blows. You may slide an Ice tile or a Seal tile by one square (but never diagonally). For a tile to slide, there must be at least one free square next to the tile.
Yes, you may slide an Ice tile that is occupied by a Bear pawn!
Once you have carried out the actions in the order of your choice, play passes to the next player, clockwise.
Remember that only the Crack face action is mandatory, and that you may apply the effects of the dice in whatever order you want!
Reminder for the Mischievous Bears
- Rock tile: It is forbidden to slide it, and forbidden to make bears jump onto it.
- Seal tile: You may slide it, but it is forbidden to make bears jump onto it.
- Ice tile: You may slide it, and make bears jump onto it (if it is free).
End of the Game
The game ends in either of the following two cases:
- If you must remove a tile because of a Crack face and no free Ice tile remains, the game is lost! The bears will have to swim in the icy water to reach the ice floe.
- As soon as all 4 Bear pawns have arrived on the square matching their colour on the finish line, the game is won! Congratulations, the bears are dry and safe!
Variant: Multicolour Bears
In this variant, the two-colour faces of the Bear die become multicolour Bear faces.
They allow you to make a Bear pawn of any colour jump to a free Ice tile next to it.
You will be able to adapt more easily to game situations, but you will also have to face more numerous movement choices.
New Challenges
Try other setups to vary your games! The booklet shows five setups, named:
- Bazar sur le départ (Bazaar at the Start)
- L'archipel (The Archipelago)
- Fiesta sur la banquise (Fiesta on the Ice Floe)
- Roupillon en réunion (Nap at the Meeting)
- La grande muraille (The Great Wall)
The setups are shown as tile layout diagrams in the source booklet; the individual tile positions are in the artwork and are not transcribed here.