Snatch it!
Snatch it! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 117 Creature Cards: 54 Crawler cards and 54 Flyer cards (numbered 1-6, 9 copies of each), and 9 Swarm cards (all numbered 7 and 0).
- 2 Component Cards: 1 First Leap card and 1 Last Bite card (the Last Bite card shows lines for 5-6, 4 and 3 players).
Overview
Compete to earn Creature cards by Snatching them from the pond or Stealing from a rival. Plop creatures you snatch on to your own patch of the pond in stacks. Swallow a stack by using it to snatch one more critter from the fresh pond.
Snatch, Steal, and Swallow the best while skirting storks and dealing with rival froggies. Have the tastiest Creature stacks resting in your belly after the Last Bite card appears to win!
Get Ready
- Shuffle all the Creature cards and place them in a face-down deck in the middle of the table.
- Hold the Last Bite card upright next to it and locate the line showing your player count. Slide the card into the deck at about that height, slightly sticking out from the deck.
- Each player draws 6 cards to their hand (or 5 for six players). Your hand is kept private.
- The last player to see a frog will be the first player. Put the First Leap card in front of them.
- All players pick a card from their hand and lay it face down in the middle area (the Pond). Once done, flip them all over. Then flip and place more cards from the deck until there are 6 total Creature cards in the Pond.
Play
SNATCH IT! is played in rounds of two phases each: first the Snatching Phase, and then the Stork Phase.
Snatching Phase
On your turn your frog will perform one action. Most of them (Snatching, Stealing, Swallowing) require playing a fitting card or stack onto another card or stack. To do so you must always follow all the Pond Protocol rules:
Pond Protocol
- The card you place must be either the same number as the card it lands on, or exactly 1 number higher.
- The Swarm card counts as both a 7 and a 0. This means that a Swarm (7) can be placed on a 6, and a 1 can be placed on a Swarm (0).
- CRAWLER cards can only be placed on Crawlers (orange on orange) or on a Swarm.
- FLYER cards can only be placed on Flyers (purple on purple) or on a Swarm.
- SWARM cards can be placed on either color but never on another Swarm.
Actions
- Snatch from the Pond: Play a card from your hand face up on a Creature in the Pond. Move the newly made stack of 2 cards to your personal area in front of you (your Patch of the pond).
- Steal from an Opponent's Patch: Play a card from your hand face up on a stack in an opponent's Patch. Then move the whole stack to your own Patch. You are not allowed to examine the contents of other players' stacks.
- Reclaim: When a player's stack is being stolen from their Patch, they may immediately play a card to reclaim it! Play a card from your hand on top of the stealer's just-played card (following Pond Protocol) and return the now-larger stack to your own Patch. If a player reclaims their stack, the stealer draws 1 card from the deck as a consolation prize. (The froggy found a critter amid the tussle!) This ends the stealer's turn.
- Swallow one of your Stacks: Place a stack from your Patch onto a card in the Pond (not on another player's Patch!). The top Creature of your stack must follow Pond Protocol. With the meal now ready, swallow it all by setting the whole stack face down next to you. This is your Frog Belly, where your morsels sit, safe and tasty. Add future Swallows to this stack.
- Stalk a Creature: Play a card from your hand into the Pond (perhaps to hunt later!). However, a card can only be played this way if it is not able to Snatch or Steal. If anyone notices that it could do one of these, point it out and the card immediately takes that action.
- If you are unable to perform another action: Toss a Creature! Choose a Creature and toss it out of the Pond by discarding it to the discard pile. (If you can't eat it, nobody can!)
After a player has completed one of the possible actions, their turn ends. The player to their left begins the next turn by selecting one action.
The Snatching Phase ends as soon as either the Pond is empty OR all players' hands are empty. Make no changes to the Pond or your hands and start the Stork Phase.
Stork Phase
The froggies have enjoyed the meal, but now it's time to flee, as the pecking, scooping storks show up to feast! The clever frogs try to lure the storks away from their own stores of food by leaving morsels in the direction of their rivals...
- Pass the First Leap: Pass the First Leap card to the next player on the left, who starts the next round.
- Refill your Hand: All players draw cards from the deck until they have 6 cards in hand (5 for six players). If the deck is empty, shuffle the discards to form a new pile. (Rare case: If still empty, players with extra discard randomly. If necessary shuffle the discards and proceed to draw if it will ensure even hands.)
- Lay and Reveal Bait: All players choose one hand card and place it face down in the middle of the pond. Shuffle these and reveal one card. This is the Bait! Look only at its type (flyer, crawler or swarm). These are the creatures the storks will feast on!
- Tip: Lay down cards that might destroy rivals' stacks OR lay down cards that you can snatch up next round!
- Storks Devour: Compare the revealed Bait card with the stacks in your Patch. If the type matches any of your top cards, you must discard the largest stack you have of that color. If you have multiple stacks with the most cards, the player on your right decides which stack you discard (without examining your stacks).
- Fill up the Pond: Reveal the rest of the cards chosen as Bait and move them all (including the first revealed Bait card) to the Pond. If necessary, draw and flip cards from the deck to the Pond until there are at least 6 cards again.
After completing the Stork Phase, the next round begins, starting with the Snatching Phase. The player with the First Leap card begins.
End of Meal
When the Last Bite card appears, discard it and keep playing. If it appeared in the Snatching phase, this round is the last round. If during the Stork phase, the next round is the last.
There are two important differences in the final round:
- There will be no Stork phase this round!
- You automatically swallow any stacks left on your Patch at the end of the round. Enjoy the feast!
Once the round is complete, discard all hand cards. Then all players reveal the contents of their Frog Bellies (not gross at all!). Each Swarm is worth 5 points and all other Creatures are worth 1 point each. Add up your points to learn which froggy dined the best (by earning the most points) and wins!
In the event of a tie, the tied player with most Swarms wins. If there is still a tie, all tied players win Best Croaker together.
Reference: Pond Protocol
A card may be placed on a card of the same number or exactly 1 number lower, in the same color (Crawler on Crawler, Flyer on Flyer). The Swarm acts as a 7 (placed on a 6) and as a 0 (a 1 may be placed on it), and can be placed on either color but never on another Swarm. The sequence runs 0 (Swarm), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Swarm).