Snow Time
Snow Time Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Objective
Players compete on the different levels of the board (1 to 7) using the cards they have in hand. There are 3 ways to score points and progress on the score track: Fruit, Fight, Mana.
For each point earned, the player advances their pawn one space on the track. The winner is the first player whose pawn reaches the last space of the score track.
Game Components
- 1 game board
- 5 wooden totem pawns
- 50 cards
- 15 fruit tokens
- 2 dice
For each color:
- 1 totem pawn
- 7 character cards (numbered 1 to 7)
- 3 special cards: Healer - Watcher - Snowstorm
Board Layout
The tree on the board has 7 levels. The board also carries:
- Bonus spaces marked FRUIT
- Bonus spaces marked FIGHT
- Bonus spaces marked MANA
- A discard zone for the special Watcher and Snowstorm cards
- The score track, running from a starting space to a finish space
- A discard zone for recoverable character cards
Turn Sequence
1. Placing the Fruit
At the start of each turn, 2 pieces of fruit appear on the tree: one player rolls the 2 dice and places 1 fruit on each level of the board indicated by a die.
Note:
- Fruit stays on the board until it is eaten.
- If the fruit supply is empty, do not roll the dice.
- If only one fruit remains in the supply, roll only one die.
- No fruit will ever appear on level 7.
2. Playing a Card
Each player chooses a card from their hand and places it face down in front of them.
When all players are ready, the cards are revealed and placed next to the board, at the level matching the number played.
Note: how the 3 special cards work is described in the Special Cards section below.
3. Turn Resolution
Important: resolution happens level by level, from top to bottom.
Actions are resolved in the following order:
A. Special cards - B. Fight - C. Fruit - D. Mana - E. Bonus spaces
A. Special cards - see the Special Cards section below.
B. Fight
A fight breaks out:
- If several characters are present on the same level, all characters present on that level fall from the tree and their cards are discarded. Each player also earns 1 fight point for every character that is on the same level as them.
- If a character is alone on its level and there is one (or more) character(s) on the level directly below it, all characters on the lower level fall from the tree and their cards are discarded. The character who won the fight stays in place. Its owner earns 1 fight point for each character that was on the level below.
A character 2 levels further down may thus be "saved," if the card played just above it was eliminated!
Important: discarded character cards are placed face up, sorted by color, in a way that leaves the numbers visible, at the bottom of the board.
C. Taking the Fruit
Each character still present on the board eats the fruit on its level. Its owner earns as many fruit points as fruit eaten.
Eaten fruit is put back in the food supply.
D. Mana Points
At the end of a turn, whichever player is still present lowest in the tree earns 1 Mana point.
E. Bonus Spaces & End of Turn
Several types of bonus spaces appear on the score track: Mana, Fight, Fruit.
Once all points have been counted, each player whose pawn lands on a special space benefits from the indicated bonus, if they scored points of that same type this turn.
- Bonuses are not cumulated, even if a bonus causes a player's pawn to land on another bonus space.
- Several pawns may occupy the same space.
F. Characters still present in the tree are taken back into hand by their owners.
A new turn begins! Return to steps 1 through 3 above.
Example of Turn Resolution
- Marie played on level 6, Vincent and Anna both on level 5.
- Marie therefore earned 5 points this turn (2 fight, 3 fruit). She advances her pawn 5 spaces and lands on a Fight +2 bonus space. She advances 2 additional spaces immediately!
- Vincent and Anna, who were eliminated from level 5 by Marie, must discard their two 5 cards and do not advance.
- The fruit on level 5 stays in place.
- Hugo played on level 4 and eliminates Nina, who played on 3. Hugo is now positioned lowest in the tree. He therefore earns 2 points (1 fight + 1 Mana) and advances one additional space with a Mana bonus.
- Nina discards her card and does not advance. The fruit on level 3 stays in place.
Special Cards
A special card must be played like a character card, face down, and is revealed at the same time as the other players' cards.
1. Healer (unlimited use)
The player takes back into hand up to two previously discarded cards of their color (except for the special case below).
Special case: if all of the player's cards have been discarded, they take all of them back into hand. Waiting until you have lost all your cards can, however, take a long time and be costly.
Note: the Healer can never be discarded, even if Snowstorm was played the same turn. This card always returns to its owner's hand at the end of the turn.
2. Watcher (single use)
By playing this card, a player can see which cards their opponents have played: once all players have revealed their cards, they may then decide which other card from their hand they will play this turn.
Special case: if several players reveal a Watcher on the same turn, they play a new card face down, and reveal it at the same time.
3. Snowstorm (single use)
All character cards played this turn are discarded. The owner of the Snowstorm card scores as many fight points as opposing character cards discarded. If their pawn lands on a Fight-type bonus space, they then gain the indicated bonus.
If several players revealed Snowstorm cards on the same turn, each of them scores as many points as there were character cards discarded.
Watcher and Snowstorm cards are permanently discarded after use (face up).
Reminder About Discarded Cards
- All discarded character cards numbered 1 to 7 can be recovered with the Healer card and must be placed in the discard zone at the bottom of the board.
- The Healer card is never discarded and always returns to its owner's hand.
- Watcher and Snowstorm cards are single-use and must be placed in the discard zone at the top of the board after being used.
- All discarded cards must be face up and sorted by color.
End of Game & Winner
The game ends as soon as a pawn reaches the last space of the score track. Its owner is immediately declared the winner. The other players do not score their points.
Since resolution happens from top to bottom, a player positioned high in the tree can win without giving the players placed lower down time to score their points.
Reminder of the Turn Resolution Order
Every turn must always be resolved from top to bottom, following this order:
A) Special cards B) Fights C) Fruit D) Mana E) Any bonuses
Two-Player Variant for Experienced Players
Each player uses 2 colors at the same time. The player whose one of two pawns reaches the last space of the score track wins the game. Colors belonging to the same team can fight each other.