Spot On

Spot On Rulebook

Table of Contents

Each place card has a front (Vorderseite) and a back (Rückseite).
The front shows only the name of the place.
The back shows the state the place is in, a short description, the number of inhabitants ("Einwohner"), and two numbers:
- The number in the black blob shows how far the place lies north or south. 0 is at the far north, 150 is far south.
- The number in the white blob shows how far the place lies west or east. 0 is at the far west, 90 is far east.

The map of Germany is divided into a grid.
Black lines run from north to south across the map, numbered 0 to 150.
White lines run from west to east across the map, numbered 0 to 90.
Using the grid and the numbers on the cards, the places are easy to find on the map.
Note printed on the map page: the red dots of the places were placed at the respective city centre on the map. The places often extend further than shown. Positions and population figures are sourced from Wikipedia and the statistical offices of the German states.

Shuffle the place cards well and place them as a stack with the front side facing up. Draw as many place cards from the stack as there are players, plus 1, and lay them out side by side. Nobody may look at the backs of the cards.

Number of players	Number of place cards laid out
2	3
3	4
4	5

Example: with 4 players, 5 cards are laid out.
Each player receives 6 tip cards of one colour and places them in front of themselves.
The player who was in a different federal state (Bundesland) most recently starts. That player places a small object, for example a coin, in front of themselves. This shows who the starting player is.

A round consists of two phases: playing tip cards, then evaluating tip cards and recording points.

The starting player begins by playing one of their own tip cards face up under one of the laid-out place cards.
Then the player to the left of the starting player plays a tip card of their own. The other players follow clockwise, in turn.
This continues until each player has placed 3 tip cards in total.
With your tip cards, you guess:
- which of the laid-out places lies furthest north ("N") or furthest south ("S");
- which place lies furthest west ("W") or furthest east ("O");
- which place has the most or the fewest inhabitants ("Die meisten Einwohner" / "Die wenigsten Einwohner").
You may also turn the "W" tip card over and place it as an "M" under a place, if you believe that place is not "furthest" in any of the compass directions. Correct tips earn points.
Important: If a tip card already lies under a place card, your new tip card must be placed below the tip card that was placed before it.

Example 1: Playing tip cards (with four players). Five place cards are laid out: Jena, Emden, Wismar, Cottbus, Koblenz.

Red plays "W" under Emden, believing Emden lies furthest west of the laid-out cards.
Blue believes Wismar lies furthest north and places "N" there.
Green places "Most inhabitants" next to Jena, assuming that none of the other laid-out cities has more inhabitants.
Yellow believes Cottbus lies furthest east and places "O" there.
Red's turn again: Red places the "O" under Jena.
Blue places "Most inhabitants" under Cottbus.
Green places "Fewest inhabitants" under Wismar.
Yellow turns the "W" tip card over and uses it as an "M" under Jena, believing that Jena lies neither furthest north, south, west nor east.
Red plays "Most inhabitants" under Koblenz.
Blue places "W" under Emden.
Green places "N" under Wismar.
Yellow places "N" under Emden.

Note for 2 players: a special rule applies. You must place different tip cards. If player Red has placed an "O", player Blue may not place another "O" in that round.

Once all players have placed their tip cards, the tip cards that were not played are set aside first.
The place cards are turned over. This reveals the number of inhabitants and where each place lies (north/south and east/west).
Remove all tip cards that were placed wrongly. The correct tip cards beneath them move up. Wrongly placed tip cards cost no penalty points.
Now each player's points are recorded, depending on where their tip cards lie:
- A tip card placed directly under the place earns 3 points.
- A tip card in the second row below the place earns 2 points.
- A tip card in the third row below the place earns 1 point.
- No points are awarded in the fourth row. (It can still be worth placing a card in the fourth or even fifth row, if you expect that one or more other players tipped wrongly for that place, so that your tip card moves up.)

Example 2: Scoring tip cards (with four players).

Place cards in the example:

Jena (Thüringen): 111,407 inhabitants. Place number: north/south 82, west/east 56.
Emden (Niedersachsen): 50,195 inhabitants. Place number: north/south 33, west/east 12.
Wismar (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern): 42,550 inhabitants. Place number: north/south 22, west/east 55.
Cottbus (Brandenburg): 100,219 inhabitants. Place number: north/south 65, west/east 83.
Koblenz (Rheinland-Pfalz): 114,024 inhabitants. Place number: north/south 93, west/east 16.

Evaluation:

The northernmost place is Wismar (22), followed by Emden (33), Cottbus (65), Jena (82).
The southernmost place is Koblenz (93).
The westernmost place is Emden (12), followed by Koblenz (16), Wismar (55), Jena (56).
The easternmost place is Cottbus (83).
Koblenz has the most inhabitants (114,024); Wismar has the fewest (42,550).

Points:

Red scores 0 points for "O", 3 points for "W" and 3 points for "Most inhabitants", for a total of 6 points.
Blue scores 2 points for "W", 3 points for "N" and no points for "Most inhabitants", for a total of 5 points.
Green scores 0 points for "Most inhabitants", 2 points for "Fewest inhabitants" and 1 point for "N", for a total of 3 points.
Yellow scores 3 points for "M", because "M" moved up after the two wrong tip cards under Jena were removed; 0 points for "N"; and 3 points for "O", for a total of 6 points.

Once the points for each player have been recorded, each player takes all of their own tip cards back into their hand. The place cards laid out in that round are removed from the game and returned to the box.
New place cards are laid out according to the number of players plus 1.
The player to the left of the starting player receives the small object (coin) and becomes the new starting player. That player begins the new round by playing a tip card.

With 2 or 3 players, the game ends after 6 rounds. With 4 players, it ends after 8 rounds.
Add up each player's recorded points from all rounds on the paper.
The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, several players win.

With 3 or 4 players, you may choose to place your tip cards face down under the place cards.
Only when all players have placed their 3 tip cards are they turned face up.