Squirrel Rush
Squirrel Rush Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Box Contents
- 6 wooden Squirrels. Players will move these squirrels through the glade and collect the reserves. The game comes with stickers in the box. Stick them to the squirrels before the first game.
- 30 Glade Tiles. These tiles will form the glade from which squirrels will gather reserves for winter. The tiles are double-sided, differing in background color (darkgreen and lightgreen). There is a certain amount of acorns depicted on each side. Squirrels entering a tile will get the amount of acorns depicted on this tile. Numbers in the corner inform how many acorns are present on the other side of the tile.
- 49 Action Cards. There are symbols of various actions on these cards. Players will be able to perform these actions during the game. Cards have borders in colors corresponding to the colors of squirrels. This will make division the cards easier in the Smarty-Squirrels variant.
- 60 Reserves Counters. Counters representing reserves for the winter. To make the game easier, players may exchange five collected acorns for a hazelnut counter and ten acorns for a counter with a chestnut.
- 6 Tiles with Reserves Basket. In case your reserves are so big that the counters are not enough, you can use these tiles. The tiles are double-sided, one side is 30 reserves and the other side is 60 reserves.
- Rulebook. You are reading it right now. In case you lose it, you can always download it from the publisher's website.
- 6 Daytime Counters. These cards represent the flow of time.
Goal of the Game
The goal of the game is to collect as many reserves for winter as possible. The winner is the player with the most reserves at the end of the game.
Game Setup
First thing to do is finding a comfortable playing space. Ideally it will be a clean, flat surface the size of a small table. This will be your game field.
Before you begin the game, prepare these elements in the following order:
- Shuffle all of the glade tiles, and then place them so they form a glade. Tiles must be placed lightgreen side up. The size of the glade depends on the number of players:
- In games with 2 to 4 players, the glade consists of 16 tiles in a 4x4 square.
- In games with 5 or 6 players, the glade consists of 20 tiles in a 4x5 square.
- Glade Tiles Stack. Shuffle the remaining glade tiles, and place them so they form a stack with all tiles lightgreen side up. Put the stack by the board. Make three tiles from the stack available by placing them separately by the stack.
- Action Cards Deck. Shuffle all the action cards and place them facedown by the glade, forming a deck.
- Daytime Stack. Form a daytime stack, which will be used to measure the time left for squirrels to gather the reserves. Lay them so the card with the number "1" is visible on the top of the stack, and the other cards are put in the same way in the following order: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Give this stack to the first player.
- Put all reserves counters by the glade.
- Each player chooses a squirrel in any color.
You are ready to play!
Flow of the Game
The game consists of rounds in which players will perform turns with their squirrels in a clockwise order. The players will have to be cunning and use their logical thinking skills to choose the best path for their squirrels, that is the path with the most reserves and a good ending point to open the chances for a good harvest in the next turn.
The game lasts 6 rounds.
Flow of the First Round
The player who most recently saw a squirrel or was in the forest begins the game. In case the players cannot agree on that, choose the starting player at random.
The player who just became the first player gets the daytime stack formed during setup. From now on, their task is to keep track of time flow so the squirrels can finish the harvest before the dusk.
During the first round of the game, the players move their squirrels according to the following rules:
- The squirrel starts the game outside of the glade, so the player can choose any tile on the border of the glade for their squirrel to enter.
- The player gets an amount of reserves (acorns) equal to the number of acorns depicted on the tile. Then the squirrel can move to a neighboring tile if there are less acorns on this tile than on the currently occupied tile.
- The squirrel can move to many tiles in a turn, provided that each of them has fewer acorns on it than the previous one. For each entered tile, the player gets an amount of reserves equal to the number of acorns on the tile.
- Squirrels can only move to neighboring tiles horizontally and vertically. Squirrels cannot move diagonally.
- There can be any amount of squirrels on a single tile.
- After ending their move, the player must flip all tiles that their squirrel passed through to their other side (either darkgreen or lightgreen).
- Then the next player in clockwise order performs their turn until all players have had their first turn.
Example: first round. Player begins their turn by entering the glade. They can start on any exterior tile. In this case, this is a tile with 5 acorns. Then, player continues their move through tiles with 4 and 2 acorns, according to rule number 3.
After finishing the move, player gets 11 reserves (5+4+2). Additionally, all tiles that acorns were collected from have to be flipped to the other side. Now next player can begin their turn.
Flow of the Following Rounds
Starting from the second round and onward, the first player reveals the next card from the daytime stack and discards the previously revealed card by the stack at the beginning of each round. When the "6" card is revealed, the players are notified that the last round of the game has begun.
Starting from the second round and onward, the players reveal an action card which they can use during their turn. The players perform their turns in rounds 2-6 this way:
- At the beginning of their turn, each player reveals the top card of the action cards stack and places it faceup in front of them. The player can use the action described on this card, but does not have to. If the player decides to use the card, they follow the instructions printed on the last pages of this rulebook.
- If the player decides not to use the action, they discard it by placing it faceup next to the action cards stack.
- The player makes a move with their squirrel so it enters any neighboring tile. Because it is the first move of their turn, they do not have to check if the amount of acorns on the tile is lesser than the amount of acorns at their previous tile, as this will be the first tile from which the squirrel starts collecting reserves this turn. The player gets the reserves depicted on this tile.
- The player gets reserves counters and may continue to move by the same rules as in the first round.
- After finishing all the players' turns, it is time to begin a new round. If the "6" card is currently on top of the daytime stack, then you do not begin the next round, but end the game and go to scoring.
Example: following round. This is a view of the glade after the first round. Now the orange player begins their turn. Their squirrel stands on the tile with 2 acorns. Because this is beginning of the move, they can move to any neighboring tile and continue the harvest.
After ending the move, player gets 10 reserves (5+4+1). Additionally, all tiles that they collected acorns from have to be flipped to the other side, even the one with black squirrel on it.
End of the Game
The game ends when all players have performed their turns in the sixth round of the game. The players count their reserves counters. The player with the most counters wins!
If two or more players have the same amount of reserves, then we have a draw! It is good too, what really matters is that the squirrels have food for the winter!
Smarty-Squirrels Variant
Advanced rules for everyone who wants to challenge themselves with more precise planning and wants to skip the random factor.
In this variant, the players play with the rules described above with one difference: They do not draw action cards. Instead, they begin the game with a set of action cards on hand.
Game Setup (Smarty-Squirrels)
While preparing for the game in the advanced variant, place the glade tiles according to the basic game rules described above. Then the players take squirrel pawns in their chosen color.
Action cards have to be sorted into sets for players. Action cards have borders in different colors. Each player gets 7 action cards in the color matching their squirrel. Players keep action cards in hand or placed by them in a way that prevents other players from seeing their faces.
Flow of the Game (Smarty-Squirrels)
The players begin the first round according to the rules of the basic game. Starting from the second turn, players can use one of their action cards each turn. Each player can use one card during their turn out of the cards still available to them.
While using a card, the player follows the text described in the table on the last page of this rulebook. After using this card, the player discards it by putting it to the discarded cards stack. Players do not have to make use of a card each turn if they do not want to, but they still have to choose one card from hand and discard it without using it if doing so.
The goal of the game is still the same: the player who collects the most reserves wins!
Action Cards Description
Move Diagonally
The squirrel noticed a rotten tree trunk lying in the glade. The squirrel can get a nice cache of acorns if it runs on it…
The squirrel can make one move diagonally this turn.
Flip a Tile
Wind uncovers some acorns. Be quick and get to them first!
Choose one tile in the glade. Flip it to the other side.
Exit the Glade
Snake! The squirrel screamed and quickly departed from the chosen path. Well, it will have to collect nuts in some other way.
Move your squirrel outside the glade at the beginning of the turn and start the turn as though it is the first turn: by choosing any tile at the border of the glade and begin collecting reserves from it.
Exchange a Tile
Clever squirrels can hide behind a bush and wait for a good moment to gather even more acorns.
Choose one of the three tiles available by the glade and put it on any side (darkgreen or lightgreen) in any tile's place in the glade. Take the tile you just replaced and place it on the bottom of the glade tiles stack. Then, take a tile from the top of this stack and place it by the two remaining available tiles.
Collect from the Least
Smart squirrels can deceive their sisters and go to places with more acorns than expected!
You can use this action at the beginning of your turn, before making a move. This turn, the squirrel moves to neighboring tiles if they have more acorns than on the currently occupied tile.
Add an Acorn
Even a little breeze can blow acorns still on the tree branches to the ground.
Put one reserves counter with an acorn on a chosen tile in the glade. The squirrels which collect reserves from this tile will get an additional acorn. Remember that the additional acorn increases the tile's value.
Example: An acorn counter lies on a tile with four acorns. This tile now has five acorns depicted on it now, so a squirrel can move to a tile with four acorns from it!
Skip a Tile
In a glade, you can ask Mr. Mole for a safe passage through his tunnel.
This turn you can ignore one tile on the squirrel's path. The squirrel will pass this tile as though it were not there. It will not count and you will not collect acorns from it.