The Penguin Ultimatum Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Setup
• The Playing Area
• Course of Play
  • Step 1: Adding a Penguin to the Feast
  • The Kinship Penalty
  • Avoiding the Kinship Penalty
  • Step 2: Moving an Invitation Stone
  • Step 3: Entertainment -- The Scoring Phase
    • Awarding Victory Points
    • Awarding the Entertainer Card
    • Ending the Performance
  • Step 4: Ending the Turn
• End of the Game and Scoring
• Optional Rule: Fixed Setup

Overview

Each penguin likes one of four kinds of entertainment shown on the cards: juggling (coloured balls), acrobatics (unicycle), dance (hat and cane) or music (musical notes).

In addition, each penguin belongs to one of four families, recognizable by the colour of its number. Each family likes one of the four kinds of animals that provide entertainment at the feast: sheep (green family), kangaroos (brown), seals (red) and bears (blue). The colour of the number on a penguin card corresponds to the kind of animal whose entertainment it likes.

During the game a player invites penguins to the feast by placing them on the table next to entertainers. Over the course of the game a large network forms that grows toward the edges of the table. The table edges thus limit the playing area.

Victory points are awarded every time an entertainer gives a performance. In addition, during the game players receive entertainer cards, which can either be used to advantage during the game or be collected for additional points at the end of the game.

Components

• 64 penguin cards
• 16 entertainer cards
• 14 curtain cards
• 4 rules cards
• 4 performance cards
• 12 invitation stones
• 8 counting cards
• 8 counting stones

Setup

Each player chooses a colour and takes the five matching playing pieces. Each player gets 3 stones that mark the player's invitations (called invitation stones below) and 2 counting stones.

Each player receives 2 counting cards (one for tens and one for ones) and places the two counting stones on the digits "10" and "0". Thus everyone begins the game with 10 points. When you gain or lose points during the game, move the counting stones accordingly. If a player gets more than 100 points or drops below zero, the player should simply remember that this is the case.

Each player randomly takes one of the four cards showing the different performances and lays it face up in front of them.

One curtain card is placed in the middle of the table. The remaining curtain cards are placed in a pile at the edge of the playing area.

The entertainer cards are shuffled and some are laid out next to the curtain card according to the pattern in the illustration for the number of players. The remaining entertainer cards are placed face down at the edge of the playing area as a draw pile. The top card is turned over so that its picture side is visible.

The penguin cards are shuffled and each player receives 4 cards, which each player holds in hand. The remaining cards, face down, likewise form a draw pile.

The shortest player begins the game.

The Playing Area

The game table represents the iceberg on which the feast takes place, and its edges limit the playing area. No player may add a card to the feast at a place where the card would extend past the edge of the table.

As the feast grows and approaches the edge of the iceberg, the players must agree how many more rows of cards will fit on the table.

Course of Play

The Penguin Ultimatum is played in rounds. Each round consists of the following steps:

1. Add a penguin card from your hand to the feast. Pay the kinship penalty, if necessary.
2. Move an invitation stone, if you want.
3. If an entertainer begins their performance, carry out the corresponding scoring.
4. Draw a new penguin card from the pile. The player to the left continues the game.

Step 1: Adding a Penguin to the Feast

In each round a player must place a penguin from their hand on a free space on the table. Penguins must be placed adjacent to any entertainer at the feast. In addition, note the following:

• Cards must have the same orientation. The short and long sides of all cards must fit together.
• Cards must fit on the iceberg -- they may not extend past the table edge.
• Adjacency to other cards always includes diagonals. A card can be adjacent to up to 8 other cards.

(Example: This entertainer has 8 adjacent spaces, but three of them cannot be played on, since cards there would extend past the edge of the iceberg. Cards must always be placed in the same orientation.)

Very important: If a penguin is played so that it is adjacent to a penguin of its own family, that is, of the same colour, a kinship penalty must be paid.

The Kinship Penalty

Penguins prefer to associate with birds of other families. If a penguin is placed so that it touches one or more penguins of its own colour, a kinship penalty must be paid. The numbers of all of these adjacent penguins of the same colour are added together and the sum is subtracted from the victory points of the player who placed the penguin. The number of the penguin just placed does not affect the size of the penalty.

Avoiding the Kinship Penalty

During the game players receive entertainer cards. If a player would have to pay a kinship penalty for their turn, they have the option of giving up one of their entertainer cards instead of the penalty. To do so, the entertainer card is simply given up and no victory points have to be paid.

Step 2: Moving an Invitation Stone

On each turn you are allowed to move one invitation stone of your own colour from any location onto any free penguin. You may place the stone on a free penguin regardless of who placed that penguin.

Invitation stones show which penguins have been invited to the feast as special guests, and by whom. A stone allows a player to get victory points every time that penguin has fun. No penguin may ever have more than one invitation stone.

Moving an invitation stone is always optional. Each player has only three invitation stones, so it is important to use them cleverly!

Step 3: Entertainment -- The Scoring Phase

Each entertainer card has dots on its edge that correspond to the adjacent spaces on the playing area. An entertainer begins their performance when all the places marked by dots are occupied by any card (penguin, entertainer or curtain card). Spaces that cannot be played on, that is, that lie outside the iceberg, always count as occupied.

When an entertainer begins their performance, the following steps are carried out:

1. Victory points are awarded.
2. The entertainer card is awarded to a player.
3. The curtain card is laid out.
4. A new entertainer is added to the feast.

If several entertainers begin their performance at the same time, the player whose turn it currently is decides in which order the entertainers perform. (If this happens on the last turn, the entertainer pile is empty and the game ends after the first entertainer has given their performance.)

Awarding Victory Points

All penguins adjacent to the entertainer -- including those that are not on one of the dots on the entertainer card -- make up the audience. Penguins in the audience have fun at a performance and collect victory points for the player who invited them to the feast as a special guest. The number of victory points a penguin brings a player equals the number on the penguin card.

A penguin can have fun at the performance in two ways:

The animal. There are four kinds of animals providing entertainment at the feast: sheep, kangaroos, bears and seals. Each entertainer has their own background colour, which matches the colour of the family that appreciates the entertainment of that kind of animal. If the colour of the number on a penguin card matches the colour of the entertainer, the penguin has fun at the performance.

The form of entertainment. The form of entertainment is shown on each entertainer card: juggling, dance, music or acrobatics. If the form of entertainment shown on the entertainer and on a penguin card match, the penguin has fun.

Some penguins can have fun both through the form of entertainment and through the kind of animal giving the performance. Their victory points still count only once.

(Example: The red dancing seal has four dots. The dot at the bottom right lies next to a space that is outside the iceberg and therefore counts as occupied. After the second blue penguin has been placed, the remaining three dots are next to spaces that are occupied. The dancer begins their performance.

There are five penguins in the audience. The two red penguins have fun because the dancer is a seal (red). The two blue penguins have fun because they like dance. The green penguin unfortunately does not have fun, since it prefers sheep and acrobatics.)

Awarding the Entertainer Card

Of the players who received points from a performance, the one who received the fewest points gets the entertainer card and lays it face up in front of them. Players who received zero points are not taken into account! Players who receive entertainer cards can later give them up to avoid the kinship penalty, or collect them to gain additional victory points at the end of the game.

Important: If several players have the same lowest (non-zero) score, the entertainer is removed from the game.

(Examples:

• Red receives 9 points, Green receives 6 points, Blue receives 0 points: Green gets the entertainer.
• Red receives 9 points, Green receives 6 points, Blue receives 6 points: The entertainer is removed from the game!
• Red receives 9 points, Green receives 0 points, Blue receives 0 points: Red gets the entertainer.)

Ending the Performance

A curtain card is placed on the entertainer's space. Curtain cards simply occupy the entertainer's space on the playing area so that no other card can take it.

The player whose turn it is takes the top entertainer card and places it next to any other card already laid out. It must fit on the iceberg and lie in the same direction as all the other cards; it may be rotated by 180 degrees if desired.

In addition, the entertainer may not be placed in a spot where it would:

• itself immediately begin a performance.
• cause another entertainer to immediately begin a performance.

After a new entertainer has been placed, the top entertainer card of the draw pile is turned over.

Step 4: Ending the Turn

The player draws a new penguin card. Then the player's left neighbour takes their turn.

End of the Game and Scoring

When a player would have to draw a card from an empty pile, or would have to place a card for which there is no room on the iceberg, the game ends immediately.

Each player already has victory points on their counting card. Further points are now added to these, depending on the entertainer cards each player still has.

First: For each entertainer a player has whose form of performance matches their performance card, the player receives 2 victory points.

Second: Determine who has the most entertainers of each of the four colours. Points are awarded for each colour as follows:

• If one player has more cards of a colour than all others, the player receives 5 points.
• If several players have the same number of cards (tied for most), each receives 3 points.

The player with the most victory points wins! In case of a tie, the winner is the one who earned the most points from their entertainers. If this does not break the tie, the player with the most entertainer cards wins. If this does not produce a decision, the shorter player wins.

(Example: Lea's performance card is Dance. At the end of the game she has 2 entertainers, both of which are dancers. She receives 4 points.

One of the entertainers is a sheep and nobody else has a sheep. For this Lea receives 5 more points.

The other card is a seal. Two other players also have a seal. All three receive 3 points for it.

Afterwards it is determined who has the most bears and kangaroos.)

Optional Rule: Fixed Setup

To make the beginning of the game more balanced, the entertainers laid out during setup can be chosen so that they all belong to different animal kinds (colours) and also all differ in their form of performance.