Tiger & Dragon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Basic Info
• Setting Up
• Playing the Game
• Scoring
• Scoring Rule Translations
  • Battle at the Dojo
  • Battle in a Storm
  • Battle at a Volcano
  • Battle in a Swamp
  • Battle in a Forest
  • Battle on a Cliff
  • Battle on the Coast
  • Battle in the Fog
  • Battle in a Field
  • Battle in a Cave
  • Promotional Card (Not included)

Basic Info

The goal of the game is to play the last tile from your hand. You then score based on the number on the last tile you played, plus (with three or more players) any bonus points from face-down tiles in your Defend row. (Specifics of scoring vary by scoring rule card.) The winner is the first player to reach ten points.

The tile set consists of 38 tiles:

• 36 tiles labeled 1–8
  • The number on the tile indicates how many there are in total (one "1," five "5," etc.).
• 2 wild tiles: Red Dragon and Blue Tiger
  • These match any tile of their own color. In other words, the Red Dragon can be used to defend against any odd attack tile, and the Blue Tiger can be used to defend against any even attack tile. If played on offense, opponents can defend with any tile of the matching color.

Setting Up

Get out the player boards and give one to each player. Put the point chits somewhere within reach.

Shuffle the tiles, then deal to each player. The number to deal depends on the number of players:

• 2 players: 13 tiles each
• 3 players: 11 tiles each
• 4 players: 9 tiles each
• 5 players: 7 tiles each

The dots on the boards show a reminder of how many tiles to deal for each number of players!

Choose a player to go first (whoever is reading these rules), and deal one extra tile to that player, and give them the chit, which says "+1" on it, to indicate that they started the round and had one extra tile. After that, rotate start player to the left (or start each round with the player who won the previous round).

Playing the Game

The player board has two rows for playing tiles: the Attack row on the top, and the Defend row on the bottom. Note how the spaces are connected and numbered.

The player who starts the round plays a numbered tile in the space of their board, as the first attack. For the sake of argument, let's say it's a 7. The next player must then play a 7 (or Red Dragon) in their Defend row, or pass. Remember, wild tiles match any other tile of their own color, both for attack and defense.

• If they pass: play continues to the next player, who has to make the same decision. You may always pass.
• If they play: that player plays a 7 or Red Dragon in their leftmost Defend row space, then plays a hand tile in their Attack row space attached to the Defend row space. (i.e. Leftmost Attack row space, ignoring the top-left space with the marker in it if you weren't the one who started the round.)

If everyone passes and play returns to the attacker, then the attacker gets to play any hand tile they wish, face-down, in their Defend row, then plays a new attack.

Scoring

When you play your last hand tile, score based on the scoring rule card. Each face-down tile in your Defend row (except the final tile; it's always face-up) counts as one bonus point. No bonus points if your last tile is a Red Dragon or Blue Tiger, nor in two-player games. First player to ten points wins.

FOUR-PLAYER PARTNER VARIANT: Play to fifteen points total, as North/South and East/West partners. Hint: Generally, you want to pass when your partner attacks, to score more face-down bonus tiles.

Scoring Rule Translations

For the most part, you should honestly be fine just looking at the individual cards, even if they're all in Japanese. Still, just in case, you might want translations for a couple of the red ones in particular.

Battle at the Dojo

• 7, 8 → 4 pt.
• 4, 5, 6 → 3 pt.
• 2, 3 → 2 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle in a Storm

• 3, 6 → 5 pt.
• 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 → 2 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle at a Volcano

• 2, 3 → 4 pt.
• 4, 5, 6 → 3 pt.
• 7, 8 → 2 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle in a Swamp

• 4, 8 → 5 pt.
• 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 → 2 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle in a Forest

• 4, 5, 6 → 4 pt.
• 3, 7 → 3 pt.
• 2, 8 → 2 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle on a Cliff

Reveal a hand tile* at start of round.

• Win with revealed tile → 6 pt.
• Win with other tile (even if same number) → 3 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

*Can't be 1 or wild.

Battle on the Coast

• 3, 5, 7 → 4 pt.
• 2, 4, 6, 8 → 3 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle in the Fog

Score number shown on last tile played.

• 3 → 3 pt. • 8 → 8 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle in a Field

• 2, 4, 6, 8 → 4 pt.
• 3, 5, 7 → 3 pt.
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Battle in a Cave

• 2–8 → 2 pt.
• Plus ALL players' total bonuses
• 1 → 10 pt.
• Wild → 1 pt. (no bonuses)

Promotional Card (Not included)

Battle at Game Market: Score the difference between your last two tiles played. If both are the same number, or your final tile is wild, score exactly 1 point (no bonuses). Score 10 points for finishing with a 1.