Trapper Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Object of the Game
• Setup
• Game Play
  • The Trapper and the Trapper Cards
  • Loot Tiles
  • Canoes
  • Animals
  • Mushrooms and Herbs
  • The Display
  • Canoe
• Playing Trapper Cards and Taking Loot Tiles
  • Several tiles per turn
  • Colour change
  • End of a turn
  • A trapper is isolated
  • Examples of a turn
• A Canoe Is Valued
• The Bonus Tokens
  • Most valuable canoe
  • Most animal species
• Score Standing
• End of the Game
  • Valuation
  • Valuation of the bonus tokens
• Variant for a Game with Younger Children
• Tactical Variant

Components

• 64 loot tiles (36 animals, 18 canoes, 5 herbs, 5 mushrooms)
• 4 border corners
• 4 "trapper" pawns
• 64 trapper cards in four colours
• 51 gold coins with the following values: 23x 1, 8x 5, 9x 10, 7x 20, 4x 50
• 2 overview cards with brief rules
• 17 bonus tokens
  • 6x most animal species, with values 1 to 6
  • 11x most valuable canoes, with values 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36
• 1 start player stone
• 1 rulebook

Object of the Game

The players take on the role of trappers, who go stalking through the immense forests of Canada to try to make a rich haul.

As a trapper you catch animals and collect herbs and mushrooms, which you take by canoe to the market to sell there.

The player who owns the most money at the end of the game wins.

Setup

The 64 loot tiles are shuffled very thoroughly face down and laid out face down on the table in 8 rows of 8 tiles each. Take care to leave some space between the tiles so that they can easily be picked up.

Then the 4 border corners are placed around the playing area, and the 4 loot tiles in the middle are removed without looking at them and put back in the box. On the vacated spaces the 4 trappers are placed, no matter how many players are playing.

All loot tiles directly adjacent to a trapper are revealed and turned so that the butterfly on the loot tile points in the same direction as the butterfly on the border corner.

(Illustration labels: butterfly, loot tile, trapper, border corner.)

All trapper cards are now shuffled very thoroughly face down. Each player receives 6 cards in hand. The remaining cards form a face-down draw pile.

The bonus tokens are sorted into two stacks (most animal species and most valuable canoes) and placed next to the playing area.

The gold coins are likewise placed ready next to the playing area.

Game Play

The game is played clockwise.

The youngest player begins the game.

When it is a player's turn, he plays, one after another, one or more trapper cards of one colour, in order to move the trapper of that colour and so be able to place one or more loot tiles from the playing area into his own display.

When the turn is over, the hand cards are replenished with two trapper cards, no matter how many trapper cards were played in the turn.

Instead of playing trapper cards and collecting loot tiles, the player may also pass and immediately take two trapper cards.

The collected loot tiles are laid out in front of the players either as separate tiles or in matching rows.

A row is matching if, at a canoe:

• one or more animals lie that are shown on the canoe;
• a mushroom tile or a herb tile lies;
• a combination of animal tiles, mushroom tiles and herb tiles lies.

Separate tiles are:

• a canoe without a tile (matching animal, mushroom or herb);
• an animal without a matching canoe;
• a mushroom or herb without a canoe.

The separate tiles are kept sufficiently apart and the matching tiles are laid neatly next to each other in a row.

As soon as a player has laid out in front of him a canoe with the exact number of depicted animals and possibly a mushroom and herb, this loot is immediately exchanged for gold pieces.

The Trapper and the Trapper Cards

The colour of a trapper card determines the trapper with which the loot tiles can be collected and which can subsequently be moved. Every player may use every trapper.

Loot Tiles

In total there are 64 loot tiles: 18 canoes, 30 animals, 5 herbs and 5 mushrooms.

On each loot tile there is water on one side and a butterfly in a corner. Via the water side a tile is unreachable for the trapper. The butterfly indicates how the tile must be turned when it is revealed; the butterfly on the tile must be laid in the same direction as the butterfly on the border corner.

(Illustration labels: butterfly, water.)

Canoes

Only with a matching canoe can animals, herbs and mushrooms be brought to the market. While herbs and mushrooms can be transported with any canoe, for each animal species there are only three matching canoes, with which one, two or three animals can be transported. As soon as the number of animals indicated on the canoe has been laid in a row next to the canoe, the canoe is valued immediately.

Animals

Each animal is present six times. The individual values of mink, lynx, moose, brown bear, wolf and salmon are 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 and 4.

Mushrooms and Herbs

On the mushrooms and the herbs too there are numbers from 1 to 5 that indicate how valuable they are. They are laid at a canoe, but only as long as the canoe is not yet filled with the matching animals. So at least one animal must still be missing in order to be able to add a mushroom or a herb to a canoe.

Also, per canoe only one mushroom and one herb may be laid at a time.

The Display

The loot tiles that lie on the table in front of a player form his display. In a player's display there can be separate tiles and rows.

All tiles must always be laid together immediately if they fit:

• a canoe must be laid at a matching animal, or at an available mushroom or herb;
• an animal must be laid at a matching canoe;
• mushrooms and herbs must be laid at an available canoe at will.

Loot tiles that have been added to a canoe can no longer be taken away or exchanged.

Separate tiles: In the display lies a canoe with 2 wolves, but no wolf tiles and also no mushroom or herb. For the bears a matching canoe is missing.

Row: Because the mushroom and the herb had to be laid directly at the available canoe, the canoe with the lynx forms a row together with the mushroom and the herb.

(Illustrations omitted.)

Canoe

A canoe always shows one, two or three animals of one species. This also immediately determines which animal can be transported with which canoe. The number of animals depicted on a canoe determines the number of animal tiles that can be added to this canoe.

Example: This canoe with 3 bears must be brought to market because there are exactly three bears in the canoe. Before the last bear (bear 2) was laid at this canoe, one mushroom and one herb could also still be added to this canoe.

Playing Trapper Cards and Taking Loot Tiles

After a player has played a trapper card, he takes one of the loot tiles that is directly adjacent, horizontally or vertically (not diagonally), to the trapper whose colour was played. Taking the tile is only possible if the access to the tile is not blocked by water. The player lays the tile down in front of him on the table.

(Illustration: "the access to this tile is blocked by water".)

NOTE: The only exception when taking tiles is the situation in which the trapper is isolated (see "A trapper is isolated" below).

The player now places the trapper on the vacated space. The face-down tiles that now border the trapper horizontally and vertically are revealed and turned so that the butterfly on the loot tile points in the same direction as the butterfly on the border corner.

Several tiles per turn

A player may play several cards of one colour one after another in order to collect additional loot tiles in this way. During a turn a player may only move one trapper.

Colour change

Instead of playing one card of the requested colour, the player may also play two cards of another colour. Suppose the player wants to move the blue trapper but owns no blue cards; then this player may, for example, play two beige cards or two green cards to move the blue trapper. This colour change may be applied several times in a turn. If he first used two beige cards, he may afterwards use two green cards.

End of a turn

When the player wants to end his turn, he draws two trapper cards from the draw pile. After that, his left neighbour is next.

The played trapper cards are collected on an open discard pile. When the draw pile is used up, the discard pile is shuffled very thoroughly and laid ready as the new draw pile.

A trapper is isolated

A trapper is isolated if there are no more loot tiles around him that he can enter. In this case the player may, after he has played a trapper card of the isolated trapper, take any revealed loot tile of his choice. Then the isolated trapper is placed on this vacated space. The adjacent face-down tiles (horizontally and vertically) are revealed and aligned (butterfly). If the player wishes, he may play new cards of this trapper.

Examples of a turn

(Illustrations omitted; captions follow.)

1. The player whose turn it is plays a green trapper card. Bear 4 is blocked by water. The way to mushroom 5 is free. The player takes the mushroom and puts the green trapper on the vacated space.
2. After the same player has revealed and aligned all adjacent face-down tiles, he plays a next green card and takes the canoe with the 3 bears and places the green trapper on the vacated space.
3. Again the player reveals the adjacent tiles and aligns them. The green trapper is now isolated because access to both adjacent tiles is blocked by water. With a green trapper card the player can now take any revealed tile of his choice.
4. Because the player whose turn it is no longer owns a green card, he plays two blue cards and takes bear 4 and then puts the green trapper on the vacated space.
5. After revealing and aligning the face-down tiles, the player ends his turn although bear 2 would fit very well in his display. Unfortunately, however, he has only one beige trapper card left. He draws two trapper cards from the draw pile. After that, his left neighbour is next.

A Canoe Is Valued

As soon as exactly as many matching animal tiles lie at a canoe as are depicted on the canoe, this canoe is valued immediately. No new tiles can be added to this canoe either. All values, including those of any mushrooms and/or herbs present, are added up. The double of the sum is paid out to the player by the bank.

The gold coins a player receives must always be laid clearly visible to all players on the table in front of the player.

Example: The canoe with 3 bears is valued immediately after the player has taken the third bear from the playing area and laid it at his canoe. The canoe has the value 4+1+5+1+2 = 13. The value is now doubled and the player receives gold coins from the bank for a total value of 26.

Example: The canoe with 1 mink is valued immediately as soon as a player takes a mink from the playing area and lays it at his canoe. He may now no longer add any loot tiles to this canoe: neither mink, nor mushroom, nor herb. The player receives from the bank gold coins for a total value of 6 (3x 2).

Every time a canoe has been valued, the loot tiles are slid under this canoe. This stack remains with the player but is moved a little aside, because no new tiles can be added to a valued canoe. This stack is possibly still used for determining who has the most animal species.

The Bonus Tokens

Most valuable canoe

If the value of a complete canoe after the doubling is 16 or higher, the player receives the bonus token with the identical number and lays this token in front of him. If a bonus token is no longer available because another player already owns it, the player receives the token with the next smaller number. If there is no token with a smaller number left, the player unfortunately goes home empty-handed.

Most animal species

Whenever it is a player's turn, he may at any time put all or some of his valued canoes with the tiles lying under them back in the box and exchange them for a bonus token of "most animal species". The canoes used in this valuation must show different animal species. Per turn one may exchange only 1 bonus token of most animal species. The number on this bonus token indicates how many different animals one must hand in to obtain a token. If one waits too long to exchange one's canoes for a bonus token, it may be that there are no tokens left or that one has to take a token with a smaller value. At the end of the game a player may own several bonus tokens of "most animal species".

Example: A player owns five canoes that have already been valued: canoe bear 2, canoe bear 1, canoe moose 3, canoe salmon 2 and canoe mink 1. He puts four canoes with the tiles slid under them back in the box and receives for them the token "most animal species" with the value 4. Now only a valued canoe with bears lies in front of him. It does not even matter whether this is the canoe with 1 or with 2 bears. The player can exchange this canoe in his next turn for a bonus token of 1 if this token is still available, or he can collect animal species again to score a higher bonus.

Score Standing

To keep a clear overview of the score standing, the players must immediately exchange their gold coins for the highest possible values.

End of the Game

If a player is of the opinion that no action is worthwhile any more, he ends the game for himself by setting his trapper cards aside. All other players continue playing until all players have ended the game or until all loot tiles have been captured.

Valuation

Now all canoes that lie in front of the players and that do not contain the required number of animals are valued. These canoes are valued positively but count only single.

Example: For the canoe with 2 bears and the mushroom, the player receives gold coins for a total value of 3.

Separate tiles are valued negatively. For these tiles one must hand in gold coins to the value that the canoe shows (number of animals) or the value stated on the tile (animal, mushroom or herb).

Example: For the two separate tiles the player hands in gold coins for a total value of 6 (3 for the canoe with three moose and 3 for the bear tile).

ATTENTION: In a positive valuation a canoe is not counted; in a negative valuation it is.

Valuation of the bonus tokens

Subsequently the bonus tokens are valued. Both kinds are valued in the same way. The player with the highest bonus token of each kind receives gold coins for a total value of 12, for the second highest token gold coins worth 8, for the third highest token gold coins worth 5, for the fourth highest gold coins worth 3 and for the fifth highest still gold coins worth 2. The number of gold coins that can be obtained is also stated on the border corner. Players must realise that with a "small" bonus token probably no gold coins are earned.

The player with the most money wins the game.

Variant for a Game with Younger Children

If one wants to play a simpler game, one can play without bonus tokens. In addition, the water-blocking rule can also be left out. A trapper can then take any tile he borders, even if the water side lies on the side of the trapper. In this case the tile does not have to be aligned when it is turned over.

Tactical Variant

In the tactical variant there is an auction for the right to take a loot tile. At the beginning of the game each player receives 8 trapper cards in hand. The player whose turn it is receives the start player stone. The player with the start player stone can pass immediately and draw 4 cards from the draw pile, or he names a trapper colour and makes a bid (1 or higher). With this bid he determines:

• the trapper with which a loot tile can be obtained, and
• the number of cards a player must play in order to take a loot tile.

The number the player names has nothing to do with the value of the loot tile. After the bid has been determined, the left neighbour is next. He can either pass or make a higher bid. The colour determined by the start player cannot be changed. In this way the bidding goes on in turn (also over several rounds) until all players but one have passed. This player must now discard as many cards of the desired colour as he has bid. Here too it is possible to replace the original colour with two cards of another colour. After he has discarded the cards, he takes a tile of his choice that is accessible for the trapper of the same colour. He places the trapper on the vacated space, turns the adjacent tiles over and aligns them.

Subsequently it is again the turn of the player with the start player stone, no matter who obtained the previous loot tile. Again he has the possibility to pass and take 4 cards or to make a bid. If he bids again, the next action (taking a loot tile and moving the trapper) is auctioned. In this way the actions are auctioned until the player with the start player stone finally passes and draws four cards. In all these actions the originally named trapper colour may not be changed.

Then his left neighbour receives the start player stone. A player who has passed once can no longer intervene in that same auction round. He may take part again in the next auction round of the same player.

ATTENTION: Only the player who owns the start player stone may draw cards, and only when he has passed and ended his turn.

Example for a turn with 3 players: A owns the start player stone. He names beige as the colour and makes a bid of 2. B passes and C raises to 3. A raises to 4. C raises to 5. After A passes, C puts 3 beige, 2 green and 2 blue trapper cards on the discard pile and takes a loot tile that borders the beige trapper. He puts the trapper on the vacated space and reveals all adjacent tiles and aligns them too. Because A did not end his turn himself by passing immediately and taking 4 trapper cards, it is his turn again. He must stay with the colour beige and makes a bid of 1. B raises to 3. C and A pass. B puts his bid cards away, takes a loot tile that borders the beige trapper and moves the trapper. A is still start player and again makes a bid of 1. Since both other players pass, he gives up one beige card and takes a loot tile. Again it is A's turn and he again bids 1. B and C pass. A gives up one beige card and takes a loot tile. A ends his turn and draws four trapper cards from the draw pile. He gives his start player stone to his left neighbour, who opens the next auction round with a colour and a bid.