Unsurmountable
Unsurmountable Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
COMPONENTS
17 Mountain Cards, 1 Rescue Helicopter Card
SETUP
Shuffle the Mountain Cards together to form a face-down deck.
Place the Rescue Helicopter near the deck.
Draw 5 cards and place them face up in a row to form the Base Camp. Leave room above your Base Camp to build the Mountain.
BASE CAMP
Plan your Mountain using this row of cards. The First (leftmost) Card is the only card that you can add to the Mountain; the other cards can be discarded to use their abilities. New cards are added on the right. Do not rearrange Base Camp cards unless allowed by an ability.
The Base Camp row is arranged, left to right, as: First Card, then the Ability Cards.
MOUNTAIN
As you play, you'll build a triangular Mountain.
Your completed Mountain must have a continuous path which starts at the bottom edge of the 4-card bottom row and extends to the center of the 1-card peak (it does not have to reach the top edge of the peak card).
The path can split off into dead ends, and your Mountain can have other paths that are not connected to your main path. Path segments connect behind wood signs and all the way to card edges (even if they're partially obscured by illustrations).
GAMEPLAY
Each turn, you will use one card in the Base Camp. You can either add the First Card to the Mountain, or discard any other Base Camp card to use its ability. After using your chosen card, refill the Base Camp.
Adding to the Mountain
Only the First Card can be added to the Mountain. The initial card may be placed anywhere to start the bottom row. Additional cards may be placed in the bottom row, directly to the left or right of another card in that row, up to a maximum of 4 cards. Cards cannot overlap.
A card may be placed in a higher row as long as it is centered directly above two adjacent cards in the row below it. You do not need to complete a row before placing cards in a higher row.
Example: With the partially built Mountain shown above, your next card may only be placed in the green locations. All other locations are invalid. Remember that the bottom row may only have 4 cards, so only one of those locations can be filled.
Do not rotate cards as you place them (the ability text must remain right side up). Not all path segments have to connect when you place cards (you can create dead ends).
Discarding for an Ability
You may discard any Base Camp card other than the First Card and activate its ability. You must resolve the ability in its entirety if possible. If the ability cannot be fully resolved, ignore it altogether (the card is still discarded).
If an ability removes a card from the Mountain, all other cards stay in place even if they aren't fully supported. Future cards added to the Mountain must still follow all placement rules.
Place discarded cards and cards removed from the game into two separate face-up piles.
Refilling the Base Camp
At the end of the turn, shift Base Camp cards to the left to close any gaps. Draw cards from the deck and add them one at a time to the right of the Base Camp until you reach 5 cards (game variants and card abilities may change this limit). If the deck runs out of cards, stop adding cards. Continue playing until you complete the Mountain and path, or until you empty the Base Camp.
Rescue Helicopter
You start the game with this card, and may remove it from the game at any time to use its ability.
WINNING THE GAME
If you have a completed Mountain with no empty spaces, and a continuous path connecting the center of the top card to the bottom edge of the bottom row, you win the game! (You can have cards left over in the deck and/or Base Camp.)
If the Base Camp runs out of cards before you reach the peak, you lose the game.
INCREASING DIFFICULTY
When you're ready to climb tougher mountains, each of these difficulty levels adds a new challenge that builds upon the last level. For example, Level III games also include Level II's restriction.
Level II: Start with a Base Camp size of 4 cards (can be modified by card abilities).
Level III: Each card feature may only appear once on each row of your final Mountain. You lose if a feature repeats within a row at the end of the game.
Card features: forests, camps, lakes, caves, yeti.
Level IV: Each card feature may only appear once on each outer slope of your final Mountain. You lose if a feature repeats within a slope at the end of the game.
Level V: The path to the peak must have fewer climbers than the height of the Mountain. Only count climbers on or next to path segments along your chosen path from the bottom to the peak.
CREDITS
Design: Scott Almes Art: Christy Johnson Rules Editing: Michael Lee
FAQ and more games at buttonshygames.com
1 Player | Ages 8+ | 15 Minutes