Vinyl: Seasons Greetings
Vinyl: Seasons Greetings Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 60 Album Cards
- 18 Christmas Wish Cards
- 9 Christmas Bonus Tokens
- 112 Christmas Bonus Tokens
- 48 Christmas Ball Tokens
- 4 Large Christmas Ball Tokens
Note: the source component list prints "Christmas Bonus Tokens" twice (9 and 112). The Setup section refers to a pile of Christmas Light Tokens, which is not listed separately; the figures are transcribed as printed.
Setup
Prepare the Album Cards based on number of players:
- 2-player: remove Album Cards with three and four Christmas trees
- 3-player: remove Album Cards with four Christmas trees
- 4-player: do not remove any Album Cards
With the remaining Album Cards, shuffle the deck and deal five album cards to each player. Place the deck face-up in the center of the table within reach of all players. Place three additional album cards in a line below the deck to form a four-card draft row.
Take the Christmas Bonus Tokens:
- 2-player: remove bonus tokens with three and four Christmas trees
- 3-player: remove bonus tokens with four Christmas trees
- 4-player: do not remove any album cards
Stack the tokens in descending numerical order by points. Place this stack of tokens near the album draw deck.
Place the Christmas Light Tokens into a pile near the deck of album cards.
Each player also takes all the Christmas Ball Tokens in their color along with the Large Christmas Ball Token. The Christmas Ball Tokens are placed in a stack near their play area and the Large Christmas Ball Token is placed it in front of them.
Figure 1: Game Setup
Prepare the Christmas Wish Card deck by selecting only the cards that have the number of Christmas trees equal to the number of players. Shuffle and deal 1 Christmas Wish Card to each player.
Figure 2: Christmas Wish Card for 3 players
You are now ready to start the game. The last person to listen to Christmas music is the first player.
Game Overview
Each player will collaborate on the construction of two trees of albums with the players to their left and right along with playing three scoring cards in between (See Figure 4). Each tree will consist of 12 albums (See Figure 3). During a player's turn, the player will place an album into either tree or in front of them. A player must play into a different location than previously played, which is demarcated by placing the Large Christmas Ball Token near the last played location.
Albums placed in a tree will earn the player a Christmas Light Token based on the number of matches they made with a previously played Album Card. Album Cards are also played in front of the player will be worth 10 points plus the bonus scoring token acquired when played. If the player can meet the criteria outlined on the gift-tag space printed on the album, they will earn additional points at the end of the game.
Figure 3: Completed Tree
Figure 4: Player's Completed Trees and Scoring Area
Figure 5: Large Christmas Token
Figure 6: Gift Tag
When all trees are filled with Album Cards and each player has three Album Cards in front of them, the game ends. Players will count up points from Christmas Lights earned during the game, from the Scoring Bonus Tokens for completed gift tags, points taken from drafting cards, and points for each attribute matching their Christmas Wish card. The player with the most points is the winner. If there is a tie, the player with the most points from scoring bonuses is the winner.
Gameplay
During a player's turn, the player will have two of three potential options to choose from -- play an album to the left tree, play an album to the right tree, or play an album to the personal scoring area. Players must play to a location that was not played to prior. To help track the last played location, the Large Christmas Ball Token is placed near the played location and reminds the player that one of the other two locations must be chosen next turn. At the start of the game, the Large Christmas Ball Token is placed on the scoring area.
Playing to a Tree
When players play an album to a tree, it must either start at the top of the tree or be placed adjacent to a previously placed album. If the album is placed at the top of the tree, it earns a 1-point Christmas light (See Figure 7). If the album is placed adjacent to another album (sharing an edge or diagonal touching), it will earn a Christmas light token depending on the number of matches:
- Red Light - 1 match for 1 point
- Green Light - 2 matches for 3 points
- Blue Light - 3 matches for 6 points
- Yellow Light - 4+ matches for 10 points
After an album is placed, the player who played it will place a Christmas Ball Token on it.
Figure 7: Album played at top of tree.
Figure 8: Album played earns a Green Light Token (2 matches for 3 points)
After the player has placed the appropriate tokens on the album, the player will replenish their hand with an album. The player may take from any face-up albums in the drafting row. However, if a player takes any album other than the album furthest from the album deck, then Red Christmas Light tokens are placed on each album that is skipped over to incentivize the for future players. If an album already has Red Light Tokens from a previous round, just add to these tokens. After the album is selected, the gap created is filled back in by sliding the albums down and drawing a card from the album deck, if necessary. Play proceeds clockwise to the next player. If the player selects an album to add to their hand with Red Light Tokens on it, the player will immediately add those Red Light Tokens to their score area for scoring at the end of the game. The Large Christmas Ball Token is placed in the adjacent to the tree played. Play proceeds clockwise to the next player.
Figure 9: Selected album was not the last one in the draft row; other albums are incentivized with a Red Light Token. Red Light Tokens from a previous round remain with the album.
Play to the Scoring Area
When players play to the scoring area, the album is played face up. The next available Christmas Bonus Token is placed on the album played (See Figure 10). Unlike playing to a tree, no Album Cards are drawn into the player's hand as a replacement (hand size is determined from what is in the player's hand plus the Album Cards in scoring area up to a maximum of 3 scoring cards. The Large Christmas Ball Token is placed in the center near the scoring area. Play proceeds clockwise to the next player.
Figure 10: The player played this card for end game scoring. The next highest Christmas Bonus Token is placed on this album. If the player can control albums with three candy canes and one heart icon by the end of the game, the player will earn the Christmas Bonus Token plus 10 poiunts.
Special Rare Cases
There will be times where a player can only play to location that was previously played. In that instance, the player will ignore the required rule of playing to a different location, and instead of may play to the same location.
There may also be the case where a player does not have any play (both trees and scoring area is filled), but still has albums in hand. The player(s) may play to any tree.
Game End
When all players have completely filled their two trees, and there are three Album Cards in the player's scoring area, the game is over.
Players will now collect all of the Christmas Light Tokens from albums that have their Christmas Ball Tokens.
Players will also evaluate the albums in the scoring area to see if they have Christmas Ball Token placed on albums with associated attributes. If all four attributes are present on controlled albums, then the player will score 10 points plus the Christmas Bonus Token placed on the album during the play.
Players will also evaluate their Christmas wish cards. For each matching attribute in the correct position (regardless of who controls the album), the player will earn the points associated with the correct matches.
All of the points are summed, and the player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with the most points from scoring bonus tokens wins.
Scoring Example
The player will evaluate each Album Card in the score area looking at all of the albums that has their Christmas Ball Tokens. Two of the three Album Cards are completed earning the player two Yellow Light Tokens. The non-complete card and associated Christmas Bonus Token are discarded.
The player will also include any Red Light Tokens earned from drafting incentivized Album Cards.
The player will evaluate which tree matches the most ignoring Christmas Ball Tokens. There are 4 Matches for 7 points with right tree versus 2 Matchs for 2 points. Player will choose the higher point count.
- Left Tree - 16 points
- Right Tree - 23 points
- Scoring Cards - 10 + 12 + 10 + 9 = 41 points
- Drafting Incentives - 6 points
- Christmas Wish - 7 points
- TOTAL: 93 points