Whitewater Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Ways to Play
• Base Game Rules
  • Set-up (for 3-6 players)
  • Assigning Rafts
  • Set-up for 2 Players
  • Game Play - Taking Actions
  • Action & Energy Cards
  • Locking & Unlocking Cards
  • Actions
  • Events
  • Whirlpool Effects
  • Rough Water Rule
  • Game End
• Advanced Rules
  • Actions
  • Whirlpools
  • From Bad To Worse...
• Optional Rules
• Sample Board Set-Ups

Components

• 54 cards (front/back): 12 Raft cards, 24 Action cards, 18 Energy cards
• 54 tokens: 14 Scoring tokens, 14 Energy tokens, 3 Place tokens, 10 Paddle tokens, 12 Overboard tokens
• 6 Raft tiles
• 3 dice
• 9 River boards
• Rules

Note: Extra tiles have been included for use with future variants and as replacements for lost pieces.

Ways to Play

• Base Game (recommended for first-time players and faster games): uses the simplified event rules to keep the game moving quickly.
• Advanced Game (better for experienced players): with these rules, you have a harder time recovering from events. Paddles and overboard rafters must now be retrieved from the river, and your Energy becomes more important than ever.

Base Game Rules

We recommend these rules for first-time players and faster games.

Set-up (for 3-6 players)

Note: Two-player rules appear below.

Build a path for the race out of the river boards. Always start with the "Start" board, and then use 2 to 4 more boards. Water must always flow the same direction along the river! Use the colored marks (blue/red and green/yellow) to connect side to side. A 5 board game (Start board, plus 4 more) takes 60-75 minutes. You do not use the Overboard, Paddle, or Energy tokens.

Take 3 Energy cards and place them face up (with the "lightning bunny" showing) near your cards. Also take 1 each of the "1x" and "2x" scoring tokens.

Place each raft in play on the Start board on the hex corresponding to the raft's letter. Make sure each raft (i.e., its letter) is pointing downstream.

Place your scoring tokens face down on your Raft cards. One of your rafts (the one that you assign the "2x" to) will earn you double points at the end of the game, while the other will earn you the normal number of points. Once you assign the tokens, you cannot move them.

The youngest player takes the first turn.

Assigning Rafts

You control half of the rafters in 2 different rafts. You share each of your rafts with a different player. You must work together to move your rafts as quickly as you can.

Divide the raft cards by letter. Players each take a random matched pair of raft cards. The letters on the cards will be the letters of the rafts used in the game. Then the youngest player hands a card to another player, who now has 3 Raft cards. This player now passes 1 of his matching cards to a player who has not yet had cards passed to him. Repeat this process until all players have had cards passed to them. At the end of this process, each player has 2 Raft cards with different letters. Place these cards in front of you.

Take 4 Action cards and place (any) 2 of them on each Raft card faceup (showing the active rafter). You can take 1 of each character, or if everyone agrees, use any combination that you want (all the same, all boys or girls, or random).

Set-up for 2 Players

Use 3 rafts, with both players in all 3 rafts. Use the 1x, 2x and 3x to assign secret scoring, and each player has 3 pairs of Action cards (but still only 3 Energy cards). Otherwise, use the same setup as for 3-6 players.

Game Play - Taking Actions

On your turn, you use cards to take actions. When you use a card, turn it facedown.

Action cards may only be used for the raft they are attached to, but they recover at the beginning of every turn. Energy cards can be played on any of your rafts, but are only recovered when you use an Action card to do so.

On your turn:

• Recover Action cards: turn all facedown Action cards or your locked cards faceup (not your Energy cards!)
• Move your rafts: you must complete your actions with one raft before moving on to the next raft.

At the beginning of your turn, your facedown Action cards turn faceup. Locked cards remain locked.

Action & Energy Cards

During play, there are 3 ways for cards to be displayed:

• Face Up: Action point ready to spend ("active rafter" showing); Energy point ready to spend ("lightning bunny" showing).
• Face Down (exhausted rafter, or flipped Energy card): spent Action or Energy point.
• Locked: Action card rotated 90 degrees to show that it is temporarily unusable, due to loss of paddle, rafter, or a capsized raft.

To recover an Energy card, you must use an Action card. Flip one Action card facedown and then turn one Energy card faceup. You may use that Energy point in the same turn! During your turn, you may turn an Action card facedown to turn an Energy card faceup. You might even spend that Energy point on your other raft during the same turn! To save energy for later, use an Action card to flip an Energy card faceup.

Locking & Unlocking Cards

When you lose a paddle, have a rafter fall overboard or flip a raft, your Action cards "lock." Rotate each card sideways, with the card facedown. If a card is locked, it stays locked (rotated and facedown) until you or your partner spends an Action or Energy point to recover it. When you recover a card, it remains facedown until the beginning of your next turn.

When you have a locked card, use an Action card or an Energy card to recover it (it remains facedown).

IMPORTANT: You may spend your Energy or Action cards to help a partner! You may only spend cards to recover a partner's Action cards, but only for the raft that you are both in. You cannot spend an Action or Energy card to turn a partner's Energy card faceup, and you cannot spend an Action or Energy point on a raft that you are not in!

Actions

Each face-up Action card and Energy card gives you 1 Action point to spend. Moving a raft forward costs 1 Action point. If you use a card, flip it face down.

One-Point Actions

• Move: Move your raft 1 hex forward, keeping its current facing.
• Turn: Pivot 60 degrees - the point of the raft turns 1 hex corner either left or right.
• Rest: Flip 1 Energy card face up (note that you cannot rest on a whirlpool!)
• Recover: Restore a locked card (turn the card upright, leaving it facedown)

"Forward" means either of the 2 hexes in front of a raft - the bow, or front, of a raft always points towards a corner of a hex. It costs 1 Action or Energy point to move a raft forward 1 hex.

Turning a raft costs 1 Action or Energy point per turn. Turn your raft 1 step towards the next hex corner. It costs 1 Action or Energy point to turn a raft to point to an adjacent hex corner.

Two-Point Actions

• Backpaddle: Move a raft backwards 1 hex, keeping its current facing.

For 2 Action and/or Energy points, you may move a raft backwards to either of the hexes directly behind a raft. The raft remains facing the same direction as before the backwards move. You may combine an Action point and an Energy point to do this (or any other multi-point action). It costs 2 Action and/or Energy points to move a raft backward 1 hex.

Events

When your raft enters certain hexes, events occur.

Rapids (Straight Arrow): If you move onto a rapids symbol, immediately move 1 hex in the direction shown by the arrow (keeping the raft's current facing).

Eddy (Curved Arrow): If you move onto an eddy, pivot your raft 1 hex corner left or right in the direction shown. This only applies when entering the eddy hex.

Collisions: If a raft enters a hex with another raft, it pushes the raft in front 1 hex in the direction of the collision. If there is a raft in that next hex, that raft is also pushed forward. If you move an opponent onto a whirlpool, the next player clockwise from you in the raft will immediately roll and resolve the die (see whirlpool rules below).

You may push a raft onto, but not off of, a snag. Treat a raft on a snag as if it were land. Collisions push all rafts in the direction of the collision.

You cannot push a raft onto rocks or land! You cannot collide if you would push a raft onto rocks or land.

Snags: It does not cost any extra movement to move into a hex with a snag. It costs 1 extra point to move out of a hex with a snag.

Whirlpools: If you enter a hex with a whirlpool, immediately roll the die of the same color as the whirlpool. Blue is the mildest; black is the most dangerous. If you push another raft into a whirlpool, the next player clockwise who is in that raft rolls the die and applies the effect.

Whirlpool Effects

Many whirlpool results spin your raft the number of hex corners and direction as shown on the die. The long arched symbol spins your raft 180 degrees.

Also, the blue and red dice both have a chance to require you to roll the next most hazardous die.

Other Whirlpool effects include:

Lost Paddle (Blue/Red/Black Dice): Lock 1 of your raft's Action cards for the raft that you just moved. Lock (turn facedown and rotate) the card you just used to move the raft into the whirlpool. See "Locking & Unlocking Cards" above for how to unlock your card.

Rafter Overboard (Red/Black Dice): Lock both of your raft's Action cards, even if one is unused. You can use Energy to recover them this turn, but they stay facedown. You can also unlock one card now, and one later.

Capsized Raft (Black Die): Turn your raft over; you may no longer move your raft until all of your cards are unlocked. Lock the Action cards for you AND YOUR PARTNER corresponding to that raft. Only your Energy or your partner's Energy may be used to give you the points you need to recover your cards. Once all 4 Action cards are recovered, flip your raft over and point it in any direction.

Rough Water Rule

If all of your Action cards are locked, and you have no Energy cards at the beginning of a turn, you may turn 1 Energy card faceup and use that Energy point on this turn. You may immediately use this Energy card to unlock an Action card for use on your next turn (it remains facedown until the beginning of your next turn).

Game End

When a raft crosses the "finish line" (moves so that part or all of the raft is off of the last board), you may no longer use that raft's Action cards. Use the place tokens to track the order that rafts finish. Once the third raft crosses the finish line, the game is over.

Players reveal their secret Scoring tokens. The raft in first place scores 3 points; second place scores 2 points, and third earns 1 point. If a player has a x2 token on a scoring raft, double that raft's score for that player. If you have both of your cards locked at the end of the game for a raft that scores, you score no points for that raft.

If you have the most points, you are the winner; if there is a tie, the tied player who first moved a raft off the board to score is the winner.

Advanced Rules

All of the rules from the Base game are in effect, except as changed by the rules below. You will also use the Paddle, Overboard and Energy tokens.

In the Advanced game, when you lose a paddle or have a rafter overboard, you must use Energy AND retrieve your paddle or rafter before you can unlock your Action cards. You can even retrieve an abandoned paddle to use as a spare in your raft!

Actions

One-Point Actions

• Move: Move your raft 1 hex forward, keeping its current facing.
• Turn: Pivot 60 degrees, so that the point of the rafts turns 1 hex corner either left or right.
• Rest: Flip 1 Energy card face up. (Note: you cannot rest on a whirlpool!)
• Retrieve paddle: Pick up a paddle (if you are in the same hex or adjacent to it)

Two-Point Actions

• Backpaddle: Move backwards 1 hex, keeping its current facing.
• Retrieve rafter: Pick up an overboard rafter (if you are in the same hex or adjacent).

Four-Point Action

• Flip a capsized raft.

Whirlpools

If you enter a hex with a whirlpool, immediately roll the die of the same color as the whirlpool. After the first turn that you land on a whirlpool, EVERY TURN that you or the other player in the raft with you ends your turn on the whirlpool hex, roll the applicable die again. If you are capsized, do not roll the die.

ALL locked cards from an effect must be unlocked before the cards are available again! When you spend Energy to recover from any of these events, you place an Energy token on the locked card(s) to show that part of the cost has been spent. Once the necessary amount of energy has been spent, AND your raft is on or adjacent to a paddle or rafter, the card(s) will then be recovered simultaneously.

Lost Paddle (Blue/Red/Black Dice): Place a Paddle token on the board in the same hex as the raft. Also, lock an Action card as in the Base game. To recover your paddle, you must spend 1 Action or Energy card to place an Energy token on the locked card, and your raft must be either on or adjacent to your paddle. If you have done this, remove the Paddle token from the board and unlock your Action card.

Special case: If you have lost a paddle, have an Energy token on your locked card but have not yet recovered your paddle, and you roll a lost paddle again, lose the Energy token from your locked card.

If you are not on, or adjacent to your paddle, another player may pick up that paddle! Spend 1 point to pick up an abandoned paddle and place it on your scoring token for the raft that picked it up. You may spend your extra paddle to recover your Action cards (immediately, instead of spending Energy and picking up the paddle that you dropped!)

If you have placed an Energy token, and you are on the same or an adjacent hex as your paddle, recover your card and remove the Paddle token.

If you have lost your paddle & roll lost paddle, you lose an Energy token without regaining your paddle. If no Energy token, there is no effect.

Rafter Overboard (Red/Black Dice): Place the swimmer counter with the letter that corresponds to your raft, on the board, in the same hex as your raft. Also, lock both of your raft's Action cards as in the Base game. For each Action or Energy point spent, place an Energy token on your locked card(s). Also, you may spend 1 Energy (or your partner may use Action or Energy points) to move a rafter 1 hex downstream. Once both of your Action cards have Energy tokens on them, and your rafter is either on or adjacent to your raft, recover your Action cards and remove the Overboard token from the board. If you roll a rafter overboard a second time, and you have only partially recovered from your first, remove all Energy tokens on your Action cards. Another raft cannot pick up a rafter from a different lettered raft.

Capsized Raft (Black Dice): Turn over the raft counter to the capsized side and lock all of the Action cards for the raft (you and your partner's) as in the Base game. Place an Energy token on a locked card each time you or your partner spend an Energy card. You may flip your raft and unlock your Action cards only once all 4 locked cards have Energy tokens on them. You no longer roll the die until you have righted your raft. However, if you do not move off of the whirlpool on the turn you flip your raft up, you will have to roll the die again!

Between the 2 players in the A raft, they must place 4 Energy tokens to recover their Action cards. In the illustration, they must spend 1 more Energy point to recover all of their Action cards.

From Bad To Worse...

If you lose a paddle, and then lose a rafter, do not remove the Paddle token from the water. When you recover the rafter, if your paddle is in or adjacent to your rafter, also pick up the Paddle token (the rafter grabs it and puts it in the board while getting back in). Otherwise, you will still have a locked card due to the paddle!

You have only 1 paddle to lose (you cannot have both cards locked due to lost paddles). However, should you lose a rafter, and then have your raft capsize, you may pick up any paddle or Overboard tokens only if they are still on or adjacent to your raft. Otherwise, you will still have cards locked after your raft is righted!

In the Advanced Game, players may ram you to move your raft away from paddles or rafters in the water. Try to have as much Energy stored as you can before encountering events!

The end of the game and the victory conditions are the same as in the Base game.

Optional Rules

Drifting: If your raft has not moved on your turn, your raft may drift downstream. To drift:

• You cannot have moved (moved forward, backwards, or turned) this turn,
• You cannot be on a snag or a whirlpool,
• You must have an empty hex to drift to in front of you (you cannot collide with a raft when drifting).

If these conditions are met, you MUST drift 1 hex forward (as if spending a point to move forward) to an empty hex. You may drift onto board effects and whirlpools (immediately rolling for the whirlpool effect).

Hard to rest on rapids (experienced players only!): You only transfer points from your Action cards to your Energy cards at the end of your turn (not during your turn). You cannot use an Energy card on the same turn you use one of your rafts to flip that Energy card. You must wait until your next turn to expend that energy!

Sample Board Set-Ups

Three sample board layouts are shown as diagrams (Start board at the top, boards numbered, with a Finish Line). One layout is best with 5-6 players; drop board 1 or 3 for fewer players. For a shorter game, drop the final board(s).

Note: the layouts themselves are graphical diagrams on page 8 of the source and are not transcribed.