Why I Otter Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Goal of the Game
• Course of Play
  • Step 1) Lay Out the River Course (Rounds 1 to 4)
  • Step 2) Play Otters
  • Step 3) Distribute Rewards (Rounds 1 to 4)
• Final Scoring

Components

25 cards:

• 18 game cards
• 2 overview cards "Course of Play"
• 2 overview cards "Otter Duels"
• 2 "Otter Den" cards
• 1 scoring card

Card front: Otter. Card back: River. The front shows a number (1 to 6) and an otter colour (pink, yellow, blue). The back (river side) shows the condition for scoring.

Setup

Shuffle all 18 game cards and place them river side up as a draw pile. Then you both draw 3 cards from the draw pile into your hand. Always keep the otters on your hand cards secret. You also each take 1 Otter Den, which you place in front of you. Each of you also takes 1 of the two overview cards "Course of Play" and "Otter Duels". Place the scoring card next to the draw pile, with some space in between.

Goal of the Game

Each round you lay out a new section of the river. Then you each play 1 otter from your hand. Whoever plays the stronger otter wins the round and receives both otters to place in their Otter Den. These otters can bring you victory points (star) at the end. Whoever plays the weaker otter, however, determines which otters bring star points at all. After 7 rounds comes the final scoring, and whoever has collected the most star points wins.

Course of Play

The game lasts 7 rounds. The first 4 rounds consist of the following steps:

• STEP 1) Lay out the river course
• STEP 2) Play otters
• STEP 3) Distribute rewards

After the 4th round the draw pile is used up. The last 3 rounds therefore consist only of Step 2: Play otters.

Step 1) Lay Out the River Course (Rounds 1 to 4)

Draw the top 3 cards of the draw pile and lay them out next to each other, river side up, on the table. This is the river course.

Step 2) Play Otters

Whichever of you has the softer hair starts the game. In the following rounds, whoever won the previous round always starts.

Are you starting? Then lay 1 otter from your hand face up in front of you. After that, your opponent also plays 1 otter. Then check:

Who has the stronger otter?

Each otter shows a number from 1 to 6 and one of 3 colours (blue, yellow, pink).

Did you both play an otter of the same colour? Then you compare only the number. Whoever played the otter with the higher number wins. Which colour you played does not matter.

Did you play 2 different otter colours? Then you compare only the colour. Each of the 3 colours beats one particular other colour and loses to the remaining colour. The numbers on the otters play no role in this case.

Whoever played the otter with the stronger colour wins.

• Blue otters beat yellow otters.
• Yellow otters beat pink otters.
• Pink otters beat blue otters.

Did you play the stronger otter and win this round? Then take both played otters and lay them face up, side by side, at your Otter Den. Only the otters lying here can bring you star points at the end of the game. If you win again later, just add the new otters. (Otters like it cosy, so you need not worry about space ...)

You also begin the next round and must play an otter first.

Note: You can both always freely choose which of your 3 otters you want to play.

Step 3) Distribute Rewards (Rounds 1 to 4)

Whoever won the current round goes first:

Did you win this round? Then take 1 card of your choice from the river course into your hand as a new otter. This way you again have 3 otters to choose from for the next round.

You may look at the otters on the back of the cards in the river course before you decide on one of the cards.

Did you lose this round? Then you decide about the 2 remaining cards in the river course:

• You take 1 of the two cards into your hand as a new otter. This way you also again have 3 otters to choose from for the next round.
• You automatically make the other card a scoring card. The scoring condition on this card applies to both of you at the end of this game. Lay the card, river side up, in the next free space of the scoring card.

You, too, may look at the otters on the back of the cards in the river course before you decide.

Note: If you like, you can also turn over all 3 cards in the river course at the beginning of Step 3.

Final Scoring

Have you played 7 rounds and played all your hand cards? Then scoring follows now. Only the otters lying in your own Otter Den can be part of the scoring.

Look at the 4 scoring cards you set aside during the game: all 4 scoring conditions on them apply equally to both of you. There are 2 different kinds of scoring.

THE MOST: Whoever of you has the most matching otters (number or colour) in their own Otter Den receives 2 star points.

Note: If you both have the same number of matching otters, nobody receives the star points.

Example: Anne has 2 pink otters in her Otter Den, Tim has only 1 pink otter. Anne has the most matching otters and receives 2 star points.

ALL: You both receive 1 star point for each matching otter (number or colour) in your own Otter Den.

Example: Anne receives 2 further star points for her 2 pink otters. Tim receives 1 star point for his 1 pink otter.

Resolve the 4 scoring cards and then each add up your collected star points. Otters that match none of the scoring conditions bring you no points. Whoever of you has the most star points wins. Is there a tie? Then share the victory.