Woodlanders
Woodlanders Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 50 Woodlander cards (5 suits, 10 cards each - four 1s, three 2s, two 3s, one 4)
- 5 Warden cards (white border, X on one side)
You will need to provide your own chips or pencil and paper to keep score.
Game Preparation
The following rules are for 4 players. For 3 players, see 3 PLAYER VARIANT at the end of the rulebook.
Place the 5 Warden cards in the center of the table, in a row, X-side down. Their order does not matter.
Shuffle and deal 12 cards to each player. Place the two remaining cards off to the side, face down.
Beginning with the player to the right of the dealer (and continuing counter-clockwise), each player chooses one of the Warden cards in the center to be their "pain" suit. These will be the suit you will want to avoid taking in tricks (see END OF ROUND SCORING).
Each player takes their chosen card and places it X-side up in front of them. The remaining card after the dealer chooses will be the trump suit for that hand. The dealer leads the first trick.
Game Play
Starting with the dealer and proceeding clockwise, each player plays 1 or 2 cards of the same suit from their hand. If 2 cards are played, the values are added together.
Restrictions:
- A 4 must be played as a single card
- You may not lead your pain suit unless it is the only suit you have left in your hand
- If you are not the lead player, you must follow the led suit if possible
Trump may be led at any time - it does not have to be broken.
The highest of the led suit (or trump) wins the trick. Ties are broken by later played.
Winning the Trick:
- If none of the cards of your pain suit are in the trick, collect all cards played into your score pile
- If one or more cards of your pain suit are in the trick, only collect the cards of your pain suit and discard the rest of the cards in the trick.
Play continues until 2 or more players are out of cards in their hands. Remaining players discard any cards left in their hand. Proceed to scoring.
End of Round Scoring
- + 1 for every card collected from tricks that are NOT in your pain suit.
- - 1 for every card collected from tricks that ARE in your pain suit.
The player who has the highest total scores 3 points for the round. Second place scores 2 points, third place scores 1 point.
If there are ties, the player who took more cards scores the higher points. If there is still a tie, all tied players get the lower points. (If there is still a tie for third, neither player gets points.)
The player who currently has the most points becomes the dealer for the next round.
End of Game
Play three rounds. The player with the most round points is the winner. If there is a tie, whoever finished the best in the final round is the winner.
3-Player Variant
Meet D4-ST8. This robot is trying to ruin the woodlands for everyone. It doesn't care about pain or points. It just wants to tear everything down.
D4-ST8 will occupy a seat at the table and play in turn order as if it was another player.
Deal 12 cards to each player as usual, including to D4-ST8. Then flip the robot's cards face up, organizing its hand by suit.
D4-ST8 will try to win every trick, playing the maximum it can.
If D4-ST8 cannot win, it will play its single lowest card of the led suit.
If it cannot follow and cannot trump, it will play its two lowest pain cards of the suit of the current trick winner. If it doesn't have that, it will play its lowest card in its shortest suit. If there is ever a question as to what D4-ST8 would play, it will prioritize suits by the relative size of the animals (see back cover, top to bottom).
When D4-ST8 wins a trick, it will lead with its single lowest card in its shortest suit.
D4-ST8 does not gain any round points but is included when evaluating round points.
Unlike in the 4 player game, in rounds 2 and 3 the dealer is the player who has the lowest score rather than the highest score. Since D4-ST8 does not select a Warden card, the dealer has 3 cards to choose from. They select one for their pain suit, one for the trump, and the other gets set aside.
Otherwise, all rules are the same as in the standard 4-player game.
Note: the back cover shows the five animals as icons only, with no printed names. Top to bottom they are Deer, Badger, Fox, Rabbit, Owl, which is the order the "relative size of the animals" ranking refers to.