Yotei Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
  • Game Objective
  • Game Summary
  • Components
• Set Up
• Ready to Play?
• 1. Placement Phase
  • Reading the Cards
  • Understanding the Card Tiers and Their Elements
  • 1. Place on a Face Up Card
    • Bidding Cards
  • 2. Turn a Card to Face Down, Then Place on It
  • 3. Directly Place on Top of the Draw Piles
• 2. Harvest Phase
  • Resolving a Bidding Card
  • Collecting a Potatoes Card
  • Collecting a Mystery Card
• 3. Preparing for a New Round
• 4. End-of-Game, Victory

Overview

Game Objective

Your goal is to win by collecting the most Charm Points at the end of the game. Cards you collect throughout the game will help you reach that goal!

Game Summary

In Yotei, each player is a developer competing for cards in the middle of the play area. During the Placement Phase, you will take turns placing character tokens, and paying potatoes to occupy cards. In the Harvest Phase, you will attempt to collect the cards you have occupied.

Cards collected provide you with permanent elements, mystery powers, and Charm Points! As these elements stack up, you will have the option to collect even stronger cards, and gain advantage over your opponents. The game will play over several rounds. Each round is played like the last, with the starting player rotating from one person to the next.

Components

• 4 decks, 82x play cards
• 36x potato tokens
• 12x character tokens
• 1x starting token
• 4x hiding screens
• 6x bidding boxes

Set Up

(Page 4 shows a setup illustration with four numbered areas: 1 = the pile of potatoes, bidding boxes and starting token; 2 = each player's hiding screen, hidden potatoes and character tokens; 3 = the three rows of cards in the middle with the Tier III, Tier II and Tier I draw piles at the left end of each row; 4 = the Mystery Card deck.)

Symbols used for player counts: 4 player games | 3 player games | 2 player games.

1. FORM A PILE of potatoes, bidding boxes, and the starting token.
   • 4 players: use 6x bidding boxes.
   • 3 players: use 5x bidding boxes.
   • 2 players: use 4x bidding boxes.
2. EACH PLAYER TAKES 5x potatoes and a hiding screen to hide them!
   • 4 players: each player takes 2x character tokens.
   • 3 / 2 players: each player takes 3x character tokens.
3. FORM 3 ROWS in the middle of the play area.
   • 4 / 3 players: follow this layout (refer to page 4):
     • SHUFFLE the Tier III: Vending Machine deck, REVEAL 3 cards in a top row.
     • SHUFFLE the Tier II: Potatoes deck, REVEAL 4 cards in a middle row.
     • SHUFFLE the Tier I: Forest deck, REVEAL 5 cards in a bottom row.
   • 2 players: cards layout is 3-3-3 (three cards in each row).
4. SHUFFLE the Mystery Cards and put them in an area within everyone's reach! Leave some spaces for discarded cards.

Ready to Play?

Each round has 2 PHASES: Placement Phase and Harvest Phase.

The person who went hiking last can take the starting token and put it in front of them. The game will play over several rounds.

1. Placement Phase

If you have the starting token, start first! Place ONE of your character tokens on a card. The player to your left then places ONE of their token on a card. This process repeats around the table until no one has any tokens left. Once all tokens are placed, the Placement Phase ends. The game proceeds to Harvest Phase, where you will collect the cards (pg 10).

There are 3 possible ways to place:

1. PLACE ON A FACE UP CARD.
2. TURN A CARD FACE DOWN, THEN PLACE ON IT.
3. DIRECTLY PLACE ON TOP OF THE DRAW PILES.

Only one character token can occupy each card, UNLESS it's a bidding card (refer to pg 8 for a detailed explanation).

Reading the Cards

• ELEMENTS: are added to your collection permanently. You can keep using them to fulfill the conditions to collect cards.
• REWARDS: either Charm Points, or Mystery Cards.
• CONDITIONS: you need to have the correct type and # of elements to collect this card.
• POTATO COST: you have to place this amount of potatoes with a character token on this card.
• BIDDING CARDS: special cards that have a box symbol (see bidding cards, pg 8).

EX: this Farmland rewards 1 Charm Point, and requires 1 potato to occupy. To collect it, you need to own at least a Forest and a Mountain.

Understanding the Card Tiers and Their Elements

Tiers:

• Tier I: Land cards to start your development. These elements are essential to collect Tier II and Tier III cards.
• Tier II: Small developments that reward a modest number of Charm Points. Provide elements to collect Tier III cards.
• Tier III: Attractive developments that are expensive but reward the most Charm Points.

Elements:

Tier I	Tier II	Tier III
Mountain	Tourism Developments	Ski Resort
Farmland	Local Produces	Food Culture
Forest	Forest Bounties	Wilderness

(Each Tier I element leads to the Tier II element and then the Tier III element in its column.)

1. Place on a Face Up Card

You may place one of your character tokens on any card that is not occupied. If there is a potato cost, YOU MUST PUT THE REQUIRED AMOUNT ON THE CARD AS WELL. You don't need to meet the card conditions to place your tokens — as long as you can fulfill them by the Harvest Phase.

EX: Miki wants this Farmland card that requires 1x Forest to collect! She doesn't have any Forest at the moment, but she is confident about securing one during her turn in Harvest Phase. Therefore, she pays the potato cost to place a character token here.

Bidding Cards

Multiple players can bid for the same card. These cards offer better rewards, but unlike regular cards, instead of a potato cost they have a bidding box icon.

To bid, you must secretly put any number of potatoes (even zero) into a bidding box and place it together with your character token. Other players may do the same on their turn, as long as there are remaining bidding boxes. Once a bid is placed, you cannot change or rebid for the same card.

During the Harvest Phase, all bids are revealed (details on pg 10).

2. Turn a Card to Face Down, Then Place on It

Every card has two sides you can choose from. Instead of placing on a face up card, you may choose to flip it and place your character tokens to gain its [Face Down] effects.

*In early rounds it is normal to flip Tier I and Tier II cards to get a Forest or potatoes as they don't require conditions to collect. You may use this mechanism to block other players from getting the cards!

[Face Down] effects:

• [Face Down] Tier I - Forest: Gain a Forest, no cost!
• [Face Down] Tier II - Potatoes: Gain 2x potatoes, no cost!
• [Face Down] Tier III - Vending Machine: Gain 1x Charm Point, costs 2x potatoes.

3. Directly Place on Top of the Draw Piles

You may place one of your character tokens on one of the three draw piles. In Harvest Phase, you collect these cards as a [Face Down] card. Do NOT flip them up when collecting. You may, however, look at the other side of the card if you wish.

EX: Miki places her character token on the Forest draw pile. In Harvest Phase, she will collect the top card from the deck for a Forest element, regardless of what's written on the other side.

2. Harvest Phase

Collect your rewards!

The player with the starting token begins by taking back their character tokens, and collect the cards they were occupying, one at a time. Each time, check the card's conditions out loud so other players can follow. If all the conditions are met, you have succeeded collecting it. Place it in front of you so other players can see it! Its elements and rewards activate immediately. Any potatoes placed on the card is spent. Once all of your character tokens have harvested, the next player does the same. Once all players have taken their turn, the Harvest Phase ends. Players proceed to prepare for a new round (pg 11).

(Place your cards where people can see!)

If a player fails any of the conditions upon collecting the card, they must take back the character tokens AND any potatoes on it. The card will remain in play.

Resolving a Bidding Card

All participants must prove they can meet the card's conditions. You can take back the character tokens - even out of turn - to prove you are qualified to participate in the bidding. The player who offered the most potatoes wins the card. If there's a tie, the player who placed their bid earlier wins. If you win the bid, collect the card. Other people take their potatoes back.

• In some rare cases, fulfilling one bid depends on the outcome of another. Just follow the chain in order, and let each player check their conditions as needed.

Collecting a Potatoes Card

Take 2x potatoes, and put the card facedown into a discard pile. If the potatoes deck runs out, shuffle the discarded cards to form a new deck.

Collecting a Mystery Card

When you collect a card with a Mystery Card symbol, draw one Mystery Card from the deck. DON'T show it. Each card has a unique power and can be played once at ANY TIME! Instead of using their powers, you may cash them back in for the # of potatoes shown on the card's top left corner (the three card types show 1, 2 and 3 potatoes respectively).

You can only hold 3 Mystery Cards at a time. (Play or cash them back for more room.)

3. Preparing for a New Round

If the end-of-game condition isn't met, a new round begins. REFILL any empty card slots to prepare for the next Placement Phase. PASS the starting token to the next player to the left, and begin a new round.

4. End-of-Game, Victory

The game ends at the end of the Harvest Phase when a player collects a total of 2 STARS symbols (tier III cards).

Everyone adds up their total Charm Points. Every 3x potatoes you have is also worth 1 extra Charm Point. The player with the most Charm Points wins! In case of a tie, the player with more leftover potatoes is the winner. If it's still a tie, you share the victory.

• During the game, if any of the decks run out of cards, shuffle the discarded cards to form a new deck. If any person can't place all of their tokens, the game will also end.