Once a year the best snowboard teams in the world meet for the prestigious Himalaya Grand Prix. As many as five teams compete for the coveted Yeti Cup.
The team captains send their toughest and fastest racers down the course. They also hire Yetis to throw large snowballs at opponents' snowboarders to knock them off their boards.
The players are the team captains. They try to get all four of their snowboarders on the course. At the same time, they try to get the Yetis to throw snowballs at their opponents' racers. Clever tactics and a little luck will bring a team captain victory.
Components
- 20 Yeti cards
- 20 Snowboarders
- 1 die
- 16 Snowball cards
- 1 game board
- Instructions
Object of the Game
Players score points by moving their snowboarders across the finish line and by getting Yetis to knock opponents' racers off their boards.
The player who scores the most points by the end of the game is the winner!
Setup
Place the game board in the middle of the table. Sort the cards by type: Yetis, snowboarders, and snowballs.
There are five different Yetis in each of red and green and there are two of each
Yeti. Shuffle the 20 Yeti cards. Depending on the number of players, deal Yeti cards to each player:
- With five players each gets four Yeti cards.
- With four players each gets five Yeti cards.
- With three players each gets six Yeti cards. Place the unused two Yeti cards unseen back in the box.
The Yetis on the edges of the board are:
Tip: Each player should sort the Yetis in his hand as they are presented on the board. Thus, the Ambidextrous Yeti is on the far left and the Roller Yeti on the far right.
There are five snowboard teams: Beavers, crocodiles, kangaroos, rhinos, and giraffes.
Each team has four snowboarders with the values 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each player chooses a snowboard team and places the cards face-up on the table before him (his play area).
With three or four players, each player takes two snowball cards. With five players, each player takes three snowball cards. They add the snowball cards to the Yeti cards in their hands. Place the unused snowball cards back in the box. Place the die near the board.
Game Play
The youngest player begins. Afterward, all players take turns in clockwise order. On a player's turn, he must either
- start one of his snowboarders down the course, or
- move one of his snowboarders already on the course, or
- place a Yeti.
Then, the next player takes his turn.
Start a Snowboarder Down the Course
The player takes one of the face-up snowboarders in his play area and places it on the empty space of his choice in the first two rows of the course (starting rows). An empty space is a space where no other snowboarder stands.
Note: snowboarders cannot be knocked off their boards on the five spaces in the first starting row because there are no Yetis spaces to the left or right of this row.
Starting with the second starting row, Yetis may be placed to the left and right of the row (see also place a Yeti).
Move a Snowboarder on the Course
A player may only move his snowboarders. A player may move his snowboarder sideways, straight forward, or diagonally forward to an empty neighboring space. A player may not move his snowboarders backwards or sideways off the course.
Finish Line
When a snowboarder is moved forward from the last row, he has reached the finish. Place the first to the finish on the first finishing space. Place the next finishing snowboarders in order on the second, third, and fourth spaces, where they stay until the end of the game.
 Move the crocodile forward to the second finishing space. |
Place snowboarders, who finish after the first four racers, face-down in their team captain's (the player's) play area, separate from any face-up snowboarders that are there and not on the course.
Snowboarders, who reach the finish ,score points for their team captains (see also Game end).
Place a Yeti
A player, who does not want to (or cannot) start or move a snowboarder, must place a Yeti. The player places a Yeti card from his hand on the appropriate Yeti space on the board.
A Yeti may be used to knock an opponent's snowboarder off his board.
There are five different Yetis. Each Yeti stands at the edge of the course and watches over a row. A Yeti watches and throws snowballs either to the right (green cards) or to the left (red cards). Thus, each Yeti has an assigned space on the red or green side of the course.
The two matching Yeti cards may be played on each Yeti space . The Yeti looks in the direction of the snowboarders on the course that he wants to throw snowballs at. His success, when he throws, is determined by the die.
Knocking a Snowboarder From His Board
When a player places a Yeti on a Yeti space, he must roll the die. Knocking from his board means: When a player rolls a 3 or higher, all opponents' snowboarders, that are in that Yeti's row and on spaces equal to or less than the number rolled, are knocked from their boards off the course.
If a Yeti from the red side of the course tries to throw a snowboarder from his board, he controls the spaces with red die symbols from three to six. If a Yeti from the green side of the course tries to throw a snowboarder from his board, he controls the spaces with the green die symbols from three to six.
If a 1 or 2 is rolled, no snowboarder is knocked from his board.
A Yeti can knock several opponents' snowboarders off their boards in the row at once. The snowboarders of the player placing the Yeti remain on their. boards; they cannot be thrown off their boards by their own hired Yeti.
A player who successfully knocks one or more opponents' snowboarders off the course, places those cards face-down in his play area. Opponent's snowboarders, that a player has knocked off the course, earn the player points at the end of the game. The Yeti cards remain where played until the end of the game. A Yeti may not try to knock off snowboarders a second time.
The Snowball Cards
When a player rolls the die and is dissatisfied with the result, he may discard one of his snowball cards and reroll the die.
He may do this as often as he has snowball cards to discard. Discarded snowball cards are removed from the game.
Note: when a player rerolls the die for a Yeti, he does not take the last roll, but, the highest. For example, if he first rolls 4 and rerolls a lower number, the result for this Yeti is a 4.
Stricter Variant for Very Clever Team Captains
Instead of the reroll rule described above, players may want to use the following instead: when a team captain chooses to reroll (using a snowball) for a Yeti, he must count his last roll instead of the highest.
Thus, he must reroll well. Also, with the reroll he may only knock a snowboarder off his board if the snowboarder stands on the symbol matching the last die rolled..
Limited Move Options and Passing
If one of the team captains has no more snowboarders in the game, meaning all his snowboarders have either reached the finish or been thrown off their boards, then the other team captains may no longer move their snowboarders sideways.
Normally, a team captain must, on his turn, take one of the three actions. It can occur that a team captain can neither
start a snowboarder on the course (he has no more of his snowboarders face-up in his play area to start), nor
move a snowboarder (he has no snowboarders on the course or there are no legal moves for the snowboarders he has on the course).
If this occurs, then the team captain is not forced to place a Yeti. He may pass his turn and do nothing.
End of the Game
The game ends when the last snowboarder leaves the course (all must have been started). Either he reaches the finish or is thrown off his board.
The the points are scored:
The values of the first four snowboarders to reach the finish are multiplied by the number on the finishing space where they stand.
The value of the snowboarder on the first space is multiplied by four, on the second space the value is multiplied by three, and on the third and fourth spaces the value is multiplied by two. Snowboarders that finished later and stand in their team captain's play area count only their value with no multiplier.
For each opponent's snowboarder, that a player has in his play area, he earns the value shown on the snowboarder.
The winner is the team captain with the most total points.
Example of scoring a team captain:
The crocodile team captain has his value 2 snowboarder on the first finishing space. He has no snowboarders of his own in his play area, but he has three of his opponents' snowboarders valued 1, 3 and 3 in his play area.
The player earns eight points (2 x 4) for his own snowboarder and seven points (1+3+3) for the three opponents' snowboarders. The crocodile player ends the game with 15 points.
The value 2 crocodile snowboarder is in the first finishing space.
The three opponents' snowboarders in the crocodile player's play area.
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