It's the summer of 1979 and travellers are queuing on the piers of Schwatka Lake in Whitehorse, waiting impatiently to experience one of the last wild spots on Earth: The Yukon. Put yourself at the controls of your very own seaplane and lead these adventurers in their discovery of the land of the midnight sun.


Components

  • 72 Ticket Cards
  • 1Main Board
  • 60 Money Tokens
  • 1 Black Round Marker
  • 4 Personal Boards
  • 9 Objective Cards
  • 15 Dice (3 of each color)
  • 80 Cubes
  • 4 Player Markers
  • 4 Seaplane Cards
  • 24 Needles (for the dials)
  • 28 Switch Tokens
  • 4 Seaplanes
  • 4 Turn Overview Cards
  • Rulebook

Object of the Game

In Yukon Airways you will be at the controls of your very own seaplane with the mission of transporting travelers to the different points of the Yukon. Embark your passengers (dice) using a draft system and use your Ticket Cards to take them to the different locations on the map.

For each passenger you will get money and the possibility of improving your plane, if the passenger finds a point of interest that satisfies their tastes at the destination (when the color of the die matches the color of one of the cubes at that destination).

At the end of the game, you will earn extra money according to the different locations you have visited. The player who has earned the most money at the end of the week will be the winner.


Setup

A Place the Main Board in the centre of the table.

B Shuffle the Objective Cards, choose 3 randomly and place them face up in the lower left corner of the Main Board. For the first game it is recommended that cards 1, 7 and 9 are used.

C Place the Black Round Marker on the second box of the calendar (Tuesday).

D Each player chooses a Personal Board and places it in their play area. On each of the Switches of the Personal Boards, a Switch Token is placed so that the word OFF is visible and all the Dial Needles are positioned so that they indicate their lowest value, except the Fuel Dial which starts the game at 4.

E Each player takes the Seaplane Card which corresponds to their plane model and the Player Marker of one color, placing both next to their Personal Board. The card should show the side of the initial improvement. This improvement is immediately applied to each player's Personal Board (see p.12).


Note: For experienced players it is recommended that the side of the card that shows no initial improvement is used. Both options can be combined if experienced and novice players are playing together.

F Shuffle the deck of Ticket Cards and deal 6 cards to each player. Each player's hand is always hidden. Form a Draw Deck with the remaining cards and place it next to the Main Board.

G Place all Seaplanes in play at the Whitehorse location on the Main Board.

H Roll all the dice and place each of them on the Gate which corresponds to the number shown by the roll.

Note: In a two player game remove 1 die of each color before the game.

I Separate the grey cubes from the rest and place them in a pile next to the Main Board. At each location of the map on the Main Board, randomly place as many cubes of the other colors as players that are playing, except Whitehorse. I.e. if there are 3 players, place 3 cubes of any color at each location.

J Form a pile with all the Money Tokens next to the Main Board.

K Choose the Starting Player at random: they place their Player Marker in space "1" of the Turn Track. The other players, clockwise, place their Markers in the first free space, from left to right, on the Turn Track. Finally, the Starting Player takes $1, the second $2, the third $3 and the fourth $4.

Note: Remove all leftover components from the game: Objective Cards, Cubes, Switch Tokens, Personal Boards, Seaplanes, Seaplane Cards and Player Markers.



Game Play

One game of Yukon Airways consists of 6 rounds, from Tuesday to Sunday (Monday is a rest day). Each of these rounds is divided into 4 phases that must be carried out in the following order:

  1. Boarding Phase
  2. Flight Phase
  3. Income Phase
  4. Maintenance Phase

Phase 1: Boarding

Beginning with the Starting Player, each player must complete these 4 steps before moving on to the next player in turn order:

  1. Take the Marker from the Turn Track and place it on one of the Gates. If there is already one or more Markers of any other players at the chosen Gate, the active player places their Marker below the ones which are already there.

  2. Carry out the action of the chosen Gate.

  3. Board one or more dice of the same color which are at the chosen Gate. Each Seaplane has space for 4 passengers (dice): these spaces are marked with the symbol @ on the Seaplane Card.

    Important: Before performing this action, you can move dice from one Gate to another adjacent Gate (the one with the number immediately above or below). Moving a die from one Gate to an adjacent one costs $1.

    You can make as many moves as you want with the same die or with several dice, as long as they can be paid. To this end, Gates 1 and 6 are considered adjacent.

  4. Adjust the fuel. This consists of advancing the Fuel Dial needle:

    • One step for each symbol S that has been left free on the Seaplane Card after the dice have been boarded, and

    • As many steps as the value indicated by the Bonus Fuel Dial.

The maximum capacity is 7, so if this limit is exceeded, the excess is lost.




Marco chooses to go to Gate 5 A. Thanks to the action of this Gate, he advances the needle on his Fuel Dial 2 steps B. Then, he decides to move the red die from Gate 3 to Gate 5 by paying $2 C.

Then, he boards the 2 red dice that are at his Gate, placing them on his Seaplane Card D.

Finally, he advances the needle of his Fuel Dial a total of 3 steps: 2 for the free spaces (on his Seaplane Card and 1 more because the needle of his Bonus Fuel Dial currently indicates that value E.


Once all players have boarded their passengers (dice) and adjusted the fuel on their Seaplane, the Player Markers are returned to the Turn Track to determine the new order of the next phase: the Flight Phase.

The Starting Player is the player who is at the Gate with the lowest number and they place themselves in space "1" on the Turn Track. The player who is at the Gate with the next lowest number will be placed in space "2", and so on.

In the event that there is more than one Marker at the same Gate, the order will be from top to bottom, that is, the Marker that is on top of another Marker will precede it.


Phase 2: Flight

Following the new turn order, each player will use their Ticket Cards to make a flight. A flight consists of traveling from the location where your Seaplane is to another that you choose as a destination.

At the beginning of each round, all Seaplanes always depart from Whitehorse. To carry out a flight, you must transport at least one die and have the necessary fuel.

Each flight turn consists of the following steps that must be carried out in the order indicated before the turn passes to the next player:


  1. Play one or more Ticket Cards corresponding to the same destination (Destination Tickets).

    You have to play a Ticket Card face up that corresponds to the destination for each die (passenger) that you want to take to that location.

    One card is only for one die. If you do not have the Ticket Card of the destination you want to fly to, playing 3 Ticket Cards face down is equivalent to playing any Ticket Card (valid for a single die).



    Marco plays a Fort Norman card face up as his Destination Ticket, and also 3 face down Ticket Cards which count as another Fort Norman Ticket.

  2. Play additional cards under the Destination Tickets to obtain a bonus (this is optional).

    These additional cards must be played under the Destination Tickets as shown in the example. They can correspond to any destination since they are only used for their icon, but they all must have the same icon as the Destination Tickets under which they are played.

    Bonuses are applied as soon as 3 of the same icons are collected out of all the cards which have been played face up during a round (this includes the Destination Tickets themselves), even if they belong to different flights (see p.10). You can get more than one bonus in the same round.

    In the case when 3 cards have been played face down as a Destination Ticket, the cards which are played under them can have any icon, but they must all be the same.



    The Fort Norman Card shows the icon and Marco decides to play under it 2 cards which have the same icon, thus collecting (bonus) which allows him to immediately advance his Fuel Dial needle 2 steps.

  3. Place the dice on the Destination Tickets.

    Take one or more dice from the Seaplane Card and place them on the Destination Tickets. Remember that each Destination Ticket can only be used for one die and that you have to put a die on each Ticket.



    Once Marco has played his Ticket Cards, he places the red dice from his Seaplane Card onto his Destination Tickets: one on the Fort Norman Card and one on the 3 face down Cards.

  4. Move the Seaplane to the destination and deduct the fuel used.

    Move the Seaplane to the destination and deduct the fuel used by lowering the Fuel Dial needle.

    The cost of fuel to travel from one location to another is calculated by adding up the cost of each of the connections through which the plane passes. These costs are indicated next to each connection on a yellow label.

    The number shown in each location on the Main Board indicates the fuel needed to fly from Whitehorse to the location in question via the shortest route.

  5. Get Cubes from the Destination and make Improvements.

    If the color of the die the player places on the Destination Ticket matches the color of one of the cubes present at the destination, the player takes the cube and places it on the map of their Personal Board, on the location where it was obtained.

    When the color does not match or there is no cube at the destination, the player takes a grey cube from the reserve and places it on the map of their Personal Board, on the visited location.

    Note: The fact that the color of a die matches the color of a cube at the destination represents that the traveler has found a point of interest that corresponds to their personal preferences.

    For each colored cube obtained that is not grey, it will be possible to make an improvement on the Dashboard of the plane.

    An improvement consists of turning on a Switch, that is, changing it from OFF to ON by moving the Switch token, or advancing the needle of one of the black Dials (i.e. all but the Fuel Dial) by one step. The effects of the improvements are immediate.




    At Fort Norman, Marco gets a red cube and a grey cube (there was only one red cube), placing both on the map of his Personal Board at Fort Norman. The red cube that he has achieved allows him to make an improvement on his Dashboard: he decides to turn on Switch .

  6. Rewards for Fulfilled Objectives

    If the requirements of one or more of the Objective Cards in play with the symbol has been met, the corresponding rewards are obtained.


Once these steps have been taken, if the player is clear that they do not want to, or can not, make any other flight on their next turn, they go directly to the Income Phase, even if they still have dice on their Seaplane Card.

Otherwise, the player must wait for their next turn in order to make a new flight to another destination, following once again the steps above (a-f), but starting from the location where their Seaplane is currently located.

After his flight to Fort Norman, Marco no longer has dice on his Seaplane Card. As it is evident that he will not be able to make more flights when his turn comes around again, he goes directly to the Income Phase.



Phase 3. Income

After finishing the last flight of the round, each player will get:

  • As many dollars as indicated by the number of the single highest value destination among those visited in the round, including those visited using 3 face down Tickets. If there is more than one location with the highest value, only the income from one is gained.

  • $1 for each die placed on their Destination Tickets. In the case of flying to the remote locations of Old Crow or Inuvik, each die also grants $2 and $3 respectively.

  • The reward indicated by the Objective Cards with the symbol that has been fulfilled.

Once all the players have carried out the Income Phase, they will move on to the Maintenance Phase.




In this round Marco has only traveled to Fort Norman, which gives him $7 (the value of the location). Next, he earns $2 more, one for each die (passenger) placed on his Destination Tickets.

Finally, he earns another $2 for having spent 7 of fuel, thus fulfilling the Objective Card 3 that is in play.


Phase 4. Maintenance

All players must:

  1. Roll the dice they have placed on their Destination Tickets and those that still remain on their Seaplane Cards. Each rolled die is placed at the Gate corresponding to the number on the die rolled. The dice that were already at Gates remain in the same place.

  2. Discard face up all the cards they have used during their flights.

  3. Draw as many Ticket Cards as their Card Draw Dial indicates. If the Draw Deck is exhausted, the discarded cards are shuffled to form a new deck.

  4. Discard the number of cards in their hand that exceed the limit allowed by their Hand Size Dial.

Once these steps are completed, all Seaplanes return to Whitehorse and the Black Round Marker is advanced to the next day on the Calendar.


End of the Game

The game ends at the end of the sixth round (Sunday). Each player will add up:

  • The money that they have accumulated during the game.
  • The money obtained through the Christmas Bonus Dial.
  • The money obtained through Switch $2x only if it is ON.
  • The money obtained from having traveled to distinct locations according to the following table (it can also be found in the lower right corner of the Personal Boards):



The player with the most money will be the winner.

In the case of a tie, the player who has visited more distinct locations will win, out of those who are tied. If the tie persists, the tied players share the victory.


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