The rules - Headings are in bold.All of the important rules, those you need to readbefore you can start to play are in normal black type,with the especially important points underlined.

The more obscure rules, background and some of thenotes, hints and examples are in blue italics. If you arelearning the game you can skip these sections initiallyand refer to them later.

BackgroundThey may seem like an underwater paradise, butcoral reefs are in fact perpetual battlegrounds -for space. In these crowded, freneticcommunities, every individual, even the corals,have to fight for it.Coral larvae drift through the open-sea floating ina soup of minute marine animals. When one ofthese larvae settles in a suitable spot and survives,a new reef is founded. It takes just a few daysfor a coral larva to change form and become apolyp. Identical copies then bud off and graduallya colony develops. Each separate polyp surroundsitself with a hard skeleton that can grow at a rateof up to fifteen centimetres a year.Coral feed at night and each polyp uses itsstinging cells to draw plankton into its mouth.None of the corals however could lay down theirstony skeletons at the rate they do without help,as they simply could not acquire enough food togrow that fast.

The help comes from millions of single celled algae,called zooxanthellae, which live within the coraltissues.Corals frequently overgrow each other - and thatmeans trouble. When they get too close corals candetect each other chemically. The aggressorpolyps then extrude their guts and simply digesttheir rivals alive.Corals provide the basis on which the entire reefcommunity survives. Many creatures live within thecoral and some will even protect their coral hostsfrom attack, such as the shrimps in the game. Forothers however the coral provides food. Parrotfishfor example have jaws so powerful that they canbite through rock and coral alike in their quest foralgae and, in doing so, play a large part in theerosion of a reef. The consumed rock and coral willemerge later from the parrotfish as a fine sandwhich contributes to the tropical beaches we findso alluring.

OverviewReef Encounter is a game for two to four players.Once you are familiar with the rules, the game willlast approximately 90 minutes.In Reef Encounter the aim is to grow the largestand strongest corals on the reef and then to feedthese to your parrotfish in the brief timeavailable. Points are awarded at the end of thegame for the number and type of polyps that yourparrotfish has consumed.Each turn new coral larvae drift into the game.Larva cubes allow players to play their polyp tilesonto the boards and create new and larger corals.Shrimps will then colonize these corals andprotect the corals from attack.

A coral consists of one or more connected polyptiles. Corals that are two or more polyps in sizemay attack other weaker types of coral. Polypsfrom a defeated coral can be recycled as newpolyps or alternatively used to obtain algacylinders or larva cubes.It is the alga cylinders, which will strengthen sometypes of corals relative to the other types. Analga cylinder can also fix the hierarchy betweentwo particular types of coral for the remainder ofthe game.Reef Encounter will usually end once the hierarchyof all the corals is established or once one player'sparrotfish has consumed four corals.

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Place the coral tiles inthese ten spaces.

Space for a single algacylinder.

Spaces for players toplace the first of theirshrimps to be eaten bytheir parrotfish.

Place new polyp tiles inthese five spaces.

Place new larva cubes ofthe corresponding colourin these five spaces.

Arrows indicate theorder in which the polyptiles are placed in thefive large spaces at thebeginning of the game.(See Set up on page 3.)

Open-sea board

4 coral reef boards, eachdepicting a different rock ontowhich a coral reef is beginning toform.Sandy areas in deeper waterwhere the coral polyps will notgrow.

The lighter couloured “extragrowth” space marked with astarfish, into which corals willautomatically expand.Small polyps showing the placeswhere that particular type of coralwill start to grow at the beginningof the game.

4 parrotfish. There are four(self assembly containers)representing the parrotfish.Each container displays aparrotfish in one of the fourplayer colours.

20 wooden alga cylinders - 5 ineach of the four alga colours:blue, green, purple and red.

50 wooden larva cubes - 10 ineach of the five coral colours:grey, orange, pink, white andyellow.

16 wooden shrimps -4 in each of the four playercolours: purple, green, red andyellow.

10 coral tiles. Each tile isunique and displays two ofthe five coral colours andtwo of the four alga colours.

200 polyp tiles -40 polyp tiles in each of the five coral colours: grey, orange, pink,white and yellow.

Contents

A small starfish identifieswhich side of the tile isplaced face up at thebeginning of the game

4 player screens. There arefour screens, one in each of thefour player colours.4 turn action cards. Thereare also four turn action cards,one in each of the four playercolours, which summarise theactions which are available to aplayer each turn. (See page 4for illustration.)1 cloth bag in which to placethe polyp tiles.2 rulebooks, one in English andone in German.

2A coral reef board

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Set up

Double coralat top

The other side!

3

Bonuspolyptiles

At random select a number of coral reef boardsequal to the number of players. The boards arenot owned by any individual player. They are allplaced in the centre of the playing area and areeach available for use by all of the players.On each rock there are five spaces that indicatewhere the first corals will begin to grow. Place onepolyp tile on each of these spaces. The polyp tileshould be the same type of coral as the type ofcoral indicated on the board.

Place the open-sea board onto the playing surface.Place five 'bonus' polyp tiles, one of each colour, atthe side of the open-sea board. During the gamereplenish these polyp tiles as required. These polyptiles are used as the bonus tiles when filling thelight coloured 'extra-growth' space. Place theremaining polyp tiles in the cloth bag provided.Next, also place the alga cylinders and the larvacubes by the side of the open-sea board.

Take one of the coral ties and flip this onto theplaying surface. Examine the tile to see whetherit has landed on the side with the small starfishdepicted on it or the other side.

If the tile has landed starfish side up the place allof the ten coral tiles onto the ten small spaces onthe open-sea board, so that all of the tiles displaythe small starfish. If the tile has landed so thatthe starfish is not showing, then place the tencoral tiles so that none of the tiles display thestarfish.The tiles should all be placed with the'double coral' at the top and kept that way upduring the game for easy reference.

Place a larva cube onto the coloured square ineach of the five large spaces on the open-seaboard so that the colour of the larva cubematches the colour of the square.Draw one polyp tile from the bag. The colour ofthis tile indicates the first of the five largespaces on the open-sea board to receive polyptiles. Place the polyp tile back in the bag. Nextdraw polyp tiles from the bag and place these asfollows:3 polyp tiles on the space indicated by the

colour of the polyp tile previously drawn.3 polyp tiles on the next space clockwise.3 polyp tiles on the next space clockwise.2 polyp tiles on the next space clockwise.1 polyp tile on the next space clockwise.

Diagram: the starting position after a white tile isdrawn from the bag.The player who most recently went swimming nowchooses the start player.

Small starfish

All tiles show (or alldon’t show) thesmall starfish.

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Set up (continued)

Turn actionsOn their turn a player may do any of the following:

4

Each player now takes:One screen, four shrimps and one turn action cardin the same colour. The shrimps are placed behindthe player's screen.In clockwise order, players draw the followingnumber of polyp tiles (depending on the number ofplayers) unseen from cloth bag and place thembehind their screen:

Number of players 2 3 4Start player 6 6 6Second player 9 7 7Third player - 9 8Fourth player - - 9

Note: The advantage of playing first is that thatplayer has first choice of where to place their polyptiles and is more likely to be able to obtain a freepolyp tile by placing a polyp tile next to an extragrowth space. Subsequent players get the immediateadvantage of more polyp tiles. At some time duringthe game all players are likely to choose action 9 (seethe ‘Turn actions’ section below) on their turn and

simply obtain more tiles (in action 10). There is likelyto be less need to do this if you are the third orfourth player as you start with more polyp tiles. As aresult, by the end of the game, all players are likely tohave had a similar number of turns laying tiles, even ifthe start player ends the game - as the start player islikely to have passed - by choosing action 9 - moreoften than the other players.

Each player now selects one of their polyp tilesfrom behind their screen and places it secretlyinto their parrotfish. This will providenourishment for the parrotfish until it can be fedsome more polyps later in the game (and, moreimportantly, it will prevent players from being ableto calculate their opponent's scores during thegame!)Finally, each player then chooses two larva cubesafter they have looked at their polyp tiles. Thecolour of the cubes taken are shown to the otherplayers and then placed behind the player'sscreen.You are now ready to begin the game!

1. Eat one coral and a shrimp with their parrotfish.

2. Play a larva cube and lay some polyp tiles.

4. Introduce a shrimp.

6. Exchange a consumed polyp tile for a larva cube of the same colour.

8. Exchange a larva cube for a polyp tile of the same colour.

10. Collect a larva cube and polyp tiles.

Actions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 10 canonly be performed once during aplayer’s turn.

Apart from action 5, eachaction must be completedbefore another action isstarted. Action 5 - moving ashrimp, can be performed at anytime between actions1 and 9, even in the middleof another action.

Action 1, if undertaken, must beperformed first.

3. Play a second larva cube and lay some more polyp tiles.

5. Move or remove ashrimp.

7. Acquire and play an alga cylinder.

9. Do none of the above.

Actions 2 to 8, if chosen, areperformed in between actions 1and 10 in any order.

Action 10 is the last action andno other actions can beundertaken once a player hasundertaken this action.

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Turn actions explained

5

Action 1: Eat one coral and ashrimp with the parrotfish.

Before all other actions, yourparrotfish may eat one coraltogether with the shrimpguarding it. (See 'Parrotfish' onpage 11 for details.)

Action 2: Play a larva cube andpolyp tiles.

A player may play one larva cubeof any colour. After showing thecube to the other players, addthe used larva cube to the pileof larva cubes by the side of theopen-sea board.A player may then play up tofour polyp tiles from behindtheir screen of the same colouras the larva cube they have justplayed. In addition they mayplay any number of the samecolour of (consumed) polyp tilesfrom in front of their screen.(See 'consumed polyps' on page9 for details.)

Action 3: Play a second larvacube and some more polyptiles.

A player may play a second larvacube of any colour (including thecolour already played in action2). Add the used larva cube tothe pile of larva cubes by theside of the open-sea board.A player may then play up tofour polyp tiles from behindtheir screen of the same colour

as the second larva cube theyhave just played. In additionthey may play any number of thesame colour of polyp tiles fromin front of their screen.

Action 4: Introduce a newshrimp.

A player may introduce one newshrimp from behind their screenonto any coral that does notalready have a shrimp on it. Atthe beginning of the game aplayer will normally introduce anew shrimp when they start togrow a new coral.Hint. In the first few turns ofthe game check to see if thereare any corals remaining that donot already house a shrimp. Ifthere are, consider placing ashrimp on the coral to claim andprotect it, even if you do notplay any new polyp tiles. You canalways abandon the coral later ifyou do not need it.

Action 5: Move shrimps.

A player may move a shrimpwhich is already on a polyp tileto:

1. a different polyp on the same coral, or

2. a polyp tile on a different coral, or

3. a bare rock space, or4. behind their screen (and

off the board).

A shrimp can be moved at anytime between actions 1 and 9,even in the middle of anotheraction.A shrimp must be moved onto apolyp tile or placed back behind

the player's screen at the endof the player's turn. Theshrimp cannot remain on a barerock space.

Action 6: Exchange aconsumed polyp tile for alarva cube of the samecolour.

Exchange one consumed polypfor one larva cube of the samecolour. The larva cube is placedbehind the player’s screen. Thepolyp tile is placed in the bag.(See 'Consumed polyps' on page9 for details.)

Action 7: Acquire and play analga cylinder.

Exchange one consumed polyptile for one alga cylinder of anycolour. The alga cylinder mustbe played immediately it isacquired.If a player has placed a shrimponto the open-sea board (see‘Parrotfish’ on page 11 fordetails) then the alga cylindermay be placed onto a coral tileor onto the alga cylinder spaceon the open-sea board. Onlyone alga cylinder may be playedonto a coral tile per turn.If a player has not yet placed ashrimp onto the open-sea boardthen the alga cylinder must beplayed onto the alga cylinderspace on the open-sea board.Any alga cylinder already onthis space is removed. Anynumber of alga cylinders maybe played onto the alga cylinderspace during one turn. (Seesection 'Coral tiles and algacylinders' on page 10 fordetails.)

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Turn actions explained (continued)

Placing polyp tiles

6

Action 8: Exchange a larva cubefor a polyp tile of the samecolour.

Exchange a larva cube for a polyptile of the same colour. Place thelarva cube with the other larvacubes by the side of the open-seaboard. Take from the bag ofpolyp tiles one polyp tile of thematching colour (or take theappropriate polyp tile from thefive 'bonus' polyp tiles at the sideof the open sea board in order tosave time and then replace thebonus polyp tile later). The polyptile is placed behind the player’sscreen.

'Action' 9: Do none of theabove.

A player may choose to do none ofthe above.

Action 10: Collect a larva cubeand polyp tiles.

Finally, after the player hascompleted all the actions theywish to and are permitted toperform, they collect one of thelarva cubes from the open-seaboard and any accompanying polyptiles which are on the same space.The player then replaces thepolyp tiles and the larva cube they

have just taken as follows:1. The larva cube is replaced

with another larva cube of the same colour that has just been taken.

2. For each of the five differently coloured larva

cubes on the open-sea board that is accompanied by fewer than three polyp tiles, add one polyp tile to the space containing that larva cube.As an alternative to the playerwhose turn it is replacing thepolyp tiles and larva cube eachturn, you may find it easier tonominate the person sittingclosest to the open-sea board toreplace them after every turn.The replacement polyp tiles aretaken at random from the bag.If there are fewer than threepolyp tiles or no larva cubesremaining, then see the 'end ofgame' section on page 12.Play then passes to the nextplayer in clockwise order. Thegame consists of one continuousround.

Polyp tiles may be placed on anyof the empty rock spaces wherethere is no polyp tile or shrimp(see following note) in order tostart a new coral or expand anexisting coral. The oneexception (see diagram right) isthat a polyp cannot be placed ina space that would connect twocorals of the same colour ifboth of those corals contain ashrimp (as the shrimps guardagainst this type of action).

Note: It is only a player's ownshrimp that can be on a barerock during that player's turn asa shrimp must always end aplayer's turn on a coral orbehind a player's screen. If aplayer's creature is blocking thespace where the player wants toplace a polyp tile, then theplayer can simply move theshrimp, which they can do anytime under action 5.

Polyp tiles can only expand acoral of the same colour. Acoral is expanded by placing apolyp tile orthogonally(horizontally or vertically) nextto an existing polyp tile. Polypsare not connected if they areonly touching diagonally.

All the polyp tiles played as part

of the same action need notform part of the same coral.It is permissible for a polyp tileto be played so as to add to acoral that is protected byanother player's shrimp. Youmay wish to do this for examplein order to create a consumedpolyp tile. (See 'consumedpolyps' on page 9.)

Example: no pinktiles can beplaced in these

spaces astheywould

join two guardedpink coralstogether.

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Placing polyp tiles (continued)

Attacking other corals

7

Each rock contains a lightcoloured “extra growth” spacemarked with a starfish.Every timea polyp tile is placed orthogonallynext to an empty free growthspace, the coral will automaticallyand immediately (before anyother tiles are placed) grow intothe free growth space (the extragrowth is not optional). Place apolyp tile of the correct colourtaken from the side of the open-sea board onto the extra growthspace.

The exception that a polyp tilecannot be placed in a space thatwould connect two corals of thesame colour if both of the coralscontain a shrimp still applies andin these circumstances there isno extra growth. (In theunlikely event that the correctcolour of polyp tile is notavailable, then no extra polyptile is laid). If the extra growthspace becomes vacant again,then it will generate more extragrowth next time a polyp tile isplaced next to it.

An extra polyp tile receivedfrom a free growth space doesnot count toward the limit offour tiles that can be placed foreach larva cube that is played.Hint: In the first round it ispossible for each player to play

two larva cubes and consequentlytwo types of polyp tiles.However playing a second typeof polyp tile in the first round isnot recommended as it is onlypossible to introduce one shrimpper turn. This means that oneof the two corals the player hasgrown could not be protectedand would therefore probably beclaimed by another player usingtheir shrimp.

Hint: If you start to grow acoral two spaces away fromanother coral of the samecolour, these corals cannot bejoined if there are shrimpsprotecting both corals.Therefore both corals areprotected from attack from thedirection of that other coral.

Hint: It is easier to protect acoral that is at the edge of arock, as they are not so readilyattacked.Hint: A player growing three tofour different types of coral ismore likely to get the types ofpolyp tile they require than aplayer trying to specialise inone or two types of coral only.

As previously stated, with theexception of action 5, a playermust complete one actionbefore starting another action.For the avoidance of doubt, aplayer who performs bothactions 2 and 3 may not placeany more tiles of the coralcolour used in action 2 oncethey have played polyps of asecond colour used in action 3.

In certain circumstances a polypfrom one coral may devour apolyp from an existing coral of adifferent colour. An attackingcoral must always be at least twopolyps large. A coral attacks byadding a third or additional polyponto an adjacent space occupiedby the unprotected target polyp(and thereby consuming thattarget polyp). The attackingpolyp tile replaces the consumedpolyp tile from the attackedcoral.

The consumed polyp is removedfrom the board and placed infront of the attacking player'sscreen. This is the kkeeyy way for

players to increase theirmovement options.

Example:this coral tileshows that thewhite coral isstronger than the

yellow coral (irrespective of thesize of the corals), because thewhite coral is at the top of thecoral tile and the yellow coral is atthe bottom of the coral tile.White corals that are at least twopolyps large can therefore attackyellow corals (see ‘Coral tiles andalga cylinders’ on page 10). In thisattack the white polyp tilereplaces the yellow polyp tile andthe yellow polyp tile is removedand placed in front of theattacking player’s screen.

Diagram: a polyp tileplaced in anyof the spacesticked wouldgenerate extragrowth in thebrightercolouredcentral spacesmarked with astarfish.

Extragrowthspace

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Attacking other corals (continued)

8

Example: It is red's turn toplay. Behind their screen redhas three yellow polyp tiles, fourwhite polyp tiles, a yellow larvacube and a white larva cube. Infront of their screen red has awhite (consumed) polyp tile.

As indicated by the coral tiles(the relevant coral tiles areshown inset), white and yellowcorals are currently strongerthan orange corals, pink coralsare currently stronger thanwhite corals and yellow coralsare currently stronger than pinkcorals.

Before red moves, the position isas shown in the top diagram.

During red’s turn, redundertakes the actions detailedbelow. The results of theseactions are shown in the bottomdiagram.

Under action 2, red plays theyellow larva cube and the threeyellow polyp tiles. The firstpolyp tile is placed on the spacemarked one. Red's yellow coralis three polyp tiles large, so it ismore than big enough to attackthe orange coral. Yellow coralsare stronger than orange coralsso yellow corals can consumeorange polyp tiles. Red playstheir other two yellow polyp tiles(onto the spaces marked 2 and 3,and consumes the two orangepolyp tiles which were previouslyoccupying these spaces).

Under action 7, red nowexchanges one of the two orangepolyp tiles which their yellowcoral has just consumed (andplaced in front of their screen)for a purple alga cylinder. Redplaces the purple alga cylinder ontop of the yellow and pink(bottom right) coral tile. As aresult, the other coral tiles thatalso display a purple alga (andare not already covered by analga cylinder) are turned over.In this example the pink andwhite coral tile is thereforeturned over. White corals are

now stronger than pink corals.

Under action 3, red now playsthe white larva cube, the fourwhite polyp tiles from behindthe screen and the one whiteconsumed polyp tile (which red'scorals had consumed in an earlierturn) from in front of thescreen. The first two polyp tilesare played into positions 4 and 5to create a new coral. As thiscoral is two polyps large it canattack other corals. Red thenplays polyp tiles into positions 6and 7 where it consumes twoorange polyp tiles and into

position 8 where it consumes apink polyp tile.

Under action 4, red now placesone of their shrimps ontoposition 4 in order to protectthe white coral.At the end of their turn red willthen choose one to three newpolyp tiles and a larva cube

under action 10. Red will alsohave three (of the four) orangeand one pink polyp tiles in frontof their screen, which wereconsumed by red's corals duringthis turn.

Action 7

112233665544 7788

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Attacking other corals (continued)

Consumed polyps

Shrimps

9

Hint: If a player accumulatesseveral polyp tiles of a colourthey do not want, it may bepossible to play these polyp tilesin action 2 and then consumethem in action 3. In this way theplayer will accumulate somevaluable consumed polyps.

Hint: Consumed polyp tiles canbe played without limit, inaddition to up to four polyp tilesof the same colour from behind

a player's screen. Therefore inaction 2 a player should considerwhether it is possible toconsume one of their own coralsin its entirety. It may then bepossible to immediately play thenewly consumed corals in action3 elsewhere on the boards,converting one of the consumedpolyps into a larva cube ifrequired. In this way it ispossible for quite large corals tomove across the boards.

A coral will never attack anothercoral of its own type. It canhowever merge with a coral ofits own type, provided thatthere is not a shrimp on both ofthe two corals.

As a result of a polyp beingdevoured, a coral may be splitinto two or three separatecorals. These separate partscontinue to survive as separatecorals.

As mentioned, when a polyp isdevoured by another coral theconsumed polyp tile is placed infront of the screen of theplayer who initiated the attack.

Each consumed polyp (is avaluable source of nutrient and)has the following uses:

(1) it can be played as a new

polyp tile in addition to the polyp tiles held behind a player's screen (in actions 2and 3). There is no limit to the number of consumed polyp tiles that can be played in this way.

(2) it can be exchanged for onelarva cube of the same colour (action 6).

(3) it can be exchanged for one

alga cylinder of any colour (action 7).

Hint: Remember it is possible toadd polyps to corals belonging toother players. It is thereforepossible to use another player'scoral to attack another player'scoral (or even your own coral).This is often a good way toobtain a consumed polyp tile.

Shrimps protect the polyp tilethey are on from attack, plus anyother polyp tile that isorthogonally adjacent to that

polyp tile and which is part ofthe same coral. Shrimps will notprotect an adjacent polyp that ispart of a different coral.

The arrows in the diagram showthose polyps that are protectedby the shrimps.

Shrimps may be moved from apolyp tile onto a bare rock duringa player's turn, however ashrimp must be placed onto apolyp tile before the end of thatplayer's turn or it must bereturned to behind the player'sscreen.

Two shrimps can never be on thesame coral.

Players may not at any time havemore than two of their ownshrimps on one rock.

Shrimps which have not yet beenplayed are kept behind a player'sscreen. A player is not obligedto state how many shrimps theystill have behind their screen ifasked.

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10

Coral tiles and alga cylindersEach coral tile is uniqueand displays two of thefive corals. Theduplicated coral at the topof the coral tile denoteswhich of the two types ofcoral is the stronger. Thesingle polyp at the bottomright of the coral tile canbe consumed by thestronger coral. Corals ofthe stronger type canalways defeat corals ofthe weaker type,irrespective of the size ofthe target coral.

Each coral tiles also showstwo of the four types ofalgae: blue, green, purpleor red, in the bottom leftof the tile and may alsoshow a small starfish.(See 'Coral tiles' underset-up on page 3.) Onecolour of alga is shownlarger in the foregroundand the second colourbehind and smaller.

When a player exchanges aconsumed polyp tile for an algacylinder in action 7, they mustthen immediately play that algacylinder. The options available forplaying the alga cylinder dependon whether or not that player hasalready played a shrimp onto theopen-sea board as a result ofhaving eaten their first coral (see'Parrotfish', page 11).

If a player has played a shrimponto the open-sea board they mayeither:

1. place the alga cylinder onto the alga cylinder space on the open-sea board, or

2. place the alga cylinder on the top of one of the coral tiles.

If a player has not yet played ashrimp onto the open-sea boardthen they must place the algacylinder onto the alga cylinderspace on the open-sea board.A player may exchange more thanone consumed polyp tile for an

alga cylinder in one turn, but theyonly place one of the algacylinders onto the coral tiles perturn. Any other alga cylindersmust be placed onto the algacylinder space on the open-seaboard.

If an alga cylinder is placed ontothe alga cylinder space on theopen-sea board, all of the coraltiles which display a large alga ofthe same colour as the algacylinder just played and which donot already support an algacylinder are flipped over. Anyalga cylinder, which was already onthe alga cylinder space, isremoved and placed back with theother unused alga cylinders, whereit is available for reuse later inthe game. As mentioned above,there is no limit to the number oftimes a player may choose thisoption during their turn.

If an alga cylinder is placed on thetop of one of the coral tiles thealga cylinder selected must be thesame colour as the large algadisplayed on the bottom left ofthe coral tile. The coral tile

selected must not alreadycontain an alga cylinder.All of the remaining coraltiles which display thesame colour of large algaas the alga cylinder justplayed and which do notalready support an algacylinder are then flippedover. As mentionedabove, this option mayonly be chosen once perturn.

On the reverse side ofthe coral tile, both thetwo coral colours and thetwo alga colours arereversed. The algae have'energised' the previouslyweaker coral giving itadditional strength. Thesmaller alga shown on thecoral tile is forinformation purposes only.This information enablesplayers to know whichcolour alga must be

played in order to turn the coraltile back again once the tile hasbeen flipped over.

Hint: Placing the alga cylindersonto the coral tiles is a kkkkeeeeyyyy partof winning the game. An algacylinder locks the coral tile intothat position for the remainder ofthe game. Each time a type ofcoral features on the top of thecoral tile at the end of the game,the value of that coral isincreased. It is thereforeadvantageous for a player to fixthe coral tiles so that theyincrease the value of the polyptiles that their own parrotfish isconsuming.

As mentioned, when a consumedpolyp tile is exchanged for an algacylinder, the alga cylinder must beplayed immediately. If it is notpossible to play a particular colourof alga cylinder immediately thenthat colour of alga cylinder cannotbe chosen.

A player may not place an algacylinder on the last uncovered

Example: The top illustration shows theeffects on the coral tiles (as shown in the ‘Set

up’ on page 3) after a blue alga cylinder isplayed. The bottom illustration shows the

subsequent effect of a red alga cylinder beingplayed on the tile indicated. The numbers

identify the coral tiles affected.

Stronger coralWeaker coral

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Parrotfish

End of the game

11

Coral tiles and alga cylinders (continued)

Once a coral is large enough - atleast five polyp tiles - it becomesbig enough for the parrotfish toeat. In action 1, at the beginningof a player's turn, a player'sparrotfish may eat one coral whichis at least five polyps large andwhich is protected by thatplayer's shrimp. A parrotfish willnot eat a coral which is protectedby another player's shrimp orwhich is not protected.

When a parrotfish eats a coral,the first four polyp tiles from thecoral are placed back into thepolyp tile bag. Shake the bag sothat these tiles are mixed in withthe other tiles in the bag. Theadditional tile(s) are placed intothe player's parrotfish. The polyptiles in a player's parrotfish willgive rise to that player's score atthe end of the game. (See also therules for the ‘End of the game’below, when five polyp tiles areplaced back into the bag, notfour.)

If the coral is the first coral tobe eaten by the player'sparrotfish, then the shrimp whichis guarding the coral and which isalso consumed is placed on one ofthe shrimp spaces on the open-seaboard. If the player has alreadyeaten a coral and has thereforealready placed a shrimp on theopen-sea board, then the shrimpjust eaten is placed inside theparrotfish along with the polyptiles. Placing a shrimp on theopen-sea board identifies thatthat player is now able to placealga cylinders onto the coral tiles.

Hint: Be careful to monitor howmany shrimps your opponents'parrotfish have eaten in order

that you can anticipate when thegame may end. For example, if oneplayer's parrotfish has alreadyeaten two shrimps, then the gamecould be over in just another twoturns.

If a player has already performedan action during that turn, thentheir parrotfish cannotsubsequently eat a coral duringthat same turn. The player mustwait until their next turn beforethey can eat the coral.

A player is allowed to look into hisown parrotfish at any time to seethe type of polyp tiles that theparrotfish has already consumed.Players are not allowed to look intoother players' parrotfish.

The game ends immediatelywhen one of the following eventsoccur:

1. When all the coral tiles arecovered by alga cylinders.

2. When all four of one player's shrimps are eaten by their parrotfish.

3. If there is nowhere left to play a polyp tile (highly unlikely).

4. If there are insufficient polyp tiles or there is no larva cube remaining to replace those taken by a player at the end of their turn (also highly unlikely).

Note that in the unlikely event that the polyp tiles inthe bag run out, place the five 'bonus' polyp tiles backinto the bag for use in the normal course of play.

If the game ends as a resultof events 1 or 2 (which willnearly always be the case) allof the players except theplayer ending the game, mayhave one additional turn each.During this additional turn theonly action a player canperform is to consume oneexisting coral with theirparrotfish. However on this

occasion players must placefive polyp tiles into the polyptile bag instead of the usualfour.

Note: Although the startplayer may appear to have anadvantage as there is norequirement that all playershave the same number of turns,this is compensated for by theother players starting the gamewith additional polyp tiles,which reduces the necessityfor those players to have turnswhere they do nothing otherthan pick up polyp tiles inaction 10.

coral tile, thereby ending the game(see 'End of the game' on page 11),if that player's parrotfish has notconsumed at least two polyp tiles(including the polyp tile eaten atthe beginning of the game in theset up phase).

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Scoring

Advanced game

Acknowledgements

12

At the end of the game, score thecontents of each player'sparrotfish.

Each polyp tile consumed scoresone point plus one point for eachcoral tile which shows that colourof coral duplicated at the top ofthe coral tile. Each polyp willtherefore be worth from '1' to '5'points each.

Note that the sum of the value ofthe five individual types of coral inthe first number column will alwaysadd up to 15. (10 because thereare ten coral tiles plus 5 becausethey all have a starting value of 1).

If two or more players have thesame score, then the positions aredetermined by comparing the

following in order until one playeris found to have more than theother(s):

1. Number of consumed polyps still available in front of the player's screen.

2. Number of unplayed larva cubes.

3. Number of unplayed polyp tiles.

4. Number of polyp tiles on the boards forming part of a coral protected by that player’s shrimp.

In the unlikely event that playersare still equal then the relevantpositions are tied.

Once you are familiar with ReefEncounter you may prefer alonger more tactical game wherethere is more opportunity toexploit some of the tactics hintedat in the rulebook. If so, try the game with the

following changes:1. No bonus tiles are available

when placing polyp tiles next to the light coloured squares marked with a starfish.

2. The number of polyp tiles placed in the bag when a coral is eaten is increased from 4 to 5 (and at the end of the game from 5 to 6).

Game design byRichard Breese.

Original artwork byMariano Iannelli.

What’s your game?E-mail; rules queries, commentsand suggestions (in English please)to: richard@qbreese.fsnet.co.ukTelephone: 00 44 (0)1789 299649.Inspiration from'The Blue Planet'by David Attenboroughand the BBC.

Special thanks toMark, Stuart and JonathanBreese for their many playtestingsessions.

Thanks also to Peter Armstrong,Rüdiger Beyer, Tony Boydell,Barbara Dauenhauer, Bob

Gingell, Tom Hegarty, Alan How,James McCarthy, Alan Paull,Charlie Paull, Mike Siggins andGraham Staplehurst.

Special thanks also to the boysfrom the Castle Lodge, to all myfriends at Am Kiefernhain and toeveryone else who has assisted inthe development and play testingof Reef Encounter.

Published October 2004.Keep watch for Reef Encountersof the second kind!

Example of scoringValue Purple Green Red Yellow

Grey 2 (2) 4 (0) 0 (0) 0 (3) 6Pink 3 (0) 0 (1) 3 (0) 0 (3) 9Orange 2 (0) 0 (0) 0 (4) 8 (0) 0White 3 (3) 9 (0) 0 (4) 12 (0) 0Yellow 5 (1) 5 (4)20 (0) 0 (1) 5Totals 15 18 23 20 20

The number of tiles eaten by each parrotfish is shown in the brackets.

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