COLDWATER CROWN a Strategic Fishing Game by Brian Suhre

COLDWATER CROWN a Strategic Fishing Game by Brian Suhre Note: The artwork shown in this document is for prototype purposes only and not necessarily intended to reflect the final design in any way. Please do not share pictures or video of any of the prototype content without written consent from Bellwether Games LLC. OVERVIEW: It s a cold and misty morning on the Irish coast. The salt-water spray is stinging your eyes and you re sleep-deprived, but there is nowhere else you d rather be. You ve secured your spot as a competitor in the world-renowned Coldwater Crown fishing tournament, and you re convinced you taste victory in the salty air. You were raised on these waters. You know how and when the fish like to bite, you know which bait to use, and, most importantly, you know how to strategically balance your catch of fish to reel in the most trophies. But nothing is certain on these frigid waters. Your competitors could beat you to the best fishing spots and the fish you want could disappear just before you get there. Will you be able to bring home the Coldwater Crown or will your plans be dashed on the rocks? CONTENTS: Game board 4 Player boards 60 Fish cards (5 each of Wrasse, John Dory, Mackerel, Flounder, Rainbow, Brown, Salmon, Roach, Perch, and Trout and 10 Pike) 30 Master Angler cards (6 each of Crab, Conger Eel, Char, Dogfish and Ray) 1 Drawstring bag 97 Bait (16 each of Blue, Red, Purple, Black, Green and Yellow and 1 Clear White) 35 Hexagon Trophy Tiles 15 Tackle pieces 7 Master Angler tokens 5 Tag tiles OBJECT of the GAME: During the game, you will catch a variety of fish from the Shore, River, and Lake. You will compete with the other players to win various contests based on the fish you catch to earn victory points. At the end of the game, the player with most points is the winner and will be crowned champion! To catch fish, you ll place a variety of bait in the four fishing zones on your player board. Whenever you remove

the last piece of bait in a particular zone, you catch the fish from the same zone on the game board that also matches the color of the last piece of bait you removed. You ll catch the special Master Angler fish by clearing the right combination of bait for each one. SETUP: A. Place the game board in the center of the table. B. Shuffle the Shore Fish cards (John Dory, Mackerel, Flounder and Wrasse) and place them fish-side-up on the designated space to form the Shore deck. Do the same for the River Fish cards (Brown, Salmon, Rainbow and Roach) and Lake Fish cards (Pike, Perch and Sea Trout) to form the respective River and Lake decks. Note: The fish-side of each card is the side that shows the weight range (e.g. 2-6 lbs). C. Fill all four Zones (3, 4, 5 and 6) at each Location (Shore, River and Lake) on the game board with the top 4 cards from each deck. Make sure Fish cards remain fish-side-up so as not to reveal each fish s individual weight (e.g. 3 lbs) on the back. Anytime you fill Zones with fish, always start with the lowest numbered Zone and proceed until each Zone has exactly one fish. (Fish-side-up) D. Shuffle the Tag tiles. Pick one randomly and place it face-up on the designated space on the game board. Place the remaining Tag tiles back into the box. E. Shuffle the Master Angler cards to form the Master Angler deck and place it face-down next to the game board as shown. Draw the top 4 cards and place them face-up in a row next to the deck. F. Organize and place all of the Trophies according to their respective contests: Setup A-I A F4 B F4 B D E G C H F2 C H F4 B F4 H F3 C F4 F1

F1: First to 12 Fish Contest: Place the 2-Point trophy labeled 1st to 12 Fish on the 12 space. F2: Mystery Weight Contest: Shuffle the six 1-Point trophies labeled with a weight value (2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7). Place these trophy-side-up in a stack on the designated space on the game board. Flip the top trophy to show the first Mystery Weight. F3: Master Angler Contests: Stack the four 2-Point trophies labeled 3 Same and the four 2-Point trophies labeled 4 Unique on their respective spaces in the Master Angler section of the game board. F4: Small Species Challenge, Fastest to 8 Species Contest, and Shore, Lake and River Contests: Stack the following trophies from lowest to highest in their designated spaces on the game board according to the number of players: 2 players: 3, 5 3 players: 2, 3, 5 4 players: 2, 3, 4, 5 Place unused trophies back into the box. G. Place the Tackle pieces face-down in a pile near the board and have each player draw one randomly to use during the game. H. Place one Angler token each on the red, yellow, and green circular Angler spaces on the game board so the 1 is showing on each token. J. Give each player one Angler token flipped to the 1 side K. Give each player a player board. Each player should align their player board so the Zones mirror the Zones on the game board. L. Prepare the Bait: Setup J-L3 K J L1 L3 Setup F4, J-L3 L1: Place all the bait except for the clear-white one into the drawstring bag and shake it so the bait is thoroughly mixed. L2

L2: Each player fills Zones 3 and 4 on their Player board with bait by drawing bait randomly from the bag equal to each Zone s number (i.e. place 4 bait in Zone 4 and 3 bait in Zone 3). L3. Place the clear-white bait into the bag and shake the bag thoroughly. GAMEPLAY 1. Select a Start Player: The player who most recently caught a fish goes first 2. Begin the Game: The start player takes the first turn, followed by the other players in clockwise order. This is repeated until the end of the game. 3. Playing the Game: Turn Steps: On your turn, you must perform the steps below in order: 1. Place your Angler token on any unoccupied Angler space 2. Pick-up an Angler token from a different Angler space Angler tokens are two-sided. Whenever you pick-up a token from the game board, flip it to its opposite side and set it by your playerboard for use on your next turn. Each step above provides you with the opportunity to take important actions to help you catch fish and win the game. The actions you may take will be determined by the Angler space you visit and the number showing on the Angler token you use (see Angler Spaces ). After completing both steps and resolving any actions you choose to take, flip the Angler token you picked-up to its opposite side for use on your next turn. Your turn is over and the next player in clockwise order begins their turn. Note: Resolve any actions immediately whenever you place or pick-up an Angler token. Angler Spaces: Port space There are seven Anglers spaces you may visit. Six are Fishing spaces (Blue, Red, Yellow, Black, Green and Purple) and one is Port (anchor). Fishing Spaces: Fishing spaces 1: If you visit a Fishing space with a 1 (i.e. if you place or pick-up at that space an Angler token showing 1 ) you may remove one bait per Zone on your player board the same color as the Fishing space you visited. 2: If you visit a Fishing space with a 2 (i.e. if you place or pick-up at that space an Angler token showing 2 ) you may remove ALL bait the same color as the Fishing space you visited from ALL Zones on your player board. Note: When you remove bait, place it in a discard pile near the game board. Port Space: 1: If you visit Port with a 1 you may either fill one Zone on your player board with bait (see Filling Zones with Bait ) OR select one Master Angler card to attempt to catch (see Master Angler Fish ).

2: If you visit Port with a 2 you may take two Port actions, that is: either fill two Zones on your player board with bait OR select two Master Angler cards to attempt to catch OR you may fill one Zone and select one Master Angler card (in either order). Filling Zones with Bait: When you take the Port option of filling a Zone on your player board, follow these steps in order: 1. Choose any empty or partially filled Zone on your playerboard. 2. Draw bait from the bag, one at a time, adding each one to the Zone you chose until the number of bait in that Zone equals the Zone number. 3. If you draw the clear-white bait while filling a Zone, return all bait in the discard pile to the bag and finish filling the Zone. Then return the clear-white bait back to the bag and shake thoroughly. A B discard pile Bait for bait Discard Pile Gameplay Example 1: A. It is Storm s turn. She places her 1 Angler token on Port and decides to fill Zone 4. She randomly draws 4 bait from the bag (green, black, purple and blue) and places them in Zone 4 on her player board. B. Next, she decides to pick-up the 2 Angler token from the black Fishing space and removes all black bait from all Zones on her player board. She flips the 2 Angler token she just picked-up to the 1 side and places it near her player board to use on her next turn. Note: Angler tokens may only be flipped when they are picked-up, and you must flip the token you pick-up. Master Angler Fish: Gameplay Example 1 Selecting Master Angler Cards: One of the Port options is to select a Master Angler card. To do this: 1. Choose any one of the four face-up Master Angler cards available on the table and place it face-up on the left side of your player board. This is a fish you are attempting to catch. You may have at maximum three Master Angler fish you are attempting to catch at any one time. Place cleared bait on these spots 2. Then, take the top Master Angler card from the deck and set it face-up in place of the card you chose. Note: Instead of choosing one of the face-up cards you may elect to take the top card from the deck. Catching Master Angler Fish: There are between 3-4 spots to place bait on each Master Angler card. Each spot may Master Angler Card

hold one piece of bait. When you clear bait from your player board, instead of placing it in the discard pile, you may place it on an open spot of the same color on any Master Angler fish you are attempting to catch. You catch a Master Angler fish whenever you fill all the spots on the card with bait. Move the completed card from the left-side of your player board to a score pile on the right side of your player board to indicate its been caught, and move all the bait from that card to the discard pile. Note: Bait remains on a Master Angler card until the card is completely full. Note: You may not reserve bait you ve cleared from your player board for Master Angler cards you haven t yet selected. Catching Shore, Lake and River Fish: Catching a fish is easy...the trick is catching the right fish! You immediately catch a fish any time you remove the last piece of bait from a Zone on your player board. You catch the fish in the Zone on the game board the same number as the Zone you cleared on your player board that also matches the color of the last piece of bait you removed from that Zone. Thus: Shore fish are caught with green or purple bait River fish are caught with yellow or black bait Lake fish are caught with blue or red bait Take the fish you caught into your play area and secretly look at the Weight side. Then refill the empty Zone on the game board with the next fish on top of the deck at that Location. Note: It is possible to catch multiple fish simultaneously, but each Zone you clear on your player board only allows you to catch one fish each time it is cleared. ZONE 6 bonus You may take the top fish from the deck instead Zone 6 Bonus: When catching a fish in Zone 6, you may instead choose to catch the fish from the top of the deck at that Location. Gameplay Example 2: Emmanuel places his 1 Angler token on the green Angler space and removes 1 green bait from each Zone on his player board. The green bait was the last piece of bait removed from Zone 3, which means Emmanuel catches the fish in Zone 3 on the game board that corresponds to green bait. In this case it is a Flounder. discard Gameplay Example 2 Fishing Tackle: You gain one piece of Fishing Tackle whenever you clear all the bait in Zone 5. Select one piece of Tackle randomly from the pile near the board. On a subsequent turn you may use this piece of Tackle for a bonus. There are four types of bonuses you may receive from tackle (see Types of Fishing Tackle ). ZONE 5 bonus After using Tackle, return the piece you used face-down to the pile. Take a piece of Tackle Note: You may not use a piece of Tackle immediately when you get it (e.g. if you received the piece of Tackle on the

first step of your turn, you must wait until the second step to use it). Gameplay Example 3: A. It is the beginning of Lydia s turn. She places her 2 Angler token on Port and fills Zone 3 with three randomly drawn pieces of bait from the bag (red, green and black). Then she selects the Crab from the set of available Master Angler cards to attempt to catch. She places the Crab card to the left of her player board. B. Next, Lydia picks-up the 2 Angler token from the green Fishing space (flipping it to its 1 side as she does so) and removes all green bait from her player board. Two of these pieces of bait may go to the two open green spots on the Crab card. The other one must go to the discard pile. C. Since Lydia cleared the last Zone 6 Bonus pieces of bait (green in this case) from Zones 5 and 6 she will catch a Shore Tackle fish for both Zones. C Gameplay Example 3 For Zone 5, Lydia is supposed to catch a John Dory, but she plays Tackle to instead catch the fish in Zone 5 at the Lake, a Pike. For Zone 6 Lydia is supposed to catch a John Dory again, but she elects to use the Zone 6 Bonus and instead takes the top card of the Shore deck, a Flounder. She also takes a piece of Tackle since she cleared Zone 5 on her player board. Contests: Complete the various fishing contests to collect Trophies and earn points! Some Trophies are available throughout the game to players who complete the challenge more quickly. Others are only available at the end. Mystery Weight Challenge: If you catch a fish and it s weight matches the top Mystery Weight tile, reveal your fish s weight to the other players and take the tile into your play area. Then, flip the next tile on the game board to show the new Mystery Weight. You may only win 1 Mystery Weight trophy per Angler token, and fish caught previously are not eligible to win a newly revealed Mystery Weight tile. Fastest to 8 Species Challenge: If you catch an 8th unique species of fish (not including Master Angler fish!) im- + A Types of Fishing Tackle B discard

mediately take the topmost Trophy from the Fastest to 8 Species stack. Small Species Challenge: If you catch at least one Roach, Perch and Flounder immediately take the topmost available Trophy from the Small Species Challenge stack. Master Angler Contests: If you catch three of the same type of Master Angler fish (e.g. if you complete three Crab cards), take one of the 2-Point 3 Same Trophies. If you catch four unique types of Master Angler fish (e.g. if you complete a Crab, Ray, Dogfish and Char cards), take one of the 2-Point 4 Unique Trophies. A card used for the 3 Same Trophy may also count for the 4 Unique Trophy and vice versa, but you may only obtain one Trophy from each stack during the course of the game. End of Game Contests: The contests for Shore, Lake and River occur at the end of the game. See GAME END: Shore, Lake and River Contests for instructions. First to 12 Fish: If you have 12 or more fish (not including Master Angler cards!) at the end of your turn, immediately take the 12 Fish Trophy. This triggers the end of the game and all other players get one final turn. GAME END Shore, Lake and River Contests: After all players have taken their final turn, its time to submit fish to the Shore, Lake and River contests! Start with the Shore: 1. Choose which Shore fish you caught that you would like to submit for the Shore Contest. You may only submit one fish per species, so you will generally want to submit the heaviest fish of each species. 2. Discard the fish you don t submit back to the Shore deck on the game board. 3. Add the weights of the fish you submitted to determine your overall weight submission for the Shore. The player with the heaviest total weight submission takes the 5-Point Trophy from the Shore stack. The player with the next heaviest total takes the next Trophy and so on until all players have taken one Trophy. Repeat steps 1-3 for the Lake and then the River contests. Remember, only one fish per species may be submitted for each contest! Note: In case of a tie for heaviest submission at the Shore, Lake or River, the winner of the tie is the player who submitted the single fish with the earliest time stamp from that Location. Shore Contest Example: Storm caught 2 Flounder, 1 Wrasse and 1 Mackerel. She can only submit one of the Flounders and chooses the 5lb pounder. She has a total weight of 14 lbs. (5 lb Flounder + 4 lb Wrasse + 5 lb Mackerel = 15 lbs). Emmanuel has a total weight of 12 lbs. and Lydia has a total weight of 11 lbs., so Storm wins the 5-Point Trophy, Emmanuel takes the 3-Point Trophy, and Lydia takes the 2-Point Trophy. Note: The game ending is also triggered at the end of any player s turn that the last fish from any single location is caught. All other players get a final turn, but may not catch fish where one is not available. SCORING Reveal all your Trophies and figure your final score after the Shore, Lake and River contests have concluded: All Trophies are worth their face-value in points.

Completed Master Angler cards are worth 1 point each. Fish submitted to the Shore, Lake or River contests that are tagged the same color as the Tag tile on the game board are worth 1 point each. Incomplete Master Angler cards are worth 0 points. You win the Coldwater Crown if you have a higher final score than your opponents! Note: In case of a tie for the overall game, the player who submitted the single fish with the earliest timestamp wins the tie. Optional: For a game in which luck is less of a factor in the outcome, do not score points for the Tagged Fish Challenge. ONLY ONE IN THE BOAT (Rules for Coldwater Crown solo play): It is the eve of the big championship and you ve decided to try your luck early on the water. You head out to the most important fishing spots and test your bait. If you bring in a big haul, you may gain a little boost of confidence before heading into the main event. If not, you may sink into cold, dark despair. These rules are for you to play Coldwater Crown by yourself. There is a silent player who will catch fish when certain conditions are met. To win the game, your final score must exceed the silent player s score. Unless noted below, play the solo version exactly as you would the 2-4 player version. Setup: Instead of filling the bag with all the bait, count 9 of each color bait and place these in the bag along with the one clear-white bait. Place the remaining bait back into the game box. Gameplay: Take your turn as normal and then compare the number of fish (Shore, Lake and River fish only) you have with the number the silent player has. If you have less than or equal fish than the silent player, draw 1 random bait from the bag and complete steps 1 and 2 below. If you have more fish than the silent player, draw 1 random bait from the bag and complete steps 1 and 2 below, then draw a second random bait from the bag and complete steps 1 and 2 again. Step 1. Move Angler Tokens: Angler tokens will move around the board clockwise. The path is Port-Purple- Green-Blue-Red-Yellow-Black-Port-Purple...etc. If an Angler token is on the space of the matching bait (e.g. if you draw a red bait and there is an Angler token on the red Fishing space), move it clockwise to the first empty Angler space. Hop over any occupied spaces. If no Angler token is on the matching space (e.g. if you draw red bait and there is not an Angler token on the red Fishing space), move the closest Angler token to this space. In other words, check counterclockwise for the closest Angler token and move it clockwise to the matching space. Step 2. Check to see if the silent player caught a fish: After moving the Angler token, place the bait you drew into the discard and count how many of that color bait are in the discard pile. If there are exactly 3, 4, 5, or 6, then the silent player has caught a fish. The color of the bait determines the location and the number of bait in the discard determines the zone. (Gameplay Example 5: You draw a blue bait and move the Angler token on the blue space to the Yello space since the Red space is filled. Then you place the the blue bait into the discard pile and count 4 blue bait. The silent player catches a fish at Zone 4 at the Lake (since blue corresponds to the Lake.))

The silent player does not catch a fish if there is less than 3 or more than 6 of a type of bait in the discard pile. If you were supposed to draw 2 bait because you had more fish than the silent player, you must complete steps 1 and 2 above before drawing the second bait. Even if the the silent player s fish total equals yours after your first draw, you must continue to draw the second. The silent player is eligible for all contests. Check the weight of each fish caught and make sure to take any trophies earned. Clear-white Bait: Anytime you draw the clear-white bait, place the top card of the Master Angler deck into the silent player s score pile. Do not move Angler tokens when you draw the clear-white bait. Place the discard pile back into the bag as normal.