Renature - General game info
Renature
2-4 players, 45-60 minutes, 8 years and older
AuthorsMichael Kiesling
Wolfgang Kramer
IllustratorDennis Lohausen
Published byDeep Print Games
Online since 2022-11-18
Developed by (Stonecrusher)
Boardgamegeek300001
Complexity2,23/5
Yucata.de owns a license for the online version of this game. A big "thank you" to the copyright owners (publisher and/or author and illustrator) who make it possible to have this game for free online here!
Renature - Rules

Components

1 game board

4 player boards

55 dominoes

  • each domino shows 2 animals

  • there are 10 different animals in the game

  • each combination exists once

74 plants

  • there are 4 types of plant: turf, bush, pine, oak

  • each type comes in 5 colors: the four player colors and one neutral color

21 area tokens

front

back

4 score markers

1 of each player color

30 cloud tokens

1 joker marker

Object of the game

In a polluted valley, you have set yourselves the task of helping nature reclaim what is hers. Along the course of a brook, you place dominoes with animals on them and replant the adjacent areas to score points.

When all dominoes have been played, the game ends with a final scoring and the player with the most points wins.

Setup

Place the game board in the middle of the table.

In a 3- or 4-player game: Each of you chooses a color and takes the player board with a balloon of that color. Place it with the balloon-side up in front of you.

In a 2-player game: One player takes both player boards with a white paraglider and the other player takes both player boards with a black paraglider. Place your two boards side by side in front of you to form your player board:

At Yucata.de the player colors are always assigned in the following order: 1. Orange, 2. Blue, 3. Black, 4. White. These player colors can be adjusted in the game options.

Each player: Cover each plant space on your player board with a plant of that type and color. (You have spaces of your own color and the neutral color.)

In 4-player games, leave spaces showing the -icon empty.

Return any spare plants to the box.

At Yucata.de, in order to save space, the player boards are displayed in a compressed manner:

Place the green joker marker onto the butterfly space on the left side of the joker track.







There are 4 area spaces on the game board marked with clouds. Place the shown number of cloud tokens onto each.

There are 18 areas on the game board, each with a size number showing how many spaces are in it.

Shuffle the 21 area tokens face up and place one into each area. Make sure that the main points shown on each token matches the size number of its area.

Return the 3 spare area tokens to the box (without looking at their backs).

Each player: Place a cloud token onto each of the 6 cloud spaces on your player board. Return any spares to the box.

Shuffle the 55 dominoes face down and deal them out as follows:

  • in a 4-player game, deal 13 to each player

  • in a 3-player game, deal 18 to each player

  • in a 2-player game, deal 26 to each player

Return any spares to the box (without looking at their fronts).

Each player: Without looking at them, place your dominoes face down beside your player board as your reserve. Then draw 3 and stand them horizontally in front of you, so that only you can see their fronts. These 3 dominoes form your hand.

The player who last went for a walk in nature becomes the starting player and places the score marker of their color onto space 4 of the score track. Going clockwise, the next player places their marker onto space 3, the third player (if any) onto space 2 and the fourth player (if any) onto space 1.

Playing the game

The starting player begins the game by taking a turn. Then play proceeds clockwise with players taking one turn each until nobody has any dominoes left and the game ends.

On your turn, carry out the following steps in this order:

A:

Place 1 domino from your hand onto the game board or return 1 to the box.

B:

If you placed a domino, you may place 1 plant onto a free area space beside it.

C:
  1. If you placed a plant, score points for it.
  2. Check if you triggered any area scorings.
D:

If possible, refill your hand with 1 domino from your reserve.

In addition, throughout your turn, you may spend cloud tokens to perform cloud actions.



Then it’s the player to your left’s turn.

A:

Place 1 domino from your hand onto the game board

Choose a domino from your hand and place it face up onto the game board:

Each of its two halves must cover a free brook space.

It may not protrude into any area

or beyond the grid.

At least one of its halves must be beside a matching animal or on one of the four starting spaces .

“Beside” always means orthogonally adjacent, never diagonally.

The joker marker shows the current joker animal. This animal can be placed beside any animal and any animal can be placed beside it. (At the start of the game, the butterfly is the joker animal. The joker animal can be changed by a cloud action - see here).

All animals beside each other must match. If there is even one mismatch, you can not place your domino that way.

Example:

If the current joker animal is the salamander, just these 2 dominoes could go in the red frame.

If you are unable to place a domino or do not want to, you must discard one to the box instead.

B:

Place 1 plant onto the game board

After placing a domino onto the game board, you may place a plant beside it:

Take any plant from your player board. Its type and color may affect how many points you score in step C (see next section).

Place it onto a free area space beside the domino you just placed. An area space is free if there is no plant on it.

If an area token is in the way when you place your plant, move the token to any free part of that area. (It will only be removed after its area is scored - see step C.)

If you place your plant onto an area space that has any cloud tokens on it, place them onto free cloud spaces on your player board. If you have no free cloud spaces for them, either make room by immediately performing a cloud action or return them unused to the box.

At Yucata.de you need to make room before taking the cloud tokens. Otherwise the surplus cloud tokens are discarded. After taking the cloud tokens, there's no opportunity anymore to do a cloud action in order to create the necessary space.
This has no effect on gameplay but simplifies the implementation.

Note: The faint point number on each cloud token serves as a reminder that at the end of the game you gain 1 point for each cloud token on your player board (see End of the game).

If there are no free area spaces beside your domino, you can not place a plant.

Note: At the end of the game, you’ll lose points for any plants left on your player board (see End of the game). So don’t miss out on this step too often.

C:

Score points for your plant and check for area scorings

1) Points for your plant:

If you placed a plant in step B (of your color or neutral), score points for it now:
Gain 1 point for the plant itself and 1 point for each plant (of any color) in that area with equal or lower value. The value of each plant is shown by its height:

turf = Value
bush = Value
pine = Value
oak = Value

Mark your points on the score track by moving your score marker forward accordingly. (There can be several score markers on the same space.)

Example:

a) In an empty 4−space area, Mary places a bush and scores 1 point.

b) Frank, on his turn, places a turf in the same area and scores 1 point (he doesn’t score for the orange bush since it is of a higher value than his turf).

c) On a later turn, Frank places a bush in the same area and scores 3 points (1 for that bush, 1 for the orange bush and 1 for his turf).

d) On her next turn, Mary places a neutral pine in that area and scores 4 points.

2) Check if any area scorings are triggered:

At the end of step C, check if your domino has closed off any areas.

An area is closed off if each of the brook spaces beside it is either:

  • covered by an animal or

  • isolated.

A brook space is isolated if there is no free brook space beside it (which means it can never receive a domino).




Remember: Brook spaces that are diagonally adjacent to an area are not beside that area. So the area can be closed off even if any of them are free.

For each area that you closed off this turn, a separate area scoring is triggered now:

To score an area, first calculate each color’s total value by summing the values of its plants within the area.

Any colors whose total values are tied are treated as though they are not present.

If nobody’s color is present, no points are scored.

Otherwise continue as follows:

If only one color is present and it belongs to a player (i.e. isn’t neutral), that player scores both the main and minor points shown on this area’s area token.

Otherwise, if the highest value is a player’s color, that player scores the main points shown. If it’s neutral, these points are not scored.

If the second-highest value is a player’s color, that player scores the minor points shown. Again, if it’s neutral, these points are not scored.

There are no points for third-, fourth- or fifth-highest values.

Example 1:

Mary places the domino with the 2 owls and thereby closes off a 4−space area. At the end of step C of her turn, that area is scored:

  • Mary’s total value is (1 bush)

  • Frank’s total value is (1 bush + 1 turf)

  • The total value of the neutral color is also (1 pine)

Since black and neutral have the same total, they are considered not present, which leaves orange as the only color. Thus Mary scores 6 points (4 + 2).

Mary gets the area token (because she was the one who closed off the area).

Example 2:

Neutral has the highest total () and Frank has the second highest (). Frank gains 2 points (the minor number on the area token).

Finally, take the area token and place it face up in front of you (because you were the one who closed off its area).

Note: Each area token has a number of points faintly printed on its back. These points will be awarded at the end of the game. You are allowed to look at the backs of your own area tokens (gained by closing off areas) but should keep them secret until the final scoring.

D:

Refill your hand

Refill your hand with a domino drawn from your reserve. Then your turn ends.

If your reserve is empty, skip this step and do not refill your hand for the rest of the game.

Once you are out of dominoes, your turn is skipped for the rest of the game. Players who still have dominoes continue taking their turns as usual.

Cloud actions

On your turn, in addition to steps A to D, you may perform any number of cloud actions. Each cloud action costs cloud tokens, which you must return from your player board to the box. There are 3 types of cloud action:

Change the joker animal

At any time in your turn, you may spend 2 cloud tokens to change the current joker animal by moving the joker marker to any space on the joker track.

Take another turn

At the end of your turn, you may spend 3 cloud tokens to immediately take another turn. You may take as many turns in a row as you can afford.

Return plants from the game board to your player board

At any time in your turn, you may spend cloud tokens to return a plant from the game board (even from a closed-off area) to your player board:

For each plant that you return, you must spend a number of cloud tokens equal to its value.

You can only return plants of your own color or the neutral color . This can be any neutral plant (irrespective of who placed it) but you must have a free space of the right color and shape for it. (In a 4−player game, plant spaces with the -icon are not free.)

  • Change the joker animal

    At any time in your turn, you may spend 2 cloud tokens to change the current joker animal by moving the joker marker to any space on the joker track.

  • Take another turn

    At the end of your turn, you may spend 3 cloud tokens to immediately take another turn. You may take as many turns in a row as you can afford.

  • Return plants from the game board to your player board

    At any time in your turn, you may spend cloud tokens to return a plant from the game board (even from a closed-off area) to your player board:

    For each plant that you return, you must spend a number of cloud tokens equal to its value.

    You can only return plants of your own color or the neutral color . This can be any neutral plant (irrespective of who placed it) but you must have a free space of the right color and shape for it. (In a 4−player game, plant spaces with the -icon are not free.)

End of the game

When everyone has run out of dominoes, the game ends.

Then carry out the final scoring as follows:

First, score any areas that still have area tokens. Go through them one by one. For each, carry out the area scoring as described in the yellow-framed section, but return its area token to the box afterwards.

Once those areas have been scored, each player also scores as follows:

  • For each cloud token on your player board, gain 1 point

  • Lose points equal to the value of each plant on your player board.

  • Finally, flip any area tokens you collected and gain the points printed on their backs.

Once the final scoring is complete, the player with the most points wins. Ties are broken in favor of the player with more area tokens. If still tied, the victory is shared.

Overview: Sequence of play

Play goes clockwise until nobody has any dominoes left.



On your turn:

A:

Place 1 domino from your hand onto the game board or return 1 to the box.

see here

B:

If you placed a domino, you may place 1 plant onto a free area space beside it.

see here

C:
  1. If you placed a plant, score points for it. (1 point for the plant itself + 1 point for each plant of equal or lower value in that area).
  2. If your domino closed off any areas, score them according to the yellow-framed section. Afterwards, collect their area tokens face up in front of you.

see here

D:

If possible, refill your hand with 1 domino from your reserve.

see here

Throughout your turn, you may spend cloud tokens to perform any number of cloud actions:

see here

Change the joker animal

Take another turn

Return plants of your color or the neutral color to your player board

When your reserve of dominoes runs out, you do not refill your hand any more.
When your hand runs out, your turn is skipped for the rest of the game.

When no player has any dominoes left, the game ends.

Then carry out the final scoring:

  • score any areas that have not been closed off

  • gain 1 point per cloud token on your player board

  • for each plant on your player board, lose points equal to its value

  • reveal the points on the backs of your collected area tokens and score them

The player with the most points wins.

Expansion "Valley"

Something has changed in Renature valley: mushrooms are suddenly shooting up everywhere! And they completely change the way the game is played. A mushroom allows areas to be connected and thus enlarged, even allowing another player to take over an area! Transform the polluted valley back into an intact ecosystem, let the animals move in again, and plant in adjacent areas to get points. Use the advantages that the mushrooms bring to expand individual areas with their help or join areas occupied by other players. While Renature is challenging, it gets even trickier in Renature Valley.

Components

1 double-sided game board

8 Mushroom tokens

2 cloud tokens

Setup

For this expansion you will need all the components from the Renature base game, except for the 21 area tiles and the game board.

Prepare the game components as in the original game. Replace the game board from the base game with the enclosed game board. Place it face up in the middle of the table.

Instead of distributing the area tiles, place the 8 mushroom tiles next to the game board, with their brown side facing up.

Add the two new Cloud tokens to the other 30 and place 1 cloud token on each cloud space.

The remaining steps of the original setup remain the same.

Playing the game

The rules are the same as in the base game, with the following exceptions:

A:

Place 1 Domino on the board.

B:

Place 1 plant onto the game board.

C:

Score points for your plant.

D:

If possible, refill your hand with 1 domino from your reserve.

WHAT IS NEW?

A: Place 1 Domino on the board

1. Meadow spaces

The new meadow spaces replace the stream spaces on which the dominoes are placed. The rules for placing the dominoes have not changed.

2. Starting spaces

In this expansion, the starting spaces are marked by a small pond. When you place a domino from your hand, one of the animals depicted on it must be placed on one of the 4 starting spaces or next to an animal of the same kind.

3. Tree Stumps

The 8 tree stumps on the game board are also new. Whenever you cover a stump with a domino, you may immediately take a mushroom token.

4. Mushrooms

When you collect a mushroom by covering a stump, you must immediately place it orthogonally (not diagonally) adjacent to any area space. The mushroom becomes an area space, on which plants can be placed, and which can join area spaces together.

5. Meadow space with a cloud

If you want to place your domino on a meadow space with a cloud, first take the cloud tile on it and place it on an empty cloud space on your player board. If you have no free cloud spaces, either make room by immediately performing a cloud action, or return it unused to the box.

B: Place 1 plant onto the game board

The rules for placing plants are the same as in the base game. Since mushroom tiles placed on the game board count as area spaces, plants may also be placed on them according to the rules of the base game.

C: Score points for your plant

Follow the rules of the base game to earn points: Gain 1 point for the placed plant itself (regardless of whether it is your color or the neutral color) and 1 point for each additional plant in that area with equal or lower value (regardless of its color). The same rules apply to an area expanded by a mushroom tile as to all other area spaces.

To cover the tree stump on the bottom right, Orange places the domino with the two woodpeckers on the game board and immediately receives a mushroom tile in return. Orange plans to place this in such a way that an area of 16 spaces is created on the right edge of the fi eld.

Orange now places the mushroom token as planned. This connects 2 areas, both of which were also formed of two connected areas. Finally, Orange places an oak tree, gaining one point for that oak, and 10 for the plants in the area of equal or lower value.

WHAT IS MISSING?

Scoring Areas

Areas are no longer scored when they are completed (step C.2) during the course of the game. Thus, no scoring of plants takes place in closed areas.

D:

If possible, refill your hand with 1 domino from your reserve. Then your turn ends.

End of the game

When everyone has run out of dominoes, the game ends with the final scoring: first carry out the area scoring as described in the original game.

To do this, check areas one by one and determine the total value for each color represented there. If there are multiple colors with the same total value, these colors are ignored when scoring the area. The color with the highest total score gets 1 point for each square in the scored area.

The color with the second highest total gets half the points (rounded down). If you are alone in an area, you get points for the highest and second highest total value. Points are not awarded for the neutral color. After scoring an area, remove all plants from it.

For each cloud token on your player board, gain 1 point.

Lose points equal to the value of each plant left on your player board.

As soon as the final scoring is over, whoever has the most points wins. Ties are broken in favor of the player with the majority in the largest area.

VARIANT

In this variant, use the back side of the game board. Cloud tokens are placed on the area spaces, as in the base game. You get the cloud token by placing a plant on that area space. First, take the cloud token from the space, and place it on an empty cloud space on your player board. Otherwise play as in the base game.

Hints for handling

  • You can activate the color blind help in the game settings.

  • Irrelevant animals on dominoes on the game board can be blinded out via the game settings. An animal on a domino is considered irrelevant if no domino can be placed adjacent to it. Beside the default setting ("Visible fainted") you may set the display these animals to be "Hidden" or "Fully visible" via the game settings.

  • For better contrast, already scored areas are displayed in a different color (dark green instead of brown). If you don't like this, you may disable it in the game settings.

  • The indication of joker animals on dominoes (on by default) can be turned off in the game settings.

  • Hovering with your mouse over an area token on the board will display information about the current total values of players' plants in that area. It also shows how many points the players will get when this area is scored, based on their current plants in the area. The point values of players whose plants have the same total value are displayed stroken through.

  • Hovering with your mouse over an area id or coordinate in the game log will highlight the corresponding area or field on the board, respectively.

  • Animations can be disabled via the game settings.

 
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