Gamehelpboomerangaustralia

Round Set-up: Dealing

There are 28 cards in the game, with letters A-Z + @ and # on the bottom left of each card, in addition to numbers 1-7 on the top left of those cards (there are 4 of each number in the game). To start the round, 7 cards are dealt to each player; In games with less than 4 players, not all cards will be dealt this round, thus they will not be draftable for the entire round; however, the cards. that were not dealt this round will always be the first cards dealt next round, so. you should never not see a card for the entire game.

Gameplay: Drafting

The first card you draft in a round is referred to as your "throw" card (i.e., like throwing a boomerang); you will score points based on the difference between the number on your first drafted ("throw") card in a round and the last in the round (i.e., the "catch" card, as in catching a boomerang). Your throw card remains hidden to all of your opponents until the end of the round (but you can see this card at any time).

After all players have selected a throw card, the remaining 6 cards are passed to the next player. In the standard game, cards are always passed to the left; however, when playing with the "Direction Variant", cards are passed to the left in the 1st and 3rd rounds; in the 2nd and 4th rounds, cards are passed to the right.

From this point on, players will each draft 1 card from each hand, played face-up for all to see, and then pass their remaining cards; this is done until each player is passed only 1 card (their "catch" card), which is played automatically, and then the round proceeds to the scoring phase.

End of Round: Scoring

There are 5 scoring categories at the end of each round:

1. Difference between throw and catch numbers

• This number is an "absolute value", as it does not matter whether your throw card is greater than or less than your catch card; a throw of 7 and a catch of 1 will score the same number of points as a throw of 1 and a catch of 7: 6 points.

2. Tourist sites

• Each of the 28 letters (A-Z, @, and #) mentioned previously corresponds to a specific tourist site within Australia
• At the end of the round, cross off the letters of all sites you visited (i.e., drafted) this round; this *does* include your throw card. At the end of the game, the letters you have crossed off on your map will count for 1 point each.
  • In later rounds you may have to draft the card of a tourist site (letter) that you have already crossed off; in this case, nothing happens for this site- there is no "repeat visit" bonus or anything...
• Also at the end of the round, all players who have completed a full region (i.e., one of the groupings of 4 letters) on their map will each score 3 points, denoted by crossing off the "+3" symbol for that region; all other players who did not complete that region this round will scribble out the "+3" symbol for that region - once the 3 point bonus is obtained by some player(s) in a round, it is no longer available to other players in later rounds.
  • If two or more players complete the same region in the same round, all of those players will each score the 3 bonus points for the region, and all others must scribble out this bonus on their sheets.
  • The groupings for the regions are as follows: A-D, E-H, I-L, M-P, Q-T, U-X, Y-Z+@+#

3. Collections (green circles)

• Some cards have green circles with different icons on them and their associated point values: Leaves are worth 1 point each, Wildflowers are 2, Shells are 3, and Souvenirs are 5.
• At the end of the round, add up all of the values on all green collection items: if this total is 7 or less, multiply the total by 2 and add the final number to your score; if the total is greater than 7, you just add the number to your score without doubling it (the basic reasoning here is that if you try to take too many keepsakes home, you'll probably have excess baggage fees).

4. Animals (yellow diamonds)

• Some cards will also have yellow diamonds with different animal symbols on them, each type with a unique associated point value: Kangaroos are worth 3 points, Emus are 4, Wombats are 5, Koalas are 7, and Platypuses are 9.
• At the end of the round, you score the points on each yellow animal symbol for which you have a matched pair.
  • A pair of animals only scores the points for that animal once; if you have 2 Kangaroos (which are worth 3 points) on cards this round, you would score 3 points, not 6.
  • Single animals are worth nothing; they must be paired. Likewise, a set of 3-of-a-kind would count as one pair and one single, so would only score once; but 4-of-a-kind would count as two distinct pairs, netting you a total of twice their value.
• You may score any number of animal pairs in a round, regardless of whether they are all of the same or not (i.e., you are. allowed to mix and match, but each pair must be matched to another animal of the same type).

5. Activities (blue squares)

• Finally, some cards will also have activity icons in blue squares, which are scored based on how many of that particular icon you have collected in a given round. There are 4 types of activities: Swimming, Bushwalking, Indigenous Culture (the boomerang icon), and Sightseeing (the photograph icon).
• For 1 icon of a given type collected in a round, you would score 0 points; then 1 point for 2 icons of the same type, 4 points for 3 icons, 7 points for 4 icons, 10 points for 5 icons, or 15 points for 6 icons.
• Scoring an activity for a given round is always optional, but you can only ever score 1 activity per round, and you may only score each activity once per game; so, if you pass on scoring any activity for a round in hopes of scoring higher on one of them next round, you will lose out on scoring one of the activities for the game.

End of the game

After 4 rounds, final scoring takes place:

• Add up all of your points for each category over the 4 rounds
• Also add 1 point for each visited tourist site, as well as 3 points for each region bonus you have received.
• Highest final score wins- ties are broken by the highest throw-catch points among the tied players.