Gamehelphipposcrocodiles

Goal

Hippos & Crocodiles is a 2-player spatial abstract strategy game designed by Néstor Romeral Andrés. Players take turns placing polyomino animal pieces onto the grid. If you cannot place an animal on your turn, you lose immediately; the last player to legally place a piece wins!

Components

Component	Icon	Description
Hippos		8 hippo pieces (each occupies 10 squares: a 3×3 body plus 1 snout cell).
Crocodiles		8 crocodile pieces (each occupies 10 squares: a central 6-square spine with 4 legs).
Trunks		Optional 3×1 wooden log obstacles that block placement.
Maps		4 distinct aquatic terrains: Square (14×14, 196 squares), Rectangle (20×10, 200 squares), Lagoon (209 squares), and Pool (208 squares).

Setup

• One player plays the Hippos (8 pieces); the other plays the Crocodiles (8 pieces).
• The game takes place on the chosen map (Square , Rectangle , Lagoon , or Pool ).
• Pieces must fit entirely within the water area of the board and cannot overlap other pieces or trunks.
• Trunks (table option): If enabled, 4 trunks (3×1 squares) are placed before any animals are played (either placed alternately by players, 2 each, or placed randomly).

Your turn

On your turn, place one of your remaining animal pieces onto the board:

1. Choose position: Click any legal square on the board to preview your animal.
2. Rotate orientation: Turn your piece into any of the 4 cardinal directions (0°, 90°, 180°, 270°) by clicking ↻ Rotate in the status bar, pressing R (or Shift+R), or using keys W, D, S, A.
3. Confirm placement: Click the blue Confirm button to lock in your move (or click red Cancel to clear your preview).

Difficulty options

• Easy (default): All valid placement squares are highlighted on the board for the current orientation.
• Hard: No highlights are shown. If no legal placements remain, click the red Surrender button to concede.

End of the game

• The game ends immediately when the active player cannot legally place any of their remaining animal pieces (or clicks Surrender in Hard mode).
• That player loses (0 points), and the opponent wins (1 point).

Variants (table options)

• Map (Option 100):
  • Square (14×14) (default): 196 squares.
  • Rectangle (20×10): 200 squares.
  • Lagoon: 209 squares.
  • Pool: 208 squares.
  • Random: randomly selects one of the four maps.
• Trunks (Option 101):
  • Off (default): no trunks on the board.
  • On – players place 2 each: players take turns placing 2 trunks each before animals are placed.
  • On – randomly placed: 4 trunks are placed at random during setup.
• Animal distribution (Option 102):
  • Random (default): animal assignments are decided at random.
  • First player plays Hippos: starting player gets Hippos.
  • First player plays Crocodiles: starting player gets Crocodiles.
• Difficulty (Option 103):
  • Easy (default): valid placements are highlighted on the board.
  • Hard: no highlights; surrender button available when stuck.

Controls on BGA

• Placement: click a square on the board to stage your piece.
• Rotation: click ↻ Rotate in the status bar, press R (rotate clockwise), Shift+R (rotate counter-clockwise), or use keys W, D, S, A to orient directly.
• Confirm / Cancel: click blue Confirm to finalize, or red Cancel to clear your preview.
• Surrender: in Hard mode, click red Surrender if you have no legal placements remaining.
• Trunk placement: click an empty square, rotate if needed, and press Confirm (or Cancel).
• Tooltips: hover over the ↻ Rotate button to view keyboard shortcuts.
• Preferences:
  • Colorblind support (Preference 100, default: Off): enables colour-blind styling.
  • Sound effects (Preference 101, default: On): toggle sounds.
  • Confirm placement (Preference 102, default: On): set to Off to place immediately on click without requiring Confirm.
  • Animal colours (Preference 104, default: Bright): choose Bright (pink hippos, bright green crocodiles) or Natural (brown hippos, olive-green crocodiles).