Save the Seals from the Burning Island
This is a cooperative game with tile-laying, path-building, and puzzle-solving mechanics. You play as a group of lost island seals who are lost on a smoky island. All paths have been mixed up, and you must find a safe route to the raft.
A fire will spread across the island throughout the game, limiting your actions, and you will have to balance between building paths and keeping the seals at a safe distance from the fire. Guide the cats through 81 scenarios to safety, and the purrs will be forever grateful to you.
The game features different difficulty levels, rules for solo play, and new rules that you will gradually discover during the games.
Basic concepts
- Island boards. The game has boards of two sizes. Each board is double-sided: one side has a fire lane, and the other side does not. Island boards should always be chosen randomly, but only from boards of the size indicated on the diagram.
- Location cards. These are the positions from which the cats will start. When you are ready to play, you will need to place the appropriate cat figures on them.
- Discussion. Do not show the path cards to other players or say anything that would give information about any part of your card. You can only name the colors on the card, but not specify which part of it they occupy or what shape they take.
- Placement. During the game, you will place path cards and fire tiles on the island, strictly following the placement rules.
Gameplay
The game has no limit on the number of rounds - you simply play until you win or lose. During each round, players will do the following:
- Drawing cards. Each player takes 3 cards from the path deck. There are 4 decks of paths in the game: with a cross, a square, a circle and a triangle.
- Playing cards. Cards are played in two cases: to lay paths on the island or to move cats. All players decide together who will play a card next.
- Laying a path. Place 1 path card from your hand on the island. Then take 1 random tile from the fire bag and place it on the island.
- Moving a cat. Before moving a cat, discard 1 card from your hand. You discard the cards face-up on the table, forming a disaster pile. Each cat has a favorite type of terrain and can only move through that terrain. After the cat has finished moving, put it on its side. If the disaster pile has 4 or more cards, a disaster occurs – take any 1 tile from the fire bag and place it on the island.
- Rest. After each player has used up all their cards, it is time to rest. Place the exhausted cat figures upright and start a new round.
Once all the cats are on the raft card, the game ends – you have saved all the cats and your team wins! You will lose if:
- at any point in the game, the player needs to place a fire tile on the island, and there is no room for it
- at any point in the game, it becomes clear that the cat will no longer be able to reach the raft
- you need to take a fire tile from the bag, and it is empty
- at the beginning of the round, there are not enough path cards left in the decks for each player to take 3 cards
Save the cats so that none of them burn!
This is an exciting cooperative with a skillful interweaving of game mechanics, which, thanks to its versatility - accessible rules, different levels of difficulty and variable gameplay - will interest both adult players and curious children, and will appeal to board players with any preferences.
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