Hydropolis
tile placement card game by Ryan Hackel, played with a Waterworks deck
Got a spare Waterworks deck laying around? Want to try something completely different from the standard Waterworks race game? Then this is for you. Needs 2+ players, 30-45 minutes, a big table, and something to keep score with.
"I can't help it, had to try it! Wow! What a cool adaptation!
The pipes go in all directions, everyone gets to play off each others play and the scoring is unique and makes you think before you place."
~ Shaun Mather, BGG
"What an awesome idea!"
~ M C ("craniac"), BGG
"Have rescued my copy of Waterworks from the 'donate to charity' pile!"
~ Matt Harvey, BGG
"This is very interesting: a game based on the Waterworks deck."
~ Stefano Castelli, BGG
COMPLETE RULES
SETUP:
Shuffle the deck, including the valve and spout cards. Each player starts with three cards in hand. The top card of the draw pile is placed face-up in the center of the play area, to serve as the base card to build off of.
GAMEPLAY:
On your turn, play a card from your hand, if able, then draw a card from the deck. If you have a legal play, you must make one. If you are unable to play cards ('pass'), your hand size will be increased by one. If the draw pile is empty, then continue with the next player's turn.
LEGAL PLAYS:
When you play a card, you either add a card to the grid, aligning long side to long side and short side to short side OR you can overlay a card onto an existing 'leaky' card (even with another leaky pipe). Caps are never considered to be leaky. Each play must follow these constraints:
- The card must connect to at least one pipe or cap
- A cap cannot connect directly to another cap
- You cannot make a play that causes a pipe to dead-end onto a non-pipe non-cap ('blank') card edge. In other words, a pipe cannot terminate suddenly; they must end at the board edge or a cap. Caps themselves, however, are able to meet up with a 'blank' card edge.
- The table edge is a valid boundary against any further plays in that direction. If the card overlaps the edge, it's not a legal play.
- NOTE: Valves and spouts count as pipe cards rather than caps.
SCORING EACH PLAY:
After playing each card, count up that play's score and add it to your existing total.
- If you overlaid a card over a 'leaky' card, just score 5 points only.
- If you played a new card, do the following:
- Count the number of adjacent cards to the one you played, both orthogonally and diagonally
- Add 1 for each cap you just connected to a like-colored pipe (your card may have either the pipe or the cap)
- If your played card contained a pipe, double the points so far for each pipe you just connected to a different colored pipe (triple if the pipes are like-colored)
A scoring example is available on BoardGameGeek. (Be sure to read the image comments further down the page.)
GAME END:
The game ends when either of the following happens:
- All players pass (cannot play) consecutively
- A player has scored XYZ points, determined before the game begins
Play continues even if the draw pile is empty, or if there are no more places to connect to... just wait until all players pass in succession.
WINNING:
When the game ends, the player with the highest current score wins!
OPTIONAL RULE:
When a single play yields 15 points or more, give that player a wrench token. When a player has three wrench tokens, he or she immediately wins!
Revision History:
14 January 2008: Increased hand size from 2 to three. Removed 'empty draw pile' and 'no connections' game end triggers from list, as they just result in all players passing anyway. It even lets players with larger hand sizes play keep scoring for a few more turns.
11 December 2007: Created the game on vacation in California. Wanted to create a new game playable with a Waterworks deck. Played with several scoring rulesets looking for one that kept sprawl to a minimum and encouraged cool patterns. Came up with the wrench rule so that all parts of the buffalo got used, and to add an alternate victory condition.
Got a question? Contact me!
Hydropolis is listed on BoardGameGeek. Add your feedback, comments, and reviews.
Rules translation in German: Regeln auf Deutsch
Last Updated: 2 February 2010
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