4 The Great Divide Scoring Example The Great Divide Game Rules v1.0 1

SCORING EXAMPLE It is the end of a Standard game. The easiest way to score a game of THE GREAT DIVIDE is to choose one player first, either East or West. Let’s start with West…

An efficient way to track the score is to remove all of the tiles that go off of that player’s edge (as shown in the illustration in the next column). Now some of the remaining tiles point to empty spaces. Remove them, and keep removing the tiles that point to empty spaces until all of the remaining tiles point either to each other, or off the other edge. At that point, count number of the tiles removed. That is the Base Score for that player; in this case 34 tiles are scores by the West player. (This is also shown by the black lines and arrows on the above illustration, with the East player’s tiles shown by the white lines and arrows).

Subtract that number from 66 (the total tiles placed in a game) to get the Base Score for tother player; thus 66 – 34 = 32. It’s a very close score!

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Finally, add five (+5) points to the Base Score of the player who has the “5” tile. That gives you the Final Score for the game. If that happened to be the East player in this game, it would add enough points for her to win! Remember, it is not the way that the arrows on the tiles point, but the edge to which the rivers flow, that determines the score. The line defined between the tiles still on the board and those removed while determining the score, is THE GREAT DIVIDE (for that game, anyway). Match Scoring For Match Scoring, add the winner’s score to his Total Points earned thus far in the Match. Do not add the losers score to his total. For Example: The score for a Match Game was W: 41; E: 30. So, 41 points would be added to the West Player’s Match Score total. The 30 points that the East Player got that game would be ignored. If, on the next two games, the East Player wins with scores of 51 and 45 points, then the East Player would have 96 total points, and would win a 90 point Match.

The Special Geography tiles both effect scoring. The Great Basin will not be removed from the board, so one point should be subtracted (-1) from second player’s score if it is in play. The Two Ocean Pass will be removed, so one point should be added (+1) to second player’s score for it.

Remember that ties are resolved in favor of the last player to place a tile on the board, whether it was his turn or not. If the Inland Sea is in play, do the above scoring procedure twice: once for each player’s map edge. The tiles remaining on the map will form a loop that is the edge of the Inland Sea (or Seas) and the water that flows to it (them).

GAME CREDITS Game Design: Allen Doum Development: Alan Emrich Art & Graphic Design: John Olsen and Vince DeNardo Playtesting: Daniel Brown, Jeff Boschman, Jim Dawson, Vince DeNardo, Tom Franklin, Jack Guritza, Eric Landes, Peter Loop [MVP], Chris Magoun, Lance McMillan, Jason Moffat, Brian Newland, Hank Panethiere, Otmar Schlunk, Andrew Tullsen, Jay Waschak and the great people at The Random Wargamers and GoF 2002

1. INTRODUCTION The Great Divide is a game about how the water that falls as rain and snow in the American Rockies flows either East, to the Missouri, Red and Rio Grande river systems and then to the Gulf of Mexico, or West, to the Colorado and Colombia river systems and then to the Pacific Ocean. By playing tiles, players will determine the courses of these rivers’ tributaries, each trying to direct as much of the water to flow as they can to their own side of the board as possible.

2. COMPONENTS The Board: The Board shows four States in the American West and Mexico along The Great Divide. Each area has been marked with a grid of colored spaces. In addition, there is a Western area, colored Dark Blue, and an Eastern area colored Light Blue. The State and National boundaries, and the State Capitals have no effect on play. The colored hexagon tiles regulate all play. The River tiles: These hexagonal tiles show the terrain in a space, with a colored arrow indicating the direction the water flows out of that space, either into another space, or off the East or West edges of the board.

There are also eight (8) square Selection cards for each player.

Not included is an opaque container, such as a small bowl or a coffee cup, sufficient in size to hold all of the hexagonal tiles used in playing the game.

3. PREPARE FOR PLAY Place the board between the players; one sitting along the East side, the other along the West side. Place the River tiles and the “5” tile in the opaque container and mix them thoroughly. Set the other (“Special”) tiles aside for now (but see Rule 9). Each player takes their set of Selection cards, setting aside their Special tiles card (again, see Rule 9), and placing the other seven in plain sight in front of them. The youngest player goes first. When playing multiple games at a time, the person who lost the previously played game goes first.

4. TURN ORDER Play proceeds in turns alternating between the players. During his turn, a player must play a randomly drawn tile. Prior to drawing a tile, that player may adjust his Selection cards to limit which tiles he must play.

5. SETTING SELECTION CARDS Immediately before he draws a tile, a player may select (restrict) which tiles he wishes to play that turn. He does so by setting any or all of his Selection cards as desired. When a Selection card is set to its Active side (i.e., flipped face-up), showing the colored arrow, that player must play a tile of that color if he draws it (per Rule 6), after which his turn ends. When a Selection card is set to its Passive side (flipped face-down), showing negation symbol, that player must pass that tile to other player if he draws it. The other player must play that tile (per Rule 6), and the drawing player draws again. This is repeated as often as it occurs until the drawing player obtains a tile corresponding to one of his Active Selection cards.

Area symbol(in matching color)

Water flow Direction Arrow

In other words, a player will only play one “Active” tile during his own turn. The other player plays all of the “Passive” tiles his opponent draws until an Active tile is drawn.

Active side Passive side

WWhhyy wwoouulldd II wwaanntt ttoo hhaanndd mmyy ooppppoonneenntt ttiilleess ttoo ppllaayy?? Setting a Selection card is useful for several reasons. Tiles from some areas may no longer matter, for instance, and a player will not want to waste his one permitted tile placement that turn by drawing and playing a useless one. Or perhaps tiles in a particular area may become so important that a player will risk giving his opponent several free plays elsewhere in order to ensure his next play is of a vitally important tile.

(Must keep and play) (Yielded to opponent)

The Selection cards allow players to evolve a placement strategy and manage some of the chance elements in the game.

© 2008 Allen Doum and Victory Point Games © 2008 Allen Doum and Victory Point Games

6. PLAYING A RIVER TILE During his turn, that player draws a River tile at random. It is turned face up and must be played in a space in the area on the board matching its area symbol / color. A tile may be placed in any unoccupied space in its area (i.e., the one matching the background color of its tile) with the arrow pointing to any other space within the following restrictions: Board Edges: In the Light Blue area, River tile arrows may point off of the East side of the board and, in the Dark Blue area, they may point off the West side. River tile arrows may never point off the North or South edges of the grid.

East / West Water Flow: As each tile is played, it must be possible for the water from that tile to reach either the East or West edge of the board. Any placement that would make it impossible to get to both the East and West edge is prohibited. Note: it is possible for a large area of the board, or even the whole board, to be “sealed off” in such a way that no water can flow toward one side. A player may not play a tile in a way that would “seal off” an area from the other side as well. Illegal River tile placement examples:

In these examples, the last tile played (the one with the sshhaaddooww) in each of these groups is a prohibited move: 1. This tile is pointing off the north or south board edge. 2. These two tiles are pointing directly at each other, thus

prohibiting the “flow” of the water to either the East or West board edge.

3. This is a 3-tile “loop.” Tiles cannot be arranged so as to prohibit the “flow” of the water to either the East or West board edge.

4. Here is a much larger loop, but a loop nonetheless. 5. This is called a “bubble,” and is also prohibited as the water

from this tile placement would be trapped.

7. THE “5” TILE

When a player draws the “5” tile, he may choose either: 1) keep that tile and end his turn; or 2) to give that tile to his opponent and continue his turn

(i.e., draw again).

8. GAME END AND SCORING The game ends when all of the tiles have been drawn and played. At that point, the winner is determined by how many River tiles flow to their respective (i.e., East and West) board edges. Each tiles counts as one (1), and player with the highest total score wins. Possession of the “5” tile counts as 5 tiles. A tie is not possible. If you wish to play a series of games, then the winning player should add his total to his score. The other player scores zero. The first player to score 90 points, or 150 for a longer match, wins.

9. VARIANT RULES These variant rules are used to provide variety for players familiar with the standard rules. We suggest that these options not be used for tournament play. There are four distinct options, and players may agree before starting to play any combination of them.

OPTION A: Special Geography Tiles When using this rule, players receive their Special Tiles Selection card during setup and it is used in exactly the same way for the Special Geography tiles and the Number tiles as the others are for their respective tiles (as per Rule 5). Player may decide which (and how many) of these special tiles to use. Drawing a Special Tile: Special Geography Tiles: The Great Basin and Two Ocean Pass are “Special Geography” tiles; either of them can be used in place of the Number tile or you can simply play with all three tiles. Both of these represent actual terrain features in Wyoming. These tiles can be played in an empty space that has no water flowing into it. They cannot be placed if it blocks any of the existing tiles from connecting to the East or West edge. Water from any tiles played later cannot flow into these tiles.

Two Ocean Pass: When it is placed, in addition to the above, it must be possible for one of the arrows to go to the East, and one to the West. Later tiles must allow for the water from this tile to flow to both edges. It literally is a two ocean pass and must be able to reach them both! This tile scores one (1) point for each player The Great Basin: This tile scores no points for either player.

If there is no legal place to put a Special Geography tile, it is discarded and the player who drew it draws again. When an area tile is drawn that cannot be played due to the placement of a Special Geography tile in that area, that area tile is set aside and the player who drew it draws again. If the score is tied (this can happen when Special Geography tiles are in play), the player who played the last tile to the board wins the game.

OPTION B: The Earthquake Tile The Earthquake: This Special Tile is not affected by the Special Tiles Selection cards and must be played by the player drawing it. The Earthquake tile is never passed to the other player, and drawing the Earthquake tile (whether used or not) ends the drawing player’s turn. When played, the player who drew the Earthquake tile must make an immediate choice; he may remove a River tile of his choice from the board and return it back to the container, or he may pass. If he chooses to remove a tile, then the other player immediately gets the same choice. This

continues until either player passes. In other words, the players will alternate removing River tiles and returning them to the container until one of them passes. A Special Geography tile can be removed via the Earth-quake tile. Any area tile that has been set aside because of a Special Geography tile is also put back into the container. As soon as either player passes, the Earthquake tile is set aside and removed from the game. This will mean that no tiles are removed if the player passes when drawing the tile.

OPTION C: Event Tiles and Cards Event cards represent catastrophes in geologic history. Add either or both Event tiles to the container, and shuffle the 4 Event cards and set them aside, face-down, during setup. When an Event tile is drawn, that player draws the top Event card and applies it thus:

Megafloods: You must pick a River tile on the map. All tiles directly downstream from that tile are returned to the container. The chosen tile, and other tributaries that lead into the downstream tiles, are not affected. The other player then does the same. The Player receiving this Event continues his turn and draws another tile from the container. Volcanoes: Lava flows alter the flow of rivers. You must rotate one River tile to flow in a new direction. The other player may then chose a different tile (if available) and do the same. The Player receiving this Event continues his turn and draws another tile from the container. Inland Sea. For the rest of this game, the rule requiring tiles to be able to flow to the East or West map edge is no longer in force. Tiles may still not go off the North and South edges or point directly back into another tile’s arrow. The Player receiving this Event continues his turn and draws another tile from the container. This could greatly reduce end-game scores.

Unless the Inland Sea has been played, all tiles affected by the Volcanoes must still be able to flow to the East or West Edge. If Special Geography tiles are in play, then their restrictions also apply. A player may pick the Two Ocean Pass for the Megaflood Event, but must choose one direction to effect.

OPTION D: Selection Restrictions All Selection cards are setup as Active. A player may only flip one Selection card between its Active and Passive sides before drawing each tile. Planning ahead matters!

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2 The Great Divide Game Rules The Great Divide Variant Rules 3

© 2008 Allen Doum and Victory Point Games © 2008 Allen Doum and Victory Point Games