Place a 2x2 grid of random tiles on the table, which includes the starting tile (showing each egg’s special power). Place the Seeker pawn on it.
Give each player 12 random Egg Tokens.
The game ends as soon as one player has hidden all their eggs. That player wins.
Begin with the start player, then take clockwise turns until done.
On your turn, you move the Seeker and then hide an egg. Both actions are optional.
Moving means you move the Seeker in a straight line to a new tile OR rotate them one quarter turn.
You may also move them off-board to “explore”. If so, draw a new tile and place it underneath the Seeker. The map may never grow larger than a 5x5 grid.
Hiding means placing one egg token (of yours) in a free egg slot.
- You can never hide an egg on a tile that the Seeker is watching.
- You must always satisfy the specific requirement written on that tile (see Hiding Slots below).
- If you did not move this turn, take the special action of the egg you just placed. (These are written on the starting tile.)
There are 5 different requirements that can be on a slot. There’s no need to memorize these. All of this is public information, so just ask for reminders as you play.
Below is an illustration showing examples of what each requirement means.
All of them can also be inverted by a red cross before them. Below is a list of how the actions change with a red cross.
- Egg: CAN’T play one of the types of egg shown.
- Board: CAN’T play the type that appears the MOST or the LEAST on the entire map.
- Rainbow: Must play the SAME type as ones already here.
- Rainbow Arrow: Must play the SAME type as what’s already on the neighbor pointed at.
- Seeker: Must play a type of egg that the Seeker CAN’T currently see.
This is just the base game. Expansions add more varied requirements.
Played the base game and ready for more? Check out these expansions! It’s recommended to include the extra tiles from Terrific Tiles before playing with any of the other expansions.
This expansion adds more map tiles to print.
These new tiles have some new possible slot requirements, as shown in the illustration below.
They can, again, be inverted by adding a red cross. Below is a list of the inverted versions.
- Hand: CAN’T play the egg type you have the MOST or LEAST.
- Skull: CAN’T play an egg that has already been played since your previous turn.
- Pawn Arrow: Play any egg here, but only if there’s NO Pawn on the neighbor (to which the arrow points).
These new tiles also display some written text that is used in the Special Scores expansion. If you don’t use that expansion, just ignore this text.
Most of the rules stay the same, but there’s one crucial difference.
When placing an egg, you immediately score it.
- The default score value of an egg is the distance in tiles between the egg and the Seeker. (In a sense, you score more if the egg is “well-hidden”.)
- Some tiles, however, also include a special score rule which is added to this.
If a rule or requirement mentions a “Pawn”, know that the Seeker is also a Pawn. (More Pawns will only appear if you play with the Peering Pawns expansion.) If the rule gives you a non-integer value, always round down.
For each point scored, you may take any egg token from storage. This includes the special Victory Egg: the only one that scores points at the end.
The game still ends when a player gets rid of their eggs. Victory Eggs don’t count here, nor can they be hidden or traded.
This player, however, is not necessarily the winner. Instead, it’s the player who has the most Victory Eggs when this happens.
This expansion adds pawns to print.
Each player gets their own Pawn.
During the move action, you may also move your own Pawn. You get 3 actions. One action is either one step (horizontally or vertically) or one rotation.
Just as with the Seeker, moving off board explores and adds a new tile to the map. Similarly, any action that allows modifying the Seeker in some way, also allows modifying your own Pawn in the same way.
Crucially, you may only hide eggs on your current tile ( = where your Pawn stands now) or a neighbor you look at.
If playing with the score expansion, the default score of an egg changes: now it’s equal to the distance between the egg and the closest Pawn (including Seeker; excluding yourself).