Dragon Delta
Time for you and up to five rivals to enter the famous contest down in the Mekong Delta. Use your limited planks and stones to construct bridges across the water in a race to be the first to reach the village opposite. Program your moves ahead of time to either build your own bridge or just make use of your opponents, although alternatively you may decide to sabotage them instead and summon the dragons below to interrupt their manoeuvres. But plan well, as they might be doing the same to you!.
Grab Your Planks
Lay out the gameboard on the side with the visible islands in the centre of the river. Split the stones between the corners of the board in reach of all players, these are in the supply.
Players each choose an available colour based on player count:
- 2 Players - Pink and Black
- 3 Players - Blue, Red and Pink
- 4 Players - Blue, Green, Red and Yellow
- 5 Players - Blue, Green, Red, Yellow and Pink
- 6 Players - All colours available
Then each player takes the matching colour player pawn, 6 planks and 13 card deck. Each deck contains 5 Dragon cards, one for each other player colour, remove any colours not in play and return those cards to the box. Each player take their planks into their personal reserve. The youngest player takes the First Player card, or you can decide randomly.
Splashy Splashy
Begin River Dragons with each player’s pawn placed on their starting village, the goal is to reach the paired village on the opposite side. The colours are matches as so:
- Pink & Black
- Blue & Yellow
- Red & Green
The board art shows the destination village they are aiming for on the outside edge, next to their starting village. Each village takes up the entirety of the island it is on.
Gameplay consists of rounds where everyone first programs their actions then tries to perform them.
The programming phase will have all players select the Action Cards they wish to play this round. Choose 5 Action Cards and lay them out face down left to right in the order you wish them to be performed. Then everyone proceeds to the action phase.
To start the action phase all players reveal their first face-down Action Card. Any Dragon cards will happen now, then beginning with the First Player everyone takes their first action in turn order. Once all actions are taken then everyone reveals their second Action Card and repeats the process until all 5 Actions have been taken.
Finally, everyone takes back all played Action Cards into their hands and the First Player card is passed to the next player in turn order. You continue playing rounds until someone reaches the win condition.
Action Cards
All actions are mandatory and MUST be performed, even if they do not work out well for you. Here’s a list of what all the Action Cards will do:
Place Stones - Take 1 or 2 stones from the supply depending on the card played.
- Each stone must be placed on one of the 27 islands on the board.
- Stones can only be played within the limit of the island.
- Each island can only hold one stone.
- If there are not enough stones to take from the supply when the action is played then the action is lost.
Place Planks - Place 1 or 2 planks from your personal reserve, depending on the card played. Each plank must be chosen based on estimating the distance first, you’re not allowed to measure. Once you choose a plank it’s locked in for that placement.
- Planks can only go between two stones or between a stone and a village.
- If a plank is too long for the gap then it is not a problem, the plank is allowed to overhang past the stone.
- If a plank is too short or cannot be placed stable then it must be placed in a different legal position. If one is not available then the plank is returned to the box and lost for the game!
- Planks cannot be played crossing another plank, or resting on another plank except at a stone or village.
- Each stone and village is only able to support a maximum of 3 planks at once.
Movement - Move your pawn 1 or 2 spaces depending on the card played.
- You may move in any direction and onto any planks or villages regardless of colour.
- Each plank can only hold one pawn maximum, regardless of length. Villages can hold any number of pawns.
- If a plank is occupied then you cannot move onto it and must move in a different direction, including moving back in the direction you have just come from. With the 2 movement card it is possible you finish on your starting plank.
- If you are unable to make any movements then you lose all movement and fall into the river. Place your pawn on your starting village.
Jump Another Player - Jump over an adjacent pawn.
- There must be an opponent’s pawn next to you on an adjacent plank or village.
- There must be a village or unoccupied plank on the other side of the opponent’s pawn .
- Move your pawn to this space. It is the same distance as moving 2 spaces.
- If you are unable to jump for any reason (no adjacent pawn, no free space) then your pawn loses their balance and falls into the river, place them on your starting village.
Remove Materials - Remove one plank OR one stone from the board. Stones will be returned to the supply. Planks will go into your personal reserve if they meet the requirements.
- Any stone can be removed if it does not already have any planks on it.
- Any plank can be removed, even an opponent’s, if it is unoccupied. It will be placed in your personal reserve regardless of colour.
- You cannot have two planks of the same length (number) in your reserve.
- You cannot have more than two colours of planks in your reserve.
- If you cannot add any planks to your reserve or remove any stones then the action is lost.
River Dragons - Cancels the non-Dragon action of the matching colour player when it is revealed.
- You may only play one Dragon each round, you can also choose to play none.
- Only the targeted player’s current action card is cancelled, any further actions in the round go ahead as normal.
- Dragons do not cancel other Dragon Cards.
- A player can have several Dragon cards played on them in the same action, they still only cancel the current card.
Victory
As soon as any player reaches their destination village the game ends, even if the turn is not over or there are still actions to happen. They are declared the winner!
Advance Variant
The advanced variant uses the reverse side of the board. On this map there are no islands in the river. Players can place stones on any points they choose. All other rules for planks and movement still apply.
That’s how to play River Dragons When I play I always use the Advanced side as standard, but for newer or younger players you may want to use the basic side, otherwise there will be chaos!
About the author
Hi I'm Sean, chocolate factory operator by day, Zatu blogger by night. I'm a fan of all games but a bigger fan of anything with dinosaurs. Come check out my gaming pics and videos on my socials: https://m.youtube.com/@franksiegames https://www.instagram.com/franksiegames/
