English Translation of "Das Gurkensolo" Rules by Patrick kellogg

Das Gurkensolo (aka "Mixed Pickles")

(Instruction manual)

AA game for 2 – 6 players

Contents

1 board, 4 pickles in four colors, 24 goal cards, 66 instruction cards

Preparations

Put all the pickles together on the white starting space. One player shuffles the green goal cards. Each player takes a goal card, and keeps it hidden from the other players. This is the sequence in which the player wants the pickles to finish the race, for example, 1. yellow, 2. red, 3. blue, and 4. green

NOTE: 1. yellow, 2. red means: the yellow pickle must reach the goal before the red pickle

Whether the yellow pickle reaches the goal on the left or right of the red pickle doesn’t matter for the goal (see the picture or the example above)

NOTE: The pickles are all common property. Each of the pickles can be used by each player equally.

Shuffle the yellow instruction cards and place them in a pile beside the board.

Goal of the Game

Each player tries to bring the four pickles into the goal square in the order specified by their goal card. The winner is the player with the most points. (See the “Rules” section below).

One possible endgame:
the player with the goal card like the one in the figure left would get 4 points for the yellow cucumber, etc.

The Rules

1. The first player draws two instruction cards from the pile and places them into his hand.

Now, the player must shift one of the four pickles forward so that they make one card “true” and the other one “false” (Exception: the special cards described in the next section).

2. A pickle may be moved forward: Within the blue range (1-9), one or two spaces forward (player’s choice). Within the yellow range (10-goal), only one field forward.

NOTE: A pickle can never be moved backwards (except when special cards allow it to do so, see the next section).

Example:
The first player draws the following two instruction cards from the supply pile:
Card 1: “Red equals green”
Card 2: “Yellow equals blue”
At the beginning of the game, both instructions are initially true. The player must now move one of the four cucumbers forward so one instruction is true and the other false. So, move the blue pickle two fields forward! "Red equals green" is thus true, and "yellow equals blue" is false.

3. After a player finishes moving the pickles, lay both cards out openly, placing the true instruction card beside the "true” pile and the false instruction card beside the "false" pile. Now all players verify the results are correct. If not, the pickles are placed back into their original positions. The next player may make a correction (though they don’t have to), before they draw two new instruction cards and starts a new turn.

4. Sometimes, it happens that no correct moves of the pickles are possible. First, the player must prove that! The player shows his instruction cards the other players. If nobody disagrees, the dealer puts the cards on the discard pile. However, if a move would have been possible, the next player may make a correction (though they don’t have to), before they draw two new instruction cards and starts a new turn.

5. Each pickle in field 9 may only be moved one step forwards, while still following the instruction cards (see section 2).

6. Crossing the goal line:
The game continues. If the first pickle crosses the goal line first, it is moved to the left-over number field 1, the second pickle on number 2, etc. (see sections 2-3 above).

NOTE: After a pickle crosses the finish line, it may not continue playing. It may not be moved and applied to fulfill the instruction cards.

After three of the four pickles cross the finish line, the game is over. If the draw pile is used up, the dealer shuffles the discard pile to make a new draw pile.

7. Point valuation:
If the color of the first place pickle matches the one on the player’s goal card: 4 points
Second pickle correct: 2 points
Third pickle correct: 1 point
Fourth pickle correct: 3 points

8. The player with the highest number of points is the winner.

9. There are six "Special" instruction cards (marked by S).
a) If one of the two drawn cards is special, this special instruction must be literally obeyed and implemented (without consideration for "true" and "false"). The dealer then places both cards on the discard pile.
b) If both cards are "Special", the player must decide which Special instruction card to followthese (without consideration for "true" or "false"). Afterwards, the dealer places both cards on the discard pile.

The Pickle Strategy

A) In some cases no move is possible which isn’t bad for the player. Usually however, several moves are possible. In this case a player will choose the course which corresponds best to their goal card. However, one should not show too openly which movements are favorable, or one betrays their goal card.
B) A player may move a pickle in the first nine fields a maximum of two steps forward. But often, one is forced to make an unfavorable move. Then, they should move a pickle in the first nine fields forward by one field at the most. Naturally, the player should realize that by doing so, the other players may recognize that the player didn’t not want to move that pickle.

Variant for Pickle Professionals

Each player pulls two goal cards at the beginning. When the leading pickle crosses the sixth field, all players must decide and choose a single goal card and discard the other one. And for Extreme Pickle Professionals: Remove the special card (s) from the deck and play only with the "logical" instruction cards. Enough talking, now go. We hope you have much fun playing this game.

(Translation of the cards)

Colors

Rot = Red
Grün = Green
Gelb = Yello
Blau = Blue

Instruction Cards

A gleich B = A on the same space as B
A vor B = A before B
A hinter B = A behind B
(nicht = not… i.e. nicht vor = not before = not in front of)

Special Cards

1 Figur 1 Feld zurück = move 1 piece 1 space back
1 Figur 2 Felder zurück = move 1 piece 2 spaces back
Vertausche 2 Figuren = Exchange 2 pieces

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