I had my first *successful* playtest this weekend of Yeti Mountain using the rules that I've been working out in my head. Here's a current component and rule breakdown:
Objective-be the first climber to reach the top of a yeti inhabited mountain
Components:
Mountain level cards-the mountain is broken up into ten levels and these cards represent those ten levels and show their different attributes.
Slope cards-the cards represent areas that the climbers can freely move across and search for objects. These cards can only be placed on the Slope levels of the mountain. These cards can only be placed on levels one, two, four, five, seven, eight, and ten.
Yeti cards-these cards show where yetis are located and show what objects the individual yeti want to be given before they let climbers pass by. Yeti cards can only be placed on levels three, six, and nine.
Avalanche cards-these cards show impassable areas of the mountain and can be placed on any level of the mountain.
Object tokens in a pouch-these represent the objects the can be found when a climber does a successful search.
Search markers-these show that a slope card has been searched.
Player markers-these are placed on the yeti cards after a climber gives a yeti a wanted object. These markers show which climbers can pass through a yeti card.
A green, red, and blue die-these are rolled to determine if a climber finds an object when a slope card is searched. Each die has different odds of a successful search and are rolled for different mountain levels. The green die is rolled for levels one and two and has a 5 in 6 chance of success. The red die is rolled for levels four and five and has a 3 in 6 chance of success. The blue die is rolled for levels seven and eight and has a 1 in 6 chance of success.
Setup-place the ten mountain level cards in a column to the side of the main gameplay area with level one at the bottom and level ten at the top. At level one lay down a slope card for each player and another slope card in between those. Place the player pieces on every other slope card in the row. Shuffle the yeti cards and set out. Shuffle the slope and avalanche cards together and set out. The game is now set up.
Rules for gameplay-on each player's turn they get three actions. The choices of actions are:
Lay down a card (slope, yeti, or avalanche)
Move
Search for an object
Give an object to a yeti
Trade objects
Pick up a dropped object
Actions explained:
Lay down a card-if the player wants to lay down a card they must draw from the stack which corresponds to the level they want to place on (slope stack for the slope levels and the yeti stack for the yeti levels). Slope and yeti cards must be placed so that it touches the card that the player is currently placed on. When placing a yeti card there must be at least one card space in between them. If the player draws an avalanche card from the slope deck it can be placed on any level as long as it is touching another card. An avalanche card can also be discarded to get another action.
Move-players can freely move over slope cards and yeti cards on which they have given a wanted object. Avalanche cards are impassable and players must go around them. When moving a player can move their piece to another card either up and down or side to side.
Search for an object-a climber can search a slope card they are located on as long as the card hasn't been searched before. To search the player rolls the die corresponding to the level they are on (explained previously). If the roll is successful (a smiley face) the player draws an object token from the pouch to see what was found. After the die roll a search marker is placed on the slope card and it can't be searched again even if the die roll was unsuccessful (a sad face). Climbers can only carry three objects at a time. If they find an object and already have three objects they must drop an object which can be picked up again by any player that can carry more objects.
Give an object to a yeti-each yeti card shows four objects the yeti wants to have. In order for a climber to get past a yeti they must give them an object in their object list. If the player has one of the objects they place the token on the yeti card and then place a player marker on the yeti card to show they can move across that card.
Trade an object-players have the option to trade objects either with each other or with a yeti. When trading with another player your playing pieces must be on the same card and both players must agree on what is being traded. When trading with a yeti the player may exchange one object the yeti possesses for another object the yeti wants to have. Again the player must be located on the yeti card where the trade is being made.
Victory-with all of these elements in play the first climber to reach level ten has reached the top of the mountain and has won the game.
