For tips on how to play k2, see Tips_k2

Rules Overview

General Summary

• You have two climbers (a smooth one and a squiggly one, to keep them straight). You win by getting them both as high as possible, and then no dying, over 18 turns (6 weather boards)
• Each card you play either lets you MOVE (green number, self explanatory) or ACCLIMATIZE (blue number, increase the buffer between you and icy death) one climber.

Score

• Each climber has a score equal to the highest score they attain (written on the board)
• Their score drops to 1 if they die
• Scores are added up after turn 18
• You do NOT have to go back to base camp to keep your score, just remain alive until turn 18, however life at higher altitude is harsh!

Moving

• Each space on the mountain either has a gold number on its upper right, or is blank (implying a gold number of 1). This is the amount of movement points you need to move onto that space.
• Cards in your hand with GREEN numbers (no idea why they didn't make it gold as well) give your climbers these movement points. Some have a single, all-purpose number, others have a smaller number you can use to move any direction and a larger number you can ONLY use to move down.

You can combine movement cards but not divide them.

• For example, if you have a two cards of value 1, you CAN combine them to give one of your climbers 2 movement points.
• However, if you have a card of value 3, you CANNOT split it to give one climber 1 point and the other one 2.

Acclimatization

• Each of your climbers has an acclimatization value, which you can see next to your figures at the top right of the screen
• Many spaces on the mountain have a BLUE (good) or RED (bad) number on their bottom left. These increase or decrease your acclimatization if you end movement on those spaces.
• You can also play cards with BLUE numbers to increase a climber's acclimatization.
• This is important because if your acclimatization drops to zero, that climber dies and loses all their points

Other Stuff: Risk, Tents, and Weather

• Risk: Each turn, whoever chooses movement cards with the highest sum has to take a Risk token. You get to choose which token, from a pool of three, so it is sometimes minimal. But these tokens will reduce your movement or acclimatization.
  • The penalty can only be applied to a climber who was moved/acclimatized by a card this turn.
  • Moral of the story, you want to move fast, but not faster than everyone else.
• Tents: Each climber has one tent (so, two per team). You can pitch this tent on any space by re-paying the movement point cost on that space (e.g., a space with a Gold 2 requires 2 movement points to pitch a tent). Tents give their climber +1 acclimatization at the end of each turn in which they are on that space.
• Weather: Across the top of the board you can see the weather and the forecast, a little way out.
  • Good weather has no effect
  • Bad weather reduces acclimatization and/or movement, but only if you are at a certain elevation or elevation band on the mountain.
  • Hover the mouse to see the important details, you can't read the elevation just from the picture (and you usually can't read it at all if using a tap interface device)

Turn Summary

Card Selection

1. Each player selects three cards for the round, which they will use during the action phase
2. Choices are made secretly and then revealed simultaneously

Mechanics: Highlight 3 of your 6 cards, then confirm at top of page

Risk Tokens

1. The player with the most movement points (summed) must take a risk token
2. In case of a tie, no one takes a risk token
3. A new risk token will then be revealed, so three are always available

Mechanics: The game will automatically assign the most favorable token to the correct player

Action Phase

1. Select cards, one at a time or multiple at a time, and which climber to apply them to

• Acclimatization cards will be applied automatically, and will raise the selected climbers acclimatization level
• Movement cards will allow you to move (click on a highlighted space on the mountain), apply risk penalties, or pitch a tent (buttons at top of screen)

1. If they gained elevation, each climber's newly gained victory points are marked on the victory point track
2. Note the influence of weather on movement (only in winter weather)!
3. There are stacking limits (number of climbers a space can hold) at each elevation based upon the number of players. See the diagrams on the right.

• These limits only apply at the END of your move. In other words, you can move through a space that is full, but cannot stop there.

Acclimatization Check

1. Add/subtract acclimatization:

• Add/Subtract for blue or red acclimatization numbers on each climber's current space
• A tent of the player's color adds +1 to acclimatization
• Subtract acclimatization resulting from the current weather, if in the affected altitude zone
• If you use less than the played movement, this can reduce the Risk you've incurred, if any
• If acclimatization exceeds 6, it is reduced back to 6

If acclimatization drops below 1, the climber dies, losing any VP gained but 1

End of Turn

1. The starting player marker passes to the left (on BGA, down)
2. The weather marker moves to the next space. If this puts the marker onto the second tile, a new forecast is added.
3. Draw 3 cards to have 6 again. If draw pile is empty, players will play their final three cards before reshuffling and drawing to 6.

Cards list

Total: 18 cards

1. Acclimatization cards (Blue)

Points	3	2	1	0
Quantity	1	1	2	1	Total: 5

2. Movement cards (Green)

Points	3	2	1
Quantity	2	3	5	Total: 10

3. Rope cards (Green)

Points	2|3	1|3	1|2
Quantity	1	1	1	Total: 3