Background

You and your friends get into a heated argument about which of you is the best at raking leaves. Before it comes to blows, one of you suggests the only logical solution: go around the neighborhood and have your neighbors judge your raking firsthand.

Materials

• 1 Hexagonal Playmat

• 20 -  25 chips in at least 4 colors to serve as leaves

• 4 players

Setup

On the playmat, draw 3 ‘piles’ which are encompassed by 7 hexes each. Each of the piles’ centers should be exactly 16 hexes away from the other two and arranged in an equilateral triangle.

Player order is determined by how recently each player visited a park or the woods (or another form of nature the players judge appropriate). The player who did so most recently takes on the role of “Neighborhood Judge” for the first round. The other 3 players are the “Rakes” and each arrays themselves before one pile.

At the end of each round the player who was next most recently in nature becomes a Judge while the previous judge becomes a Rake in turn. Each game lasts 4 rounds.

Rules

Players can only rake 1 leaf (represented by a single chip) at a time. They do this by putting their index finger on the chip then dragging it to a hex adjacent to or in their pile. At which point they can pick it up and place it on an adjacent hex.

Other players can't rake a leaf that's already been raked into a pile or is actively being raked by another player.

The round begins as soon as the Judge declares it, no raking can occur till then.

At the start of each round, the Judge will come up with a scenario for how the leaves are to be arranged in their piles. An example is provided below for how to construct a scenario:

Mulch

This neighbor wants to mulch some of his leaves but only the freshly fallen green ones. Collect all other ones and stack them in the center of your pile. The other 6 hexes should have nothing but a single green chip.

The Judge will mix 15 green chips and 5 of each other color in the center.

Scoring

2 points for each hex that has nothing else but one green chip

1 point for each chip in the center stack.

The judge should determine the number of leaves, how the piles should be arranged and how they will be scored and finally the conditions for the round’s end. They should communicate all of this information to the players, coming up with a creative backstory for these rules is encouraged!

Game End

The winner of the round is determined by each round's scoring mechanics. The player who won the most rounds wins the game and is titled the “The Greatest Rake.” If multiple players tie, the one who placed second in the most rounds wins. If there are still ties, the game goes into Sudden Death Raking where the tied players play one last round.