Authors: Helga & Herman Huber
Publishers: GoldSieber 1996
Shortish Rules Rendition by Pete Dwyer
2-6 Players
Ab Die Post is a race game for 2-6 players where bi-planes vie to deliver the mail and, hopefully, carry sufficient spares to complete the mail run and avoid the hurricanes.
Each player receives a plane and a marker in the same colour. Put the planes on the start field in the corner of the board and the coloured markers on the scoring field next to the airport in the middle of the board.
Separate the Our First Passenger card and place it by the game board face up next to the passenger picture. Shuffle the remaining cards and place them face down beside the board.
Put the coloured balls into the hurricane indicator device according to the number of players as indicated in the following table: (this device acts like a special die)
| Players | green | blue | red | yellow | black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Return spares to the box. The youngest player begins and play proceeds clockwise.
Whoever has the turn may do one of two things:
A player may only fly if they possess sufficient spare parts. So, in the first round all players may only obtain spare parts.
Whoever requires spare parts draws cards one at a time from the top of the deck and turns them face up in front of him/herself. A player may draw as many cards as desired except, should a player draw a third red-3 card, the player loses all three 3-cards and ends their turn. Return the 3-cards to a discard pile. When the draw deck is depleted re-shuffle the discard pile to form a new draw deck.
To be allowed to fly a player must possess spare parts cards which total at least 4 points.
When flying, the player shakes the hurricane indicator device and displays a ball in the viewer. There are two possibilities:
A player may move his/her plane the distance shown on the wind table for that colour. Planes may pass other players but, if they would land on an occupied spot, do not move at all. At the start, and on landing, a plane may not change lanes but may only fly in a straight line. Otherwise, planes may change lanes as often as desired during a move. See examples in the flight companion.
These indicate a hurricane and affect all players. All players must land and discard repair cards equal to the required value (or more) for the lane which they presently occupy.
| Inner lane | 8 points |
| Middle lane | 4 points |
| Outer lane | 2 points |
Change is not given if a player cannot meet the required points exactly. Players may pay more if desired (eg a player may use a red 3 and a 2 to cover 4 points worth of damage because the player does not wish to risk drawing another red 3).
A player who cannot meet the repairs surrenders all cards to the discard pile and returns his/her plane to the start field.
Anyone who has insufficient cards to fly (ie minimum of 4 points in total) must draw further cards in order to fly.
Half way round the track is the passenger. The first player to pass through or land on both of the spots on either side of the passenger in the outer lane takes the card. It is worth 2 points at the end of each flight. If a player subsequently suffers hurricane damage and must start again, the passenger card is returned to the relevant spot on the board to be picked up later.
As soon as the first plane lands on the goal airport (ignore surplus move points), the flight is ended for all players. Points are now scored for position.
The first player moves their marker stone 7 points down the scoring strip; second, 5 points; third, 4 points; fourth, 3 points; fifth, 2 points; and sixth, 1 point. Two points are awarded to the player with the passenger card. Planes on the start field receive zero points.
To calculate points, the flight path is segmented by river sections. Planes in the river section nearest to the goal airport take precedence over planes in areas further back. Where planes share a zone, precedence is give to planes on the inside lane, then the middle lane, and finally the outer lane. Detailed examples are given in the flight companion.
Any players still in the first half of the flight route are allowed to retain any one of their repair cards. All other cards are discarded.
The next flight proceeds in the reverse direction with all players commencing from the relevant airport. The player who is furthest behind on the scoring track begins. If tied, the player receiving the least number of points last turn commences. The passenger card is placed beside the board once again.
When a player's marker reaches 15 points or more, the game ends. If more than one player scores more than fifteen, then the furthest past 15 wins. If still tied, the player scoring most points last turn wins.