Published by Ravensburger
Translation by Frank Branham
Try to rescue the containers from the Island in the center of the board befor the spring thaw keeps you from doing so.
Each player chooses a truck, then puts it on the camp of the same color. If there are only two players, the camps should lie side by side.
Put all containers on the Island. Sort the cards into two packs with 1 and 2 on the backs. Shuffle and place beside the board.
Put the bear and ice floe pieces near the board.
Each player in turn takes three actions:
1. Turn over the top card on the "1" stack and place it face up beside the stack. Then he will either remove or place a tile on the board depending on the season.
2. Take the top card of the "2" stack and look at it secretly. Depending on the type of card, he either keeps it or plays it immediately.
As soon as both stacks are empty, the discards are shuffled.
3. A player may move his van up to 3 spaces. Spaces are crossing a river around the edge of the board, or moving to an adjacent ice floe piece. The number of hexes in the ice floe piece does not matter, even the 3 pieces count as one space for movement.
The game goes in two phases. First, the sea freezes in winter, then thaws in spring. The Ice cards have two different behaviors depending on the season. The Snowflake side shows how many of the ice piece is added. The water side shows how many of the pictured ice piece melts. No number means you don't get to remove an ice piece.
Take the appropriate type and number of pieces and put them anywhere on the sea. Don't overlap pieces.
Toward the end of winter, if there are not enough pieces, use as many as you can. If there are no pieces of the appropriate type left, you can do nothing this turn.
Same thing happens if there is no room to place the required piece.
As soon as all of the ice pieces are placed, or cannot longer be placed, Spring begins. The next "1" card that is turned up requires a player to remove an ice floe piece. There are a few restrictions:
1. You can only remove a piece with a container if there are no empty ice blocks remaining. Any containers on the ice fall into the water.
2. You can never remove a piece holding a truck or the bear.
It is vital to use containers to secure a path back to your camp with containers.
Trucks can only transport one container. If you ever move an empty truck to the location of a container of the same color. If you still have moves remaining in your turn, you can stil lmove further after loading or unloading a container.
Players may play robbery cards to plunder your box if they are in the same space while you are unloading.
You may move across your opponent's camp. Don't unload a box there or it will belong to your opponent.
Only 3 objects may stand on each ice block. Containers and trucks count for the limit. The Polar Bear does not. You can pile as much as you wish onto a land area.
The Polar Bear: The Polar Bear is placed on an ice floe as soon as someone turns up the card. Each time a player turns up the bear, he moves it to another ice floe or land area. The bear can move anywhere, except for the isle and the camp.
No one may move a truck onto the same ice floe as the bear. If the bear is placed on a spot with a truck, then the truck must leave on its next turn. This card must be played immediately.
Found Container: turn this card up immediately. If your truck is empty, load it with a box from the island. If it is full, then do nothing and sulk. You may load a container even if there are already 3 things on the current ice floe. But you must then leave immediately before the ice cracks.
Frostbite: Turn this card over immediately. Move your truck immediately back to the Camp, leaving behind any box. You may not move the truck this turn.
Helicopters: This can be played immediately or kept. The player may move his van (laden or unladen) anywhere on the board. The player also gets his regular turn of 3 spaces which may happen before or after the flight.
Robbery: These can be kept or played immediately. This lets you load someone else's container onto your van. You may not plunder from opponent's trucks, from the island, or from any camp.
Fog: Keep Fog cards hidden in front of you. If someone tries to Rob one of your containers, you play immediately play a Robbery in defense.
The game ends as soon as no more containers may possibly be dragged back to camps. Each player receives one last turn, then the game ends. Winner is the person with the most boxes in their camp.