How to Play Harmonies Rules if you hate rulebooks

Hate reading rulebooks? I compiled this How to Play Harmonies guide to cover the rules to get your game started quick without the hassle of going through the entire rulebook.

If you want to find out more about if Harmonies is the right game for you, click here for an overview with videos about that game.

What is the goal of Harmonies?

• Build Landscapes with colored tokens.
• Create Habitats for Animals to earn points.
• Strategically incorporate Habitats in Landscapes.

How do you setup the game?

1. Place Central board with the 2-4 Players side faceup.
2. Put all tokens in the Pouch and place it next to the Central board.
3. Fill each of the 5 spaces of the Central board with 3 tokens drawn randomly.
4. Shuffle Animal cards and place 5 faceup next to the Central board. Keep the draw pile and Animal cubes nearby.
5. Each player takes a Personal board and decides which side to use. All players use the same side.
6. Each player takes a Reminder card matching the Personal boards.
7. The player who last saw a magnificent landscape goes first. Point the Central Board’s arrow toward them.

Gameplay

Game Turn Actions

Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes a turn by performing the following actions in the order of their choosing:

Take and Place Tokens:

• Take 3 tokens from any one Central board space.
• Place tokens on the Personal board following specific rules.
  • Can be placed on an empty space.
  • Can stack to create Trees, Buildings, or Mountains.
  • Cannot be placed under existing tokens or on a space occupied by an Animal cube.

Take 1 Animal Card (Optional):

You can perform it anytime during your turn, but only once per turn

1. Choose 1 faceup Animal card and place it above your Personal board.
2. Take Animal cubes equal to the spaces on the card and place 1 cube on each space.

Place 1 Animal Cube (Optional):

• You may perform it multiple times on your turn, at any time.
• Recreate the required Habitat pattern on the Personal board.
  • Pattern must match the card but can be oriented in any direction.
  • Trees and Mountains must match heights shown on the card.
  • The token for the Animal cube must be unoccupied.
  • Buildings can be any type.
• Place the bottommost cube from the Animal card on the corresponding token.
• Completed Animal cards do not count against the 4-card limit and earn victory points.

At the end of the turn, draw 3 tokens from the Pouch and refill the Central board.

Refill the row of Animal cards to maintain 5 faceup cards.

End of Game

• Game ends when the Pouch is empty or there are 2 or fewer unoccupied spaces on any Personal board.
• Finish the current round if needed for equal turns.
• Tally points for Landscapes and Animals placed.
• The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the player with the most Animal cubes wins. Further ties result in shared victory.

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Scoring Points

Trees

• Tree Formation:
  • 1 green token on top of 0, 1, or 2 brown tokens to create Trees of size 1, 2, or 3.
• Scoring:
  • The height of each Tree determines the points scored

Mountains

• Stack of 1, 2, or 3 gray tokens.
• Height determines points scored.
• Worth 0 points if not adjacent to another Mountain

Fields

• At least 2 contiguous yellow tokens.
• Score 5 points per Field of 2+ contiguous yellow tokens.
• Maximize scoring by creating small, separate groups.
• 4+ contiguous tokens still count as a single Field worth 5 points.

Buildings

• 1 red token on top of a brown, gray, or red token.
• Scores 5 points if surrounded by at least 3 tokens of different colors (considering only top tokens).
• Worth 0 points if this criterion is not met.

Water: Side A The River

• String of consecutive blue tokens.Length determines points scored (count tokens end to end).Score only your best river.For rivers longer than 6 tokens, score 4 points per token beyond the 6th.

Water: Side B The Island

• Blue tokens form Islands by separating spaces/groups.
• Trees: Height determines points scored.
• Rivers: Length determines points (count tokens end to end).
  • Score only best river.
  • Rivers longer than 6 tokens: 4 points per token beyond the 6th.
• Islands: 5 points per Island.

Animal Cards

• Score points indicated in the topmost space without an Animal cube.
• Card with all cubes still on it is worth 0 points.
• No penalty for incomplete cards, just fewer points.

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Playing with Nature’s Spirit Cards

• Setup:
  • Shuffle Nature’s Spirit cards and deal 2 to each player facedown.
  • On the first turn, choose 1 card to keep faceup and return the other to the box.
  • Place a Nature’s Spirit cube on the chosen card, following Animal cube placement rules.
• Game Turn:
  • Nature’s Spirit card counts towards the 4-card limit until its cube is placed on the Personal board.
• End of Game:
  • Nature’s Spirit cards are scored like Animal cards if their cube is placed on the Personal board.
  • Points for Nature’s Spirit cards are tallied at the end of the game based on Landscapes created.
  • Card rules determine points, rewarding specific Landscape combinations.
  • Points can be based on the number or groups of connected Landscapes, with isolated Landscapes considered groups of size 1.

How to Play Harmonies Solo

• Solo Play Overview:
  • Discover the game, practice, or aim to beat your high score.
• Setup:
  • Use the Central board’s Solo side with 3 spaces.
  • Place only 3 Animal cards faceup near the Central board.
• Game Turn:
  • At the end of each turn:
    • Discard the remaining 6 tokens (do not return to the Pouch) and refill the 3 spaces with 3 tokens each.
    • If no Animal card was taken, you may discard 1 Animal card from the center and replace it with a new one from the draw pile.
• Objective:
  • Earn as many suns as possible, representing your success.
  • Your score, the Personal board side used, and the chosen Nature’s Spirit influence the number of suns.
  • Aim to beat your high score in each configuration.