Harmonies rules: how to play and how to score

Harmonies quick rules

The goal

Everyone builds a Landscape on their Personal board, with tokens in six colors: Trees, Mountains, Buildings, Fields and Water. You also settle Animals there, by recreating the Habitat shown on their card. At the end, Landscapes and Animals earn points, and the highest total wins.

A game turn

One action is mandatory: take the three tokens from a single space of the Central board and place all of them on your board. You may also take one faceup Animal card, once per turn, and place Animal cubes, as many as your cards allow, in any order. At the end of your turn, refill the empty space with three tokens from the Pouch, then refill the Animal card row.

Placing tokens

Gray tokens stack up to three high: that’s a Mountain. A green token, alone or on one or two brown tokens, forms a Tree. A red token on a gray, brown or red token forms a Building. Blue tokens (Water) and yellow tokens (Fields) stay flat. No other stacking is allowed, and nothing more goes on a space holding a cube.

The Animals

An Animal card shows a pattern to recreate. When you take it, place it above your board with a cube on each of its spaces; you may keep four cards at most. As soon as the pattern exists in your Landscape, in any orientation, place the card’s bottom cube on the token it points to, if that space has no cube. Each cube removed uncovers a higher number of points, and a placed cube never moves.

The end of the game

The game ends when the Pouch is empty as the Central board needs refilling, or when a player ends their turn with two or fewer empty spaces on their board. Finish the round, so that everyone has played the same number of turns, then tally the points.

Scoring the Landscapes

A Tree is worth 1, 3 or 7 points depending on its height. A Mountain is worth 1, 3 or 7 points for 1, 2 or 3 gray tokens, but nothing if it touches no other Mountain. Each Field, a group of at least two yellow tokens, is worth 5 points whatever its size. A Building is worth 5 points if the adjacent spaces show at least three colors, looking at the top token.

Water, Animals and the total

On Side A, only your longest River counts, measured by the shortest path: 2, 5, 8, 11 and 15 points for 2 to 6 tokens, then 4 per extra token. On Side B, each Island is worth 5 points. Each Animal card earns the highest uncovered number; a card still holding all its cubes is worth zero.

Beginner pitfalls

A big Field is worth no more than a two-token Field: make several small ones. An isolated Mountain and a brown token with no green on top earn nothing. Check the exact height of Trees and Mountains in your patterns before stacking, don’t take cards you can’t finish, and watch your neighbors’ boards: the game can end sooner than you expect.

Pulse

The Pulse expansion adds ten Animal cards, some with three-color patterns. One rule is added: besides rotating a pattern, you can mirror it. The Symmetry Reminder card shows which patterns are concerned; for base game cards, nothing changes.

Crescendo: the Sanctuaries

Crescendo offers three modules, on their own or combined. With the Sanctuaries, you may take one of three tiles and place it above your board, within your four-card limit: it allows a normally forbidden stack, once. A Completed Sanctuary, tied to two colors, can hold the final cube of an Animal card matching one of them, and earns 3 points per adjacent token of its colors.

Crescendo: the Whispers and the boards

A Whisper card is taken instead of an Animal card; its two cubes are worth 5 points if they share their space with an Animal cube, 2 points alone. On Side C, a Building is worth 8 points, but it must be surrounded by at least four colors. On Side D, a dry space becomes ordinary once it touches Water: a Tree there is worth 2, 4 or 9 points, a Field 6, and nothing on a space that stayed dry.

How to score Harmonies

Trees

1, 3 or 7 points per Tree depending on its height. A trunk with no green token is worth 0.

Mountains

1, 3 or 7 points per Mountain depending on its height, and 0 if it touches no other Mountain.

Fields

5 points per Field, a group of at least 2 yellow tokens, whatever its size.

Surrounded Buildings

5 points per Building surrounded by at least 3 different colors.

Water

Side A: your longest River, 2, 5, 8, 11 or 15 points for 2 to 6 tokens, then 4 per extra token. Side B: 5 points per Island.

Animal cards

For each card, the highest uncovered number; 0 if the card still has all its cubes.

Nature’s Spirit (variant)

Points from your Nature’s Spirit card, if its cube has been placed.

Sanctuaries (Crescendo)

For each Completed Sanctuary: 3 points per adjacent token matching either of its two colors.

Whispers (Crescendo)

5 points per Whisper cube sharing its space with an Animal or Nature’s Spirit cube, 2 points per lone Whisper cube.

Surrounded Buildings, Side C (Crescendo)

8 points per Building surrounded by at least 4 different colors. It replaces the 5-point Buildings line.

Fields, Side D (Crescendo)

6 points per Field with at least one token on an ordinary space. It replaces the 5-point Fields line.

Animal cubes placed (tie-breaker)

No points: on a tie, the most Animal cubes placed wins.

Worked example

Emma, on Side A: three Trees of height 2, 3 and 1 (3 + 7 + 1 = 11), two adjacent Mountains of 2 and 3 tokens (3 + 7 = 10), 2 Fields (10), 1 surrounded Building (5), a 5-token River (11) and two Animal cards at 6 and 9 (15): 11 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 11 + 15 = 62 points.

Common mistakes

• Scoring a big Field higher: every Field is worth 5 points, 2 tokens or 10.
• Scoring an isolated Mountain: with no other Mountain next to it, it’s worth 0.
• Adding up all your Rivers on Side A: only the longest counts, measured by the shortest path.
• Scoring every space of an Animal card: only the highest uncovered number counts.
• On Crescendo’s Sides C and D, counting a Building or a Field twice: the side’s line replaces the base line.

How to set up Harmonies

With several players, follow the first three parts, plus the expansions part if you use them; for solo, replace the steps listed in the last part. The player who last saw a magnificent landscape goes first.