Sea Salt & Paper rules: how to play and how to score

Sea Salt & Paper quick rules

The goal

Every card shows an origami: crab, boat, shell, mermaid… You collect them to score points, over several rounds. The game ends at the end of the round in which a player reaches the target score: 40 points with 2 players, 35 with 3, 30 with 4. A player who lays down all four Mermaids wins immediately.

Your turn

Each round starts empty-handed, with a draw pile and two faceup discard piles. On your turn, in order: take a card (mandatory), optionally lay down pairs of duo cards for their effect, then, if your cards are worth at least 7 points, you may end the round. Otherwise, the player on your left goes.

Taking a card

Either draw the top two cards, keep one and place the other faceup on the discard pile of your choice (on the empty one, if there is one). Or take the top card of a discard pile. Nobody looks at the cards under the top of a discard pile.

The duo cards

Two Crabs, two Boats, two Fish, or a Swimmer with a Shark: each pair is worth 1 point, even in your hand, but its effect only works when laid down. Two Crabs: search a discard pile and take the card you want. Two Boats: take another full turn. Two Fish: take the top card of the draw pile. Swimmer and Shark: steal a random card from an opponent.

The other cards

Collectors (Shells, Octopuses, Penguins, Sailors) score more in numbers: a single Sailor is worth nothing, two are worth 5 points. Multipliers score per card of one type: Lighthouse 1 per Boat, Shoal of Fish 1 per Fish, Penguin Colony 2 per Penguin, Captain 3 per Sailor. A Mermaid scores 1 point per card of your most common color; a second one counts your second color, and so on.

Stop or Last Chance

With at least 7 points, hand and laid-down cards included, reveal your hand and announce Stop or Last Chance. On Stop, everyone scores their cards. On Last Chance, each opponent takes one last turn: if nobody beats you, you score your cards plus your color bonus, and the others only their color bonus; otherwise, it’s the opposite.

The end of the game

If the draw pile is empty at the end of a turn, the round stops and nobody scores. After each round, add the points to everyone’s total. The player to the left of whoever ended the round starts the next one. When a player reaches the target score, the highest total wins; on a tie, whoever scored the most in the last round.

Beginner traps

Forgetting that pairs kept in hand are worth 1 point too; counting the color bonus to reach 7 points (it doesn’t help end the round); calling Last Chance with too close a score; thinking the Lighthouse is a Boat (a multiplier never counts as the cards it multiplies).

How to score Sea Salt & Paper

Card points

Duo pairs, collectors, multipliers and Mermaids, in hand and laid down. On “Stop”: everyone. On “Last Chance”: the caller only if nobody beats them, the others only if someone beats the caller. Draw pile empty: 0 for everyone.

Color bonus

“Last Chance” only, never on “Stop”: 1 point per card of your most common color, Mermaids counted as white. The caller always scores it; the others only if nobody beat the caller.

Target score

40 points with 2 players, 35 with 3, 30 with 4: the game ends at the end of the round in which it’s reached. On a tie, the best score in the last round wins.

Worked example

Emma calls Last Chance with 9 card points and 4 blue cards. Jake ends with 7 card points and 3 green cards: he doesn’t beat her. Emma scores 9 + 4 = 13 points, Jake only his color bonus, 3 points.

Common mistakes

• Giving the color bonus on “Stop”: it only exists with “Last Chance.”
• Scoring the cards of an opponent who didn’t beat the Last Chance caller: they only score their color bonus.
• Scoring points when the draw pile runs out: the round stops and nobody scores.
• Counting a multiplier as a card of its type: the Lighthouse isn’t a Boat.

How to set up Sea Salt & Paper

Setup is quick, and no cards are dealt. Only the target score changes with the player count.