Overview

Aquaretto is a set collection and tile placement game where each player owns a water zoo. Players take turns adding tiles to delivery trucks or claiming trucks to place animals in their zoo. The goal is to fill basins with matching animal types, earn bonuses, and hire coworkers for extra points while avoiding penalties from surplus animals in the depot. The player with the most points wins.

Components

• 88 animal tiles (11 each of 8 types)
• 16 offspring tiles (2 each of 8 types, marked with circles)
• 10 coin tiles
• 30 coins
• 5 water zoo boards (19 spaces each, with 2 checkout booths and 2 feeding stations)
• 5 depot boards
• 10 small expansion boards (3 spaces each)
• 10 large expansion boards (4 spaces each)
• 5 delivery trucks (3 spaces each)
• 16 coworkers
• 1 round wooden disc

Setup

1. Tile removal by player count: 3 players: remove all tiles and offspring of 2 animal types. 4 players: remove 1 type. 5 players: use all tiles. Never remove dolphins, orcas, or sea lions.
2. Place offspring tiles in the middle of the table.
3. Shuffle remaining tiles face down. Set aside 15 tiles in a face-down stack with the wooden disc on top (reserve stack).
4. Build several face-down stacks with remaining tiles.
5. Place delivery trucks equal to player count in the center.
6. Each player takes: 1 water zoo board, 1 depot board, 2 large and 2 small expansion boards (face down), and 1 coin.
7. Place remaining coins and coworkers as supply.
8. Choose a starting player.

Turn Structure

The game is played over multiple rounds. On your turn, perform exactly one action:

A. Add a tile to a delivery truck – Draw the top tile from any stack and place it face up on an empty space of any unclaimed truck (max 3 tiles per truck). Only draw from the reserve stack when all others are depleted.

B. Take a delivery truck – Take any truck with at least 1 tile. Place tiles in your water zoo following placement rules. This ends your participation in the current round.

C. Carry out a money action – Pay coins to perform one money action (see below).

When all players have taken a truck, the round ends. Return empty trucks to the center. The player who last took a truck starts the new round.

Actions

Placing Animals in the Water Zoo

Start a new basin: Place an animal tile on an empty space at least 1 space away from all other basins. Limited to 3 basins initially (+1 per large expansion board added).

Enlarge an existing basin: Place the tile horizontally or vertically adjacent to a tile of the same type, maintaining the 1-space gap to other basins.

Place in depot: If you cannot or choose not to place in the zoo, place the tile on top of the depot stack. Tiles in the depot cost points at game end.

Basin Bonuses

Basin Size Reached	Bonus
3rd tile	+1 coin
5th tile	+1 coworker
6th tile	+1 coin
9th tile	+1 coin
10th tile	+1 coworker
12th tile	+1 coin

Money Actions (one per turn)

I. Move (1 coin): Move the top animal tile from your depot into your water zoo, OR move one of your coworkers to a different position.

II. Purchase or Discard (2 coins):

• Purchase: Take the top tile from another player’s depot, place in your zoo. Pay 1 coin to that player + 1 coin to the bank.
• Discard: Remove the top tile from your depot from the game. Pay 2 coins to the bank.

III. Expand (1 or 2 coins):

• Small expansion (1 coin): Add a 3-space board adjacent to your zoo. Does NOT grant an extra basin slot.
• Large expansion (2 coins): Add a 4-space board adjacent to your zoo. Grants +1 additional basin type allowed.

Expansion boards must continue at least one row or column of the water zoo.

Coworker Placements

When you earn a coworker, place it immediately in one of four roles:

Role	Location	Effect
Cashier	Checkout booth (max 2)	+1 point per coin at game end (2 cashiers = +2/coin)
Keeper	Feeding station (max 2)	+1 point per fish-symbol tile in zoo (2 keepers = +2/tile)
Trainer	Any empty zoo space (unlimited)	+1 point per adjacent dolphin/orca/sea lion tile (not those with lightning bolt)
Manager	Depot board (max 1)	Halves depot minus points

Fish symbols appear on: polar bears, penguins, turtles, crocodiles, hippopotamuses (6 tiles each).

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Game End Trigger: When a player draws the first tile from the reserve stack (with wooden disc), finish the current round. Then perform final scoring.

Scoring:

• +1 point per animal tile in your water zoo
• +points from cashiers, keepers, and trainers
• -2 points per different animal type in depot (-1 per type if you have a manager)

Winner: Highest total points. Tiebreaker: most coins.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

Offspring: Each animal type has 2 fertile males and 2 fertile females. When a fertile pair (male + female of same type, not necessarily adjacent) exists in the same basin, immediately take the matching offspring tile and add it to the basin. If no room, place in depot. Each fertile animal can only produce offspring once. 4 fertile animals in one basin = 2 offspring total. Fertile pairs only produce in basins, never on trucks or in depots.

Coin tiles on trucks count as regular coins.

Depot order may never be changed. Players may examine any player’s depot at any time.

A player may place tiles in the depot even if zoo spaces are available.

Tiles with lightning bolts (on 2 dolphins, 2 orcas, 2 sea lions each) score NO trainer points.

No multiple basins of the same type. No mixing animal types in a basin.

2-Player Rules: Remove 3 animal types. Use 3 trucks. Block truck spaces with 3 removed tiles face-down (1 on one truck’s space, 2 on another). Face-down tiles stay permanently. When both players have taken a truck, remove face-up tiles from the untaken truck.

Player Reference

Phase	Action
A	Add 1 tile to any truck (max 3 per truck)
B	Take a truck (ends your round)
C	Pay coins for 1 money action

Scoring	Points
Animal in zoo	+1 each
Cashier bonus	+1 or +2 per coin
Keeper bonus	+1 or +2 per fish-symbol tile
Trainer bonus	+1 per adjacent show animal
Depot penalty	-2 per animal type (-1 with manager)