Desperate Oasis Gameplay Overview
Turn Structure
- Choose ONE action: play 2 cards on your side, 1 card on your opponent's side, or 1 card face down on your side
- After playing each card, FIRST resolve any movement effects triggered (Rules of Attraction)
- THEN resolve any animal power effects
- Complete your turn by drawing back up to 4 cards
A. Play 2 Cards on Your Side
Play 2 Animal Cards face up anywhere on your side of the Oasis Row.
- Play 2 Animal Cards from your hand, face up, anywhere on your side of the Oasis Row. They can be in the same or different columns.
- A maximum of 3 cards may be played on each individual Oasis on each player's side, unless you use your Jackal powers.
B. Play 1 Card on Opponent's Side
Play 1 Animal Card face up on your opponent's side of an Oasis Card.
- Play 1 Animal Card from your hand, face up, on your opponent's side of any Oasis Card.
- If all available spaces on a player's side of the Oasis Row are full before the round ends, they must play on their opponent's side on their turn.
C. Play 1 Card Face Down
Play 1 Animal Card face down on your side of an Oasis Card.
- Play 1 Animal Card from your hand, face down, on your side of any Oasis Card.
- Powers and movement effects of face-down cards are not used until the end of the round.
- Only one face-down card MORE than your opponent is allowed at a time.
Deploy a Palm Tree
When you create a group of three of the same animal in the same column on your side of an Oasis Card, you may deploy a Palm Tree.
- Place the Palm Tree on any Oasis Card in the row, increasing that Oasis Card's value by 1 for end-of-round scoring.
- Place it on the side of the Oasis Card nearer to you, to help keep track of which is yours.
- Each player may use only ONE Palm Tree per round. Use it or lose it!
- You may move your own Palm Tree to another location if you create another line of 3 animals on a later turn, but you can never move an opponent's Palm Tree.
- Palm Trees are only positive: if one is added to a -1 value Oasis, the value changes to 0.
Key Concepts
- Placement in a Column: When playing Animal Cards, the card must be placed as close to the Oasis as possible within its column. You cannot leave an empty hole in the column.
- Rules of Attraction: Animals attract their own kind. When a card is played into a column, it pulls any same-type cards in adjacent columns into its own column (like a magnet), provided there is space.
- The pulled cards do NOT need to be directly adjacent to the card pulling them, just in an adjacent column.
- This magnetic effect occurs immediately after each card is played and is mandatory.
- Holes created from this effect are immediately filled by sliding any remaining cards in that column toward the Oasis Row.
- If cards can be pulled from multiple adjacent columns in excess of the available space, the person who played the card chooses which card will be pulled.
- Chameleons can pull other Chameleons, but are not pulled based on their mimicked animal.
- Portal Oasis Cards: Orange Oasis Cards with portal iconography allow cards to be pulled THROUGH the Oasis Row to the other side in the same column, using the same Rules of Attraction. There is no limit to the number of times animals can cross a Portal Oasis, provided there is space in the column on the other side.
- The same type of Animal Card can be pulled through the Portal Oasis and from adjacent columns on the same play.
- Special Animal Powers: Some animal cards have a special power that can improve strength at the end of each round. Don't let their cuteness fool you, these guys are absolute freaks. See the card list under Components for every animal's power.