Mountains out of Molehills

About this board game

Mountains out of Molehills is a light strategy game for 2–4 players, with play time of about 60 minutes. Across six rounds, rival Moles compete to build the highest Molehills and control the most Mountains.

Each round begins with players drafting action cards from a face-up market until they have a hand of four. These actions move Moles underground while adding Molehill pieces to the bottoms of the Mountains above them. The game features a two-level board and full-color acrylic standees for each Mole.

• Draft: Choose action cards from the market to build your hand.
• Plan: Secretly arrange your four cards in the order you intend to resolve them. Once set, the order cannot be changed.
• Resolve: Take turns revealing and carrying out the top card of your stack.
• Score: Gain points for the Molehills in the Mountains you control.

Careful planning is essential, since opponents can block your route, throw a Rock in your way, or make one of your best Mountains Topple, spilling its pieces onto other Mountains. A Mountain is controlled by the player whose color Molehill is on its bottom, and that player earns 1 point for every piece in the Mountain.

After scoring, players draft the turn order for the next round. The player with the most pieces on top of each Mountain starts the draft; going first provides first choice of cards, while acting last grants the final movement of the round.

After the sixth round, players total their points from all rounds. In Mountains out of Molehills, the player with the highest total becomes the “Top Tunneler.”