Kraby

About this board game

Kraby is a 30-minute tile-sliding strategy game for 2–4 players, in which fishermen build crab groups and sell the most valuable haul.

Players compete to concentrate same-colored crabs into large connected sets. Chasing isolated crabs is rarely worthwhile, so every tile placement can reshape the board and influence which colors will score best.

• Variable setup: Use 80 or 120 tiles on a 9×9 or 11×11 board, with 10, 12, or 15 colored crab figures depending on the player count.
• Secret hands: Each player draws six crab tiles and keeps them behind a screen. Two-player games use four colors, while games with more players use five.
• Ship holds: Claim colors by placing figures in holds with ×1, ×2, or ×3 scoring multipliers.

On a turn, choose one tile and enter it from any side of the board. Slide it along a row or column until it reaches the central island or another tile, then draw a replacement tile. Moves that would slide a tile off the board or leave an impossible-to-fill space are illegal.

You may also place one colored crab figure in your ship’s hold. Each player can claim a color only once, and no two players can place that color on the same multiplier. In a four-player game, each player may claim only two figures, making each choice especially important.

When the final tile is placed and the board is filled, orthogonally adjacent crabs of the same color form groups. A group is worth from −1 to 5 points based on its size. Each player multiplies that color’s value, even when negative, by the multipliers on their ship’s holds. In Kraby, the fisherman with the highest final score wins.