How to Play Capulana

How to Play Capulana

Objective of the Game

Capulana is a negotiation and pattern-building game for 2 to 5 players that celebrates the traditional fabric of Mozambique. Players compete for colored strips, trade among themselves, and stitch rows to create the most valuable capulana. A capulana is a traditional Mozambican fabric used for clothing, head wraps, and more.

At the end of 4 rounds, the goal is to weave the best capulana by creating the largest sets of strips of the same color or pattern. Each player’s capulana only scores from a set, which is a sequence of at least 3 matching strips (by color or pattern), where each strip is worth 1 point.

Setup

Follow these steps to prepare the game:

1. Initial fabric: Deal one random initial fabric card (marked with "Capulana") face up in front of each player.
2. Player marker: Give each player a pair of player marker cards matching the color of their initial card.
3. Purple-stripe and black-stripe cards: Separate the cards by stripe color. Shuffle the black-stripe cards and deal 7 to each player. Then shuffle the remaining black-stripe cards with the purple-stripe cards.
4. Face-up cards: Reveal a number of cards equal to the number of players in the center of the table.
5. Objective cards: Shuffle and place 3 objective cards within reach. These provide extra points at the end of the game.

Game Flow

A game consists of 4 rounds, each with 4 phases:

1. Announcement: Reveal a number of fabric cards equal to the number of players. These will be available for auction.
2. Offer: Each player makes 2 offers in the auction. Players may offer 1 to 3 cards from their hand (face down) along with their marker. If a player has only 1 card, they may place an empty bid (offer 0).
3. Auction: Resolve bids from left to right. The highest bidder takes the announced card and the losing player’s offered cards. The losing player takes the winner’s offered cards.
4. Weaving: Players simultaneously add 0 to 2 cards to their capulana, placing them to the right of existing cards. Cards can overlap partially but must remain partially visible.

Actions and How to Play

Key Actions:

• Offer: Place 1-3 cards face down with your marker. Empty bids are allowed if you have only 1 card.
• Auction: The highest bidder wins the announced card and the opponent’s bid. The loser takes the winner’s bid.
• Weaving: Add cards to your capulana by placing them to the right. Cards can be rotated or overlapped but must not be fully covered.

Wild Cards:

• Strip 7: Wild for color (yellow) and pattern (any).
• Strip 8: Wild for color (any) and pattern (triangle).

End of Game and Scoring

The game ends after 4 rounds. Final scoring includes:

1. Count points from left to right in your capulana, first by color, then by pattern. Only sets of 3+ matching strips score (1 point per strip).
2. Add points from completed objective cards.

Tiebreakers:

• The player who offered more cards in the bid wins.
• If still tied, the player closest to the starting player wins.

Tips to Win

• Use wild cards (strips 7 and 8) strategically to complete sets of color or pattern.
• During auctions, consider that losing a bid might still give you valuable cards from the winner’s offer.
• Plan your weaving carefully to maximize visible sets and avoid uncovered raw strips.