Salmon Run
A downloadable card game
Find your way as a salmon traversing the waters of the Pacific Northwest. Brave the waters to return to where you were born, stay adaptable to reach your destination, and enrich the land along the way.
"Salmon Run" is a two-player deckbuilding game played over three rounds, each with a different objective—take inspiration from the mighty salmon, building your deck to be adaptable. It is one of the six games contained in PNW: Card Games Inspired by the Pacific Northwest, a collection of games playable with a standard deck of cards published in a hardcover book. You can find the book at https://gameswell.shop/ or as part of our ongoing Kickstarter for two Pacific-Northwest-themed decks of playing cards, which will be printed by the U.S. Playing Card Company.
PNW: Card Games Inspired by the Pacific Northwest is a fully illustrated book of six new card games featuring modern mechanics such as deck building, drafting, worker placement, and more for fans of card games, board games, and the Pacific Northwest.
All you need is a deck of cards to hunt with a pod of orcas, forage for tasty mushrooms, brave the swift rivers of the salmon run, and more.
Created and illustrated by Pacific Northwest locals as an ode to card games and the beauty of the PNW, these six games are a great way to dive into a world of fast and fun games with a familiar set of components.
Game design by Thomas Cardwell. Illustrations by Megan Wyreweden. Photos by Megan Shinner. Editing by Kelly Walsh-Cardwell.
Download
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Development log
- Salmon Run 1.2.188 days ago
- Salmon Run 1.291 days ago
Comments
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Thanks for the fun game. I adore the theme! Like @therainystate I could use help with what seem like ambiguities in some of the rules. I'm still not sure about the instruction to "draw three cards."
On p 41, the direction is "On your turn, play all the cards in your hand, then draw three cards." Do the three newly drawn cards come from my personal deck or from the acclimation deck?
It seems like the cards need to come from acclimation deck, otherwise my personal may quickly contain fewer than three cards. Or is that a thematic feature of the game? If so, it seems frustrating for my salmon to be running out of "energy" even before they've made it to the river, much less the spawning stream. Thanks for clarification!
Hi there, thanks for trying the game! Feel free to download the newest version of the game—there are a few edits that may help clarify things.
You draw from your personal deck, and discard to your personal discard pile. When you acclimate from the center, the card you select also goes to your personal discard. Whenever you need to draw and are out of cards in your personal deck, you shuffle your personal discard pile and flip it over—it's now your deck!
So you start with three cards (2,4,7) in your deck. The first turn you play those three cards and then they go into your personal discard pile along with any cards you acclimated to in the first turn. Then, at the end of your turn, you draw three cards. You have no cards left to draw, and so you shuffle your personal discard pile, flip it over, and draw three cards. Over time you will grow your deck, but you continue to cycle through your personal deck/discard pile as you acclimate.
Let me know if you have further questions. Hope you enjoy!
Thank you for the helpful reply. I'll go back to the game now with the clarifications you've offered. Cheers!
Feedback from our first playthrough:
* The language "play all the cards in your hand" on page 41 was confusing. Does this mean you are forced to play all the cards in your hand? What if you don't have any options? Can you choose not to use a card in your hand on a turn and leave it in your hand until the next turn? Or does it mean you put all your cards down and whatever ones you can't use go straight to your discard pile? Should be clarified.
* The language "discard all cards" and "draw three cards" on page 41 is confusing because it doesn't specify where to discard to or draw from (there is also a deck and discard in the center). Maybe it could clarify from your personal deck or personal discard pile.
* We didn't understand the concept of a personal discard pile and personal deck being separate. Perhaps the diagram on page 44 could include the personal discard pile text next to the personal deck.
* In the example turn step 1 says play her hand. That makes little sense because it's not explaining what that means.
* I felt like it should be explained why diamonds add extra points. It felt like unnecessary complexity without an explanation. Also the suit bonuses should probably be recommended to be ignored on first playthrough right below the suit bonuses title because the amount of rules to learn are overwhelming. Having one less round for a new play through does nothing to reduce complexity IMO and would feel incomplete without it. Perhaps excluding jokers could also reduce complexity.
Hi there, thank you for your feedback! I've adjusted a few things in the PDF (now updated). To your points:
Thank you again for playing and providing feedback. I hope these adjustments clarify things for you and other folks in the future!
Thank you so much, I appreciate your reply and adjustments are much appreciated. I came across your book in a gift shop and it made someone very happy. Looking forward to playing the rest of the games!
I'm glad the gift made someone happy and I hope you enjoy the rest of the games. Cheers and happy new year!