How to play IslePals
IslePals is a first trade-and-build game for ages 6–8. You and your friends are rebuilding little Gullwick after a storm. You build cottages, gather goods, trade for what you're missing, and the first islander to build 5 cottages wins. Here's the whole game in six ideas:
- Build a cottage — Put a cottage on a corner where fields meet. Count the dots on each field — more dots means it pays more often. Every turn, when a field's dice number rolls, your cottage there collects 1 of that good.
- Roll for goods — On your turn you roll two dice and add them up. Every field with that number gives its good to the cottages touching it. Numbers near 7 have the most dots, so they pay most often. Nobody ever loses a turn.
- Trade — a fair swap — You won't always roll what you need. Ask a friend for a fair swap — give 1 good, get 1 good — and say what it's FOR (that's the Ask Rule). Or trade at the Stall: give 2 of the same good, get 1 of any other.
- Cottages need one of each — To build a new cottage you need 1 wood, 1 stone, and 1 grain — one of each! Gather them by rolling and trading. First islander to build 5 cottages has rebuilt the most of Gullwick.
- The Commons (no robber!) — If someone rolls a 7, nobody is robbed. Instead, whoever has the most shares a little with whoever has the least. Nothing is ever taken away — the island shares so no one is left short.
- Build the Bridge together — Anyone can add to the shared Bridge (1 stone + 1 grain each time). Whoever lays the last plank is the Bridge-keeper — a thank-you for helping everyone. Building it together earns a point too.
Why trading matters
Most of the time you won't roll exactly what you need — and that's the fun part. The best move is a fair swap: give a good you have plenty of for a good you're missing, so you both get closer to a cottage. Saying it out loud — "I need grain for my cottage; I'll give you wood" — is the whole idea of IslePals (the Ask Rule means even the island pals say it too).