You and your rivals are surfers trying to gain the most points by catching the best collection of waves by the end of the game, dodging bluebottle stings, scoring bonus points from surfboards that match the waves you catch, and by satisfying each game’s 3 unique goals.

3 incoming waves are always visible to all surfers, who select and simultaneously reveal a 1 to 5 energy card they commit to catch the wave (worth 1 to 10 points) in the breakzone closest to the beach. The highest energy card revealed wins the wave, which is collected to be scored at the end of the game. However tied energy cards will cause surfers to wipe out, giving the next highest energy card surfer the win. ‘Respect’ is the tiebreaker here, and a resource players can gain OR use to buy extra energy and surfboard (bonus point) cards from the beach when they win, or place second on each wave.

The catch is that when you win and take a wave, the energy card you used is trashed (removed from the game), weakening your remaining energy, while the second place and other surfers discard their energy cards and may regain them later. So there is some advantage in coming second and strategically gaining more respect OR buying cards from the beach…

Surfboards bought from the beach with respect add bonus victory points to some wave types, skewing the value of certain waves for some surfers as the game progresses. Temporary energy bought from the beach gives surfers an edge in later rounds. Bluebottle stingers sometimes blow into the breakzone, and players must avoid playing the lowest energy cards to escape their hidden sting (0 to -3 points on the underside of each chosen bluebottle token). Or bravely take a sting to save a playable card for the next wave! Players running low on energy can rest (pass) to gain 1 respect, and regain their previously discarded energy cards.

The ideal play is to commit just enough energy to win a wave as efficiently as possible at the right time. And then carefully choose when you take more respect (max 4), or when to the beach and what you buy.

The game end is triggered when either:

1. All 5 bluebottles have been resolved, or
2. Any player only has their zero energy card left.

The player with the most points between waves caught, matching surfboards, bluebottle stings and end game goals wins.

-description from publisher

Carcassonne: South Seas