Poles Apart 2025

Thirteen square, double-sided animal tiles (with identical sides) are placed corner to corner on the table in a large X. The remaining animal tiles are distributed in even stacks to the players. Each tile displays four different animals, and each animal occupies half of two edges of the tile.

At the beginning of a round, a direction tile is drawn to determine in which direction the players will flip the tiles that they play that round. Players then simultaneously race to place the top tile in their stacks so that it shares a side with at least one other previously played tile. Once all tiles are placed, players flip their tiles in the prescribed direction, keeping them in the same location. Score one point for each animal in a created group of the same animals, but score zero points if a puffin winds up next to a penguin. Play additional rounds until players' stacks are depleted. High score wins.