Official Squatter Rules

Last Updated on February 20, 2025 by The Official Game Rules Team

In Squatter, you’re a 19th-century Australian sheep farmer, battling the harsh outback to build a successful pastoral empire. Graze sheep, manage your land, breed valuable rams, and contend with droughts, floods, and fluctuating wool prices. Outsmart your rivals, accumulate wealth, and become the most prosperous squatter in this classic Australian board game.

Objective:

The goal of The Squatter is to become the most successful sheep farmer by accumulating the most sheep and improving your property. You achieve this by strategically managing your land, breeding sheep, and navigating the unpredictable events of the Australian outback.

Components:

• Game board: Represents the sheep station with paddocks (land sections) and spaces for events and actions.
• Player boards: Track finances and sheep stock for each player.
• Sheep tokens: Represent your flock.
• Improvement tiles: Represent farm upgrades like fencing, shearing sheds, and wells.
• Irrigation tokens: Mark irrigated paddocks.
• Money tokens.
• Dice.
• Action cards (optional rule): Introduce special events or actions.

Setup:

1. Choose Your Station: Each player selects a player board and a corresponding color of sheep tokens.
2. Starting Sheep: Place a set number of sheep tokens on your designated starting paddocks on the game board.
3. Improvement Tile Draw: Draw a few improvement tiles and place them face up in a central area.
4. Money and Dice: Each player receives starting money tokens and a die.

Gameplay:

The game is played in rounds, with players taking turns in clockwise order. On your turn:

1. Roll the Dice: Roll the die to determine your movement on the action spaces around the game board.
2. Action Spaces: Landing on certain spaces triggers actions:
   • Buy Improvement Tiles: Spend money to acquire improvement tiles that enhance your pastures (e.g., shearing sheds increase wool production).
   • Sell Sheep: Sell your sheep for income. Sheep prices fluctuate throughout the game.  
   • Collect Wool: Collect wool tokens based on the number of sheep in your paddocks with shearing sheds.
   • Take a Loan (Optional Rule): Secure a loan for additional funds (but remember to pay it back with interest later).
3. Actions on Your Station: After moving around the board, you can take actions on your own player board:
   • Place Improvement Tiles: Place purchased improvement tiles on your designated paddocks.
   • Irrigation: Spend money to place irrigation tokens on your paddocks. This is crucial for long-term success.

Events and Challenges:

Throughout the game, you’ll encounter events like droughts, floods, and fluctuating wool prices, which can impact your sheep and finances. You may need to make tough decisions to mitigate these challenges.

Winning the Game:

The game ends when a player achieves a specific sheep stock goal or after a set number of rounds. The player with the most sheep, the most money, and the most developed station is declared the winner.

Key Strategies:

• Balance: Balance buying improvements, managing finances, selling sheep at opportune moments, and ensuring your pastures are irrigated.  
• Plan Ahead: Think about long-term goals and how your actions will impact your station in the future.
• Adapt: Be prepared to adapt to unexpected events and challenges.

The Squatter is a game of strategic planning, resource management, and a bit of luck. It offers a fun and engaging experience for families and board game enthusiasts.