Components

• 16 offspring tiles
• 88 animal tiles
• 10 coin tiles
• 16 coworkers
• 30 coins
• 5 water zoo boards
• 5 delivery trucks
• 5 depot boards
• 10 small expansion boards
• 10 Large Expansion Boards
• 1 round wooden disc

Object of the Game

Each player is the owner of a water zoo. Each player tries to lure as many visitors as possible into his water zoo and earns points for the visitors that visit his zoo. To create a zoo that people want to visit, a player must collect animals.

When a player's water zoo is successful, he may want to expand it. When a player's animal basins are full, he must place additional animals into his depot, which loses him points at game end. When a player makes skillful use of his coworkers, he can gain additional points. The player with most points wins.

Setup

• • With 3 players, remove all animal and offspring tiles of two types from the game.
  • With 4 players, remove all animal and offspring tiles of one type from the game.
  • With 5 players, play with all tiles.

  Note: do not remove dolphins, orcas, and sea lions.

• Place the offspring tiles in the middle of the table. They have a circle on both the front and back. Shuffle all remaining tiles face down.

  Count out 15 tiles and place them aside in a face down stack for use at game end. Place the round wooden disc on top of this stack to mark it as the reserve.

  Build several face down stacks of any height with the remaining tiles. Players will draw tiles from these stacks during the game.

• Place as many delivery trucks in the middle of the table as there are players. Return the remaining delivery trucks, if any, to the box.

• Each player takes a water zoo board and a depot board, placing both in his play area (the space before him on the table). Additionally, each player takes 2 large and 2 small expansion boards, which he places face down in his play area.

  Return unneeded boards to the box.

• Each player takes 1 coin, placing it in his play area. Place the remaining coins on the table as a supply (the bank).

• Place the coworkers as a supply on the table.

• The players choose a starting player using the method they prefer.

Each player takes 1 coin, 1 water zoo board, 1 depot board, 2 small expansion boards, and 2 large expansion boards, placing them in his play area.

Game Play

The game is played over several rounds

On a player's turn, he must perform one of the following three actions:

1. add a tile to a delivery truck or
2. take a delivery truck, ending the round for the player or
3. carry out a money action.

Play continues in clockwise order. When all players have taken a delivery truck, the round ends and another begins.

A. Add a tile to a Delivery Truck

The player draws the top-most tile from any stack and places it face up in an empty place on any delivery truck

in the middle of the table (not any already taken by a player). That is his entire turn.

There can be at most 3 tiles on a delivery truck. If all delivery trucks in the middle of the table have 3 tiles, the play may not take this action. He must take action B or C.

Note: a player may only take tiles from the stack with the wood disc when all other stacks have been used!

B. Take a Transport Wagon, Ending the Round for the Player

The player takes any delivery truck from the middle of the table, placing it and the tiles on it in his play area.

He then, immediately, places the tiles from the delivery truck in his water zoo.

Note: the player may only take a delivery truck that has at least 1 tile on it!

After a player has taken a delivery truck, he takes no more turns in this round. He will again take turns as normal in the next round.

Any player who has taken a delivery truck in this round keeps it in his play area. This way, everyone can immediately see who has taken a delivery truck in this round.

When the player places tiles in his water zoo, he must follow these rules:

Nimal Tiles

When the player has empty space in his water zoo, he may place the animal tile on an empty space and so begin a new basin or enlarge an existing basin.

Otherwise, the player must place the animal tile in his depot. A basin consists of all neighboring tiles of the same animal type.

Each basin can have tiles of only one animal type.

• Start a new Basin

  If a player has no tiles of the animal type he is placing, he may start a new basin. In order to start a new basin, the player places the tile on an empty space in his water zoo. It must be at least 1 space away (not adjacent to tiles) from any other basin.

  Note: two tiles that touch only at their corners are not considered to be adjacent.

  Important: the player is limited in the number of basins he has in his water zoo.

  At the beginning a player may have only 3 basins. He can, thus, have at most 3 different animal types in his water zoo.

  For each large expansion board he adds to his water zoo, he can have 1 additional basin with one additional animal type. The rules for adding expansion boards are described under "C. Carry out a money action".

• Enlarge an existing basin

  If the player already has a basin with this animal type, he must place the new animal tile either horizontally or vertically adjacent to another tile of that same animal types. Thus, he enlarges the basin.

  When enlarging a basin, it must keep the rule of being at least 1 space away from all other basins. When a player enlarges a basin to 3, 6, 9, or 12 tiles, he takes in each case 1 coin as a bonus. When he enlarges a basin to 5 or 10 tiles, he takes in each case 1 coworker as a bonus.

  The coin and coworker bonuses are also explained in the paragraph "special situations".

  
  
  

  Example: Claus already has a basin with 3 dolphins and wants to begin an Orca basin. He may not put an Orca tile on the spaces marked with an "x", because each basin must have at least one space distance to another.

• Place a tile in his depot

  If the player cannot or does not want to put the tile in his water zoo, he must place it in his depot. If there is already a tile (or more) in the depot, the player places the new tile on top, making a stack in his depot.

  In a player's depot, any number of different animal types may be stacked on top of each other. The limitation for the number of different animal types does not apply to the depot.

  
  

  These tiles are not adjacent.

  
  
  

  The players may look at the tiles in all players' depots at any time.

  The order of the tiles in a player's depot may never be changed!

  Note: a player may put tiles in his depot, if he wants, even if there are empty spaces in his water zoo.

Coin Tiles

A player places coin tiles with his other coins.

A coin tile is a coin - it has no game difference from a coin.

C. Carry Out a Money Action

The player may take one of the following actions, when he pays for it. He can pay for the action with coins or coin tiles in any combination.

The following money actions are possible:

1. Move
2. Purchase or discard a tile
3. Expand the water zoo

With these actions, the placing rules must also be followed.

Note: On a turn, a player may only take one money action. Thus, in order to make extensive changes in his water zoo, a player may have to use money actions on several turns.

I. Move

A move costs 1 coin, paid from a player's supply to the bank. The player moves the top-most animal tile from his depot into his water zoo or he moves one his coworkers.

II. Purchase or Discard a Tile

For 2 coins, a player can buy a tile from a fellow player or discard the top-most tile from his depot.

• Purchase

  The player takes the top-most tile from the depot of a fellow player and places it in his own water zoo, and

  • he pays 1 coin to the fellow player and
  • he pays 1 coin to the bank.

  Note: the fellow player may not block the purchase.

• Discard

  The player discards the top-most tile from his depot. He returns it to the box. q He pays 2 coins to the bank.

III. Expand the Water Zoo

The large expansion board costs 2 coins, which the player pays to the bank. Then, the player adds a large expansion board (with 4 spaces) to his water zoo. This allows him to have 1 additional basin in his water zoo.

Thus, a player can accommodate two additional animal types in its water zoo with two large expansion boards.

Note: the player need not start the additional basin on the expansion board.

The small expansion board costs 1 coin, which the player pays to the bank. Then, the player adds a small expansion board (with 3 spaces) to his water zoo. This does not allow him to add an additional basin.

The player places the expansion board adjacent to his water zoo, either to his original board or to a previously placed expansion board. It is now part of his water zoo. He must place the expansion board so that it continues at least one row or column of his water zoo.

Note: Even if all players but one have taken delivery trucks, this player may continue to take consecutive turns until he finally takes the last delivery truck.

End of the Round

When each player has taken a delivery truck, the round ends.

The players place the empty delivery trucks in the middle of the table and start a new round with the player who last took a delivery truck starting the new round.

Special Situations

Offspring

There are 2 fertile females and 2 fertile males for each animal type - marked with the common symbols for male and female. When a fertile pair is in the same basin, they immediately produce an offspring. The player takes the appropriate offspring tile from the supply and adds it to the basin. The offspring tile counts the same as a normal tile of that animal type.

If the player cannot add the tile to the basin, he places it in his depot. A player may not choose to abstain from taking an offspring.

Note: the fertile pair need not be adjacent - just in the same basin.

Each fertile female and each fertile male can only produce offspring once. Thus, for example, no offspring is produced in the basin where a pair that already produced offspring is joined by a third fertile animal. However, if the fourth fertile animal is added to the basin, then a new offspring is produced.

Note: fertile pairs only produce in basins, never on delivery trucks or in depots.

Bonus for Enlarging a Basin

When a player enlarges a basin, he may earn a bonus:

• 

  When the player adds the third, sixth, ninth, or twelfth tile to a basin in his water zoo, he earns immediately one coin, which he takes from the bank.

  Note: a player can only have 12 tiles in a basin if he has one or more offspring there

• 

  When the player adds the fifth or tenth tile to a basin in his water zoo, he earns immediately one coworker, which he takes from the supply.

The player must use the coworker immediately in one of the four possible areas. At game end, players may earn extra points for their coworkers.

The player receives the bonus, even if he adds several tiles to a basin at the same time. When a player, for example adds the 3rd and 4th tile at the same time, he earns a coin. Had he also added a 5th tile, he would also earn a coworker.

A. Cashier

The player places the coworker on an empty checkout booth on the lower left of his water zoo. He can have at most two cashiers.

With a cashier the player earns points for the coins which he has at game end. For each coin, the player earns 1 point. If a player has 2 cashiers, he earns 2 points per coin.

Note: the player keeps the coins; he does not exchange them for the points.

B. Keeper

The player places the coworker on an empty feeding station on the lower left of his water zoo. He can have at most two keepers.

With a keeper, the player earns points for the animal tiles in his water zoo, which have a fish symbol on them at the game end. For each tile with a fish symbol, he earns 1 point. If a player has 2 keepers, he earns 2 points per tile with a fish symbol.

Note: there are fish symbols only on polar bears, penguins, turtles, crocodiles, and hippopotamuses. For each of these animal types, 6 tiles have the symbol.

C. Trainer

The player places the coworker on any empty space in his water zoo. A space with a trainer is no longer considered empty. The player may have as many trainers as he chooses.

With a trainer, the player earns points at game end for Dolphins, Orcas, and Sea lions, that are horizontally, vertically, or diagonally adjacent to the space with the trainer. For each such tile adjacent to a trainer, the player earns 1 point. If such a tile is adjacent to several trainers, the players scores points for each one.

On two each Dolphins, Orcas, and Sea Lions tiles, there is a lightning bolt. For these tiles, the player earns no points for trainers.

Example of trainer points: for the left trainer, the player earns 3 points (2 points for the two Orcas above and 1 point for the left Dolphin.

For the right trainer, the player earns 5 points (4 for the Orcas and 1 for the Dolphin).

The two Orcas above left and the Dolphin score points with both trainers. The Dolphin with the lightning bolt scores no trainer points. The male Dolphin at the bottom scores no trainer points, as he is not adjacent to either trainer.

D. Manager

The player places the coworker on the lower right of his depot board. He may have at most one manager.

At game end, the manager halves the minus points for the tiles in the depot.

Move Coworkers

If the player wants to use a cash action to move a coworker, he may move him either within an area or into another area.

He can, for example, make the manager a trainer, by moving a coworker from his depot to an empty space in his water zoo. He could also move a trainer from where he is to another empty space in his water zoo.

End of the Game

When a player draws the first tile of the stack with the wooden disc, the current round is played completely to the end. When each player has taken a delivery truck in this round, the game ends and the final scoring is perfor- med.

Note: players may only take tiles from the stack with the wooden disc when all other stacks have been used!

Scoring

Each player determines his plus and minus points for his water zoo and sums them.

• For each animal tile in the player's water zoo, he earns 1 point.
• To this each player adds his additional points for his cashiers, keepers, and trainers.
• For each different animal type in his depot, the player gets -2 points. If the player has a manager, he gets only -1 point per animal type in his depot.

The player with the most points is the winner!

If players tie with the most, the player among them with the most coins is the winner!

If there is still a tie, the tied players rejoice in their shared victory!

Rules For 2 Players

Use the previously described rules with the following changes:

• Remove the tiles for 3 animals types and their offspring from the game.
• Place 3 delivery trucks in the middle of the table. Now take any 3 of the removed tiles and use them to block some places on the delivery trucks: place one tile face down on one space of one truck and place two tiles face down on two spaces of a second truck.

Note: when a player takes a delivery truck, he takes only the face up tiles from the truck. The face down remain on the truck throughout the game.

When both players have taken a truck, the round ends and the players remove the face up tiles from the untaken truck from the game.

Tactic Hints

By stacking the tiles in the depot, a player can lose a lot of points as with the barn in Zooloretto. A player who delays the taking of a delivery truck, can usually acquire many tiles. However, the player often gets tiles he does not want in this way.

The way a player places the tiles he gets will determine how large a basin can become and how many animals will have space in it. When a player plans the use of his space well, he will be more successful than one who does not.

Each animal tile is worth only one point at game end. Therefore, coworkers are particularly important, because they can earn many additional points.

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