Components

• 1 Game Board
• 6 owls
• 1 Sun Token
• 14 Sun Cards
• 36 Color Cards
• Rulebook

Object of the Game

The young owls have ventured out to explore the deep dark forest at night. They've had fun and now it's time to get back to the nest. Can you help them fly home safely before the sun rises?

The object of the game is for the players to work together to get all the owls back to their nest before the sun rises.

Remember: Hoot Owl Hoot is a cooperative game, meaning all players work together for one outcome-everyone wins or loses together.

Sometimes in a cooperative game a player might choose to do something that will help the next player on her next move. That's working together and it's very generous-like sharing!

Setup

There are three levels of play in this game:

Beginner Level - play with three Owls in start spaces 1,2, and 3. Intermediate Level - play with four Owls on start spaces 1,2, 3, and 4. Challenge Level - play with six Owls on start spaces 1 through 6.

In all levels of play, place the Sun Token on the sun start space. Shuffle the cards. Deal three cards to each player. Players keep their cards face up in front of them. Place the remaining cards face down as a draw pile.

You will start a discard pile next to it. The youngest player goes first and play continues clockwise.

Game Play

Since this is a cooperative game and all the players are working toward the same goal, players can move any Owl on their turn. Players should talk about their hand of cards, and, together, plan how to get the Owls home.

Each turn has three steps.

1. Play a card from your hand and then put it in the discard pile.
2. Move either an Owl or the Sun Token.
3. Draw a new card.

If you have a Sun Card in your hand, you MUST play it on your turn. When you play it, you move the Sun Token up one space on the sunrise track. Then draw a card. This is your whole turn.

If you don't have a Sun Card in your hand, you play a Color Card by moving one of the Owls to the next unoccupied space that matches the Color Card you played (always moving forward toward the nest).

For example, if you have a yellow Color Card, move any Owl from any space to the next open yellow space on the board.

If the next matching color space is occupied by another Owl, the Owl you are moving flies over that Owl to the next space of that color.

It is possible to move long distances this way, even flying over several Owls if they are on the same color that you are flying to. This is a good way to get the Owls home quickly.

For fun- say "HOOT!" each time you fly over an Owl. This is like saying "hi" to the Owls as you fly by!

An Owl flies into the nest when there are no unoccupied spaces that match the color of the card that has been played.

End of the Game

If all the Owls make it to the nest before the Sun Token reaches the end of the track (before the Sun rises), you win!

If the Sun Token reaches the last space before all the Owls are home, the Sun has risen and you lose. If this happens, move all the Owls back to the beginning and try again.

Hints

Don't let Owls fall too far behind. It's hard to catch up with the other Owls. Do play the same color multiple e times in a row.

This lets the Owls fly over other Owls and reach the nest more quickly. Do work together and talk about what moves would be best to get the Owls back to the nest.

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