Zoo run is two games in one! The first, "Free the Animals" is a cooperative game for ages 4 and up. The second, "The Race of the Year" is a competitive game recommended for ages 6 and up. You can play both games, one after the other, or just play one of them. Have fun!
Components
- 40 tokens with an Animal side
- 30 cards
- 5 Animals tokens
- 1 Zookeeper token
- 10 Path tokens
- 1 double-sided game board
- Instructions
Game 1 - Free the Animals
A Cooperative game force ages 4 and up.
Object of the Game
Work together to help the animals escape the zoo before the Zookeeper comes and shuts the gate! Line up your cards so that they show whole animals to set them free!
Setup
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Place the board against the box cooperative side up, as shown in the picture.
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Place the Path tokens on the path between the house and the enclosure's gate. Check the table below to know how many path tokens to place.
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Place the Zookeeper token on the closest Path token to the house
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Place the Animal tokens in the animal enclosure. Check the table below to know how many animal tokens of each type to use.
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Shuffle the 30 cards and give 3 to each player. Everyone places their cards face up in front of them
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The leftover cards are the draw pile. Place them face down in the middle of the table.
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The Character tokens are left in the box. They won't be used in this game.
Game Play
The game is played over a series of turns until all the animals are freed or the Zookeeper reaches the enclosure.
You all play at the same time. Each turn, line up your 3 cards in whatever order you choose to form the animals. Watch out: your cards must be placed neatly, making a straight line with each other:
How do you save the animals
Once you have decided how to line up your 3 cards, take a good look at them. If you succeeded in forming whole animals, well done!
Take the right tokens for the animals you formed from the board and place them on those animals on your cards.
Hint: You can always form at least 1 animal.
Once all players have finished lining up their cards and placing their animal tokens, place those tokens in the box. Well done! You freed them!
Note: If there are no more tokens for an animal you formed, don't worry! It means that the animal is already free and you don't need to put a token on it.
The Zookeeper is getting closer
Now move the Zookeeper token to the next Path token closer to the enclosure, and put the previous Path token back into the box. If there are no more Path tokens, the Zookeeper enters the enclosure and the game is over.
If not, discard all of your cards and give 3 new ones to each player. If needed, reshuffle all of the discarded cards and add them to the draw pile. Start a new turn and keep playing until the game is over.
End of the Game
The game ends once either there are no more Animal tokens in the enclosure or when the Zookeeper enters the enclosure.
All together, count the number of animal tokens still in the enclosure:
- 0 animal: Congratulations! You won! You were so good that the Zookeeper couldn't stop you.
- 1 animal: Great job! Only one more left to free!
- 2 or 3 animals: Good work! With a little bit of practice you'll free them all next time!
- 4 or 5 animals: Not bad, but you can definitely do better!
- More than 5 animals: Oh no...Come on, let s start again and try to free them all!
Game 2 - the Race of the Year
A competitive game for ages 6 and up
Object of the Game
Now that the animals have escaped from the Zoo, cheer them on in the race of the year.
Choose an animal to be your favorite and help them cross the finish line! Line up your cards to form animals and pick up Crowns to win!
Setup
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Place the board against the box competitive side up, as shown below.
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Each player chooses a character token. this animal will be their favorite for the race. place these tokens on the start space of the racetrack.
Each player takes an animal token of the same type as their favorite and places it animal side up in front of them (to remember which animal is yours).
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Place the other tokens crown side up back in the box.
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Shuffle all 30 cards and give 4 to each player. everyone places their cards face up in front of them.
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The leftover cards are the draw pile. place them face down in the middle of the table.
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The zookeeper token is left in the box. it won't be used for this game.
Game Play
The game is played over a series of turns until one or more players have crossed the finish line.
You all play at the same time.
Each turn, line up your 4 cards in whatever order you choose to form the animals. Watch out: your cards must be placed neatly, making a straight line with each other.
When all of the players have finished lining up their 4 cards, each player moves their character on the racetrack following these rules:
A Each whole animal formed lets you move forward 1 space.
B If the animal you formed is your favorite you can move forward 2 spaces. Take one Crown token 
for each favorite animal formed.
Now keep one of your cards and discard the other 3.
Draw 3 new cards and put them in front of you so that you once again have 4 cards. If needed, reshuffle the discarded cards and add them to the draw pile. Keep playing more rounds until at least one of you has passed the finish line and put their token back into the box.
End of the Game
The first player to pass the finish line wins the game!
If multiple players pass the finish line at the same time, they compare the number of Crowns they picked up during the game.
The player with the most Crowns wins. If there is still a tie, all of the tied players share the victory.
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