Components
- 9 landscape tiles
- 14 animal tiles
- 77 offspring tiles
- 5 delivery trucks
- 1 red wooden disc
- 5 zoo boards
- Instructions
Object of the Game
Each player is the director of a small zoo. Players try to fill their enclosures with animal and landscape tiles.
Points are awarded for both at the end of the game. Once the enclosures are full, excess animals must go into the barn, where they score minus points. The player with the most points wins.
Setup
- With 3 players, remove the animal and offspring tiles of two kinds of animals from the game.
- With 4 players, remove the animal and offspring tiles of one kind of animal from the game.
- With 5 players, all tiles are used.
The offspring tiles can be recognized by the circle on the reverse side. There are also circles on their front sides, around the animals. Place the offspring tiles on the table, face up, just to the side of the playing area.
Mix well all tiles with a square on the reverse side - that is, all animal and landscape tiles, - and place them in face-down piles.
Then draw 15 tiles from these piles without looking at their front sides. Place them near the offspring tiles in a face-down pile for the end of the game. Mark the pile by placing the red wooden disc on top of it.
Each player takes the three sections of his zoo board; he puts his board together and places it in front of him.
Turn the delivery trucks so that their green backgrounds are visible. Place as many delivery trucks in the middle of the table, next to one another, as there are players taking part.
Return any unused zoo boards and delivery trucks to the box. Choose a starting player.
Game Play
The game is played over several rounds.
On your turn, you have to carry out one of the two following actions:
- Add a tile to a delivery truck or
- Take a delivery truck, which ends your play for this round
The turn then passes to the next player in a clockwise direction. Once each player has taken a delivery truck, the current round ends and a new round begins.
A. Add a tile to a delivery truck
Draw a tile from a pile and place it face up on any empty box on a delivery truck of your choice.
This ends your turn.
Each delivery truck can hold a maximum of 3 tiles. Once there are 3 tiles on each delivery truck, you can no longer choose this action. In this case, you have to choose action B instead.
Important: You may only draw and reveal tiles from the pile with the red wooden disc when the other piles have been used up!
B. Take a delivery truck, which ends your play for this round
Choose a delivery truck and place it, along with any tiles on it, in front of you.
Important: The delivery truck you choose doesn't need to be full, but must contain at least one tile!
Once you have chosen a delivery truck, you are out for the rest of the current round. You don't get to play again until the next round! Since players who are out have a delivery truck in front of them, it is easy to tell who is no longer participating in the current round.
After taking a delivery truck, you immediately have to add the tiles from that truck to your zoo. You may place the tiles on any empty spaces in your zoo, either in the enclosures or in the barn, provided you follow the placement rules outlined below.
The Enclosures
Each enclosure may hold a maximum of 6 tiles.
You may have any combination of animal and landscape tiles in the same enclosure.
However, you may have animal tiles of only one kind in each enclosure. You may have the same kind of animal in more than one enclosure, though.
Note: The landscape tiles in an enclosure maybe the same or different.
If you are not able or willing to add a tile to one of your enclosures, you have to put it in your barn instead.
The Barn
Important: You may have various different types of animal and landscape tiles in your barn at the same time.
Note: If you want, you may put a tile in your barn, even if you still have room left in a matching enclosure.
End of the Round
Once each player has taken a delivery truck, the round is over.
Note: Once all players but one are out of the round, the remaining player may continue drawing tiles from a pile and adding them to delivery trucks until he finally takes the last delivery truck, thus ending the round!
Return the empty delivery trucks to the middle of the playing area. The next round begins with the last player to take a delivery truck in the previous round.
Two Special Cases
Offspring
Each kind of animal has two females and two males ready to mate - recognizable by the small symbols on the tiles.
If you add a fertile male or female to its corresponding partner in the same enclosure, the two immediately produce an offspring: Take a corresponding offspring tile from the supply and add it to the enclosure.
The offspring tile counts as another animal tile of that kind. If there are already six tiles in the enclosure, you have to put the offspring into the barn instead.
Note: Mating pairs need only to be in the same enclosure. They do not need to be situated next to each other.
Each fertile male and female may produce an offspring only once. So, for example, if a third fertile animal is added to an enclosure in which there is already a mating pair, no new offspring is produced.
Another offspring would only be produced if an appropriate partner for the third animal is added to the enclosure.
Note: Mating pairs produce offspring only in enclosures, not in the barn or on a delivery truck.
Six Tiles in the Enclosure
If, on your turn, you fill the last empty space in at least one of your enclosures, you may take one of the following bonus actions at the end of your turn:
- Take Over A Tile Or
- Discard A Tile
Note: The only thing that matters is that you have filled the enclosure's last empty space, not what you filled it with. It doesn't matter if it was a matching animal, landscape or offspring tile.
You must still follow the placement rules when carrying out bonus actions.
I. Take Over a Tile
Take a tile of your choice from an opponent's barn and add it to one of your enclosures. Your opponent cannot prevent this!
Note: You do not get a second bonus action if, by placing this taken-over tile, you fill the last empty space in an enclosure.
II. Discard a Tile
Discard a tile of your choice from your barn. The tile is taken out of the game and returned to the box.
Animal Almanac
-
The Meerkat
These animals live, in groups of 3 to 25, in an underground den measuring up to 5 meters across. When looking for food, they take turns keeping watch - but only after having eaten first!
-
The Giraffe
Their most recognizable feature is their extremely long neck which - like all mammals - consists of only seven bones, albeit very long ones. This lets them graze for fresh leaves from tree branches up to 6 meters above the ground.
-
The Impala
With a top speed of up to 90 km/h and the ability to leap over a distance of 10 meters and 3 meters high, these animals are no easy prey. They have a tremendous ability to adapt to various environments and are thus one of the most common animals found on the savannah.
-
The Llama
Although these animals have no humps and therefore can't store water, they are members of the camel family. They are very stalwart and can carry loads of up to 60 kg. If they are disturbed, they can spit with amazing accuracy.
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The Rhinoceros
Despite a height of up to 2 meters and a weight of up to 5 tons, this colossus can reach speeds of up to 45 km/h. They have very poor eyesight but instead, have excellent hearing and a well-developed sense of smell.
-
The Ostrich
When threatened, these animals lie down flat and press their head to the ground so as not to be seen. Presumably, this is the origin of the myth that ostriches stick their heads in the sand when in danger. They can last for a long time without water.
-
The Wolf
Living in family packs, their territory can expand to an area up to 3000 square kilometers. Each litter consists of 5 to 6 pups. After having been driven to near-extinction in Central and Western Europe, there are now a few packs in the area again.
End of the Game
Once the normal piles have been used up, continue playing by drawing and revealing the tiles from the pile with the red wooden disc.
As soon as the first tile from this pile is revealed, the end of the game is triggered - the current round will be the last round of the game. This round is completed as usual. In other words, the game ends only after each player has taken a delivery truck. Then the scoring takes place.
Scoring
Each player counts the plus and minus points for his zoo, summing them up to arrive at a total score.
You score points for each enclosure according to the number of animal tiles it contains:
| Animal tiles | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
Remember: Offspring tiles count as normal animal tiles.
This table can also be found on the zoo boards.
Landscape tiles, of course, do not count as animal tiles and therefore are not counted when scoring enclosures!
For each type of landscape tile you have in your enclosures, you score 2 points. What enclosure(s) the tiles are in is irrelevant.
For each kind of animal tile you have in your barn, you score 2 minus points.
For each type of landscape tile you have in your barn, you score 2 minus points.
The player with the most points is the winner. In the case of a tie, the tied player with the most landscape tiles in his enclosures is the winner. Here, the landscape tile types are irrelevant. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the win.
Rule Modifications for 2 Players
All rules of the game apply, with the following modifications:
Remove the animal and offspring tiles of three kinds of animals from the game.
Turn the delivery trucks so that their blue backgrounds are visible. Use one 1-box delivery truck, one 2-box delivery truck and one 3-box delivery truck. Place the three delivery trucks in the middle of the table, next to one another.
Once both players have taken a delivery truck, the round is over. Remove any tiles on the remaining unclaimed truck from the game.
Strategy Hints
It can be guite worthwhile to take a risk once in a while: for instance, by not yet taking a delivery truck that is attractive only to yourself and, instead, revealing another tile, in the hope of getting another profitable one.
You should try to have as few different kinds of animals in your barn as possible.
If you have to take animal tiles that you don't have room for in your enclosures, you should try to take animals of a kind that you already have in your barn.
You might also want to take animals that your opponents might be interested in. Maybe an opponent will take over the tile in a bonus action.
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