4 First Games
4 First Games Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Bird Game
A colour-dice game for 2 to 6 children aged 3 and up.
Materials: 1 game board, 6 game pieces, 1 colour die.
Setup
Each child chooses a game piece and places it on the first white space of a path.
Playing the Game
The youngest child begins. Play then continues clockwise. The player whose turn it is rolls the colour die. If the rolled colour matches the next colour dot on the player's path, the game piece may be moved onto that space. Otherwise, the next child immediately takes a turn. White is a joker: with it, the game piece may always advance to the next colour dot. A player who has reached the last colour dot must finally roll white in order to hop into the nest.
End of the Game
The player who first reaches the nest wins.
New Cooperative Variant
The fox is trying to steal the eggs from the nest! Work together to reach the nest before the fox does, to protect the eggs from it.
Setup: Place the game board in the middle of the table. Position the additional strip with the eggs on the game board so that it covers one of the paths. Place all 6 pieces each on the first white space of a path. The orange piece is the fox: it is placed at the start of the additional strip. The other 5 pieces are played by all the children together.
Playing the Game: The youngest child begins and rolls the die. Now everyone looks together to see whether, in front of one of the 5 children's pieces, there is a colour dot in the rolled colour. If so, that piece may advance onto this colour dot. No colour dots may be skipped. If you cannot move any child's piece, the fox advances one space forward. The same happens if you roll white and no child's piece can hop into the nest.
End of the Game: The children win together if three of their pieces reach the nest ahead of the fox, each protecting one egg there. Otherwise, the fox wins as soon as it has reached the nest.
Flower Dice
A colour-dice game for 2 to 4 children aged 4 and up.
Materials: 1 game board, 20 flower pieces, 1 colour die.
Setup
Each child chooses a flower bed and sits down at the corresponding side of the table. All 20 flowers are spread out on the table.
Playing the Game
The smallest child begins and rolls the colour die. Play then continues in turn. According to the rolled colour, the child may take one flower from the table and plant it in their bed by placing the flower on a matching flower space. The next child then takes a turn. If the flower of the rolled colour is already occupied, nothing can be planted and the child must pass. The same happens when green is rolled, since there is no matching flower.
End of the Game
The first player to fill all five of their flower spaces and make them bloom wins.
Variant
If a colour is rolled that is already planted in the bed, the child does not have to pass, but may give away the corresponding flower.
New Cooperative Variant
Try together to plant all the flower beds before the green bird arrives and steals your flowers.
Setup: Lay out the game board and the flowers in the middle of the table. Place the additional strip beside the game board with its green spaces facing up. Place the green piece on the first space of the track. It is the "bird".
Playing the Game: Whoever is on turn rolls the colour die and places a flower of the matching colour on any free matching space anywhere in the flower beds. If green is rolled, no flower can be planted. Instead, the green bird moves one space forward. It also moves forward if a colour is rolled for which no free flower space remains in the garden.
End of the Game: The children win if all flower spaces are filled before the green bird reaches the garden. Otherwise, the bird wins.
Castle Game
A search game for 2 to 6 children aged 4 and up.
Materials: 1 game board, 6 game pieces, 12 picture tiles with a blue back, 1 colour die.
Setup
Each child chooses a game piece and places it on the start space. The picture tiles with the blue back are shuffled and placed face down in a stack.
Playing the Game
The child who wore a crown most recently begins and rolls the die. Play then continues in turn. The colour of the die determines up to which space the game piece may be moved. If another game piece is already on that space, it is knocked out and must return to the start space. If a piece has nearly reached the castle and there is no longer any space of the rolled colour ahead, the piece must move back to the next space of that colour.
If white is rolled, the child may draw a picture tile. Then the child looks for where the matching picture is on the game board. The child's own game piece then jumps to the space marked with the arrow. Depending on the motif, the child may move ahead faster, but may also fall back. The child may keep the picture tile drawn.
End of the Game
The child who first moves their own game piece onto the green target space in front of the castle becomes the king or queen of the castle.
Dog Game
A memory game for 2 to 4 children aged 4 and up.
You are fluffy dogs digging up wonderful things hidden in the garden. Who will find the most and remember best where they are? This fourth game was completely redesigned for this edition.
Materials: 1 game board, 24 picture tiles with a brown back, 1 colour die.
Setup
Place the game board in the middle of the table. Shuffle the 24 picture tiles with the brown back and place them as a face-down stack next to the game board. Now place one tile from the stack on each of the 9 spaces of the game board and turn all the tiles face up. During play, they are alternately covered and uncovered again.
Playing the Game
The child who last petted a dog begins the game and rolls the colour die. Play then continues in turn. The player rolling the die turns over a tile that lies on a space of the rolled colour. For blue, green, yellow and red, the player may choose between two spaces. For orange, the player must choose the middle space, and for white, the player may choose any space.
- If the tile on the chosen space is face up: before turning it over, the player says aloud what is shown on it. Remember well what lies there.
- If the tile is face down: the player first says aloud what they think is hidden underneath. Then they turn the tile over. Did they guess correctly?
- If they were right: great! The player takes the tile and places it face up on one of their 4 storage spaces. Then they place a new tile from the stack face up on the now empty space.
- If they were wrong: they show everyone the correct picture and return the tile, face down, to the space.
The next child then takes a turn.
End of the Game
The game ends when one child has filled all four of their storage spaces with tiles. That child wins the game.