A Dog's Life Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Number of Players
• Object of the Game
• Setting up the Game
• The Icons on the Cards
• Phases of the Game
  • 1 – Moving a dog's hunger marker
  • 2 – Actions of dogs
    • Move a Space
    • Search a Trashcan
    • Drop a Bone or Newspaper
    • Collect a Bone or Newspaper
    • Bury a Bone
    • Beg for Food
    • Drink from a Fountain
    • Piddle on a Lamppost
    • Take a Newspaper from the Kiosk
    • Deliver a Newspaper
• Leaving the Pound
• Trash Day
• Variant
• Tips for Being a Good Dog

Components

• 1 game board
• 6 figures, representing 6 different dogs
• 6 Dog Description Charts (one per breed)
• 1 6-sided die
• 6 sets of 13 cards (one set per dog)
• 6 Hunger markers
• 6 Home Space cards
• 15 Search Trash Can markers
• 30 Bone markers
• 12 Newspaper markers
• 48 Piddle markers (8 of each color)
• 1 Dogcatcher's Truck
• 1 rule book

Number of Players

2 to 6 players, ages 8 and up.

Object of the Game

Find 4 bones and bury them in your home space. The first dog to arrive back home and bury the bones wins the game. For longer or shorter games, the number of bones can be increased or decreased.

Setting up the Game

Before beginning the game, each player:

1. Takes 1 dog chart at random.
2. Takes Piddle markers of the corresponding color and places them next to their dog chart.
3. Places on their dog chart: a. A Hunger marker on space 4 of the hunger indicator; and b. A Piddle marker on the first of the two Bladder spaces (the second space remains empty for now.)
4. Takes a random Home Space card and places it next to their dog chart.
5. Takes the dog figure corresponding to their chart and places it on the board in the player's home space (the same space as the card just drawn.)
6. Takes the set of 13 cards corresponding to their dog, shuffles them, and places them in a stack face-down next to their dog chart. This is that dog's personal draw pile.

The Bone markers are placed next to the board.

The Newspaper markers are mixed and placed face-down in stacks in the Newspaper Delivery section of the board.

The Dogcatcher's Truck is placed on the street space next to the Pound.

If a lady is playing, she begins the game (even dogs can behave like gentlemen now and then!) In any other case, the youngest player begins the game. Players take turns in clockwise order.

The Icons on the Cards

• Dog shuffling cards = Reshuffle your deck of dog cards.
• Unhappy looking dog = You get nothing.
• 1 piece of meat = 1 Day's worth of food.
• 1 meat, 1 fish = 2 days' worth of food.
• 1 meat, 1 fish, 1 drumstick = 3 days' worth of food.
• Bone = 1 bone found.

Escape Dogcatcher section:

• Dog's head under a net = Your dog is caught by the Dog Catcher.
• Dog jumping through net = Your dog has escaped the Dogcatcher.

Exit Pound section:

• Dog behind bars = Your dog must remain in the Pound.
• Dog walking with leash = Your dog may leave the pound.

When a card is drawn and its effects are applied, it is placed in a discard pile next to the stack.

Phases of the Game

Each player, on their turn, performs the following actions:

1. Move their dog's hunger marker one space to the left.
2. Move and perform the actions for their dog.
3. Move the Dogcatcher's Truck.

1 – Moving a dog's hunger marker

This marker indicates how recently the dog has eaten and, therefore, how healthy he is. It is moved one space to the left at the start of each turn.

If this marker is already on "0" at the start of the player's turn, the dog is starving and exhausted:

1. The dog is immediately moved to the pound (the Dogcatcher's Truck does not need to be present.) The player moves their dog to the first space in the pound. They will get a chance to leave the pound on the next turn.
2. Any Bones or Newspapers carried by the dog are left on the space where the dog was resting at the start of the turn.
3. The player's turn is over.

2 – Actions of dogs

Each dog can perform a number of actions as shown on their dog chart. Each action performed by a dog uses up one action point. A player is never required to use all of their available action points on a turn, but any action points not spent in that turn may not be carried over to future turns.

A dog may carry up to, but never more than, two objects at a time.

Move a Space

A dog can move into a space adjacent to its current space (sharing a common side, not diagonally). Each space moved costs 1 action point.

A dog may move through a space occupied by another dog or the Dogcatcher's Truck, but may never end its move in an occupied space. Two figures may never remain in the same space.

The direction a dog figure is facing is of no importance in the game.

Starting spaces, buildings, restaurants, etc. are considered spaces, and require 1 action point to enter, and another action point to leave. A dog may never enter a building except where indicated next to the building by an arrow (blue for the newspaper kiosk, green for delivery entrances, red for restaurants, and white for starting spaces.) Dogs may leave a building from a different arrow than the one used to enter. (A dog can therefore enter the newspaper kiosk from one space, and leave through another.)

A dog may never enter the pound (voluntarily anyway), nor the starting space of an opponent.

A dog may not move through a space which is occupied by an opponent's dog, or by an opponent's piddle marker.

Search a Trashcan

If the dog is in a space containing a trash can which has not been searched (is not covered with a search marker), the dog may search the trash can. Digging through the trash costs one action point.

The player takes the top card from their stack and consults the trash can section of the card.

• If the card indicates that the dog finds a bone, the player takes a bone marker and places it on an empty Carrying space on the player's dog chart. If there is not a free space, the player may not take the marker, and the result is as if the dog had found nothing.
• If the dog finds food, the dog's hunger marker is moved to the right according to how many days' worth of food was found. No dog may keep more than 4 days' worth of food, however.

The player then takes a searched trash can marker, and places it on the trash can.

Drop a Bone or Newspaper

At any time during the action phase, a dog may drop a bone or newspaper from his Carrying space onto the board. This costs one action point. The marker for the item is placed on the board in the dog's current space. A newspaper marker is always placed face-down, so that the other dogs can't see the delivery address. Newspapers may not be dropped in the newspaper kiosk space. Otherwise, there is no limit to the number of bone or newspaper markers that may be dropped in one space on the board.

Collect a Bone or Newspaper

If a dog is in a space with a bone marker, the player may pick up the bone and place it on an open Carrying space on the dog's card. This costs one action point.

If a dog is in a space with a newspaper marker, the player may pick up the newspaper marker, look at the delivery number, then place it number side down on a free Carrying space on the dog's card. This also costs one action point.

Bury a Bone

If a dog is in its starting space, and is carrying one or more bones, the bones may be buried at the cost of one action point for each bone. The bone marker from the dog is placed on top of the starting space card. A buried bone is perfectly safe, and cannot be taken by another dog, nor unearthed by its owner.

Beg for Food

If the dog is in a restaurant, it may try to beg for food at the cost of one action point. The player draws the top card from their deck, and looks at the "Restaurant" section.

• If the card indicates that the dog finds a bone, the player takes a bone marker and places it on an empty Carrying space on the player's dog chart. If there is not a free space, the player may not take the marker, and the result is treated as if the dog had found nothing.
• If the dog finds food, the dog's hunger marker is moved to the right according to how many days' worth of food was found. No dog may keep more than 4 days' worth of food, however.

A dog may not beg more than once per turn in the same restaurant.

Drink from a Fountain

If the dog is on a fountain space, it may drink by spending one action point. In this case, the dog fills its "Bladder" (the two spaces on its chart.) Each dog has only 8 piddle markers. A dog with two markers already on its chart may not drink (its bladder is already full.)

Piddle on a Lamppost

If the dog is on a space with a lamppost, it may piddle on the lamppost at the cost of one action point. The player takes a piddle marker from the dog's bladder, and places it on the lamppost space.

If there are no Piddle markers in the dog's bladder, this action is impossible.

Take a Newspaper from the Kiosk

If a dog is at the newspaper kiosk, it may bark in order to ask for a paper to deliver. It costs one action point to bark. The dog is then given a newspaper to deliver to a house. The player takes a newspaper marker at random from the appropriate section of the board. The number on the back of the marker indicates to which address to deliver the newspaper. The marker is placed on the Carrying space of the dog chart, face-down, so that the other players cannot see the address. If the dog has no Carrying spaces available, it may not ask for a newspaper.

Deliver a Newspaper

If a dog is in a space for which it has a newspaper, it can deliver the paper by spending an action point. The player flips over the marker and returns it to the "Newspaper" section of the board, mixing it in with all of the other markers. The player then flips the top card of the deck, and looks at the "Newspaper" section, in order to see what sort of reward is given (Rewards are Bones, and Food, just like searching a Trash Can.)

Attack an Opposing Dog

A dog can only attack during its own turn. If an opponent's dog is in an adjacent space to your dog, you may attack the opponent's dog and attempt to grab whatever the other dog is carrying. In order to attack, the dog spends one action point. The players involved in the fight (attacker and defender) each turn over the top card of their decks and check the section marked "Attack". The one that gets the largest number of claws is the winner of the fight. The loser moves his dog to the first space in the pound (without spending an action point.) Any items in the loser's Carrying spaces are left on the board in the space the loser occupied. If the attacker is the winner, it may move (for one action point) onto the space, and pick up (1 action point per item) any of the dropped objects. If the attacker loses, its turn is finished.

A dog in a street may attack a dog in a building and vice versa, but only through the arrows which allow entry into the building.

If the claws are equal, nothing happens. The player may attack again this turn at the cost of another action point.

Sniff a Lamppost

If a dog chooses to enter a space occupied by another dog's piddle marker, the action phase of that dog's turn ends immediately. The dog spends the rest of its action points sniffing the lamppost, and the player moves on to the third phase of their turn, "move the Dogcatcher's Truck".

On the next turn, if the dog's bladder is not empty, it may piddle on the lamppost. In this case, the opponent's piddle marker is removed from the board and given back to the opponent.

Shuffle the Deck

When a player draws the "Shuffling Dog Card", that player shuffles all 13 cards to start a new deck. The player then turns over the top card of the new deck to see the results of the action. An unlucky player may have to shuffle the deck a few times before seeing the result of an action.

3 – Move the Dogcatcher's Truck

After a player performs all of the actions for their dog, the player rolls a die to move the dogcatcher's truck. This truck is therefore moved by all of the players each turn. A player whose dog is in the pound does not get to move the truck.

The dogcatcher's truck is moved as many spaces as indicated on the die. The truck's orientation is very important. When the truck's movement is over, the arrow at the front of the truck is placed pointing away from the last space it occupied. On subsequent moves, the truck may not move into the space it last occupied, nor double back during movement. At crossroads, the truck may travel along any street except the one it just left (chosen by the player moving the truck). The truck may never enter buildings or starting spaces. The truck may either pass through or end its move on a space occupied by a dog, but a truck must always make its full movement.

Catching a dog

If the dogcatcher's truck ends its movement on a space occupied by a dog, the dog is whisked away to the pound (place it on space one of the dog pound chart). Move the dog immediately to the first space of the pound. The dog leaves behind any bones or newspapers it was carrying on its original space.

Escaping from the Dogcatcher

If the dogcatcher's truck ends its movement on a space adjacent to a dog, (whether in the street or a building), the dog must try to hide in order to escape the dogcatcher. (A building space is only adjacent to a street if there is an arrow on the street allowing entrance to a building.) The player flips over the top card of the deck, and checks the "Escape Dogcatcher" section. If it shows a sad dog in a net, the dog is captured and placed on the first space of the Pound. If it shows a dog tearing through a net, the dog hid successfully.

The effect of the dogcatcher's truck is only applied when and where the vehicle ends its movement. Nothing happens to a dog passed over by a truck. Dogs are always safe from the dogcatcher while in their starting space.

Leaving the Pound

A dog in the pound can do nothing except wait around for someone to spring it. Dogs in the pound do not go hungry; do not move the Hunger marker left at the start of the turn.

Simply turn over the top card of the deck. Check the "Exit Pound" section of the card.

• If it shows a dog running, the dog leaves the pound. The dog token is moved from the pound chart to the pound building on the board, and its Hunger marker is moved to 2 (even if it was originally higher, after all, the pound feeds dogs, but not very well.) The dog may immediately take a normal action turn.
• If it shows a dog in jail, the dog remains imprisoned, but advances the dog to the "2nd Turn" space on the Pound Track. At the start of the next turn, the dog turns over 2 cards, and leaves if either card shows a running dog. At the start of the 3rd turn, the player flips 3 cards. At the start of the 4th turn, the dog leaves the Pound automatically without turning over any cards.

Trash Day

When a player places the last Searched Trash Can marker on the board, trash day occurs. The townspeople set out new garbage. All of the Searched Trash Can markers, except for the last one placed, are removed from the board.

Variant

If time is limited, players may wish to play for a set amount of time. The player with the largest number of bones buried in their starting space when the time is up wins the game. If two players are tied, they continue their turns until one buries a bone.

Tips for Being a Good Dog

Each dog is better at some actions than others. For example, FIFI is not really into sniffing trash cans (pee-ewe!), but her good looks gives her almost guaranteed success when begging at restaurants or delivering newspapers. Butch is an eyesore, as his vicious looks will get him chased out of restaurants, but he is good at stealing the bones of other dogs. White Fang moves quickly and is a rather beautiful puppy.

Some dogs are more intelligent than others, and can avoid the Dogcatcher more easily. Vagabond smells like rotting garbage. We are not going to reveal all of the secrets of the dogs, but suggest that you look at the set of cards for your dog in detail at the start of the game. This will let you know the strengths and weaknesses of your dog. Victory is often sworn by placing yourself "in the dog's paws!"