Banjooli Xeet Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Initial Setup
• Goal of the Game and Predictions
• Course of the Game
• A. Moving an Ostrich
• B. Spelling and Unspelling
• End of the Game and Score
• Example
• Special Tiles
• Berries

Components

• 10 tiles illustrated on both sides: 1 Exit tile, 1 Finish tile, 6 Common tiles and 2 Special tiles.
• 5 Ostrich tokens illustrated on both sides: "running" and "scared". The ostrich tokens are numbered from 1 to 5 so Banjooli can be played with numerical dice too. The number 6 will be used as Joker.
• 5 Movement dice and 1 sorcery die.
• 11 Berry tokens.
• 10 Predictions.
• 1 Lion token illustrated on both sides.

Important: The players must make sure that two curve tiles are not adjacent to each other.

Note: The players can include a Special tile for advanced games, if they wish, replacing a straight common tile.

Initial Setup

1. The Exit and Finish tiles are placed on the table.
2. The tiles are shuffled thoroughly and 4 tiles are placed. Players can add 1 or 2 tiles if they wish a longer game.
3. The 5 Ostrich tokens are placed with the "running" side face up on each one of the nests in the Exit tile.
4. The Predictions are shuffled and dealt facedown to each player, who will study their sheets secretly. The undrawn Predictions are put back in the box.

The player who best imitates an ostrich will be the one who starts.

Optional Setup: If you want some chaos in the game, you can play with the berry tokens. The berry tokens are left facedown in a pile near the route. Starting with the first player and taking turns clockwise, each player draws randomly a token, without showing or looking at it, and places it facedown in any of the land spaces (where there are no quicksand, rocks or any other thing) but with a minimum of three spaces of distance from the Exit space. The remaining tokens are not used in the game and they are put back in the box without looking at them.

Goal of the Game and Predictions

Every player, to become the new sorcerer, has to show his magic power, making that the result of the race matches as much as possible with his Prediction. The 3 ostriches that must cross the finishing line and the score received by the player if he guesses right the order of arrival are shown in any Prediction. Besides, if the player achieves to guess which ostrich will be the last, the victory points will be doubled!

Course of the Game

Banjooli Xeet is played in an undetermined number of turns, until the first 3 ostriches cross the finishing line. In that moment, the game ends and the players reveal their Prediction sheets. The new shaman will be the player with more victory points.

The player will throw the six dice (the five movement dice and the sorcery die). If the player is not pleased with the outcome of any or every die he has thrown, then he can throw as much dice as he wishes one more time. The player has to choose one of the following options with the outcome:

• A. To move an ostrich, using the movement dice.
• B. To Spell/Unspell an ostrich using the sorcery die.

After choosing, the player will give the dice to the player at his left (i.e. going clockwise) and a new turn begins.

A. Moving an Ostrich

Keeping in mind the outcome of the movement dice, the player can move an ostrich as many spaces as times its color is repeated in the die roll.

For example: If the die roll is red, red, green, green, green, the player can decide to move the red ostrich two spaces or the green ostrich four spaces.

Each white die (a blank/joker face) in the movement dice can be used as a joker, and the player can, if he wishes, exchange it for any color, but keeping in mind that the joker must be combined with any other color and cannot be used by itself. Besides, if the player wants to use several jokers, he must use all of them, i.e., it is not allowed to use some of them and leave the other ones out.

1. The ostrich must move forwards, in a straight line or diagonally, never sideways or backwards.
   • An ostrich must, if possible, use all of its movement.
   • If an ostrich cannot move, the player is not able to assign any movement to it. The player must move another ostrich.
2. The rock spaces are impassable.
   • The movement cannot end in a space already occupied by another ostrich.
3. An ostrich can jump another ostrich that is in front of it, straight or diagonally, spending one movement point. Therefore an ostrich can link several jumps in the same movement. But an ostrich can never jump 2 adjacent ostriches with only one jump.
4. An ostrich that enters in a quicksand space stops its movement and is immediately "scared" (the token must be turned over to represent it).
   • Some berry tokens affect the movement.
   • In the Curve tiles there are fences between the lanes, so an ostrich cannot change lanes.

For example: If the die roll is red, white, white, white, yellow, the player can decide to move the red ostrich or the yellow ostrich, one or four spaces (depending if he wants to use the jokers or not).

Besides, if an ostrich has crossed the finishing line, its color becomes a new joker. However, at the time of deciding in a die roll with different jokers, the player has to decide which one to use, since he is not allowed to combine them.

For example: The yellow ostrich has crossed the finishing line in first place. From now on, the "yellow" in a die roll is considered a joker. So if the die roll is purple, white, green, yellow, yellow, the player can decide if he wants to apply yellow, yellow or white as a joker, but the player cannot combine both results to have 2 jokers.

The outcomes blue, yellow, red, green, purple (without using jokers) or white, white, white, white, white have a lot of magic power for the Noamomi sorcerers! And it supposes that any ostrich may move 5 spaces.

B. Spelling and Unspelling

The sorcerers of the village may use their magic power to scare the ostriches. If the outcome of the sorcery die is used, the player can Spell or Unspell the ostrich related to the result.

Spell: The ostrich token is flipped showing the "scared" face. This ostrich cannot be moved until it is unspelled in a later turn. An ostrich already spelled cannot be spelled again and you cannot spell an ostrich which is still in the Exit space or which has crossed the finishing line.

A white result in the sorcery die is used as a joker and you can choose any ostrich to be spelled. Just like in the Movement rules, if an ostrich has crossed the finishing line, the color related to that ostrich can be used as a joker in the die roll.

Unspell: The ostrich token is flipped showing the "running" face. As in the previous situation, a white result and, if applicable, a color related to an ostrich which has crossed the finishing line in the sorcery die could be used as jokers, and the player can unspell any ostrich.

End of the Game and Score

At the same time that the ostriches cross the finishing line, their tokens must be placed over the position signs. When the third ostrich crosses the finishing line, the game ends immediately. In that moment, the players reveal their Prediction Sheets and they count the points they have:

• If the player has guessed right the ostrich that has arrived first, he wins 5 points.
• If the player has guessed right the ostrich that has arrived second, he wins 4 points.
• If the player has guessed right the ostrich that has arrived third, he wins 3 points.
• If the player has guessed right the ostriches that have crossed the finishing line, but he has not guessed their positions, he/she wins 2 points for each one.
• If the player has guessed right the ostrich that is the last in the race, he doubles his score.

Note: If two ostriches have tied in the last position, the x2 multiplier is not applied to any player.

If two or more players are tied in the first position after the final score, these players can break the tie playing another Banjooli Xeet game. But if there is no time left, the tied player with more positions guessed is the winner. In the rare case that tie persists, the players share the victory. That year... The tribe will have two shamans!

Example

Noa, Milagros, Martin and Manuela are playing a Banjooli Xeet game.

1. It is Noa's turn, who throws the five movement dice and the sorcery die. She obtains the following: blue, yellow, green, green, red and green. At first, Noa does not want to spell any ostrich, but to move and, specifically, to move the yellow ostrich (which, according to her Prediction Sheet, should finish in second position). So she puts aside yellow and throws the other four movement dice, obtaining blue, yellow, purple, white. With this outcome, Noa would be able to: move the yellow ostrich, two or three spaces (thanks to yellow, yellow or yellow, yellow, white); move the purple ostrich, one or two spaces (thanks to purple or purple, white). She moves the yellow ostrich as many spaces as she can, that is, three spaces. Her turn ends and she gives the dice to Milagros.
2. Milagros throws the dice and obtains the following: blue, blue, green, green, purple and white. She is not interested in moving any ostrich, in fact, looking up her Prediction Sheet secretly, she notices that the yellow ostrich should have to finish in the last place, so she opts to spell it and, with white in the sorcery die (it is a joker), flips the yellow ostrich token. Her turn ends and she gives the dice to Martin.
3. Martin throws the dice and obtains green, green, white, white, red and yellow. It just happens that the red ostrich has crossed the finishing line, so he is able to use the color of that ostrich as a joker. However, he can only use one of the two jokers (red or white), not both. But it is not necessary to throw the dice again, since he wants that the yellow ostrich arrives second. So that the yellow ostrich advances five spaces with green, green, white, white and taking advantage of jumping the blue ostrich, arriving second.
4. It is the turn for Manuela who throws the dice and obtains the following: blue, blue, red, white, green and purple. With this outcome she could spell the purple ostrich but she could not move any ostrich because white, red and green are jokers and they cannot be used by themselves, so they are worth nothing. As she wants that the blue ostrich arrives third, she rolls again the sorcery die, obtaining white. This outcome is a joker, so she opts to unspell the blue ostrich.

Special Tiles

The special tiles show dangerous stretches to the ostriches. It is recommended to play only with one special tile, replacing one common straight tile with it. There are four special tiles:

The Crocodiles: This ditch is swarmed with crocodiles, which want a real feast for them. The ostrich must cross the ditch over the crocodiles without touching the water. It is valid to move diagonally or jump over other ostriches. If an ostrich is spelled when it is over a crocodile, he tries to bite him to have a good breakfast. The player who tried to spell the ostrich places it in any free space in the other side of the ditch, with the "running" side face up (or did you think that after fright, the ostrich was going to stop?).

The Ravine: The ostriches can cross the "Taagee" ravine (translated from wolof as: "the one which foretells death") only using the old suspension bridge over the Walangaan River ("Downpour"). The bridge occupies a thin line of three spaces, so the movement of the ostrich may be restricted.

The Lava River: Despite being inactive for years, the Xamba volcano ("Throw a log onto the fire") keeps expelling lava, and the ostriches, being famous for their speed, have to cross it quickly so their legs are not being burnt. They can pass over the lava spaces but they can only finish its movement on high ground. If an ostrich finishes its movement on a lava space it must move back to a high ground space.

The Vortex: The wise old men of the tribe have committed a big blunder and they have designed the route crossing the magic lands of the Xuulan witch. When an ostrich enters in the Vortex space, its movement is interrupted immediately and the player who has moved that ostrich rolls a die. The die roll is the ostrich that will swap its position with the ostrich that has entered the Vortex. If the die roll is a joker, the player can swap any ostrich. If the die roll is the ostrich that just entered, the ostrich leaves the vortex in the same space and it is not swapped but it is "scared", due to the magic phenomenon seen inside the vortex.

Berries

During the course of the race, the ostriches may find berry bushes that hide different effects (not always positive). When an ostrich enters a space in which the berry is, the player that has moved the ostrich picks up the berry and he must play the token immediately. If the effect of the berry does not affect the movement, the ostrich can continue moving. The berry token is discarded after applying their effects.

• Tër! ("Trap!"): The ostrich cannot continue moving, being spelled.
• Neex Peepa ("Delicious Berry"): The ostrich which has drawn the berry cannot resist taking an appetizer, so it stops its movement immediately and its turn ends.
• Oor ("Jade"): At the end of the game the player will add 2 victory points to the final score. Note: Guessing right the ostrich in the last position does not double these points.
• Jëmbat ("Foreknowledge"): The player who has drawn the token can see secretly the unrevealed berry tokens which are over the board.
• Daaaaw! ("Run!"): The ostrich that has drawn the token has two additional movement points, which are applied immediately.
• Pakaarloo ("Turn"): The game order is changed immediately. From now on, the game is played counterclockwise until the end of the game, so the next player will be who is to the right from the player who has drawn the token.
• Naangateku ("Spear"): When a player draws this token, he must give it to another player. In his turn, that player has one die roll only. After doing that, the token is discarded.
• Peepa ("Common"): This token does not give bonus or penalty.
• Dof Nooxoor ("Magic Frenzy"): When a player draws this token, he rolls again the movement dice (not the sorcery die) and applies ALL the results. He can decide how to distribute the jokers and the order in which the movements will be carried out.
• Vooortex! ("Vortex!"): Some of the magic of the mighty witch Xulaan remains hidden in the course. The player places the token in the space again and applies the effect of the Special Tile Vortex immediately. The token is discarded after using it.
• Joka ("Snake"): The ostrich which draws the berry stops its movement and the ostrich has to move two spaces back, if it is possible, at the choice of the player who has drawn the token.