BauSquitMiao
BauSquitMiao Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
Stickers: before playing, apply a sticker on every face of the coloured dice, so that each die has two dogs, two cats and two mice. The dice will serve as pawns, to represent the moving animals. Apply all stickers representing food, potions, the scientist and the wererat on the plastic disks. Apply the crap stickers on the backs of the food disks.
Getting ready: place the game board on the table, with the side with yellow numbers in the middle upwards. Place potion disks on their squares. Choose a colour, then take the corresponding pawn-die and the scoring pawn. Place the pawn on square "0" of the game score-course, around the game board. Taking turns, place all food tokens on the board. Food tokens cannot be placed on numbered squares or on potion squares, and cannot be placed next to other food or potion disks, not even diagonally.
Beginning a game: each player picks a position card (yellow back), casts the die to transform and puts his/her pawn-die on the corresponding PERIMETRAL square (blue number).
Transformation
Every time that a player must transform he casts the pawn-die, transforms into the animal shown on the upper face and then replaces the pawn-die on the square it was on.
How the Animals Move
Animals can move only vertically and horizontally. Dogs are the biggest and cover 5 squares per move, cats are medium-sized and cover 6 squares at a time, and mice, the smallest, cover 7 squares. It is not allowed to cover fewer squares. The same animal cannot step on the same square more than once in one move.
What the Animals Can Do
They can jump, grab, steal and bite.
Jump: jumps are only possible on a straight line; it is possible to jump over a square with a food token, a potion or an animal of equal or lesser size, but only if there is a free square to land after the jump. If two or more consecutive squares are occupied, it is possible to jump over all of them, provided that no bigger animals are in the way and that there is a free square that allows to land. The jumped squares are not considered for the move count.
Grab: if an animal jumps over a food token it likes (or a potion), the player grabs it and puts it aside. It is possible to grab more than one food token or potion in one move.
Steal: if a player jumps over a square occupied by another animal, it steals one food token it likes or a potion from the other animal.
Bite: if the animal that is being jumped over is of lesser size, the player bites it and scores one point. The scoring pawn is advanced by one step on the score-course. If the player likes something among the objects that the bitten animal has, he/she steals it immediately.
An animal cannot jump over the same square more than once in one move.
The rules sheet also prints a pictogram grid (columns Jump / Grab-Steal / Bite, one row per animal). It is a graphic of the same rules and is not reproduced here; the text rules above govern.
Game Turn
How to play: at the beginning of each turn, a turn card is picked (pink back). The animal that is to transform in that turn is shown in the middle of the card. The picture of an animal indicates that only those animals must transform; a barred animal indicates that every animal but that one must transform. The arrows around the animal indicate the order for the players to move (clockwise or counter-clockwise), and the background colour indicates who is to move first. If the colour does not correspond to any player, the first to move will be the one who was last in the previous turn. The other instructions given by the card will be maintained. If a card with a colour not corresponding to any of the players is picked on the first turn, the player on the lesser square will be the first to move. When all the animals have moved, the turn is over and a new card is picked.
In short: at the beginning of their turn, each player must check if their animal must transform, if so they perform the transformation and then move, then the turn goes to the next player, in the order indicated by the arrows.
Special Cards
Among the other turn cards are three special cards; when one of these is picked, no animal transforms, and the following rules apply.
Oddball Scientist: the crazy scientist suddenly comes back into the kitchen, sees the mess the animals are making and he summons them all to the centre of the room, tells them off severely and then, perfectly happy and satisfied, goes back to his own unpredictable experiments. When the card is picked, every player picks a position card (yellow back) and puts their animal on the corresponding CENTRAL square (yellow number). When all animals have been positioned, a new turn card is picked and the game proceeds normally.
Crap: from the oddball scientist's lab comes the boom of a sudden explosion, and a plum-smelling cloud invades the kitchen; all animals are irresistibly taken short. Every player chooses among the food tokens he/she has, and places it on a free square next to the animal (not diagonally), crap side up. Everybody knows that the crap of morphing animals is EXTREMELY SLIPPERY! When an animal happens onto some crap, it cannot jump over it, and that square is part of the move count, but it slips forward until the first obstacle (another animal, food token, potion, more crap or board side). This slide is not part of the move count. After the slide, the animal must conclude its movement by taking the remaining steps. Once the crap token has been stepped on, it must be removed from the game.
Wererat: one more explosion! The kitchen is filled with cheddar-smelling gas: something went wrong during the last experiment, and all poor little mice are turned into nasty wererats! During the next turn mice can bite any other animal. A wererat can be jumped over only by another wererat. A turn with a wererat effect can be indicated by using the plastic disk. The wererat effect vanishes at the end of the next turn. If other special cards are picked after the wererat card, their effect regularly applies, but they do not count as a turn; the wererat effect remains active.
The wererat effect also has a pictogram grid on the rules sheet (not reproduced here); the text rules above govern.
Potions
The oddball scientist has forgotten two potions in the middle of the kitchen. They can be taken or stolen, just like the food tokens. The potion can be used at the moment of transformation; the player who uses the potion does not cast the die, but chooses what animal to transform into. Once used, the potion is removed from the game.
End of the Game
The game is played in 2 sets. Each set is over when there are no more turn cards to be picked.
Scoring
At the end of each set every player receives one point for each food token he/she has. The food the animal likes (in the form it is after at the end of the set) are worth two points. The players advance their scoring pawns on the score-course. Potions at the end of a set give no points, but they can be used to transform into the desired animal. When the following set begins, the players cannot keep anything, and everything goes back on the game board.
At the beginning of each set, the player with the lowest score receives the potion card; if two or more players have the same lowest score, the potion card is not given to anyone. The potion card can be used as a potion but cannot be stolen and cannot be used for the end-of-set transformation.
Two- or Three-Player Game
In a two-player game, each player moves three animals. In a three-player game, each player moves two. Food tokens and potions are shared by the animals belonging to the same team. In any case, a player cannot jump over a bigger animal, even if it belongs to his/her team. The animal whose colour is indicated by the card moves first, then the other players move one of their animals, taking turns until all animals have been moved. If at the end of a set a player has animals in different forms, all food tokens these animals like are worth 2 points.
BauSquitMiao Race!!!
The game: even the scientist's kitchen can be transformed! Flip over the game board and you'll see the BauSquitMiao racing circuit!!! The craziest and funniest animal race in the world!
Getting ready: place the game board on the table, the side with the racing circuit upwards. Each player places his/her scoring pawn on square "0" of the score course. After deciding which side to start from (yellow or blue numbers), they start the race. Place the two potions on their squares. Taking turns, place all food tokens on the game board. Food cannot be placed on numbered squares, on the squares for potions, or next to other food or potion disks, not even diagonally. Food tokens cannot be put in a corner square, as there would not be a free square to jump over them.
How the animals move and what they can do: the animals can move only in the areas of the kitchen that define the racing circuit: they cannot step on the darker squares. Movements and actions are exactly the same as in BauSquitMiao. It is possible to cover fewer squares than the standard movement only if the way is blocked. Remember: animals always jump along a straight line, and can do it only if there is a free square that allows them to land after the jump; it is therefore possible that an animal standing in a bend can block a bigger opponent.
Bonus: unlike in BauSquitMiao, food and bites do not grant points, but bonus squares: each time an animal bites, takes or steals a food token, it IMMEDIATELY advances one extra square. If the bonus square allows the animal to bite, grab or steal again, such move is regularly performed. Potions do not grant a bonus square.
Beginning a game: each player picks a position card, transforms and puts his/her animal on the square the card indicates, in the previously selected starting side.
How to play: like BauSquitMiao, the game is played by picking turn cards.
Special cards: even in BauSquitMiao Race!!! there are special cards; they have these effects:
- Oddball scientist: the crazy scientist suddenly comes back into the kitchen and plants himself menacingly before the leading animal. During the following turn, the leading animal does not move, and no other player can overtake it (it is possible to stop at its side). Transformations are performed normally. It is possible to use the crazy scientist's disk to block the way.
- Crap: it can be placed only on the square behind the animal, if it is free.
End of the game: the race is made up of 2 heats. When the first player crosses the finish line, he/she puts his/her animal on finish square number 6, the second player on number 5 and so on. The animals that have finished the race do not transform any more. When all players have finished, the heat is over. The first receives 6 points, the second receives 5 and so on, until the last one. Such points are indicated by moving the pawn on the score course. The player (or the players) who at the end of the heat has the most food tokens receives one extra point.
In the following heat the animals run in the opposite direction, from their current square and form. The food and crap tokens that are on the course stay where they are, all the others are to be repositioned. The last player receives the potion card.
The Cracked Tile
In the Scientist's kitchen there is a cracked tile. Such tile is there for purely aesthetic reasons. Should anyone wish to invent a rule for this square, they can send their suggestions to the publisher; the funniest ideas will be published.