Beasty Bar: Down Under

Beasty Bar: Down Under Rulebook

Table of Contents

Goal of the Game

Whoever sneaks the most animals into the bar has a good chance of winning.

Combo: Beasty Bar + Beasty Bar - New Beasts in Town + Beasty Bar - Born to Be Wild + Beasty Bar - Down Under

You can combine the animals from all Beasty Bar games however you like. Each player can freely assemble their deck of cards, using exactly one animal per strength (1-12).
If you choose the shark (Beasty Bar 4 - strength 10) for yourself, you must put your crocodile (Beasty Bar 1 - strength 10), tiger (Beasty Bar 2 - strength 10), and buffalo (Beasty Bar 3 - strength 10) back in their boxes!
Agree before the game whether you (all) want to play with or without strength 0 (Jellyfish or tasmanian devil).

Components

52 animals (13 in each of four colors)
Heaven's Gate
Bounced cards
Beasty Bar
THAT'S IT card
2x overview

Set up

Place one Heaven's Gate (front side) and one Bounced (back side) in the middle of the table. Leave enough space between them for five cards. This is the jostling area. Place the Beasty Bar next to Heaven's Gate and the THAT'S IT card next to Bounced.

Shuffle your 13 animals to form your face-down deck. Draw four cards into your hand.

Course of the Game

Play clockwise. On your turn, perform these five steps in order:

Play an animal
The new animal's action
Recurring animal actions
Five-animal check
Draw a card

1. Play an animal

Place an animal from your hand face-up on the first free spot in the jostling area, starting from Heaven's Gate. So, place it as close to Heaven's Gate as you can, but at the back of the line.

Example 1: The red player plays his octopus into the jostling area. The octopus stands at the back of the line.

2. New Animal's Action

Carry out as much of your newly-played animal's action as you can. If you are unable to do the action of the animal it stays at the back of the line.

Example 2: The octopus swaps the position of two other animals. In this case the shark and the swordfish.

3. Recurring Animal Actions

Two animals have recurring actions. The actions of the shark and hermit crab are performed again in each subsequent turn of every player if possible. Start with the animal with a recurring action that is closest to Heaven's Gate and end with the one closest to the Bounced card.

Example 3: Recurringly, the shark (strength 10) overtakes the weaker dolphin (strength 6) and then eats the weaker swordfish (strength 9). THAT'S IT for the swordfish.

Whenever there are gaps in the jostling area during the game, all animals move forward in the same order.
If you move multiple animals to the THAT'S IT card at once, you decide the order in which you place them there (face-up).

4. Five-Animal check

After carrying out all animal actions, perform the five-animal check. Are there five or more animals in the line?

Negative five-animal check: If fewer than five animals are in the line, nothing happens. Draw back up to four cards in your hand (5. Draw a card).
Positive five-animal check: If five or more animals are in the line, the two animals closest to Heaven's Gate go face down into the bar, while the animal closest to Bounced goes face up onto the THAT'S IT card. The remaining animals in the jostling area move forward towards Heaven's Gate in the same order.

Example 4: After all the animal actions, there are five animals in the jostling area. The manta ray and the shark are at Heaven's Gate and go into the bar face down. The octopus is at the very back, right at the Bounced card. THAT'S IT for the octopus.

The animals in the bar are always face down, while those on the THAT'S IT card are always face up.

5. Draw a card

End your turn by drawing back up to four cards in your hand. If your deck is empty, you do not draw any more cards.

Game End and Winner

The game ends when everyone's animals have been played. You win if your animals in the Beasty Bar are worth the most points. Ties are possible.

2 points: 11 Manta ray, 10 Shark, 4 Eel, 3 Seahorse, 0 Jellyfish
3 points: 9 Swordfish, 7 Turtle, 6 Dolphin, 5 Hermit crab
4 points: 12 Whale, 8 Octopus, 2 Pufferfish, 1 Clownfish

The Animal Cards

You have the same twelve animals as every other player. The overview sheets summarize what each animal does. Use the symbols on the animal cards as additional memory aids.

Symbols

Recurring Animal Action: Active on each turn of each player.
Permanent Animal Action: Continuously active.
Big Bouncer: Strong and dangerous.
Small Bouncer: Not strong, but still dangerous.
Doppelganger: Uses another animal's action.
Trampler: Pushes ahead forcefully.
Shield: Blocks and protects.

The Animal Actions

12: The whale ... creates gigantic waves.

The whale is a big bouncer. It places itself between any two animals in the jostling area. Then, it washes all animals to its left or right onto the THAT'S IT card. Check which side has the lower total strength. THAT'S IT for that side. If both sides have the same strength, all animals stay in the line. The whale is so gigantically huge that it doesn't care who it washes away. Shields are useless, and the whale is immune to poisons.

Example 5: The whale places itself between the manta ray and the pufferfish. THAT'S IT for the pufferfish (strength 2) and the turtle (strength 7) as together they are weaker than the manta ray (strength 10). Their permanent animal actions do not help them.

11: The manta ray ... looks for a volunteer for its magic trick.

The manta ray moves directly to Heaven's Gate and makes another animal of its color disappear. This animal goes back in your hand and can play it again in a later turn. If your manta ray makes an animal disappear, you do not draw a card at the end of this turn. If there is no animal of its color, the manta ray cannot perform its trick and simply moves to the back of the line.

Example 6: The manta ray makes the crab disappear and glides directly to Heaven's Gate.

10: The Shark ... must regularly dive.

The shark is a big bouncer. It dives under and ahead of a weaker animal in front of it. Then, it snaps at another weaker animal that's now directly in front of it. The second animal ends up on the THAT'S IT card. If the shark encounters an animal of equal or greater strength, it stops.

The shark performs its action recurringly, in every turn of every player. Each turn, it overtakes one animal and snaps at the one after that. (See Example 3)

9: The Swordfish ... duels chivalrously.

The swordfish is a big bouncer. It challenges any animal in the line to a duel. Shuffle the swordfish and the other animal face down. The challenged player picks one. This is the winner. The winner takes the contested spot. The loser ends up on the THAT'S IT card.

Example 7: The swordfish duels with the manta ray. The blue player shuffles both cards face down. The green player chooses one of them, which wins the spot at Heaven's Gate. The other card ends up face up on the THAT'S IT card.

8: The Octopus ... has its arms everywhere.

The octopus moves to the end of the line and swaps the positions of two other animals (not itself). (See Example 2)

7: The Turtle ... can see the future.

The turtle sits on a weaker animal (<7) in the line and places it in its shadow. As long as an animal is in the turtle's shadow, it does not take part in the game and "shares the fate" of the turtle. The turtle may take the animal in its shadow with it into the bar or onto the THAT'S IT card.

HOWEVER, if a manta ray makes a turtle disappear, the animal in its shadow remains in the jostling area.

The turtle predicts the next turn of a player. Draw a card from the hand of the player whose animal is in the turtle's shadow. That player must play this card on their next turn. If the turtle sits on one of your own animals, the player to your left draws a card from your hand. A second turtle does not make a new prophecy if the player's next turn has already been predicted.

Example 8: The new turtle sits on the eel (value 4) and places it in its shadow. The blue player then draws a card from the yellow player's hand. Yellow must play that card on their next turn.

The turtle is also permanently armored. Neither the turtle nor the animal in its shadow can be sent to the THAT'S IT card by big bouncers (shark and swordfish).

Example 9: The blue player has drawn the shark. The yellow player must play it on their next turn. The shark overtakes the first turtle and tries to eat the second. But due to its armor, this is not possible, so the shark stops behind it.

6: The Dolphin ... dances gracefully forward.

The dolphin alternates between overtaking larger and smaller animals. If the animal in front of it is larger (>6), it overtakes it, then a smaller one (<6), and then possibly another larger one, and so on. If the animal in front of the dolphin is smaller (<6), it overtakes it, and then a larger one ...

The Dolphin stops

between two smaller animals (<6)
between two larger animals (>6)
behind another dolphin
or directly in front of Heaven's Gate.

Example 10: The dolphin dances all the way to the front, past the small crab, the large whale, the other small crab, and the large manta ray.

5: The Hermit Crab ... moves in an even odder way.

If the number of animals in the line (including the hermit crab) is even, the hermit crab overtakes an even-value animal directly in front of it. If the number is odd, it overtakes an odd-value animal.

The hermit crab performs its action recurringly, in every turn of every player. However, it only ever overtakes one animal per turn.

Example 11: After the dolphin's dazzling performance (Example 10), it's the hermit crabs' turn to act recurringly. There are 5 animals in the line. Therefore, the crabs can each overtake one odd-value animal. The red crab crawls past the manta ray (strength 11). However, the green crab cannot move forward because the even-value whale (strength 12) blocks its path. Now, the five-animal check is positive. The two red animals go into the bar. THAT'S IT for the green crab.

4: The Eel ... slips into the smallest gap.

The eel positions itself in the smallest numerical gap between two animals, even if their values are the same. If there are multiple gaps of the same size, you can choose one.

Example 12: The gap between the clownfish (value 1) and the dolphin (value 6) is smaller than the gap between the dolphin and the whale (value 12). The eel slips into the smaller gap.

3: The Seahorse ... jumps only as high as needed.

The seahorse jumps over animals one by one, as long as the next animal in line is of equal or higher value than the one it just jumped over. It always jumps over at least one animal. If it encounters an animal smaller than the one it just jumped over, it stops jumping.

Example 13: The seahorse swims in front of the pufferfish (value 2) and the turtle (value 7). It does not overtake the dolphin (value 6) because the dolphin is weaker than the turtle.

2: The Pufferfish ... makes itself look bigger.

The pufferfish jumps over the last animal in the line and puffs itself up. Place it sideways in the jostling area. For this turn, the pufferfish counts as two animals in the five-animal check. After the five-animal check (regardless of its outcome), the pufferfish returns to its normal size.

In all other animal actions in this turn, the pufferfish counts as only one animal.

Example 14: The pufferfish overtakes the swordfish and puffs itself up. Then, the hermit crab takes its recurring action. There are 4 animals in the line, so it overtakes the even-numbered whale. Afterward, the five-animal check is positive because the pufferfish counts as two animals. The crab and whale go into the bar. THAT'S IT for the swordfish.

The pufferfish is permanently poisonous. If a big bouncer (shark or swordfish) sends the pufferfish to the THAT'S IT card, the big bouncer goes there too.

Example 15: During its recurring action, the shark eats the pufferfish. This doesn't work out well for it. THAT'S IT for both the shark and the pufferfish.

1: The Clownfish ... just loves to have fun.

When played, the clownfish swaps places with the animal closest to Heaven's Gate.

Example 16: The new clownfish swaps places with the shark at the front of the line.

During a positive five-animal check, the clownfish swaps places again: if it's at the back of the line, it swaps with the animal at Heaven's Gate. If it's at Heaven's Gate, it swaps with the animal at the back of the line. If the clownfish is neither in last or first position, it stays where it is.

If one Clownfish is at the front and another is at the back during the positive five-animal check, they do not swap places with each other.

Example 17: After the recurring actions, the line looks like this. The five-animal check is positive. Just before entry, the clownfish at the end of the line swaps places with the crab. The two clownfish go into the bar. THAT'S IT for the crab.

0: The Jellyfish ... always goes with the flow.

The jellyfish swims under the jostling area. If there is already a jellyfish there, the new one goes to the end of the line. While the jellyfish is swimming under the line, it is not counted in the five-animal check and other animals' actions do not affect it.

Example 18: The jellyfish immediately dives. Four animals remain in the line. The hermit crab cannot overtake the manta ray, and the five-animal check is negative.

If the five-animal check is positive after all animal actions, the jellyfish follows another animal of its own color. If one of its color goes into the bar, the jellyfish also goes into the bar. If none goes into the bar but one lands on the THAT'S IT card, the jellyfish lands there too. If no animal of its color is let in or bounced, the jellyfish simply moves to the end of the line.

Example 19: After a positive five-animal check, the jellyfish follows the yellow seahorse into the bar. If no yellow animal had made it into the bar, the jellyfish would have landed on the THAT'S IT card along with the yellow manta ray.

Overview Sheet

12 The Whale: Goes between two animals and divides the line into two groups. THAT'S IT for the weaker group. Ignores shields.
11 The Manta Ray: Goes directly to Heaven's Gate and makes an animal of its color disappear into your hand.
10 The Shark (RECURRING!): Overtakes the animal (< 10) in front of it. Then it eats the animal (< 10) in front of that one.
9 The Swordfish: Duels with an animal. Shuffle both duelists face-down. The challenged player chooses one, which wins the contested spot. THAT'S IT for the loser of the duel.
8 The Octopus: Swaps the positions of two other animals.
7 The Turtle (PERMANENT!): Goes on top of an animal (< 7). Both the turtle and the animal beneath it are protected from big bouncers. Choose the next animal card of the protected player.
6 The Dolphin: Jumps over animals in front of it in the pattern <6 >6 <6... or >6 <6 >6.
5 The Hermit Crab (RECURRING!): If the number of animals in the line is odd, it overtakes an animal with an odd value. If the number is even, it overtakes an animal with an even value.
4 The Eel: Squeezes into the smallest numerical gap.
3 The Seahorse: Jumps over all animals with ascending values.
2 The Pufferfish: Overtakes the next animal and makes itself wider. It takes up 2 spaces in the line this turn. Poisonous (PERMANENT!): THAT'S IT for big bouncers that throw the pufferfish out.