Bonje in de Stal
Bonje in de Stal Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
106 playing cards:
- 20 stables
- 4 stallions
- 7 mares
- 4 bulls
- 7 cows
- 5 boars
- 10 sows
- 5 rams
- 10 ewes
- 6 roosters
- 12 hens
- 3 elephants
- 2 mad cows
- 2 mad stallions
- 7 transport trucks
- 2 extra cards "special stable" (for the bonus variant)
Setup
- Each player receives 3 stables and places them side by side in front of themselves. Return the remaining stables to the box.
Note: the special stables are used only in the bonus variant.
- With 2 or 3 players, remove from the game all cards bearing this symbol (a black hat with the number 4). With 4 players, use all playing cards.
- Shuffle the deck of cards and then deal them evenly among the players. Each player places their cards in front of them as a face-down stack.
Short Game Overview
Each player tries to complete 5 stables as quickly as possible. A complete stable consists of 1 male animal and at least 1 female animal of the same kind. The players repeatedly turn over 1 card from their own stacks and then take the card that best suits their plans. Speed is essential!
Game Flow
The players repeatedly carry out the following 2 steps until a round is over:
- Turn over cards
- Take and play cards
1. Turn over cards
All players simultaneously turn over the top card of their face-down stack and place it on the table in front of their stack (so everyone can see it well). Note: a player must turn the card so that it faces away from them, so that they see the card themselves last.
2. Take and play cards
Each player must take 1 of the face-up cards as quickly as possible. The player who first puts their hand on a card may play it right away. They do not have to wait for the others.
Notes:
- Each player plays with 1 hand!
- A player who has touched a card must take it. They may not change their mind afterwards and choose another card.
- The slowest player must take the last face-up card.
- All taken cards must be played (if this is possible under the rules). If a player cannot play a card, they remove it from the game.
- A card that has been removed from the game may not be taken again (exception: the card was not allowed to be removed under the rules).
- If one or more players want to wait with playing in order to let others go first, the player with the card carrying the lowest number goes first, and so on (cards without a number count as the lowest numbers).
Example: Player A has an elephant and player B has a transport truck. Because player B could still move a played elephant, player A waits a little before playing their elephant. Player B also wants to wait. Because the elephant shows number 3 and the transport truck number 6, player A must play their elephant first. Then player B plays their transport truck.
Arranging a Stable
- A complete stable contains 1 male animal and at least 1 female animal of the same kind.
- Only animals of 1 kind may be in a stable. It is allowed to have several stables with the same kind of animal, but the first animal in the second and every following stable with the same kind must be the male of that kind.
The Different Cards
Ordinary animals
Stallions and mares, bulls and cows, boars and sows, rams and ewes, roosters and hens.
A player who takes an ordinary animal must place it in one of their own stables. They may choose either an empty stable, or a stable that already holds animals of the same kind.
Note: it is not allowed to place a female animal of a kind that the player already has in an empty stable.
If the player cannot place the animal (because all their stables contain animals of other kinds), they remove the taken card from the game.
Note: a player may not voluntarily remove a surplus male animal from the game if, under the rules, they can place it in one of their stables. Animals may not be moved from one stable to another during the game (exception: the transport truck).
Elephants
A player who takes an elephant must place it in an empty stable of another player. If none of the other players has an empty stable, the player removes the elephant from the game. A stable holding an elephant is full, but does not count as a complete stable. A player can only get rid of an elephant by means of a transport truck (see below).
Mad cows
A player who takes a mad cow must place it in the cow stable of another player (a stable holding at least 1 bull and/or cow), or the player may place the mad cow in their own stable (to resolve a brawl in that stable). If none of the other players has a cow stable, and the player does not want to place the mad cow in their own stable, the player removes the card from the game.
A mad cow infects all bulls and cows in the stable concerned. Remove all animals from that stable (including the mad cow) from the game. The stable is then immediately available for new animals.
Mad stallions
A player who takes a mad stallion must place it in the horse stable of another player (a stable holding at least 1 stallion and/or mare), or the player may place the mad stallion in their own stable (to resolve a brawl in that stable). If none of the other players has a horse stable, and the player does not want to place the mad stallion in their own stable, the player removes the card from the game.
A mad stallion kicks the stable doors to pieces, so that all stallions and mares escape. Remove all animals from that stable (including the mad stallion) from the game. The stable is then immediately available for new animals.
Transport trucks
A player who takes a transport truck may move one animal of their choice (from one of their own stables or from the stable of another player) to another stable, or remove it from the game, as long as they follow the rules (an elephant to an empty stable; ordinary animals to a stable holding animals of the same kind, or to an empty stable).
Note: transport trucks are the only way to get rid of elephants, or to place or move ordinary animals into the stables of other players.
Brawl in the stable (bonje)
If a stable holds two or more male animals, a brawl (bonje) breaks out in that stable. A player can resolve this situation only by using a transport truck, a mad stallion (horse stable) or a mad cow (cow stable). A stable with a brawl does not count as a complete stable, and the animals in it do not score points (see scoring below).
End of a Round
A round ends when:
- 1 or more players call out that their stables are complete; or
- all cards from the face-down stacks have been turned over and played.
Reminder: a stable is complete when it holds 1 male animal and at least 1 female animal of the same kind.
The player who calls first and whose stables are all complete wins the round. If several players call at the same time, the winner is the player with the most valuable stable (see scoring).
Scan note: the Dutch sentence at this page break is cut off in the scan. The wording above is restored from the French rules on the same sheet (fin de la partie), not from the Dutch text.
Note: a player wins a round only when their stables are complete at the moment they call. If another player removes a card from that player's stables with a transport truck before they call, the player is too late and does not (yet) win.
If, at the end of a round, none of the players has complete stables, the player with the most valuable stables wins the round. Use the following scoring:
Scoring
| Animals | Points |
|---|---|
| Brawl in the stable (bonje) | no points for the animals in this stable |
| Per stallion/mare | 4 points |
| Per bull/cow | 3 points |
| Per boar/sow | 2 points |
| Per ram/ewe | 2 points |
| Per rooster/hen | 1 point |
| Per elephant | 0 points |
| Per couple (extra) | 2 points extra (1 male and 1 female of the same kind in 1 stable without a brawl) |
The winner of a round receives an extra stable from the box. If there are several winners, each of them receives a stable.
End of the Game
The player who first wins a round with 5 stables wins the game.
Bonus Variant
The first player who earns a 5th stable chooses a special stable (instead of an ordinary one). The same applies to the second player, but they automatically receive the other special stable. This special stable is complete only when the animals in it are of the kind shown in its illustration. When determining the value of this stable, only animals of the kind concerned count.
Short Game Variant
It is also possible to play the game in a single round.
End of rulebook text. The publisher's credits block (© 999 Games b.v., publisher and distributor details, authors and illustrators, editorial credits) is intentionally not transcribed.