Chicken Chase Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• Components
• Setup
• Game Play
  • Action A: Roll dice, possibly receive cards and play at most one card
  • Action B and Action C: Do not roll, but play more than one card instead
  • Other things to note
  • End of Game
• Variant

Game Objective

Each player leads two hens, which they want to bring to the top of the hill as quickly as possible. To do so, a player first places their chicks on the spaces of the feed track. In return, the player receives race cards, with which they move their hens up the hill. If other hens are in the way, they are simply pushed back down the hill. And so the flock of hens clambers and scrambles slowly but surely toward the hilltop …

The winner is the player who first has both of their hens on the target space at the same time.

Components

• 1 Hill (= the racetrack of the hens)
• 1 Punch-out sheet with the two-part feed track ("Start" and spaces 1–10), and
• 6 Blocking chips
• 8 Hens (2 each in the 4 player colours)
• 60 Chicks (15 each in the 4 player colours)
• 60 Race cards (with values from 1 to 8)
• 3 Dice

Setup

Before the very first game, carefully punch the feed track and the six blocking chips out of the punch-out sheet.

Place the hill in the middle of the table, then assemble the two-part feed track and lay it directly against the hill, matching its shapes (see the "Setup" illustration on page 1).

Sort the race cards by their four different coloured backs, then shuffle each of the four stacks and place them face down as draw stacks next to the feed track, as shown in the "Setup" illustration on page 1.

Next to each numbered space of the feed track (1 to 10), place one race card face up that matches the type of space (see the "Setup" illustration on page 1).

Each player takes the two hens and the 15 chicks of one colour. Each player places their hens on the "Start" space in front of the hill. Each player places their chicks in front of themselves.

(If fewer than 4 players are playing, the surplus hens and chicks are returned to the box.)

Each player also takes one card from each of the first two draw stacks (grey stone floor and brown earth), so that the other players cannot see them, and holds them in hand.

Finally, the blocking chips must be placed on the following spaces of the hill, depending on the number of players, where they remain for the rest of the game:

• 2 players: 6 chips, one each on spaces 4 · 5 · 8 · 10 · 13 · 14
• 3 players: 4 chips, one each on spaces 4 · 5 · 10 · 12
• 4 players: 2 chips, one each on spaces 5 · 12

Game Play

The player who can cluck best like a hen begins. After that, play proceeds clockwise until a winner is determined.

Before the starting player begins, the other players may already place some of their chicks on the first section of the feed track (spaces 1 to 4). The starting player's left-hand neighbour may place one of their chicks on any space in this section, the following player (with 3 and 4 players) two chicks, and the last player (with 4 players) three of their chicks. In doing so, it is only necessary to ensure that no player has more than one chick on the same space (see the "Setup" illustration on page 1).

Now the race can begin …

On their turn, a player carries out one of the three actions A, B or C explained below. (Action A is the most frequently used action. Actions B and C are usually only carried out towards the end of a game, but can then be very important for the outcome.)

Action A: Roll dice, possibly receive cards and play at most one card

1. Roll the dice:

If a player chooses Action A, they always roll the dice a total of three times. The first roll is made with all three dice, the second roll with only two dice, and the third roll with only one die.

After each of the three rolls, the player must decide how to use the numbers rolled (see the example on page 2). They may use the numbers individually or combine them in any possible way. For each use, they place one of their chicks on the corresponding space(s) of the feed track.

• 1st roll: The player may choose one of the following five placement options:
  1. They place one chick each on the three spaces 1, 3 and 5, or
  2. they place one chick each on the two spaces 4 (1 + 3) and 5, or
  3. they place one chick each on the two spaces 1 and 8 (3 + 5), or
  4. they place one chick each on the two spaces 3 and 6 (1 + 5), or
  5. they place one chick on space 9 (1 + 3 + 5).
• 2nd roll: The player may choose one of the following two placement options:
  1. They place one chick on space 6 (3 + 3), or
  2. they place two chicks on space 3.
• 3rd roll: The player places one chick on space 5.

2. Receive card(s):

As soon as a player places their third chick on the same space of the feed track, they take the race card lying face up next to that space into their hand. Then they remove all chicks on this space and return them to their owners. The space is therefore completely empty afterwards. Next to the space, they place a new card face up from the corresponding draw stack (see the before/after illustration on page 3).

If they are lucky, they may receive several race cards in this way during the same turn.

3. Play one card:

After a player has completed their three rolls and perhaps received one or more race cards, they may, if they wish, play any one card from their hand (including one they have just received) and move one of their two hens up the hill by exactly the number of spaces shown on the card.

If, at the end of its movement, the hen lands on another hen (either an opponent's or its own), the other hen is pushed back to the next free space below it. A hen can be pushed back as far as the Start space at most (regardless of whether other hens are standing there or not).

Important: Because a pushed-back hen is always placed on the next free space, it never pushes other hens along with it.

Action B and Action C: Do not roll, but play more than one card instead

If a player does without rolling completely in their turn (and therefore also forgoes the possibility of receiving further race cards), they may instead carry out either Action B or Action C.

Action B:

The player may play any number of their race cards, provided that their total does not exceed 8. They then move one of their two hens up the hill by exactly this total.

If, at the end of its movement, their hen lands on another hen, the other hen is pushed back as described under Action A.

Action C:

The player may play one race card for each of their two hens and move them up the hill accordingly. They decide which hen to move first. The pushing rules described under Action A of course also apply here!

Other things to note

• All played race cards are always placed on an open discard pile next to the draw stack of the same colour. When a draw stack is used up, the corresponding discard pile is shuffled and placed as a new face-down draw stack.
• Spaces with blocking chips may never be entered by hens. If a hen would land on such a space – whether moving up or being pushed down – it must be placed back on the next free space (always in the direction of the Start space!) (see the example on page 3).
• A hen does not have to land exactly on the target space (space 15); excess movement points are forfeited.
• If a player has no chicks left in their supply when they could place one on a space of the feed track, they may move any one of their chicks from the feed track onto the new space.
• If a player clears a space of the feed track during a dice roll, they may, if applicable, place new chicks on that space directly afterwards.

End of Game

Only one hen may stand on the target space (space 15) too. If a second hen moves onto it, it pushes the other hen to the next free space down, as usual.

Careful! However, a player's own hen is not pushed off the target space (and only there). On the contrary: the player who first places both of their hens on space 15 is the winner, and the game ends immediately.

Variant

For less brawling-inclined hens: the blocking chips are placed at the start of the game as follows:

• 2 players: one chip each on spaces 4 · 5 · 8 · 11 · 13
• 3 players: one chip each on spaces 4 · 5 · 12
• 4 players: no chips are placed

Of course, the blocking chips can also be distributed over the hill according to your own taste. There are numerous exciting possibilities …