Cuckooo!
Cuckooo! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 35 sparrow cards (verébkártya)
- 12 owl cards (bagolykártya)
- 6 cuckoo tokens (kakukklapka)
- 8 magpie cards (szarkakártya)
- Gold and silver coins (arany- és ezüstérmék)
- 5 action tokens (akciózseton)
Object of the Game
Build a flock of birds whose total value is exactly 21! Or at least get as close to 21 from below as possible, but never go over it!
Each round your flock is made of one owl card and at most two sparrow cards, and may be joined by one cuckoo. If their total is exactly 21, you receive a gold coin. You can collect silver coins by making your flock's total exceed the value of the magpie card, which is revealed at the end of the round, but not exceed 21. The magpie's value alternates between 17 and 20. If you have the most valuable coin collection at the end, you win.
Preparation
- Separate the sparrow, owl and magpie cards.
- Depending on the number of players, return the surplus cards to the box:
- 4 players: remove all the 8-value sparrows.
- 3 players: remove all the 7-value and 8-value sparrows, and also the 7 and 8 owls.
- Shuffle the cuckoo tokens face down and place them in the middle of the table.
- Shuffle the owl deck and the magpie deck separately, and place them next to the cuckoo tokens as shown in the illustration.
- Place the coins next to the magpie deck.
- Each player draws two owl cards from the top of the owl deck and places them face up in front of them.
- In the first round, the dealer is the player in front of whom the owl with the lowest number is found.
The setup illustration shows: the face-up magpies area (Felfedett szarkák) with the coins beside it; the play row (Dobósor), where cards are spread out so their values remain visible; and the player's area (A játékos területe), where players start with 2 owls and may collect 2 sparrows and one cuckoo.
Note on the sparrow deck: the sparrows are shuffled and dealt in the Recruitment phase (see below). The sparrow values and colours form a pyramid. The full sparrow deck (35 cards) is:
| Colour | Values present |
|---|---|
| White | 7, 8 (2 cards) |
| Yellow | 6, 7, 8 (3 cards) |
| Orange | 5, 6, 7, 8 (4 cards) |
| Red | 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (5 cards) |
| Green | 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (6 cards) |
| Purple | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (7 cards) |
| Blue | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (8 cards) |
In words: one 1, two 2s, three 3s, four 4s, five 5s, six 6s, seven 7s and eight 8s; plus two white, three yellow, four orange, five red, six green, seven purple and eight blue sparrows.
Playing the Game
The game lasts 4 rounds, and each round has three phases: Recruitment, Army Assembly, and Settlement (Osztozkodás).
Phase I: Recruitment
The dealer turns face up as many cuckoo tokens as there are players, and arranges them in a row in order of their value.
Then shuffle the sparrow deck and deal each player 7 cards. Each player takes their cards in hand, then chooses three, places them face down, and passes them to the player on their right. When everyone is ready, all players simultaneously take the three sparrows they received.
Phase II: Army Assembly
The player who holds the highest-value dark blue sparrow card starts (with 5 players the 8, with 4 players the 7, with 3 players the 6). They place it face up in the middle, which opens the play row.
Starting from the first player and moving to the left, each player on their turn must choose one of the following actions (passing is not allowed):
- A) Add a sparrow to your army. Choose any sparrow card from those in your hand, and place it face up in front of you. This becomes your army. A player may have at most two sparrows in front of them.
- B) Place a sparrow in the play row. Lay a sparrow card in the centre so that either its colour or its value matches the most recently placed sparrow card. Cards that go into the play row are always slid so that the values of all the cards played remain visible.
- C) Add a cuckoo to your army. If you cannot place a card in the play row, you may discard all the sparrows in your hand, regardless of whether you have 0, 1 or 2 sparrows in your army. In that case you must take the highest-value cuckoo and put it into your army. Spread your discarded sparrows face up in front of you and show the others that you really have no sparrow that fits at the end of the play row. These discards go into a separate discard pile, not the play row.
When your starting hand runs out, the phase ends for you, and you must immediately assemble your army. Keep one of your two owls for your army, and place the other at the bottom of the owl deck. Your army will therefore always consist of one owl, 0, 1 or 2 sparrows, and 0 or 1 cuckoo.
Last player: The player who remains in the game last (all other players have run out of cards) performs one last action. If a card still remains in their hand, they discard it and do not receive a cuckoo as a result, then they choose the owl they keep in their army.
Example: The last card of the play row is a purple 3. Feri has no 3 and no purple card. He reveals all his sparrows from his hand and takes the highest-value cuckoo.
Zoli could also have taken the highest-value remaining cuckoo, but he chooses action A) and places a sparrow from his hand into his army. He may do so because only one sparrow lies in front of him so far.
Csilla is the last player. As her final action she places the purple 6 into her army. She may no longer place the purple 7. Because she did not perform action C), no cuckoo goes into her army.
(The example illustrations show the play row, the cards in each player's hand, and the cuckoo token taken.)
Phase III: Settlement (Osztozkodás)
Everyone reveals the sparrow cards placed in their army and works out the army total: add the sparrows, the owl and, if present, the value of the cuckoo. Those whose total is exactly 21 each receive one gold coin from the supply. Then flip over the top magpie card. Those whose army total is less than or equal to the magpie's value, or who exceed 21, receive no coins. The others share the magpie's wealth:
- 3 players: 5 silver coins;
- 4 players: 6 silver coins;
- 5 players: 7 silver coins.
Those who share the magpie's wealth receive one silver coin at a time from it, until it runs out. The order is as follows: first the players who have no cuckoo in their army. If no player has been served yet and several players have no cuckoo, the order among them is determined by the value of their owls (ascending). Then the owner of the lowest-value cuckoo is served, and so on.
Example: Four players, so 6 silver coins must be distributed. Zoli exceeded 21, so only three players receive coins: Csilla, Miki, Feri, then again Csilla, Miki, Feri. Feri's army totals exactly 21, so he also receives one gold coin from the supply.
(In the example the armies total: Zoli = 24, Feri = 21, Csilla = 20, Miki = 20; the magpie card is a 19.)
End of Round
Each player keeps the owl card in their army. The sparrow cards form a new deck, and the cuckoo tokens form a new stack.
Start of the Next Round
The player to the left of the previous round's dealer becomes the new dealer. Draw as many owl cards as there are players, choose one of them, and place it in front of you. Then the player to the left does the same, and so on for the rest of the players.
Then begin the new round's Phase I (Recruitment), and proceed through the rest of the players in turn order.
End of the Game
The game ends after the fourth round. A player who has collected four gold coins has won the game. If several players managed this, or no one did, the winner is the player with the most valuable coin collection: one gold coin is worth 1 silver coin, two gold coins are worth 3 silver coins, three gold coins are worth 5 silver coins, and then add the number of silver coins. In a tie, the winner is the player whose last army contains the owl with the lowest value.
Example: Csilla finishes with 3 gold and 7 silver. She converts the gold into silver: 3 gold is worth 5 silver, so her collection is 5 + 7 = 12 silver.
Variant for Advanced Players
Place the action tokens next to the owl deck at the start of the game. From the second round on, at the start of the round, whenever you lose a face-up owl card, take one action token as well. In each phase, whenever you return one of your owls to the bottom of the owl deck, return the action token to the pile beside the deck. The five action tokens are:
- Spying (Kémkedés): Used immediately. Lift and look at the top two cards of the magpie deck, then return them to the top of the deck in the same order.
- Owl Swap (Bagolycsere): Used immediately, before the next player chooses an owl. Choose any player (even yourself), and exchange one of their owls with any owl of another player.
- Big Hand (Nagy kéz): After the deal, choose the three cards you will pass from 10 cards. First pick up the cards you received, and only then pass the three cards to the right.
- Order (Sorrend): Return this token to the magpie pile only after the silver coins have been distributed. When the magpie's wealth is shared, you move one place forward in the order. In the example on page 3: if this token belonged to Miki, she would jump ahead of Csilla, and the settlement would run in the order Miki, Csilla, Feri, Miki, Csilla, Feri.
- Series (Sorozat): Not used in a three-player game. In the Army Assembly phase, when it is your turn and you choose action B), you may place several sparrows into the play row. Lay the sparrows one by one: under the basic rule, the colour or value of the card just placed must match the card placed last. This series of placements counts as one action, and you may use it more than once.
Example: The last card of the row is a dark blue 3. Feri first places the purple 3, then the purple 4 (same colour), then the red 4 (same value).