Dance of Ibexes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• How the Game Is Played (Time for the Dance)
  • How Are Tiles Played Out?
  • Which Row Does a Tile Go In?
  • How Are Penalty Points Collected?
  • The Cowpie Spaces
  • What Else Can a Player Do During a Round?
  • The Double Spaces
  • The Happy Cow Spaces
  • The Score Track
  • Watch Out for the Oxen-Eye
• End of Game

Components

• 99 tiles, numbered 1 to 99
• 8 pawns, in eight different colors
• 8 screens, in eight different colors
• 1 game board

The game board shows an ibex space, a score track, a double space, a starting space, a dung heap space, cowpie spaces, Happy Cow spaces, and oxen-eye spaces, along with twelve rows for the tiles.

Setup

Place the game board in the center of the table. Each player chooses a pawn and the screen of the same color, and stands the screen up in front of themselves. The pawn is placed on the starting space of the score track. Unused screens and pawns are put back in the box.

All 99 tiles are turned face down, shuffled well, and placed next to the game board within easy reach of all players — this is the supply. Each player now takes six tiles from the supply and places them behind their screen, without letting the other players see the numbers. Four tiles are then turned face up one at a time from the supply and placed, in that order, on the first space of each of the first four rows of the game board (see the example diagram in the original manual).

Important: rows that have a tile on their first space are called active rows. Rows with no tile on them are not active. There are always four active rows over the course of the game.

How the Game Is Played (Time for the Dance)

The game is played in rounds. In each round, tiles are first played out. Then the tiles are placed onto the game board, and penalty points may be given out as a result. After that, a new round begins.

How Are Tiles Played Out?

All players simultaneously choose one tile from behind their screen and place it face down on the table in front of them. Only once every player has decided are the tiles revealed together. Whoever played the tile with the lowest number places their tile into one of the active rows on the game board first. Then follows the player with the second-lowest number, and so on, until the player who played the tile with the highest number. New tiles are always placed on the next free space of a row.

Which Row Does a Tile Go In?

Every played tile always fits into one specific row. The following three rules apply, in order:

Rule 1: "Ascending Number Sequence" The number of a tile placed into a row must be higher than the number of the tile that is currently last in that row.

Rule 2: "Smallest Difference" A tile must always be placed into the row whose last tile has the smallest difference to the new tile. To determine this, the last tile of each of the four active rows is compared with the new tile.

Example: Anja played "15", Bernd played "14", Conny played "3", and Dirk played "44". "3" is the lowest number, so Conny places her tile into a row first. By Rule 1, Conny can only place the "3" into the row ending in "2". Now it is Bernd's turn with the "14". By Rule 1, he could place the tile after the "3", after the "5", or after the "8". But by Rule 2, the "14" may only be placed into the row ending in "8", since that has the smallest difference. Anja then places the "15" after the "14", and finally Dirk places the "44" after the "18".

Rule 3: "Lowest Number" Whoever plays a tile whose number is lower than the last number in every active row must place it into the row with the highest last number.

Example: In the following round, Anja played the "1". Since the last tiles of the four active rows all have higher numbers ("3", "5", "15", and "44"), Rules 1 and 2 cannot be applied. By Rule 3, Anja must place the "1" after the "44".

How Are Penalty Points Collected?

Whoever places a tile on the ibex space at the end of a row — that is, whoever completes a row — must carry out the following actions, in the order given:

1. The player receives as many penalty points as shown on the ibex space, and moves their pawn forward on the score track accordingly.
2. They take the tile back off the ibex space and place it on the first space of the next free row.
3. They take all the tiles of the completed row off the game board, choose either one or two of these tiles to keep behind their screen, and place the remaining tiles face down back in the box.

Example: Bernd had to place the "63" on the ibex space marked "8". He receives eight penalty points and moves his pawn eight spaces toward the dung heap space. Bernd then places the "63" on the space directly below the "81". From the remaining tiles of the completed row ("53", "56", "59", "60", "62"), he chooses the "56" and places the other tiles face down back in the box.

The next free row can also be a row that was already active once before. Note: if the last rows of the left half of the board are active and a new row must be activated, the tile is placed on the first space of the first row of the right half of the board. The same applies to the last active rows on the right half of the board — if a new row must then be activated, the tile is placed back on the first space of the first row on the left half of the board.

The Cowpie Spaces

Whoever must place a tile on a cowpie space (within a row) receives as many penalty points as the space shows, and moves their pawn forward accordingly. No further action takes place.

What Else Can a Player Do During a Round?

A player can buy extra tiles

Before playing a tile, a player may buy 1-3 tiles from the supply. Each tile costs one penalty point, so the player's own pawn must be moved forward on the score track by one, two, or three spaces accordingly.

Note: a player may have at most nine tiles behind their screen. A purchase may not be split up (that is, buying one tile and then buying another afterward, and so on). Whoever wants to buy must say aloud how many tiles they want to buy, and then do so. Whoever decides to buy first also buys first. If several players want to buy at the same time, the player with the most penalty points on the score track goes first. Tiles may be bought as long as the played tiles have not yet been revealed.

A player receives six new tiles for free

Whoever has no tile behind their screen at the end of a round (lift the screen briefly to check) and also receives no tile because their last tile had to be placed on an ibex space, draws six new tiles face down from the supply for free and places them behind their screen. If there are not six tiles left in the supply, they receive correspondingly fewer.

The Double Spaces

When the row containing the double spaces is active and at least one double space is visible, all players must play two tiles face down at once. Placing the tiles onto the game board otherwise proceeds as described — the lowest tile first, and so on.

Whoever has only one tile left behind their screen before playing must buy at least one more tile to play two. Once every space of this row has a tile on it, except for the ibex space, players need only play a single tile again. Note: the row containing the double spaces can become active more than once during the game.

The Happy Cow Spaces

When an active row has at least one Happy Cow space visible, players receive positive points instead of penalty points. Whoever receives positive points moves their pawn backward, toward the starting space. If a pawn lands on the starting space, any surplus positive points are lost. As soon as the Happy Cow spaces in the active rows become covered by tiles, players immediately receive penalty points again.

Example: Anja played "55", Bernd played "37", Conny played "86", and Dirk played "83". Bernd must place the "37" after the "34" on the ibex space. He receives nine penalty points. He then places the "37" in the next free row, directly under the "17", takes the "20" and "23" behind his screen, and places the remaining tiles of the row back in the box. With the "37", the row containing the Happy Cows becomes active, and from now on there are positive points. Anja now places the "55" after the "37", Dirk places the "83" after the "80" on a cowpie space and receives four positive points. Conny follows with the "86" and receives five positive points for the next cowpie space.

Example: In the next round, Anja plays "70", Bernd plays "56", Conny plays "87", and Dirk plays "99". Bernd covers the second Happy Cow with the "56". As a result, there are once again penalty points from now on. Anja places the "70" after the "56". Conny must place the "87" after the "86" on the ibex space and receives seven penalty points. She then places the "87" in the next free row, directly under the "68", takes only the "78" behind her screen, and places the remaining tiles of the row back in the box. Finally, Dirk places the "99" after the "87".

The Score Track

The score track shows the state of the game. Except for the starting space, only one pawn may stand on each space. Whoever must move onto a space where another pawn already stands moves forward as many further spaces toward the dung heap space as needed until they land on a free space. This applies both when receiving penalty points and when receiving positive points.

Red receives five penalty points and would land on Green's space. Since this space is occupied, Red must move to the space in front of Blue's.

Red receives seven positive points and would land on Green's space. Since this space is occupied, Red must move to the space in front of Yellow's.

Note: these rules also apply when buying tiles. For this reason, it can sometimes make sense to buy one or two more tiles than originally intended.

Watch Out for the Oxen-Eye

There are two special oxen-eye spaces on the score track. As soon as the leading pawn (the one with the most penalty points) moves onto or past an oxen-eye space, tiles are played face up in the following round. The player with the fewest penalty points must play their tile face up first, followed by the player with the second-fewest penalty points, and so on. The player with the most penalty points — that is, the one who moved onto or past the oxen-eye space — plays their tile last. They can therefore see every number and play very deliberately. Only after that are the tiles placed onto the game board.

Special Cases at the Oxen-Eye

It can happen that the pawn furthest ahead on the track moves onto or past an oxen-eye space repeatedly, through a combination of receiving positive points and then penalty points again. In this case, an "open round" takes place every time this happens, but only when the pawn moves onto or past an oxen-eye space toward the dung heap space as a result of penalty points. If the row with the double spaces is active at the same time, two tiles must be played face up.

Buying tiles can also trigger an "open round." A player who has not yet played their tile can still buy tiles from the supply even if other players have already played face up. If several players are still on the starting space and there is therefore no defined order, those players first play their tile face down and then turn it face up at the same time as each other.

End of Game

The game ends at the end of a round in which one of the following two situations occurs:

• A player moves their pawn onto or past the dung heap space.
• There are no tiles left in the supply, and a player has no tiles left and also receives none, because their last tile did not have to be placed on an ibex space.

Exception: if the last tile was bought from the supply and other players still want to buy tiles in this round, the tiles needed are taken face down from the box. No more tiles may be bought in the next round, unless a player must play two tiles but only has one left.

The winner is whoever has the fewest penalty points on the score track — that is, whoever's pawn stands closest to the starting space. The player with the most penalty points loses. If several players move past the dung heap space in the final round, whoever moved furthest past this space is last.