Dice's Zoo Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Rules of Play
• Animal Effects
• Animal Sizes
• Special Rules
• End of Game
• Scoring

Components

• 50 animal dice
• 1 bag
• Rules

Setup

1. Put all 50 animal dice into the bag and mix them. Each player draws 12 dice from the bag (with 5 players, each draws 10 dice).
2. Players re-roll all of the dice they drew and place them face up in front of them. Note: during the game, dice can change their values.
3. The player who looks most like an earthworm starts the game.

Rules of Play

Play passes clockwise. The winner is the first player to get rid of all of their dice.

On your turn you may perform one of the following actions:

1. If there are no animals (dice) in the center of the table, you may play any number of dice of one animal type. These animals stay in the center of the table as the free animals.

2. If there are free animals in the center of the table, you may play animals of a larger type than those laid out. The number of animals you play must equal the number lying in the center. Your played animals replace the ones lying there, and the replaced ones are discarded.

   Example: If one bear die is lying in the center, you may play one elephant. If two boars are lying there, you may play two bears or two elephants.

3. If there are free animals in the center, you may play the same animals, but in a greater number. The animals lying there are discarded.

   Example: If one elephant die is lying in the center, you may play two or more elephant dice. If three earthworms are lying there, you may play four or more earthworms.

   Note: you decide how many animals to play yourself, provided you play more than are lying in the center.

4. If you do not want or cannot play animals, you may re-roll any number of your dice. After the re-roll, the turn passes to the next player.

   Note: even if there are no animals in the center, you may still choose this action!

Animal Effects

Each time you play animals into the center, an effect is triggered depending on the type of animal played.

Name	Symbol	Action
Elephant	(symbol)	Nothing happens.
Bear	(symbol)	Re-roll one die (your own or another player's).
Boar	(symbol)	Exchange one of your dice for one of another player's dice.
Fox	(symbol)	Remove (set aside in the discard) one of your own or another player's dice.
Squirrel	(symbol)	Choose a player. That player draws one die from the bag, rolls it, and adds it to their own dice.
Earthworm	(symbol)	Give one of your dice to another player.
Trap	(symbol)	This die cannot be played.
X2

Animal Sizes

Elephant > Bear > Boar > Fox > Squirrel > Earthworm

Special Rules

1. Animals in the center of the table change during the game. All replaced animals are placed in the discard, to the side. They do not return to the player and do not return to the bag.
2. Each time a player draws a die from the bag, they must re-roll it and add it to their other dice. When there are no dice left in the bag, all the dice from the discard are placed into the bag.
3. If, at the start of a player's turn, the dice lying in the center are the ones that player laid out on their previous turn, remove the dice lying in the center to the discard and continue the turn as if there had been no dice in the center.

End of Game

When a player has no dice left, the game ends and scoring is carried out according to the table:

Name	Elephant	Bear	Boar	Fox	Squirrel	Earthworm	Trap	X2
Penalty points	-6	-5	-4	-3	-2	-1	0	-7

Scoring

Each die still in a player's possession scores penalty points according to the table above. The fewer penalty points, the better.

If you want to play more than one round, you may agree on a penalty-point limit that ends the game. In that case, the player with the fewest penalty points wins.

If several players are claiming victory, play new rounds until only one player is the winner.