Elephant Ball Balancing Act
Elephant Ball Balancing Act Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
In this game, you score points by winning as many mini-games titled "Ball Riding" as possible. It is also important to use up all the cards in your hand faster than the other players in order to reduce the number of points lost. A round is called a round until someone runs out of cards in their hand; the elephant with the highest total score after five rounds of play is today's superstar!
*It can go much faster, though.
Content
- Ball Riders: 55 cards
- Clown cards: 3
- Score cards: 5
- Acrobat cards: 4
- Summary cards: 5
- Score counters: 10
- Acrobatic chips: 20
- Instruction manuals: 2
The component list is printed in a jumbled layout ("Score counters: 10 cards", "10 Score counters: 20", "20 Acrobat Chips: 2 instruction manuals"). The quantities above are read as 10 score counters, 20 acrobatic chips and 2 instruction manuals.
Set Up
Preparing Score Cards: Each player takes the score counter and 2 score cards of that color and also takes a summary card. Place the five score cards in the center of the table as shown. Place one score counter for each player in the 0 square of the score card, stacked on top of the others. The other card is kept on hand as a reminder of what color you are. It is not used for the game.
Acrobatic Card Preparation: Place the four acrobat cards in the same place as shown in the diagram. Place all 20 acrobatic chips next to them. Dealer is within his/her reach and as visible to all as possible.
Preparing the Deck: If this is the first round, one of the players is determined as the dealer by an appropriate method. If not, the player to the left of the previous round's dealer becomes the dealer this time. The role of the dealer is to prepare the deck and manage the progress of the mini-game.
All the clown cards are collected and placed face down in a deck. The clown cards are randomly selected according to the number of players, and after all players have checked the selected clown cards, they are added to the deck and shuffled well.
- 3 Players: 2 Cards
- 4 Players: 1 card
- 5 Players: no Clown Cards
Any extra clown cards are not used this round.
The dealer deals out the entire deck of cards to each player, including himself. The deck is just depleted by dealing out the following number of cards each. All the ball-riding cards have two numbers on them: elephant and ball. Acrobat cards have 2 numbers each.
- 3 players: 19 cards
- 4 players: 16 cards (see note below)
- 5 players: 11 cards
Note on the four-player figure: as printed, 4 players receive 16 cards each. The deck for four players is 55 ball-riding cards plus 1 clown card, which is 56 cards, so the printed figure is kept as printed here and flagged; the source does not say how to resolve the difference.
How the Game is Played
In each round, the player to the left of the dealer first becomes the starting player and begins a mini game "ball riding". Usually, the starting player determines the rules of the game by playing two cards at the same time, but sometimes only one card is played, such as at the beginning of a round.
From then on, each player continues to play one card clockwise according to the rules, and the player who plays the last card wins the ball game. That player becomes the next starting player, and the game continues until someone runs out of cards.
How to Ride a Ball (Start Player's First Turn)
The start player must draw a card of his or her choice from his or her hand, except for the clown card.
Two cards are selected and placed face up in front of the player. This action is called "playing a card." If the player cannot or does not wish to play a card, he or she passes and hands the role of starting player to the player to his or her left. However, the first starting player of each round always plays only one card, neither passing nor drawing two cards. The following is a detailed explanation of the different ways to play cards.
Play a Single Card
A card of your choice, other than a clown card, is played from your hand. In this case, the rule of the ball-rider is not decided until someone plays a second card.
There is almost no advantage to playing only one card when two cards can be played, so the rule is basically to play only one card when there is only one card left in the hand, or to play only one card when there is only one card left in the hand. This is done when forced, as at the start of a round.
2 Cards Are Played
Remove two cards of your choice from your hand, except for the clown card. At this time, the numbers on the two cards determine the rules for this time's ball game!
The rule is determined by checking whether two cards have "the same number of elephant and elephant" or "the same number of balls and balls". If the elephant and the balls are the same, it does not affect the rules in any way.
- Elephant: If the elephant's number among the numbers on the two cards is the same, the elephant's number can only be the same as these two cards or the red clown in this time's ball ride. The numbers on the balls will be completely meaningless.
- Ball: If the numbers of the balls on the two cards are the same, only the same card as the two cards or the blue clown can be played in this game. The elephant's numbers will be completely meaningless.
- Acrobatics: If the numbers on the two cards are different for both the elephant and the balls, only the card with the "combination of the number of the elephant that has never been played and the number of the balls that have never been played" or the purple clown will be able to play in this ball game.
Example: Elephant (10). The number of the elephant in both cards is 10. Only cards with "elephant number 10" can be played.
Example: Ball (4). The number of balls on both cards is 4. Only cards with the number "4" on the ball can be played.
Example: Acrobat. Both elephants and balls have different numbers. Whether it's an elephant or a ball, you can no longer play a card with the same number once it appears.
Whether it's an elephant or a ball, you can no longer play a card with the same number once it appears. The ball-riding card with the number on it cannot be played anymore. Numbers are handled separately for the elephant and the ball. In other words, even if the elephant's 10 has already been played, a card with the number 10 on the ball can still be played. Each time a new card is played, the number of numbers that can no longer be played is increased by two, so that in no time at all, no one will be able to play a card with the number 10.
So, in a very short time, no one will be able to play any more cards.
If this time the ball ride starts from the acrobatics example above, for example, if the following three cards are in hand:
- Ex: elephant 7 / ball 9 — Can't play elephant 7.
- Ex: elephant 5 / ball 6 — Can't play ball 6.
- Ex: elephant 5 / ball 10 — The elephant is 5 and the ball is 10. As soon as the card is played, a chip is placed on the 5 of the elephant and the 10 of the ball on the acrobat's card.
Continuation of the Ball-Riding Game
After the starting player has played his or her card, each player's turn is played in a clockwise direction.
The game is played. On your turn, you play a card of your choice from your hand. You cannot play two cards. If the player cannot or does not want to play a card, he or she passes.
The turn continues for as many rounds as possible, and the starting player and the other players continue to play their turn as follows.
Play a Card
If the rule for this ball ride has already been determined, you can only play cards according to that rule. If the rule is "elephant or balls," you can only play cards with the same number as the two cards that set the rule. For example, if the rule is "elephant's 5," only cards with the number 5 on the elephant can be played. In this case, the number of the ball becomes meaningless.
If the rule is "Acrobat," you can only play cards where both the number of the elephant and the number of the ball are numbers that have not yet been chipped on the Acrobat card. And each time a card is played, that number is also placed on the chip and cannot be played.
If the rules have not yet been decided, a card of your choice, other than a clown card, is played from your hand in front of you. In this case, there must be one card already on the table, so the rules for this game are determined by checking the numbers of those two cards (the card played by the start player and the card played by the player himself). The rules are determined in the same way as when the starting player plays two cards. You should think carefully before playing your cards so that the rule is favorable to you.
Pass
Ends the player's turn without playing a card. If you pass after the rule has been decided, you must now pass for the rest of the game. If the rule has not yet been decided, the player can choose to play a card or pass again at the next turn. The player with no cards in his or her hand passes.
When there is only one player who has not passed, he or she is the winner of this round. That is, the player who played his or her last card.
If the rule for this hand was acrobatics, move all the acrobatics chips off the acrobatics cards and put them back so that all the numbers are visible. All numbers are available again in Acrobat.
The winner of the game collects all the cards played by all the players and places them face down in front of him or her. Each time the winner wins the game, this bundle is placed in front of him, face down, so that it is not mixed with the other bundles. Each bundle of cards won in this way is worth 3 points, regardless of the number of cards in the bundle. If no player has any cards in his or her hand at this point, the winner becomes the next starting player and begins the next round of the game.
Example: The player who has won three times scores 3 points per win (1 bundle) regardless of the number of cards, so you are scoring 9 points.
End of Round
When the game is over and the winner is decided, if there is one or more players without any cards in hand, the round ends without another game and the score is calculated.
The round ends when the player's hand runs out of cards before or during the game, but the game continues until the winner of the game is decided.
Score Calculation
When the round is over, each player calculates the points scored as follows:
3 points for each bundle of cards won by winning the ball game. 1 point deduction for each card remaining in hand.
The score obtained by winning the ball game minus the deduction for the number of cards in the hand is the score this time. It may be negative. Move the score counter of your color on the score card by an amount equal to that value. The score can never be lower than -23 points and never higher than 36 points.
Tip. In this game, winning the ball game is a huge advantage. If there is no chance of winning the ball ride under the current rules, even if you can play a card, it may lead to a big score later in the game. Especially in the latter part of the round, pairs of the same numbers are often lost from the hand, which inevitably leads to frequent "acrobat" rules. In this rule, having a large number of options in hand leads to victory.
If you win the ball ride, you score 3 points plus you can be the next starting player and play 2 cards. Since a player loses points for any cards left in his or her hand, this is worth 2 points, so winning the hand is worth a total of 5 points. Besides, the advantage to oneself
After the score is calculated, the game ends if any of the following conditions are met:
- It is now the fifth round.
- One or more players have scored 25 or more points.
- One or more players have scored -15 or below.
If not, the next round begins. To prepare for a round, see "Preparing the Deck" in the "Set Up" section. The game is repeated from item 1, and a new hand of cards is played to start the ball ride again.
End of the Game
The player with the highest score counter on his or her score card at the end of the game becomes today's superstar. In case of a tie, the player with the smaller hand at the end of the last round is the better looking elephant. If it's all the same, what an amazing circus! I am sure it will be packed tomorrow.
Clown Card Effects
Red Clown: Only when the rules for ball-riding are fixed on the elephant's number, can you play.
Blue Clown: Only when the rules of ball-riding are fixed on the number of balls, can you play.
Purple Clown: Only play when the rules for ball-riding are set in acrobatics.
The card can be played as any "combination of an elephant and a ball with a total of 11 or more" without any chips placed on the card.
The card can be played as a card with "6 elephants and 10 balls," for example, because the total is 16, but it cannot be played as a card with "1 elephant and 2 balls," because the total is 3, which is less than 11.
After declaring the numbers of the elephant and the ball, place an acrobat chip in the square corresponding to the number on the acrobat card. The Acrobat Chip cannot be placed before the rules have been decided, or if there is no other combination with a total of 11 or more available on the Acrobat Card.
Example: If the acrobat card looks like the one on the right, there are no combinations of 7, the maximum number of elephants left, and 3, the maximum number of balls left, which sum up to 10.
Card List
There is one ball rider card and one clown card of each type. There are 5 summary cards in the pack, showing the list of cards.
Tips printed on the card list (translated from the Japanese):
- Each number other than the clown has, for the elephant and for the ball separately, as many cards bearing that number as the number itself.
- The sum of the elephant number and the ball number on a card is between 11 and 20.
- No two cards have exactly the same combination of elephant and ball numbers.
Petit Variant
Once everyone is familiar with the rules, you may do this. At the end of the preparation of the hand, everyone simultaneously selects two cards from his or her hand and hands them face down to the player to his or her right, while the player to his or her left receives them and adds them to his or her hand.
Q&A
Q: Is higher number stronger? A: No, this game is not a "higher number is stronger" game like millionaire. The numbers in this game exist because of the rule that "only the same number can be played" (or the same number cannot be played), and there is no strength or weakness in any of the numbers. It is very important to note that there is no strength/weakness relationship between the numbers on the cards, no matter what the rules are.
Q: If the starting player suddenly passes, can he (she) play a card on his (her) next turn? A: Yes, he (she) can. If the starting player passes before the rules are set, he (she) can play a card on his (her) next turn.
Q: Is this game trick-taking? A: No, this game is classified as go-out (shedding), but it does have a little bit of trick-taking in it.
Q: Wasn't this game published 4-5 years ago under the name 10-10? A: Yes. But Elephant has evolved. In 10-10, the starting player could only play one card. With the ball-riding elephant, the starting player can now play two cards and has more control over the rules. A clown was also added!
Q: I can't win. A: (The printed answer is a personal aside recommending a drink; it is omitted as non-rules content.)
Omitted as non-rules text: the closing drink-and-"rock" remarks, the link line "You can find more information at …" (no address is printed), and the printed copyright and contact line.