Frank's Zoo
Frank's Zoo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
60 Cards: 4 mosquitoes, 1 joker, and 5 each of 11 other animals.
1 Rule booklet
Game Overview
The trick-taking game is played in several hands. In each hand the players try to be the first to get rid of all of their cards. Their scores are based on how early in the hand they get rid of all their cards. There are two ways to play: you can play where all hands are played the same, or you can play the game with changing partners.
The Cards
Each card represents the animal pictured on the bottom and the upper corners of the card. The card also has a box at the top, which shows the other animals that rank above that animal.
Seals are outranked by polar bears and whales. Elephants outrank foxes, foxes outrank hedgehogs, but elephants do not outrank hedgehogs. The tiny mouse outranks the elephant!
The rankings are summarized in a table at the end of these rules.
The First Hand
Choose a dealer who shuffles the cards and deals them all face down to the players. When playing with 3-6 players, all players receive the same number of cards. With 7 players, four players receive 9 cards and three receive 8. Players hold their cards in their hands, hidden from the other players. The hand consists of several rounds. In each round, players take turns playing cards from their hands.
Starting a Round
Play begins left of the dealer. This player plays one or more cards from his hand face up in the middle of the table. If he plays a single card it can be any card other than the Joker. If he plays more than one card, they must all be the same unless he includes the Joker or a mosquito. This is the initial animal set, which the other players will try to outrank.
Mosquitoes & the Joker
The Joker can be played with any other card and is treated as the animal represented on that card. The Joker cannot be played alone. A single mosquito can be played with one or more elephants and becomes an elephant. Thus, an elephant and a mosquito are two elephants!
Multiple mosquitoes may not be played in this way. The Joker and a mosquito are two mosquitoes; they cannot be two elephants. An elephant, the Joker and a mosquito are 3 elephants.
Playing Cards
After the first player in a round, players follow in clockwise order and must pass or play a set of cards that are higher in rank than the previous set of cards played. There are two ways to play higher ranked cards: play the same number of cards, but of an animal of a higher rank or play the same animal but one more card than the previous set. A player may not increase the number of cards of the same animal by more than one or play more cards of a higher ranked animal.
For example, after a seal, a player can play two seals, but not three seals or a player can play a polar bear, but not two polar bears.
Passing
Passing does not prohibit the player from playing cards in a later turn in this round.
Ending a Round (Winning the Trick)
When, on a player's turn, his previous play is still the ranking set (all other players have passed since his last play), he takes all the face up cards on the table, turns them over in front of himself, and starts a new round.
Running Out of Cards
When a player succeeds in playing his last card, he has finished the hand. The others continue playing cards until only one player has cards remaining. Players remember the order in which they ran out of cards.
If a player who is out of cards is the one to start a round, the player to his left begins the round.
End of the Hand
When only one player has cards remaining, the hand ends immediately.
Scoring
The first player to run out of cards receives one point for each player in the game. The next player receives one point less and so on. The player who still has cards receives no points.
Thus, with 5 players, the first receives 5 points, the second 4 points, the third 3 points, the fourth 2 points and last no points.
Further Hands
After the first hand, the game can go in two directions. If you want a simpler game just continue playing as you did in the first hand.
The first place player shuffles the cards and deals to start the next hand. If players tie for first, the player who was in the lower place after the previous hand is the first place player. The player with the lowest score begins the new hand. At the end of each hand, new points are added to the old to form a running total. The game ends when two players have scored 19 points. The player in first place at that time is the winner.
To play the more challenging game of changing partners, follow the intructions below:
Changing Partners
Starting with the second hand, the players form teams based on their scores in the game as shown in the table.
| player | partner | solo |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1+3, 2+4 | - |
| 5 | 1+4, 2+5 | 3 |
| 6 | 1+4, 2+5, 3+6 | - |
| 7 | 1+5, 2+6, 3+7 | 4 |
For example, with 5 players, the player in 1st plays with the player in 4th and the 2nd place player plays with the player in 5th. The middle player plays alone.
On a team, the player with the higher score is the senior partner and the other is the junior partner.
Starting Subsequent Hands
The first place player shuffles the cards and deals them.
Card Exchange
After looking at their cards, the players on each team exchange two cards. First, the junior player on each team selects two cards from his hand and gives them face down to his senior partner. The senior partner adds them to his hand and then selects two cards from his hand and gives them to his junior partner face down to add to his hand. The solo player selects two cards from his hand and places them face down on the table; these count as cards taken in tricks.
Playing Cards
After exchanging cards, the player in last place begins the new hand. Each player keeps his own tricks whether he has a partner or not. The playing of cards is the same as in the first hand with one exception:
Asking for Help
On his turn, a junior partner may ask his senior partner for help. He does so by playing one or more cards face up that represent a subset of the cards needed to outrank the current ranking set. He then asks his partner for help. The senior partner may now play cards face up to complete the set so that it outranks the ranking set. If he does not, the junior partner returns the cards he played to his hand; his turn is over. If this set wins the trick, the junior partner takes the cards.
If the previous play is two mice, the junior player could play a hedgehog and ask his partner for help, hoping he will have a hedgehog. If an elephant is the previous play, the junior partner could play a mosquito, hoping for an elephant from his partner.
End of the Hand
As before, when only one player has cards remaining, the hand ends immediately.
Scoring
The scoring in this version is different from the other in that teams score based on their ending positions and individual players score based on cards they have taken in tricks.
Team Scoring
Both players on a team score points for both their ending positions. The solo player scores points for his ending position plus 4 points.
Thus, if a team's players place first and fifth in a 5-player game, both partners receive 5 points: 5+0=5. If the other team finished second and fourth, both receive 6 points: 4+2=6. The solo player would be third and would receive 3+4 = 7 points.
Individual Scoring
The individual players may also score points based on cards they won in the hand. These are not shared with their partners. If a player has two or more lions in the cards he took in tricks, he scores one point for each lion. Single lions are worthless. If the player with cards remaining has lions in his hand, he loses one point for each. Each player, who does not have at least one hedgehog in the cards he took in tricks, loses one point.
Next Hand
The players add their scores to their previous totals. New teams are formed as before, using the players' new total scores. If two players tie, the player with the poorer position before gets the better new position.
For example, Harry had 1 point after the first hand and Steve had 2. Harry and Steve now have 7 points each. Harry is placed before Steve as he had the poorer position before.
Game End
The game ends when two or more players have scored at least 19 points. The player in first place (using the tie-breaker from above, if necessary) is the winner. Players may, of course, choose a higher or lower point total on which to end the game.
Who Outranks Who
To read the table, choose the row of the animal you want. The animals that outrank that animal are marked in that row. Thus, the elephant is outranked only by the mouse.
| Who outranks who? | Whale | Elephant | Crocodile | Polar bear | Lion | Seal | Fox | Perch | Hedgehog | Fish | Mouse | Mosquito |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whale | > | |||||||||||
| Elephant | > | X | ||||||||||
| Crocodile | X | > | ||||||||||
| Polar bear | X | X | > | |||||||||
| Lion | X | > | ||||||||||
| Seal | X | X | > | |||||||||
| Fox | X | X | X | X | > | |||||||
| Perch | X | X | X | X | > | |||||||
| Hedgehog | X | > | ||||||||||
| Fish | X | X | X | X | > | |||||||
| Mouse | X | X | X | X | X | > | ||||||
| Mosquito | X | X | X | > |
An "X" in a row marks an animal (column) that outranks the row animal. For example, the Elephant row has an X only under Mouse — the elephant is outranked only by the mouse.
Credits
© 1999 Doris Matthäus & Frank Nestel
Send comments, questions, or suggestions to: Rio Grande Games, PO Box 45715, Rio Rancho, NM 87174 or [email protected].
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