Garden Heist Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Goal of the Game
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • "1, 2, 3 – Who sneaks by?"
  • Choose a hiding spot!
  • End of the Round & Change of Gardener
  • End of the Game
• Game Variants
  • For 2 Players
  • For 5 Players
  • High Five
  • Wobbly Benches (Pro Variant for Skilful Raccoons)

Components

• 1 house in two parts and 1 window (+ 1 spare window)
• 1 game board in four parts
• 14 hiding spots and stands
• 4 raccoon game pieces
• 5 score markers
• 24 raccoon tokens
• 1 finish line
• 1 path
• 1 trash can in two parts (for the pro variant)
• 2 wobbly benches (for the pro variant)

Goal of the Game

• In each round you play either as a raccoon or as the gardener.
• The gardener closes the window and says: "1, 2, 3 – Who sneaks by?". The raccoons have this long to scurry through the garden and hide behind a hiding spot.
• Then the gardener opens the window and tries to work out where the raccoons are hiding. In each round the gardener picks one hiding spot and drives out the little rascals that are there. If the gardener is successful, he gets 1 raccoon token. The raccoons who stayed hidden remain in place. Behind yellow hiding spots there is tasty food to find. Whoever is hidden there gets 1 raccoon token.
• At the end of each round you count your raccoon tokens and move forward on the score track. Whoever crosses the finish line and has collected the most points wins!

Setup

• Ask an adult to help you with the setup. Before the first game, punch out all the parts from the punch frame. Note that some of the hiding spots have holes. Insert each hiding spot into a stand of matching colour (either green or yellow).
• The setup for 2 players differs slightly (see "For 2 players" on page 4).

House assembly:

• 1.A Assemble the lower part of the house and the lower box. The front of the house should be in front of the box and the two sides of the house should be inside the box.
• 1.B Attach the window to the 3 middle tabs. The window can be folded open towards the box.
• 1.C Place the roof (upper part of the house) first on the front tabs, then on the side tabs. The house is now complete! Make sure the various parts are firmly connected to avoid gaps.

1. Build the house as shown in the illustration.
2. Assemble the four parts of the game board and place it in the middle of the table.
3. Place the hiding spots in the holes provided on the game board. Make sure to put each into the hole of the matching colour (e.g. a green hiding spot into a hole framed in green).
4. Place the house a little distance away from the end of the game board and lay the path between them. Fit the two parts of the trash can together and place it on the path.
5. Place the raccoon tokens as a supply next to the path.
6. Each player chooses a raccoon game piece. Place the score marker of your colour on the first space at the left of the score track (at the lower edge of the game board). Note: the grey score marker is only needed for the 5-player variant.
7. Place the finish line on the space of the score track that shows as many raccoons as there are players (2 raccoons for 2 players, 3 raccoons for 3 players, and so on).

Gameplay

Whoever last saw a raccoon plays the gardener for the first few rounds. Go behind the house. While you are playing the gardener, you do not use your raccoon game piece.

"1, 2, 3 – Who sneaks by?"

• When everyone is ready, the gardener closes the window and says loudly and clearly: "1, 2, 3 – Who sneaks by?".
• You may adjust the speed at which you say this sentence. For example, you can speak more slowly if young raccoons are playing.

While this is said, the raccoons move:

• In the first round: place your raccoon game piece behind one of the five hiding spots in the back row, the one furthest from the house.
• Later rounds: move your raccoon game piece behind a hiding spot that is adjacent to your hiding spot from the previous round. Follow the stone paths. You may therefore move from your old hiding spot to the side, forward, or backward. However, you may not stay behind the same hiding spot.

Special case: If you remained successfully hidden behind one of the two hiding spots in the front row, in the next round you may place your raccoon game piece on the path to the house. As a reward you take the trash can. If several players reach the path at the same time, you share the trash can.

As soon as the gardener has finished saying his sentence, he opens the window.

From now on the raccoons may not touch any object on the game board (this includes their raccoon game pieces). Behind yellow obstacles there is food to find! The raccoons who are behind a yellow hiding spot MUST make gnawing noises like a feeding raccoon, rubbing their hands together. This must be clearly visible to the gardener.

Note: If you have not moved your raccoon game piece, or you are behind a hiding spot that is not adjacent to your previous hiding spot, you must immediately remove your game piece from the game board and inform the gardener. In the next round you must hide your raccoon game piece again behind one of the five hiding spots in the back row.

Choose a hiding spot!

• The gardener looks (only!) through the window of the house at the game board and tries to spot the raccoons.
• Note: Watch the other players through the window. Anyone making gnawing noises and rubbing their hands together is behind a yellow hiding spot! Some of the hiding spots may also have been moved while the raccoons were moving. Perhaps a slightly crooked hiding spot can give valuable clues ...

The gardener chooses one of the hiding spots and a raccoon lifts it up to show whether anyone is standing there:

• The gardener gets 1 raccoon token for each raccoon game piece he has found. These raccoon game pieces are taken back by the raccoons. In the next round they must hide again behind one of the five hiding spots in the back row.
• The other raccoons stay hidden. Whoever is behind a yellow hiding spot takes 1 raccoon token.

Then the gardener closes the window and a new round begins.

Example: The gardener chooses a hiding spot behind which no raccoon stands. The pink raccoon gets 1 raccoon token because it remained successfully hidden behind a yellow hiding spot. The gardener and the orange raccoon get no raccoon tokens in this round.

Translator's note on the example: the caption as printed says the gardener chose a hiding spot "behind which no raccoon stands", yet the illustration shows the gardener's arrow pointing at the spot where the pink raccoon is. The caption text is transcribed as printed; the discrepancy is in the source.

Note: The gardener may only ever choose one hiding spot, even if he believes he has spotted several raccoons behind different hiding spots.

End of the Round & Change of Gardener

If at the end of the round someone (or several players) ...

• has the trash can?

OR

• has at least 5 raccoon tokens?

If so, the round ends immediately. Move your score markers along the score track by as many spaces as you have raccoon tokens. Then return the tokens to the supply. All raccoons that have the trash can move an additional 3 spaces.

For the next rounds, someone else becomes the gardener. Choose a person who has not yet played as the gardener. The raccoons start with their raccoon game pieces again in the back row.

Example:

• The blue raccoon has no raccoon tokens and does not move its score marker.
• The orange raccoon has 1 raccoon token and the trash can, and moves its score marker 4 spaces forward.
• The yellow raccoon was the gardener and has collected 2 raccoon tokens, so it may move its score marker 2 spaces forward. The blue and yellow raccoons are now tied.

End of the Game

As soon as at least one score marker has crossed the finish line at the end of a round, the game ends. Whoever then has the most points wins. If several of you have the same number of points, you have won together.

Game Variants

For 2 Players

Remove the hiding spot furthest to the right in each row during setup, so that there are 10 hiding spots on the game board in total. The remaining rules stay the same.

For 5 Players

The oldest player uses the grey score marker to move along the score track. When this player is playing as a raccoon, they borrow the raccoon game piece of the player who is playing the gardener (and who therefore does not need their own raccoon game piece at that time). The remaining rules stay the same.

High Five

If more than one raccoon hides behind the same hiding spot, they must high-five each other (and then imitate a feeding raccoon if they are behind a yellow hiding spot). The gardener then knows that several raccoons are behind the same hiding spot. If these raccoons are not found by the gardener, each of them wins 1 raccoon token (2 raccoon tokens if they are behind a yellow hiding spot).

Wobbly Benches (Pro Variant for Skilful Raccoons)

Set up the wobbly benches as shown in the illustration next to the rules. During setup, place the two wobbly benches behind two hiding spots of your choice (on the side where the raccoons hide). If you want to hide there, you must place your raccoon game piece on the wobbly bench and risk being spotted by the gardener!