Gussy Gorillas
Gussy Gorillas Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview & Goal of the Game
Players are primates who start out with a personal draw pile of facedown cards. Without looking at the card(s) in their hand, players simultaneously trade or keep their hand, one or two cards at a time, to form a personal collection. Once all cards have been traded or kept, players tally their collections and the highest score wins! But be careful—pairs can cancel out and special cards are not always helpful!
Round Setup
Shuffle the deck and deal 11 cards facedown to each player. Players may not look at their cards.
How to Play
Players simultaneously pick up the first card in their personal draw pile and hold it facing away from themselves. Players may not look at the front of their own card but will see everyone else's.
Trading begins immediately as players may offer to trade the card(s) in their hand with anyone else's hand. When needed, players may add a second card from their draw pile to their hand (to entice others to trade with them).
You may never verbally reveal the exact card in another player's hand. But you are allowed to imply truths or lies.
When two players make a trade, they must exchange their entire hand and immediately place the card(s) they received into a personal face-up pile—their collection.
If a player feels that they are holding a valuable card from their personal deck, they are allowed to keep it by placing it directly into their collection (face-up) instead of trading it away.
If you ever see the front of the card in your hand, you must immediately place it face-up into your collection.
After placing cards into your collection, pick up the next card in your facedown draw pile, hold it facing away from yourself, and immediately continue trading or keeping until your draw pile runs out.
Trading is free-for-all and simultaneous. You do not have to wait for other players to start trading the next card in your personal draw pile. Players who act quickly and interrupt negotiations between others with offers of their own are more likely to succeed.
The round ends and scores are tallied once all players' draw piles are empty after trading and/or keeping all of their cards.
It is common for some players to finish early by running out of their personal draw piles before others. Finished players will simply wait for remaining players to continue trading with each other and/or keeping their cards until the end of the game.
Layout reminder: your personal draw pile, your hand (no peeking!), opponents' hands, and your personal collection (place traded/kept cards face-up into it). Play and trade simultaneously until all draw piles are empty. You may add a 2nd card to your hand to attract interest, and you may keep your card if you feel it is valuable.
Scoring & Game End
Players separate the special cards and unique number cards in their collection while combining any duplicate numbers into pairs. Pairs are only number cards of the same card type and final value.
Players then must apply all special cards in their collection to their number cards (if possible, and in any order), even if it decreases their score:
Every number card can have up to one compatible special card of each type applied to it.
- A SPLIT must be applied to a pair. It is used to prevent a pair of cards from canceling each other out (or it prevents a pair of 1's from combining to form an 11). If a player's only pairs are 1's or a negative pair, they must still use a Split on them.
- A FLIP must be applied to a flippable number that has not already been flipped. Flippable numbers include 2, 6, 7, & 10; these cards display rotational arrows as a reminder. A Flip is used to turn a flippable number upside down (changing 2 to 7, 7 to 2, 6 to 9, or 10 to 1).
- A REVERSE must be applied to any number card. A Reverse makes a positive number negative or a negative number positive. Reminder: You may not apply multiple Reverses to the same number.
After applying all special cards possible, turn any pairs without a Split facedown. These pairs cancel each other out and are not counted in a player's score. Reminder: Pairs are only number cards of the same primate and same final value.
Examples: (1) Although they are the same final value, a 2 that has been flipped to a 7 is not a pair with a non-flipped 7 because they are different card types. (2) Likewise, a flipped 10 is not a pair with a 1. (3) You can avoid forming a pair of 6's by flipping one of them.
PAIR OF 1'S EXCEPTION: Each pair of 1's is always counted as 11 points (unless separated by a Split card); any 1 not in a pair (or in a pair with a Split) is counted as 1 point.
The player with the highest score from their collection wins the round and claims a banana token! If playing with 5 or more players, the two highest scores each earn a banana token. If multiple players tie for 1st place, then each of them receives a banana token and no banana token is awarded for 2nd place.
THE FIRST PLAYER(S) TO EARN 2 BANANA TOKENS WINS THE GAME!
If no player has earned their 2nd banana token yet, then return all cards to the deck and start another round.
SCORING EXAMPLE: George combines his two 1's to gain 11 points (a pair of 1's never cancels out, it always counts as 11 points). His 4's are a pair, so they earn him nothing. He has three 10's, and two of them would form a pair and be worth nothing, but he applied his Split to the pair and gains 30 points (the third 10 does not form a pair with either of the split 10's). He used his Reverse Card on his negative 8 to gain positive 8 points. And he had to use his Flip on a flippable number, thus he chose to flip the 7 into a 2. George's total score is 51 points.
Open Showcase Variant
(For if you have the table space) As a more strategic variant, players must always display all the cards that they add to their collection. Cards of the same type can be stacked in a column (covering the bottom half of the cards) to conserve space.
Communication Variant
If your group is feeling wild and adventurous, try a rule where players may only communicate in monkey language! (e.g. "Ooo Ooo Ooo Ahh Ahh!")
Rare Cards
Rare cards must always be included in a 10-player game. At all other player counts, their inclusion is optional. When including Rare cards, shuffle them into the deck at the start of the game.
- 9: This functions exactly the same as any number card (compatible with special cards, pairs cancel out, etc.). During the scoring phase, for each 9 that is not canceled out by being part of a pair, you must discard any 2 other cards from your collection.
- Wild Special: This card must be used and applied as a Split, Flip, or Reverse. You may not choose an option that can't be applied to any cards in your collection.
- Special 6's: Your special cards have no effect, do not apply their effects to your number cards. Instead, each of your special cards is worth 6 points. Your special cards do not form pairs with anything, and therefore they do not cancel out.
No Table, No Problem!
Simply hold your draw pile & collection in one hand and your offering in the other. When adding to your collection, place the card face-up beneath your pile of cards in that hand. When you run out of face-down cards to offer, you are finished for the round!
The Golden Rules of Scoring
Use this as a new player aid for teaching and reference.
- PAIRS CANCEL OUT, EXCEPT PAIRS OF 1'S FORM 11'S.
- PAIRS ARE ONLY NUMBER CARDS OF THE SAME CARD TYPE AND FINAL VALUE. (Same values but different card types are not a pair; same card types but different values are not a pair.)
- EVERY NUMBER CARD MAY HAVE UP TO ONE COMPATIBLE SPECIAL CARD OF EACH TYPE APPLIED TO IT.
- EVERY SPECIAL CARD MUST BE APPLIED TO A COMPATIBLE NUMBER CARD, IF POSSIBLE, EVEN IF IT REDUCES YOUR SCORE.