Llamas & Alpacas
Llamas & Alpacas Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Card Description
Each card has an image of an animal (alpaca or llama) A, a digit or a star (which can represent any digit) B, a treat symbol (carrot for alpacas, clover for llamas) C and a colored accessory, by which a professional breeder distinguishes an animal's herd (bandana for alpacas, cap for llamas) D. A white accessory can represent any color.
There are 4 digits and 4 colors (16 combinations). Each animal has 2 copies of each card with a digit and a colored accessory. Each card with a wild symbol (star or a white accessory) is unique.
Goal of the Game
Each player's task is to arrange animal cards on their board to score as many points as possible for matching attributes (animals, digits, accessories) on 3 cards in a row or column.
Game Preparation
Shuffle the animal cards. Deal 6 cards face up in a row in the center of the table. At the end of the row, after the last card, put the remaining cards face down as a draw pile. Leave some space for a discard pile.
Each player takes a player board, 3 clovers and 3 carrots, and one animal card from the draw pile. If a player gets a wild card (with a star or a white accessory), they draw again until they get a non-wild card, then shuffle all wild cards back into the draw pile.
Each player puts their card onto any space of their board.
Place the point tokens in easy reach. Return remaining clovers and carrots to the box.
Choose the first player randomly or however you like, e.g. whoever most recently saw a llama or alpaca. Players will take turns in clockwise order.
Fun fact: When you are with alpacas and llamas, it is best not to upset them! A nervous animal may spit an unpleasant-smelling stomach secretion onto you! Llamas tend to get nervous more often and more easily than alpacas.
Sequence of Play
The active player chooses 1 of these 2 actions:
- take a face-up animal card from the center and put it onto their board, or
- don't take a card; instead, move a card on their board from one space to another space.
A player choosing the first action takes a card from the center row. If the player wants the first card in the row (i.e. farthest from the draw pile), they simply take that card and put it onto their board on any empty space.
But if the player wants a later card in the row, they must first take care of the earlier animals and give each one a treat, by placing an appropriate treat token from their hand onto each skipped card.
Place 1 clover onto each skipped llama; place 1 carrot onto each skipped alpaca.
Note: If a player does not have the appropriate treat for a skipped card, they may instead place 2 carrots onto a llama or 2 clovers onto an alpaca.
A player may skip any number of cards in the row if they have enough treats for all the skipped animals. If a player takes a card that has treats on it (placed in previous turns), then the player also takes those treats and can use them to skip cards in future turns.
Exception! A player may hold at most 10 treats. If a player would have more than 10 treats by taking a card with treats, put excess treats onto the next card in the row. If the taken card was the last card in the row, then add a new card, as described below, and then put the excess treats onto it.
After a player puts a card onto their board, they cannot move it, except by using the second type of action (instead of taking a card).
After a player takes a card from the row, shift the later cards forward, away from the draw pile, then draw a new card and put it at the end of the row. If the draw pile becomes empty, shuffle the discard pile to make a new draw pile.
Example: Paulina wants the fourth card in the row: a llama with a pink hat. So she must put appropriate treats onto the 3 skipped cards. She puts a clover onto the first card (llama) and a carrot onto the second card (alpaca). She does not have another carrot to put onto the third card (another alpaca), but she still has several clovers, so she puts 2 clovers onto that final skipped card. Now she takes the fourth card and puts it onto her player board.
If the player does the second type of action, they move a card already on their board to a new empty space.
After the active player does an action, the player on their left becomes the new active player and does their turn.
Scoring
When a player places a card on their board that creates a line of 3 cards (horizontally or vertically), check whether any of these 3 conditions are met:
- they all have the same animal, or
- they all have the same color of accessory (not necessarily the same type of accessory: any combination of hats and bandanas of the same color is good), or
- they all have the same digit or a consecutive sequence of digits in order (e.g. 1,2,3 or 4,3,2, but not 1,3,2 or 1,2,4).
If a player achieves any of these 3 conditions (whether taking a card by the first action or moving a card by the second action), the player immediately scores points for those 3 cards. The number of points depends on how many conditions are met:
- only 1 condition (e.g. 3 cards with alpacas): 2 points.
- 2 conditions (e.g. 3 cards with alpacas with red bandanas): 4 points.
- all 3 conditions (e.g. 3 cards with alpacas with red bandanas and the digit 2): 6 points.
The player takes point tokens representing their gained points.
Remember! A white accessory can be any color, and a star can be any digit!
When placing a card onto their board, a player might complete both a row and a column; in this case, they gain points for both lines of 3!
After a player gains points, remove all scored lines from the player's board and put those cards onto the discard pile. If a player creates a line of 3 which does not score, those cards simply remain on the player's board (and might be used to score later).
If a player simultaneously scores a row and a column by placing a wild card (with a star or a white accessory), the player must pick one digit or color for the wild symbol and apply the same choice when scoring the row and the column.
Example: Adam puts a card with a llama wearing a green cap and a star onto his board. This card makes a row of 3 cards that fulfills 2 conditions: the row has 3 llamas, and the star can match the digit 1 on the other 2 cards. So Adam scores 4 points. Then Adam removes those 3 scored cards and puts them onto the discard pile.
Tom puts a card with an alpaca wearing a white bandana onto his board. Even though a white accessory can be any color, Tom cannot score this row because he cannot fulfill any of the 3 conditions. (So he does not discard any cards.)
Fun fact: Alpacas have soft padded hooves, so they do not damage pastures and crops like other ungulates.
Game End
When any player has 18 or more points, that triggers the end of the game. Finish the round, so that each player has the same number of turns. (The player sitting to the right of the first player gets the final turn.)
Each player adds up their point tokens. The breeder with the most points wins! If there is a tie for the most points, the tied player with the most treat tokens wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players enjoy a shared victory.