Mmm!
Mmm! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What Do You Need?
- 3 wooden dice with 6 different faces: Bread, Fish, Cucumber, Cheese, Carrot and the red X
- 1 double-sided game board
- 56 mouse chips (incl. 7 spare chips)
- 1 wooden cat
Setup
Take the big folded game board out of the box and put it on the table. Do you see the head of the big mean cat in the lower left corner? Directly to the right of her, on the brown kitchen counter, there are 1 or 2 of her white paws. For your very first game, use the side of the board with just 1 white paw.
Now put the wooden version of the mean cat on this white paw.
Also take all the round mouse markers (these are the ones showing my face) and put them next to the game board.
The bravest of you takes the 3 dice into their hand! Yeah, now we are ready to go!
Let's Go!
Thank you for helping me. Together, we now have to manage to gather all the pieces of food from the pantry into my home. How we do that, you ask? It's simple:
The bravest of you, who has the dice in their hands, will now roll the dice on the table. You did that? Well done! Now:
What can you see on the dice?
On 5 sides of the dice you can see 1 type of food symbol - Bread, Fish, Cucumber, Cheese or Carrot. These are the same 5 types of food you can see on the game board. Each food item on the board consists of 2-4 bite-sized "pieces" – these are the square spaces on the game board. If a die shows a certain type of food, then this is very good: it allows us to prepare the transport of 1 piece of a food item into my home. To do that, you have to place a die with a matching food symbol onto an appropriate square food item space.
Important: Even though only one of you rolled the dice, you have to decide where to place the dice together. Talk to each other to decide where to best place the dice!
But wait, what does the red X mean?
Nothing good comes from that, let me tell you! If one of the dice shows a red X then that die cannot be placed on the game board for now.
But here's the twist: Once you have rolled the dice you must be able to place at least 1 die on a piece of food for each roll you make. You are allowed to place 2 at once or even all 3 at once. If all 3 dice are placed you can immediately continue to step B) Gathering the food.
But if you cannot or do not want to place all 3 dice on the pieces of food all at once (for example because there is a red X showing or all of that food has already been gathered), you may choose how you would like to continue:
A) Re-roll B) Gathering the food
A) Re-roll
After you have rolled and placed at least 1 die you can decide to re-roll the rest of the dice that have not yet been placed. And then you must again place at least 1 of those dice on 1 food item space. If you have re-rolled 2 dice, you can still just place 1 of them and decide to re-roll the last one once more. But beware – you cannot roll the dice that are already on food item spaces on the game board.
And here's the twist again: It can happen (even on your very first roll) that you cannot place at least 1 of these dice on any piece of food. That means you are not allowed to gather any food this turn, and there is worse to come! You have to move the big mean family cat 1 space closer to the pantry – oh my! To do that just follow the paws from space to space starting from the white paw(s). Then, give the dice to the friend on your left, for them to try their luck.
B) Gathering the Food
If you have managed to place all 3 dice on the game board, or have stopped rolling and pushing your luck, you can now start gathering the food: exchange each die on the game board with 1 of my mouse chips. The mouse chip tells you that you have already gathered that piece of the whole food item and that you can no longer place a die on that square.
Do you have to move the cat now? If you have covered the last square of a whole food item, meaning that every piece of food of that one food item is now covered with mouse chips, you do not have to move the cat. If you have not managed to put a mouse chip on the last piece of food of a whole food item this turn, then you have to move the mean black cat 1 space closer to the pantry.
If you have managed to put a mouse chip on the last piece of food of a whole food item this turn, then you do not have to move the mean black cat closer to the pantry – you have gained valuable time.
Finally, give the 3 dice to your friend on the left, it is their turn to roll the dice!
Flowchart of a Game Turn
- Roll
- Place at least 1 die → Re-Roll, or → Gathering food
- No die can be placed → Do not gather any food, cat moves 1 space
- Gathering food → Last piece of a whole food item gathered → Cat does not move
- Gathering food → Last piece of a whole food item has NOT been gathered → Cat moves 1 space
Variant for a More Challenging Game
You want a bigger challenge? Well, then try this:
Instead of placing each die on a matching food space of your choice, you have to follow an additional restriction:
All dice on the game board have to be placed in either the same row or the same column (they have to be on the same "line").
If the first die is placed according to the example then the other dice have to be placed in either the same column (a) or alternatively in the same row (b).
You Won ... Well Almost!
Did you manage to gather all the food before the mean black cat reaches the pantry? Awesome, we have really done it! Thanks to your mouse-tastic help we have managed to secure enough food for my whole big family (and really given that mean cat a run for its money). Let's try that again!
The mean black cat has reached the pantry? I am sure we can do better next time. But thanks to your heroic help we could at least secure some food from the pantry and my family will not have rumbling tummies.
You are mouse-heroes already and this is all so easy for you? Then just flip the game board to its other side (remember: this is the side with the 2 white paws next to the cat). Then put the wooden cat on the 2 white paws for the next game. Now you have to help me gather bigger food items consisting of 2-5 pieces! This is going to be much harder!
But together, I am sure, we will surmount all odds!
Scoring
Regardless of outcome you can now chart how well you have done in each regard:
If you have managed to gather all pieces of food, your success can be measured by how many steps away from the pantry the cat still was the very moment you have won (the last move into the pantry counts as 1 move):
| Steps away from pantry | Result |
|---|---|
| 6 or more spaces | Incredible! Prove this was not a fluke of luck by achieving the same result again right now, and then you can surely call yourself „Mice of Legend"! |
| 5 or 4 spaces | Extraordinary! You are happy and not in a hurry to leave. |
| 3 or 2 spaces | Well done – you really helped out Charlie! |
| 1 space | Phew, that was close! But at least you are not going home empty-handed. |
If the cat has entered the pantry, not all was lost – you can now gauge how close you were to winning:
| Pieces of food left | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 piece of food left | You almost finished, don't worry. |
| 2 or 3 pieces of food left | Charlie did not get all he needed. But at least nobody went home hungry. |
| 4 or 5 pieces of food left | You really did not get much. This better be better next time. |
| 6 or more pieces of food left | The pantry is still brimming with food. Show that you can do better – off to another venture into the pantry! |
Credits
Designer: Reiner Knizia · Illustrations: Andreas Resch · Grafik design: Hans-Georg Schneider · Realization: Klaus Ottmaier Translation: Benjamin Schönheiter · Reiner Knizia thanks Sebastian Bleasdale for his contributions to the development of Mmm!.
© 2015 Pegasus Spiele GmbH, Am Straßbach 3, 61169 Friedberg, Germany. All rights reserved. Reprinting and publishing of game rules, game components, or illustrations without license holder's permission is prohibited.