Mongoose
Mongoose Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
- Give each player:
- a white and black stand
- 2 food tokens
- a player aid card and a page from the notepad
- Place the extra food tokens and engagement markers in the middle of the table.
- Shuffle the 18 animal cards.
- Deal two cards face down to each player.
- Deal 1-3 revealed cards face up in the middle of the table: 3 players/3 cards, 4 players/2 cards, 5 players/1 card.
- Place the remaining cards face down as a hidden deck on the table.
- Players must place their cards in their stands facing away from themselves without looking at them.
(The setup sheet shows an example layout: opponents' cards visible at the top, the revealed cards, extra food and hidden deck in the middle, and each player's own cards facing away at the bottom.)
Game Play
- The player who can best imitate a hungry Mongoose starts.
- On the first turn only, the starting player has to fight or cooperate with the last player in turn order.
- Play then continues in clockwise order with players choosing one action on their turn.
- Continue until someone wins.
Actions
There are four possible actions:
- Fight
- Cooperate
- Discover (costs 1 food)
- Identify
1- Fight
- Decide which of your animals is going to attack which opponent's animal. Put one engagement marker in front of your animal and one in front of the card you want to fight. You cannot fight your other card.
- The players who are not involved in the fight see both cards and declare which player wins.
- The winner takes one food from the loser. If the loser has no food then the winner doesn't get any.
- If the winner now has 4 more food than every other player they immediately win the game.
2- Cooperate
- Ask if a specific card of yours matches the color symbol(s) of another player's card. Put one engagement token in front of your animal and one in front of the card you want to cooperate with. You cannot cooperate with your other card.
- The other players can see both cards and will say if there is a successful match.
- If the cooperation is successful then both the players gain one food from the table.
3- Discover (costs 1 food)
- EITHER: Pay 1 food to fight or cooperate with a revealed card in the middle of the table. Place one engagement marker in front of your animal and one on the revealed card in the middle of the table you want to fight or cooperate with. The other players will tell you the result. You do not gain or lose any more food regardless of outcome.
- OR: Pay 1 food to look at 4 random cards in the deck. Shuffle the cards back into the deck after you have looked at them.
4- Guess Identity
- Guess the identity of one of your cards. You have to declare the animal and color symbols of that card.
- The other players will say if you are correct or wrong.
- Correct: add that card to the other revealed cards face up in the middle of the table. You immediately get an extra turn and can take any new action, including guessing the identity of your other card.
- Wrong: your turn ends.
Determining the Winner of a Fight
- Use the player aids as an easy reference. Mongooses kill snakes, if you remember that, everything else falls into place.
- When two of the same animals fight, the defender always wins. The observers must just declare which player won, not reveal that there was a tie.
- Mongoose beats Snake
- Snake beats Jackal
- Jackal beats Mongoose
- Eagle beats everything except the Eggs
- Eggs lose to everything except the Eagle (think of it as the Eagle sacrificing herself for her own Eggs)
Game End
The game ends immediately when a player has either successfully guessed both their cards, or has gained 4 more food than every other player. There is no second place.
2 Players & Rare Animals
Official leaflet (Essen Spiel 2025), page 2. Its cover art is not transcribed.
2 Players
Setup
Same as for the multiplayer game except: deal 5 cards face up as the revealed animals and use all three engagement markers. No food is used and the remaining cards go back in the box.
(The leaflet shows an example layout: opponents' cards visible at the top, five revealed animals in the middle with engagement markers beside them, and your own two cards facing away at the bottom.)
Gameplay
Players take turns until someone wins by identifying both their cards. Use the same rules as the multi-player game with the following exceptions.
1- Fight
- Choose one of your animals and one of your opponent's animals to attack the same revealed animal you choose. Put one engagement marker in front of your card, one on the revealed card on the table and one in front of your opponent's card.
- You cannot fight the revealed animal that was chosen in the previous turn.
- Each player tells the other if they won or lost.
Cooperate
- Choose one of your animals and one of your opponent's animals to cooperate with the same revealed animal. Put one engagement marker in front of your animal, one on the revealed card on the table and one in front of your opponent's card.
- You cannot cooperate with the revealed animal that was chosen in the previous turn.
- Each player tells the other if they successfully had a match or not.
Discover
- There is no food so the Discover action is not available.
Rare Animals
Increase the deduction challenge
- Add the 2 new cards so the deck is 20 cards in total.
- Use the Rare Animals notepad.
- Place the Rare Animals player aid on the table as reference.
- Game play is the same as the multiplayer or 2 player game.
The Elephant
- Wins every fight it is involved in. Even if attacking an Eagle.
- It has no symbols so it never cooperates successfully even with a Chameleon.
The Chameleon
- Loses every fight it is involved in. Even if attacked by an Egg.
- It has all the symbols so it cooperates successfully with every animal except the Elephant.