Nobody but Us Chickens Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Objective
• Playing the Game
• Continuing Play
• Scoring
• Continuing the Game
• Endgame
• Strategy Tips
• Game Variants

Contents

• Six distinctly colored, but otherwise identical, sets of nine cards each.
• One Fox King marker
• One Top Dog marker
• Two plastic card stands for the Fox King and Top Dog
• One Scoring Pad
• The rules you are currently reading

Setup

Choose one of the colored sets of nine cards. Although you begin the game with the same cards as everyone else, this will change. Hold your cards in your hand and don't reveal them to any other players. The oldest player begins the game as the "Fox King". That player takes the Fox King marker and places it in front of herself and in plain sight. The player seated directly to the right of the Fox King immediately becomes "Top Dog" and places the Top Dog marker in front of herself.

Objective

Score the most points by snatching or rescuing the most valuable Chickens. Snatch Chickens by sending your Fox or your Rat into the coop. Rescue them by sending your Guard Dog to intercept the Foxes and Rats other players send.

Playing the Game

The nine cards in your hand come in three varieties. Six of the cards represent Chickens: the Healthy Chickens, the Plump Chicken, the Prize Chicken and the Sickly Chicken. Two of them are predators: the Fox and the Rat. The last one is your noble Guard Dog. The center of the table is Farmer Johnson's chicken coop. (Chicken wire not included.)

The game plays across several nights, one night for each player in the game. Each night lasts nine hours. Each hour, all players will choose one of the cards from their hand and place it face down in the coop. Once each player has provided a card, everyone simultaneously flips over their card and reveals who they sent into the coop. Everyone must reveal what card they played at the same time.

If there's Nobody But Us Chickens in the coop, everything goes quietly. But if a Fox, Rat or Guard Dog goes into the coop, the feathers start to fly!

• If only Chickens were played, this hour of the night goes by quietly. All Chickens remain in the coop at the center of the table, face up. They are safe for now, but these Chickens are still in danger of being snatched by Foxes or Rats that sneak in later.

  Tip: Send your Chickens to the coop whenever you think they'll get there safely.

• If more than one Fox was played, the Foxes will have to make several trips to the coop to snatch all the Chickens. Starting with the "Fox King" and continuing clockwise around the table, everyone who played a Fox snatches one Chicken from the coop and places it face down on the table in front of them. Your Fox can only carry one Chicken at a time, but it will keep returning to the coop, snatching another Chicken and adding it to your pile, until all of the chickens have been snatched. Continue taking turns around the table, snatching one chicken at a time until all the Chickens in the roost have been claimed. When there are no more Chickens to snatch, add your Fox to the face down pile in front of you.

• If only one Fox was played, that Fox makes all of the trips by herself and snatches all of the Chickens in the coop. If you're that foxy player, take all of the Chickens from the coop along with your Fox and place them face down into your pile.

  Tip: Your Fox should sneak into the coop when you think it's full of juicy Chickens.

• If any Rats were played, the Foxes still get first pick. They're bigger and hungrier than the Rats. If you played a Rat, wait until every player who played a Fox has snatched their first Chicken. Then, still in clockwise order starting from the "Fox King", your Rat sneaks in and nabs one Chicken. Of course, if nobody else played a Fox, the Rats will have their pick of the coop. Rats aren't as big as Foxes and they don't eat as much. Once you've claimed one Chicken and put it into your pile, put your Rat into the pile as well.

  Tip: Your Rat should sneak into the coop when you think he'll find one juicy Chicken.

• If more than one Guard Dog AND any predators were played, then the Guard Dogs will fend off the predators and save the chickens. Everyone who played a predator puts it face down in the pile in front of them. They won't be snatching any Chickens this time! Instead, everyone who played a Guard Dog shares the credit for rescuing the Chickens. Starting with the "Top Dog" and continuing counter-clockwise around the table, everyone who played a Guard Dog takes credit for rescuing one Chicken by pulling it out of the coop and placing it face down into the pile in front of them. Your Guard Dog can only take credit for saving one Chicken at a time, but he'll keep returning to the coop, saving more Chickens and adding them to your pile until all of the chickens have been saved. Continue taking turns around the table, saving one Chicken at a time until all the Chickens in the coop have been saved. When there are no more Chickens in the coop, put your Guard Dog into the face down pile in front of you.

Continuing Play

As soon as you've finished resolving the last hour, the next begins. Pick a new card from those still in your hand and place it in the coop face down. Repeat the procedure described above. After the ninth hour, everyone will be out of cards. The sun rises and the night is over. Any Chickens still in the coop remain in the coop. They've made it through the night safe and sound; no player will receive points for those Chickens.

Scoring

At end of each night, score all the Chickens you've claimed by adding up their point values:

• For each Healthy Chicken, score one point.
• For each Plump Chicken, score two points.
• For each Prize Chicken, score four points.
• For every Sickly Chicken, subtract one point from your score.
• Foxes, Rats, and Guard Dogs have no point value.
• Unclaimed chickens safe in the coop are not scored.

Sadly, it is possible to end the night with a negative score.

Continuing the Game

Collect your full set of cards, including any chickens in the coop, back into your hand for another night. Pass the Fox King and Top Dog markers one player to the left. The previous "Fox King" is now the "Top Dog."

Endgame

Play until each player has been "Fox King" once, so the game has as many nights as there are players. At this point, the winner is the one with the highest total score.

Strategy Tips

There is no single winning strategy to Nobody but Us Chickens. The key to success is to outwit your opponents by anticipating their plays. However, here are some strategies that have been successfully used by many players. With practice, we're sure you'll find even more.

1. Card Counting for Fun and Chickens. The key to your success is figuring out which cards other players will play and using that information to pick the best moment to play each of your cards. It will help if you can keep track of who's played which cards. Knowing their options helps you make your choices. For instance, once you see that everyone else has played their Guard Dogs, you can send your Fox into the coop with impunity.
2. Poisoning the Waters. Whenever the coop gets to be filled with nice Plump Chickens, someone is sure to make a run for it. Rather than try to compete, this is an excellent time to drop your Sickly Chicken on them and reduce the overall value of the coop.
3. Baiting the Trap. Try dropping your Prize Chicken into the coop. So long as the rest of the players didn't decide to throw in their Sickly Chickens, this should create a pot few Foxes can pass up. Drop your Guard Dog in the next round and get credit for protecting the flock.
4. You Sneaky Rat! When the coop contains several Sickly Chickens and one Plump Chicken or Prize Chicken, use your Rat to slip in and nab that one juicy Chicken right out from under the other players' noses!

Game Variants

These are two of our favorite variants; feel free to make up your own!

1. Healthy Coop: Every night a player collects NO Sickly Chickens, she earns an extra point. At least one Chicken must be collected to earn this bonus.
2. Short Summer Nights: Once you've played Nobody but Us Chickens a few dozen times or so, you may decide that you'd like the game to offer a bit more of a challenge. In this case, we suggest you try out the special short-handed rules. Simply reduce the size of every player's starting hand to seven cards by removing their Rat and one of their Healthy Chickens. This might seem like a minor change, but with only seven hours, you'll find the night gets much tougher.