Penguin Party
Penguin Party Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
For 2 – 6 players. Ages 6 and up. Duration approx. 15 minutes.
36 penguin cards in five colours: 7 each of red, blue, yellow and purple and 8 of green, 36 penalty chips (24 worth 1 point each, 12 worth 5 points).
Preparation
Shuffle the penguin cards and deal them out evenly to each player. If five people are playing, the last remaining card is placed in the centre of the table face up. This penguin is the first card in the lowest tier of the penguin pyramid.
Penalty chips are sorted by value and placed in the centre of the table as well. This is the pool from which players take their chips or to which they are returned.
The player who has last seen a real penguin begins. Turns are taken clockwise.
Playing the Game
The player whose turn it is chooses a penguin card from their hand and places it in the centre of the table. Penguin cards are always played face up. As the game progresses, players build an eight-tiered penguin pyramid. The lowest tier consists of eight penguin cards lying side by side. The tier above this one consists of seven cards, the one above that of six, and so on, until the top tier, consisting of one single penguin card, is reached.
A complete eight-tiered pyramid has a bottom tier of eight cards narrowing by one card per tier up to a single card at the top. However, the pyramid is not necessarily complete at the end of the game, as very often it is impossible to play all the cards.
The first penguin card played in the round marks the bottom tier (except when there are five players, when the bottom tier is marked by the card left over after dealing). The next player must place a penguin card next to the first one. The penguins' colours are irrelevant.
There are two possibilities for playing the next penguin cards:
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If there are fewer than eight penguins in the bottom tier, the card can be placed next to them on the left or right side.
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Penguins can be placed in a tier higher up whenever two penguins are already in place immediately below. However, the new penguin's colour has to match the colour of at least one of the penguins below.
Correct: The yellow penguin is placed on top of another yellow penguin. The blue penguin is put on top of two blue penguin cards.
Incorrect: The red penguin is placed on top of a yellow and a green penguin. There is only one penguin card in place underneath the green penguin.
Penalty Chips
If it is a player's turn and they cannot play a card from their hand, they are eliminated from the game and have to take one silver chip (worth one penalty point) for each penguin card remaining in their hand. The cards are then put face-down on the table in front of the player.
Example: It's Markus's turn. He cannot place a penguin on the pyramid. He now has to take two silver chips from the pool, because he has two cards remaining in his hand. He then places the cards face-down on the table.
If a player can play the last card from their hand, they can return two of their penalty chips (worth 1 penalty point each) to the pool. Chips of different values may be exchanged for each other at any time. If the player in question has no penalty chips, they cannot return any to the pool.
Example: Barbara has five silver chips. She manages to place her last penguin on the pyramid. Her reward is that she can put two of her penalty chips back in the pool. Now she has only three penalty chips left. Then it's Giulia's turn. She also manages to place her last card on the pyramid and is allowed to return two of her chips to the pool. However, she only has one chip, so she only puts this one back in the pool.
End of the Game
The game is over when no player can play a card anymore. This can be because they have all dropped out of the game or because they have played all the cards in their hands. It is possible that the last player can play several cards in a row, because all other players have dropped out of the game. The last player also has to take penalty chips if they cannot play all their cards.
The cards are then reshuffled for the next round and dealt just like at the start of the first round. Players keep their chips in front of them. The game consists of as many rounds as there are players. Each player gets to be starting player once. The player with the lowest value in chips at the end of the last round wins the game. If there is a tie, all players with the lowest score win or playing is continued until a winner is determined.
Two-Player Variant
Shuffle all 36 penguin cards. Each player is dealt 14 cards. The remaining cards are put aside face down. They will not be needed for the game. The bottom tier of the pyramid consists of only seven penguin cards. All other rules remain the same.