Poodle Taxi
Poodle Taxi Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
48 cards, 8 cards in each of six colours.
Goal
The goal is to collect as few fleas as possible, through a mixture of card luck and clever placing of your cards.
Rules
Number of cards
Depending on the number of players, you need the following cards:
| Players | Poodles with arrow pointing RIGHT | Poodles with arrow pointing LEFT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 per colour | 2 per colour | 24 cards |
| 3 | 3 per colour | 3 per colour | 36 cards |
| 4 | 4 per colour | 4 per colour | 48 cards |
Setup
Shuffle the cards well and deal 3 to each player. Place the remaining cards as a face-down draw pile in the centre of the table. Take your 3 cards into your hand and keep them secret from the other players.
Decide who starts. Play then proceeds clockwise.
During the game you place your cards in a row in the centre of the table. Make sure the cards always face in the same direction and are not upside down. Each colour may appear only once in the row!
Turn
On your turn, choose 1 card from your hand and place it face up in the centre of the table. How you proceed depends on whether a card of the same colour is already laid out in the centre of the table or not:
NO, no card of the same colour is yet laid out in the centre of the table:
You may place your card either to the left or to the right of the row of cards already laid out. You may not slide the card in between two cards that are already laid out. Pay attention to the arrow shown on your card. If it points to the right, you must take all cards to the right of the card you played. If it points to the left, you take all the cards to the left of it. The cards you take from the centre of the table are the fleas you collect. Place them face down in your personal flea pile in front of you. These cards count as negative points at the end of the game.
Note: At the start of the game there are no cards in the row. So you may play any card and start the row with it.
Example 1: You want to play a green card. You may place it either to the right or to the left of the row. Because the arrow on your green card points to the left, you will place the card to the left of the row. If you were to place it to the right, you would have to take all cards lying to the left of your played green card and place them as negative points in your personal flea pile.
YES, a card of the same colour is already laid out:
If you want to play a card in a colour that is already laid out, you must place your card on top of the card of the same colour. Then you take all the cards that lie in the direction the arrow on the card you have just placed points, as described above, and place them on your flea pile.
Example 2: You want to play a pink card. Because a pink card is already laid out in the row, you must place your card on top of it. You're in luck: because the arrow on your card points to the left, you do not have to take any card(s).
Example 3: You play a red card, which you must place on top of the red card already laid out in the row. The arrow on your played card points to the left, so you must take both all blue and all pink cards. You place them face down in your personal flea pile in front of you.
Transcriber's note: the printed German reads "Du hast Gück", which is evidently a misprint of "Glück" (luck); translated accordingly.
Drawing
At the end of your turn, refill your hand back to 3 cards by drawing a card from the draw pile. If the draw pile has run out, you can no longer draw a card.
End of the game
The game ends as soon as the draw pile has run out and all of you have played all of your hand cards. The player who has collected the fewest cards in their personal flea pile wins. If several of you have collected the fewest fleas, you share the victory.