Pungi
Pungi Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Lure valuable snakes to yourself with the help of animal cards, while trying to avoid poisonous ones. You may want to get a few snake charmers, because at the end of the game they turn penalty points into victory points. But if you have no penalty points, the snake charmers will turn your victory points into penalty points!
The player who collects the most victory points wins the game.
Components
- 1 pungi card
- 37 snake cards (31 snakes and 6 snake charmers)
- 60 animal cards (6 types of animals, with values from 1 to 10)
- Rules
Animal cards have a face side (with a number) and a back side.
Game Setup
Place the pungi card in the middle of the table so that there is free space for other cards on the side the arrow points to. Shuffle the snake cards (including the snake charmers) and place them in one face-down pile next to the pungi card (on the side opposite to the direction of the arrow).
Shuffle the animal cards and place them in a separate pile face down (animal side, without number) next to it. Each player takes 5 cards from this pile and holds them in hand so that the other players can freely see the animals shown on their backs.
Now everything is ready to start the game!
Course of Play
Choose the first player in any way. Each round consists of three actions:
- Lay out cards.
- Play cards.
- Take a card.
1. Lay Out Cards
The first player turns over cards from the top of the snake pile, as many as there are players taking part, and lays them one after another face up next to the pungi card (on the side the arrow points to). They first place the first top card next to the arrow, then the next one next to it, and so on, with each newly turned card placed next to the previous one.
(Illustration: set-up for 4 players.)
If among the cards in the layout there are at least four identical ones, shuffle all the turned-over cards back and form a new layout.
2. Play Cards
To catch a snake you need to lure it to yourself with the help of an animal card. This happens as follows:
Starting with the first player, each player chooses one of the cards in their hand and places it with its back (the side without a number) face up on the table in front of them. The back of the played card must be visible to all players.
Then the players determine whether among the played cards there is an animal that appears more often than the others.
If there is such an animal, it gains the advantage. If there is no such animal, no one gains the advantage.
Example:
- The players played 3 mice and 2 ducks. The mouse appeared more often, so it gains the advantage.
- The players played 2 lizards, 2 dragonflies and 1 grasshopper. Since no animal is shown on the cards more often than the others, no one gains the advantage.
Tip: you can look at which animals the players before you have played before deciding which animal to play. This decision, as a rule, depends on whether you want your card to gain the advantage in this round and thus to slightly influence which snake card you get.
3. Take a Card
If an animal gains the advantage, the players first turn over the played cards of this animal.
The player who played the card with the highest number takes the first (nearest to the pungi) card from the layout and puts it on the table in front of them. They place their played animal card face down on the discard pile.
The player who played a card of this animal with the next highest number takes the next nearest card to the pungi. They also put their played animal card on the discard pile. This continues until all cards of this animal are in the discard pile.
After that, all the remaining players turn over their animal cards and take the nearest cards to the pungi by the same principle.
The round ends when every player has taken one card. If several players played cards with equal numbers, the player who played their card earlier takes the card from the layout first.
If no animal gains the advantage, all players turn over their played cards simultaneously. The player who played the card with the highest number takes the first (nearest) card from the layout. The player who played the card with the next highest number takes the next card, and so on.
The round ends when every player has taken one snake card.
At the end of the round, the player sitting to the left of the first player becomes the first player of the next round. If desired, players may decide for themselves who will be the first player in the next round.
New Round
Starting with the first player, each player draws a card from the animal pile into their hand so that they again have 5.
Then the new first player again lays out snake cards, as many as there are players, next to the pungi.
Then, starting with the first player and continuing clockwise, each player plays one card from their hand face up on the table, and the game continues as described above.
End of the Game
If at the start of a round there are not enough cards in the snake pile to lay out a new row next to the pungi, the game ends immediately.
Count Your Points
First check whether you have snake charmers, each of which turns the penalty points on one snake card into victory points. For example, if you have a snake with a value of -4, a snake charmer changes its value to 4.
Be careful! If you have no snakes with penalty points, you will have to turn the victory points of one of your snakes into penalty points.
You decide for yourself which snake's points will be changed.
Then add up your victory points and subtract your penalty points.
The player who scored the most victory points wins the game!
Example: Karl has 2 snake charmers, one snake -3, one 2, one 3 and one 4. If he had only one snake charmer, he would have changed the points of one snake card from -3 to 3. Unfortunately, he no longer has any snakes with penalty points for the second snake charmer, and he has to change the victory points of one of his snakes to penalty points. Karl decides to use this for the card with the lowest value, which is 2, so it becomes -2. In total he gets 3 + 3 + 4 - 2 = 8 points.
Tip: it is advisable to play as many rounds (games) as there are players in the game. The player who has the most points at the end of all rounds wins the game.