Rule the Roost
Rule the Roost Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Aim of the Game
At the beginning of the game, each player receives three rooster cards. Throughout the game, she has to place these cards under one or more of the three barns. For each barn in which a player has the majority of roosters at the end of the game, she receives one point for each of the chickens. When two or more players have an equal number of roosters in a barn, they share the points for the chickens.
But beware! Danger is lurking. The foxes have chickens on the menu and the farmer is eager to move roosters from one barn to another....
Gameplay
The players first determine the color of the rooster cards they would like to play with. Each player then receives her three rooster cards. If there are less than four players, the remaining rooster cards are removed from the game. The three barn cards are placed face up alongside each other on the table.
The remaining cards are then shuffled to form the draw pile. Each player takes two cards from the top of the draw pile, so that she has five in her hands at the beginning of the game: three rooster cards and two others. The players determine amongst themselves who begins.
With each turn, a player places one of the five cards in her hands face down under one of the three barn cards, and then takes a new card from the drawing pile. Each player tries to obtain a majority under one or more of the three barns with her own rooster cards. At the end of the game, the player should try to have as many chickens as possible in the barns in which she dominates (by either placing her own chicken cards there, or by banking on others doing so). Whichever player has the majority of roosters in a barn, receives one point per chicken at the end of the game. (Or, if two or more players have a majority, the points are shared.)
You can prevent an opponent from having the majority of roosters in a barn or collecting chickens in a barn with the following cards: The Egg card, the Fox card, the Farmer with pitchfork card, the Farmer with key card and the Padlock card.
The Egg card
Before a player has finished placing a card under a barn, an opponent can stop her by deploying an egg card. If an egg card is played by an opponent, the player must put her card on the discard pile. Beware! You only have three rooster cards, and you do not want to be blocked by an egg card when playing one. Once an opponent has played an egg card, it is also placed on the discard pile. Both players are now allowed to pick up a new card from the draw pile, and the turn is given to the person who played the egg card.
If two or more opponents play an egg card at the same time, the player is not blocked: the egg cards cancel each other out. The player can still put her card under one of the barns. Furthermore, she receives another turn after playing this card. Hence, opponents want to avoid playing egg cards at the same time! Not only do they fail to block the player, they grant her another turn!
If two or more opponents throw an egg card at the same time, these cards go into the discard pile and they are allowed to take a new card from the draw pile. When there are not enough cards left in the draw deck for everyone, the player whom the others sought to block always receives priority in taking a card. Priority in drawing a card is then granted to her unsuccessful opponents in order of how close they are to their next turn. Suppose, for example, that four people are playing and two opponents threw down an egg card. Suppose further that there are only two cards left in the draw deck. The player whom the others sought to block first draws a card. The final card in the draw deck then goes to the opponent who is closest to her turn.
The Fox card
A fox is bad news for the chickens in a barn. For each fox card in a barn at the end of the game, one point is deducted from the player(s) with the majority of roosters in that barn. Try, therefore, to avoid placing foxes in barns for which you have the majority of roosters. If the number of foxes in a barn is equal to or greater than the number of chickens, the player(s) with a majority of roosters in the barn receives zero points.
The farmer cards
A player can also disrupt her opponents' plans by playing farmer cards. These have to be played openly and are placed face up on the table. With the farmer card, a player is allowed to look through the cards placed under one of the three barns, and can place one of them under a different barn.
Her opponents are not allowed to see the cards she chooses to look through. Once played, the farmer card is placed on the discard pile. By playing a farmer card, a player can tactically move roosters, chickens or foxes. A player is not obligated to move any of the cards under another barn.
There are two kinds of farmer cards: fifteen in which he is holding a pitchfork and one in which he holds a key.
Farmer with pitchfork card
With the farmer with pitchfork card, a player can only look into a stack of cards under one of the three barns, and move one of these cards under another barn if desired.
The farmer with key card
The farmer with key card grants the player the same privileges as the farmer with pitchfork cards. In addition, however, a player can with this card move a card to or from a barn that is locked if so desired. Note that if the player moves a card to or from a locked barn, the barn is locked again once her turn has ended.
The Padlock card
How do you lock a barn? A player can do this with the padlock card.
There is only one padlock card. A player can close a particular barn by placing the padlock card face up on top of it.
Once a barn is locked, no cards can be moved to or from it. The only exception to this, of course, is if someone plays the farmer with key card.
The padlock card is resistant to an egg card. If one or more opponents nevertheless play an egg card when a player uses the padlock card, they must place their egg card on the discard pile and take a new card from the draw deck. The turn is given to the next player in the usual order of play.
The End
Once the draw deck is empty, the players continue to play their hands until no one can place anymore cards on the table. It is then time to determine the winner.
For every barn, all the cards are laid out on the table. It is first determined which player has the majority of roosters in each barn. All the chicken cards are then counted with a value of one victory point for each. For every fox card in the barn, one point is deducted.
If two or more players have the majority of roosters in a barn, the points are split evenly amongst them. Players cannot earn fractions of points. So if any remaining number of chickens cannot be divided evenly among them, they do not count towards any player's points.
Which player has collected the most chickens?