Schnattergei
Schnattergei Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
110 cards with 7 motifs in four colours (blue, brown, yellow and red).
The motifs are: Strawberry, Banana, Elephant, Cocoa, Carrot, Paprika and Schnattergei.
Setup
Shuffle all the cards and deal 25 cards face down to each player. Return the remaining cards to the box.
Each player places their cards in a face-down draw pile in front of them. Players may not look at their own cards. Leave room in the middle of the table for the discard pile.
Gameplay
Whoever has the next birthday starts the game. Play proceeds clockwise. Whenever it is your turn, you flip the top card of your draw pile face up into the middle of the table. In this way the players build a shared discard pile there.
Caution: when flipping the card, make sure you turn it toward the middle of the table. Turn your card over as quickly as possible so that everyone sees the motif at the same time.
Depending on the card you play, you must react differently.
Naming the Motif
When you play your card, you must quickly name the motif that matches the colour of the card you played.
Caution: in most cases this is not the motif you see on the card.
| Colour played | Motif to name |
|---|---|
| Red | "Strawberry" |
| Blue | "Elephant" |
| Yellow | "Banana" |
| Brown | "Cocoa" |
"Carrot" and "Paprika" are never named.
Example 1: Lena plays a yellow elephant. She immediately says "Banana", because she has played a yellow card. Then Herby takes his turn. He plays a red banana and says at lightning speed: "Strawberry". This is correct, because his card is red.
The Schnattergei
The Schnattergei is a special card. When you play a Schnattergei, you may not name the motif that matches the colour played. Instead, you must repeat — "schnattern nach" (echo) — what the person before you said, regardless of the colour of the Schnattergei.
Example 2: Marion plays a blue Schnattergei. She must now echo what Herby said, and likewise says "Strawberry".
The colour of the Schnattergei matters only if you play it as the first card of the discard pile. In that case you treat it like any other card.
Doubles
If two cards showing the same motif — regardless of colour — are placed on top of each other on the discard pile, this is a double. Now everyone is challenged! Slap the discard pile with one hand as quickly as possible. If you were the fastest, you take all the cards of the discard pile and slide them face down under your draw pile.
Afterwards you start a new discard pile by flipping the top card of your draw pile and placing it in the middle.
Caution: if your card creates a double, you do not need to call anything out. If you do call out, it is not counted as a mistake — even if you named the wrong motif.
Example 3: After Marion's Schnattergei, Selim also plays a Schnattergei. That is a double! Marion recognised it before everyone else and slapped the discard pile first. She takes the discard pile and slides the cards face down under her draw pile. Marion begins the new discard pile by flipping the top card of her draw pile and placing it in the middle of the table.
Mistakes
You make a mistake if you …
- … call out the wrong motif.
- … slap the discard pile although there is no double on top.
- … wrongly accuse another player of a mistake.
- … hesitate too long before naming the correct motif.
Note: you do not need a stopwatch to measure time. Play fairly and openly admit if you hesitated too long and thereby made a mistake.
If you make a mistake, you must, as a penalty, place the top two cards of your draw pile under the discard pile.
After you have placed the penalty cards, you continue the game and, under the normal rules, play one further card onto the discard pile.
Example 4: After Marion has started the new discard pile and named the correct motif, Selim takes his turn. He plays a blue cocoa. Mistakenly he says: "Cocoa", although he should have said "Elephant". As a penalty for naming the wrong motif, he places the top two cards of his draw pile under the discard pile. With the next card that Selim places on the discard pile, he continues the game.
End of the Game
When you have played your last card, you continue to play. When cards are played you are skipped, but you can still try to win the discard pile on a double. If you succeed, you play normally again.
However, if another player wins the pile or you make a mistake, the game ends. Everyone counts their cards. Whoever has the most cards wins. If several players have the most cards, they win together.
Two-player game: the game ends immediately when one player has played their last card onto the discard pile. The other player has then won.
Variants
If you want an even greater challenge, play with the following additional rules:
You must also slap the discard pile when …
- … a yellow elephant is placed on the discard pile.
- … the same motif is named four times in a row.