Tacocat Spelled Backwards
Tacocat Spelled Backwards Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Goal
Move Tacocat to the Goal Space on your side of the board (YAY or WOW).
Setup
Set up the board like this:
- Unfold the board and seat one player on the YAY side and one on the WOW side.
- Put all seven tiles in a stack next to the board.
- Insert Tacocat into the black plastic stand and place on the center space.
- Shuffle the cards and deal seven to each player. (You can look at your cards but keep them secret.)
- Put the rest of the deck face down next to the board. This is the Draw Pile. Leave some room for a Discard Pile.
Let's Play
Let's say it's your opponent's turn to go first. They look at the cards in their hand and start by playing the highest one face up in front of them. This is their attack.
Now you MUST do one of two things:
- Defend — Defend by placing a card of equal or higher value from your hand face up in front of you. You get to attack next.
- Sacrifice — Sacrifice the lowest card in your hand face up in front of you. Your opponent gets to attack next.
Ties go to the Defender!
After either outcome, collect both cards and put them face up in the Discard Pile. Determine who gets to attack next as described above. You can attack with any card in your hand, but a good strategy is to attack using the highest card you have.
Continue this way until both players have one card left in their hand. Both players turn over their last card at the same time. The player with the LOWEST card wins the round and gets to move Tacocat one space closer to the Goal Space on their side of the board.
Remember: Sacrifice means you lose the LOWEST card in your hand. And it hurts to lose your lowest card because whichever player has the lower card at the end of the round wins!
The round is over when you both present your last card and then move Tacocat.
Let's Look at an Example
It's your opponent's turn to attack and they play an 8.
Your hand looks like this: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. You could play any of these cards to Defend.
But what if your hand looks like this? 1, 2, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7. You don't have anything that can Defend against an 8, so you are forced to Sacrifice your LOWEST card instead.
Now, pick a player to go first and play a quick practice round before you continue.
Dealing Cards
What are the numbers for? At the end of a round (after you move Tacocat), shuffle all the cards before you deal so that you are always using a completely full deck (38 cards). When Tacocat is moved to a new space, the number on the new space indicates the number of cards to deal to each player for the next round.
Replacing Cards
What are the arrows for? After you deal cards, but before you start the round, you might have some cards that you don't want (usually middle cards like 5, 6, and 7).
If Tacocat is resting on a space with an arrow pointing at you, you get one chance to discard as many (or as few) cards as you'd like into the Discard Pile, and replace them by drawing new cards from the Draw Pile. The other player can then replace UP TO the same number of cards.
So if the arrow points at you and you want to lock your opponent with the cards they were dealt, announce that you don't want to replace any cards.
For the very first round, Tacocat is resting on a space with arrows pointing at both players. This means that both players can replace as many cards as they would like.
Ties
If both players turn over their final card and they are the same, look at the arrow on the space where Tacocat is sitting. Whichever player that arrow is pointing at wins.
If you tie on the starting space where there's an arrow pointed at both players, reset and play again.
Moving Tacocat
What are the tiles for? When both players have played their entire hands and then present their last card, the round is over. When a round is over, the winning player (the player with the lowest card) gets to move Tacocat one space closer to them.
When you move Tacocat, cover the space Tacocat moved off of with any tile, because that space is no longer part of the game.
If Tacocat ever moves to a covered space, simply skip that space and move to the next one instead. Repeat as necessary for all covered spaces in a row. This means the board gets smaller and smaller as the game continues.
Who Goes First?
At the start of every round (each time you deal cards, you are starting a new round), after replacing cards, determine who attacks first with a Duel.
In a Duel, each player looks at their hand and chooses one card to place face down in front of them. Both players turn over their cards at the same time. The player who has the highest card gets to attack first. The card you used in a Duel is no longer a part of your hand. Collect both Duel cards and put them in the Discard Pile.
If there's a tie, discard both cards and Duel again.
There is a tiny chance you might continue to have tied Duels until each player only has one card left. If this happens, just present your final card, and the player with the lower card wins the round. If both final cards are the same, reshuffle and start again.
Winning
When you move Tacocat to the Goal Space on your side of the board, you win the game!
Jumbo Attacks
This section covers some strategic moves.
When it's your turn to attack, you can attack with multiple cards. This is called a JUMBO ATTACK and there are two kinds:
- If you have two or more of the same card in your hand, you can attack with the entire group of matching cards.
- If you have three or more cards in a sequence, you can attack with the entire group of sequential cards.
The player you attacked must Defend or Sacrifice against each separate card used in your Jumbo Attack. If your opponent sacrifices against any of the cards used in your Jumbo Attack, you get to attack again.
Jumbo Attacks are powerful because your opponent must play a bunch of their cards to Defend or Sacrifice without getting to attack you back. And if they Sacrifice against even ONE of the cards in your Jumbo Attack, you get to attack again!
Example 1
Your opponent attacks you with three 7s: 7, 7, 7.
Your hand looks like this: 3, 7, 8, 11.
Each of the three cards your opponent played against you is a separate attack, so you need to defend yourself three times by playing a card against each attack. You sacrifice your lowest card for each attack that you can't defend.
So against the first 7 you play your 11 to win. Then against the next 7 you play your 8 to win. And against the final 7 you play your 7 to win.
Because you defended against all three cards in the Jumbo Attack, it's your turn to attack next. If you had sacrificed against ANY of the cards, your opponent would get to attack again.
Example 2
You attack with three cards in a sequence: 8, 9, 10.
Your opponent's hand looks like this: 2, 3, 7, 11.
Your opponent does not need to defend themselves using a sequence in return, but they do need to play a card against every card in the Jumbo Attack. In this example they only have one card that can be used to defend (the 11) and they play it.
Because they cannot defend against the other two cards in your Jumbo Attack, they must sacrifice their two lowest cards — one for each loss. It is now your turn to attack again because they sacrificed against at least one of the cards in your Jumbo Attack.
Important Things
- Just because you have a group of cards that can be used in a Jumbo Attack does not mean you have to use them as a Jumbo Attack.
- You cannot play your last card as part of a Jumbo Attack. You must keep one card to determine who wins the round.
Do Things in This Order
- Shuffle all the cards
- Deal cards
- Replace cards
- Duel
- Play the round
- Move Tacocat
- Place a tile
- Repeat
How Many Cards Are in the Deck?
| Card value | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
38 total.