The Ants Go Marching Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • First, Roll the Dice!
  • Then Move Your Wheelbarrow and Collect Blocks!
  • You Build Your Anthill!
  • Distributing New Blocks
• End of the Game
• Variant for Younger Children
• Variant for Clever Master Builders

Components

• 72 blocks (Bausteine) in four colours
• 2 dice
• 1 game board (the ant road)
• 4 wheelbarrows (Schubkarren) in four colours
• 1 supply container (Vorratscontainer)
• 4 anthills (Ameisenhügel), each with 15 building spots (Bauplätze) on one side and 10 on the other

Setup

• Place the game board in the middle of the table, and place the two dice and the supply container within reach beside it.
• The ant road is shown on the board. Everyone helps to shuffle the blocks face down and then place them face up on the spaces. Place one block on each space. Leave only the start space (Startfeld) and the two anteater spaces (Ameisenbär-Felder) free. The remaining blocks go face down into the container.
• Each player takes one anthill and one wheelbarrow in the same colour. Place each anthill so that the side with 10 building spots is visible. Each player places their wheelbarrow on the start space.
• Anthills and wheelbarrows that are not needed stay in the box.
• Tip: If older children or adults play together with small children, the older players choose the anthill with 15 building spots. The small children then play as described, with the anthill that shows 10 building spots.

Gameplay

The youngest player begins, and play then continues clockwise. On your turn, roll the dice and move your wheelbarrow along the ant road. On the way you collect blocks. However, put the right blocks into your wheelbarrow, otherwise you will have to give some back when you build. When you reach the start space again, empty your wheelbarrow and build with the collected blocks on your anthill.

First, Roll the Dice!

Roll both dice. You then have three options for moving your wheelbarrow:

• a) Move by the number on the 1st die.
• b) Move by the number on the 2nd die.
• c) Move by the sum of both dice.

Example: Two spaces, five spaces, or seven spaces.

Then Move Your Wheelbarrow and Collect Blocks!

Choose one of the three options and move your wheelbarrow forward by the chosen number of spaces, in the direction of the arrow.

When your wheelbarrow lands on a space, the following applies:

• a) A space with no block on it: Nothing further happens.
• b) A space with a block on it: You may choose whether to put the block into your wheelbarrow or leave it where it is. Important: You must always put the block into your wheelbarrow face down. Only when you reach the start space again may you look at what you have collected.
• c) A ladybird space (Marienkäfer-Feld): If there is a block on it, you must put this block into your wheelbarrow, and in addition one block from the container, which you may look at beforehand, into your wheelbarrow. If there is no block on the ladybird space, you must still put one block from the container into your wheelbarrow.
• d) An anteater space (Ameisenbär-Feld): You must take your most recently collected block out of your wheelbarrow, face down, and return it to the container.
• e) A space with another player's wheelbarrow: You push the other wheelbarrow one space further. If there is a block on this space, the other player must put that block into his wheelbarrow (on a ladybird space, also one block from the container), whether he needs it or not. If you push his wheelbarrow onto an anteater space, he must give up a block. You may also push several wheelbarrows at once in a chain reaction, and these players must then take or give up blocks. If you find a block on the space from which you pushed the other player's wheelbarrow, you may choose whether to take that block or not.
• f) Back on the start space: You have travelled once around the ant road, and any dice points you have left over are forfeited. The game is briefly interrupted so that you can build with your collected blocks. This also happens when your wheelbarrow has been pushed onto the start space.

You Build Your Anthill!

Empty your wheelbarrow in front of you and place it back on the start space. Place the blocks you brought along onto the building spots of the same colour on your anthill.

• You begin in the bottom row and build from the bottom upwards.
• You may place a block in a higher row only once both building spots beneath it are already occupied.
• You may place only one block, of the same colour as the building spot, on each building spot.

Important: You must build all the blocks you brought along. If you cannot place one or more blocks on your anthill because the colour does not match, or because the block cannot be placed in a higher row, these blocks go face down back into the container. Unfortunately, you must also return one block that you placed earlier from your anthill to the container.

Distributing New Blocks

While you place your blocks on your anthill, the other players take new blocks from the container and place them face up on the empty spaces of the ant road. No new block is placed on a space that holds a wheelbarrow. The anteater spaces also remain free. If the container is empty, empty spaces are no longer refilled.

End of the Game

Whoever manages to cover the last building spot on their anthill with a block ends the game. If that player still has blocks left over, the game still ends and that player wins.

Variant for Younger Children

Do not add the two dice together. Use the number on only one of the two dice to move your wheelbarrow.

Placing blocks on your anthill is also easier: when you receive a block on the ant road, you may immediately place it on a suitable free building spot of your anthill. The building rules described above must still be observed. If you do not want the block, simply leave it lying.

As soon as you have moved on with your wheelbarrow, place a new block from the container on the free space. This way there are always enough blocks on the ant road to collect.

Variant for Clever Master Builders

Play with the side of the anthill that shows 15 building spots.

To move your wheelbarrow you have an additional, fourth option: you may now also subtract the dice values from one another (and thereby possibly even stay put).

Pushing becomes more interesting: if you land on a space where another wheelbarrow stands (other than the start space), you do not push that wheelbarrow one space further. Instead, you push it by as many spaces as you used to move yourself, but at most as far as the start space.

In this variant, to win at the end of the game you must not have any block left over when you place your last block on your anthill. If you do not manage this, you must, as usual, pay one block as a penalty and drive once more around the ant road.

Translator's note: The German text says "wie üblich" ("as usual") for this penalty. The base rules as printed describe no separate penalty; the closest parallel is returning a block from your anthill to the container, as described under Building Your Anthill. This has been transcribed as printed and not resolved.