The Gnumies
The Gnumies Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
Players: 2–5 Players. Age: 8 years and up. Length: about 30 minutes.
Contents: 55 Gnumie cards, 11 cards in each of five colors (red, yellow, blue, violet, gray). 53 Party cards valued from 1 to 15, including the Copicastors and the Wullawakis.
Overview
The Gnumies and their friends from the planet Gnum love big Parties. They like to see Borsis, Dancemites, Boggelors or Divalettis as guests at their parties. But no one wants the dreaded Wullawakis at his party. The Gnumies and their friends are shown on the Gnumie cards, and the guests on the party cards. There are 4 of each party card valued from 1 to 10, and one of each party card valued from 11 to 15. The players try to win the most party cards, worth the most points by playing their Gnumie cards. If a player has two or more party cards of the same value, their value multiplies. A player who wins the Wullawaki, loses points. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner!
Preparation
Separate the Gnumie cards from the party cards. Sort the Gnumie cards by the color of their numbers. Each player takes 11 Gnumie cards of one color as his hand. Ten of these cards have values from 10 to 100. The eleventh card, the Gnalli, has a star. The function of the Gnalli cards is described below. Place the unused sets of Gnumie cards (without players) back in the box; they are not used in the game. Shuffle all the party cards (with the green back of a back of a moon on the backs) and place them as a supply stack in the middle of the table.
Note: the printed text reads "with the green back of a back of a moon on the backs"; the wording is reproduced as printed.
Playing the Game
The game is played over several rounds. Each round is played in the following order:
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Any player turns over the top-most card in the party supply stack. He places it face up next to the party supply stack. The area in front of each player is their party room. This is where they will play cards in the game.
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Now each player selects a Gnumie card from his hand and places it face-down in his party room. When all players have selected and placed their Gnumie cards, they turn them face-up simultaneously, revealing to all the cards they selected.
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The player who selected and played the highest valued Gnumie card wins the face-up party card and places it face-up in his party room. In the adjacent example, the highest card is Vallygnum (90).
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If two or more players tie with the highest Gnumie card, the card among those tied with the largest number of Luckynits (the small figures at the bottom of each Gnumie card) wins the party card for the player who played it. In the example shown here, Grampa Gnumsen wins with the violet 80 and five Luckynits. The blue Grampa Gnumsen worth 80 has only 1 Luckynit.
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The player who wins the party card must discard, face-up, the Gnumie card he won it with. Thus, the players create a discard pile of Gnumie cards next to the party card supply during the game. Players place all party cards they win face-up in their party rooms for all to see throughout the game.
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The other players take back their "losing" Gnumie cards, putting them in their hands. They may be played in any following round. The round is now over. The new round begins with a player turning over the next top-most party card from the party card supply stack.
The Special Gnumie Card: Gnalli
If a player does not want to try to win the face-up party card for a round, he may play his Gnalli Gnumie card. Note: a player may not play his Gnalli card when the Wullawaki card is the face-up party card. When a player plays his Gnalli card, he does not participate in the quest to win the face-up party card. Instead, he takes the top-most face down card from the party card supply stack and looks at it secretly. He then has three options:
- He gives the party card to the opponent of his choice (no negotiation allowed!). His opponent immediately places the party card face-up in his party room. The player giving the party card, takes his Gnalli card back into his hand and may play it again in another round.
- He keeps the party card for himself, placing it face-up in his party room. He then discards his Gnalli card.
- If the party card drawn is a Wullawaki (see the special rules for Wullawakis below), the player must keep the card for himself, placing it face up in his party room. He then takes his Gnalli card back into his hand and may play it again in another round.
If more than one player plays his Gnalli card in a round, all players playing Gnalli cards take them back into their hands and may play them again in other rounds. None of these players may take the top-most party card. If all players play their Gnalli cards, all take them back into their hands and may play them again in other rounds. Then they all play other Gnumie cards. No player is allowed to play their Gnalli card again this round.
As the game progresses, players will have ever fewer cards in their hands. If a player only has his Gnalli left when a Wullawaki card is the available face-up party card, he reveals this card to his opponents and does not play a face-down card this round. When more than one player is in this position, each discards his Gnalli card, takes the top-most card from the party card supply stack (in age order, starting with the youngest player), and places the card drawn face-up in his party room. Such players have finished the game (see Game End below).
The Special Party Card: the Wullawaki
There are 7 Wullawaki cards in the party card supply stack. When one is the face-up party card available, the player with the highest played Gnumie card wins the Wullawaki card.
The player winning the Wullawaki card places it face up in his party room and takes back his played Gnumie card into his hand. He may play it again in later rounds. All other players must discard their played Gnumie cards.
The Special Party Card: the Copicastor
When a Copicastor (see Scoring below) is the face-up party card available, the player with the lowest played Gnumie card wins the Wullawaki card. [Sic: the printed text says "Wullawaki card" in this paragraph; the card won is the Copicastor.]
The player who wins the Copicastor must discard the Gnumie card he played. Each other player takes the card he played back into his hand.
If more than one player ties with the lowest Gnumie card, the player whose card has the most Luckynits wins the Copicastor. In the above example, the yellow Celin (10) wins with 4 Luckynits. The red Celin (10) does not win as she has only 1 Luckynit.
Game End
When a player has no more Gnumie cards in his hand, the game is over for him, but the other players continue. When only one player has Gnumie cards left, he discards all his Gnumie cards and takes party cards from the party card supply stack equal in number to the number of Gnumie cards he just discarded. He takes the top-most cards (no choosing) and places them face-up in his party room. If there are not enough cards in the party card supply, he just takes those that are there. The game now ends and the players score. The player with the most points is the winner!
Scoring
If a player has one or more Wullawaki cards in his party room, he must discard party cards before scoring as described below:
- With 1 Wullawaki card, the player discards the Wullawaki and the lowest valued party card in his party room (even if he has more than one of that value).
- With 2 Wullawaki cards, the player discards the Wullawakis and the highest valued party card in his party room (even if he has more than one of that value).
- With 3 or more Wullawaki cards, the player discards the Wullawakis and one other party card of his choice for each Wullawaki card he has.
The points are now scored in the following way:
- A single party card of one type scores the value shown on the card. The Borsi on the left scores, for example, 1 point.
- Two of the same kind of party card (a pair) scores 20 points, regardless of the values shown on the cards.
- Three of the same kind of party card scores 50 points, regardless of the values shown on the cards.
- Four of the same kind of party card scores 100 points, regardless of the values shown on the cards.
- Five of the same kind of party card scores 150 points, regardless of the values shown on the cards.
If a player has a Copicastor, the Copicastor takes the form of the lowest valued other guest in the player's party room. This insures that the player will have at least a pair of like party cards and may even have a set of five!
Scoring Example
The Dancemites are the lowest valued guests in the player's party room. As the player has a Wullawaki, he must discard a Dancemite with the Wullawaki, yielding 0 points for the two cards. Fortunately, he also has a Copicastor, who becomes a Dancemite, and restores the Dancemite group to three.
- The two Dancemites plus the Copicastor earn 50 points
- The Dumbball earns 6 points
- The two Trendis earn 20 points
- The Dimmling earns 10 points
- The Rapster earns 13 points
- The Dancemite with the Wullawaki earns 0 points
Total: 99 points