Wild Life Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Idea of the Game
• Rules for Young Children
  • Start of the Game
  • Visiting Other Zoos
  • Arrival at Your Own Zoo
  • Once Around the World
  • Animal Squares Whose Cards Are Already Gone? Panda Tokens!
  • The Game Ends
• Rules with Money and Chance Cards
  • Course of the Game
  • The Meaning of the Different Squares
  • Visiting Zoos and the Animal Trade
  • If a Player Has No Money Left
  • End of the Game
• For Experienced Players: Zoo Director and Animal Dealer at the Same Time

Contents

• 1 Game board
• 4 Playing pieces
• 48 Animal cards
• 48 Cardboard cover tokens
• 28 Plastic tokens (24 panda tokens in 4 colours and 4 white animal-trader tokens)
• 20 Harbour cards
• 20 Transport cards
• Money
• 2 dice

Idea of the Game

In this game you are not only a friend of animals, but also an active animal conservationist. You may trade in monkeys, birds, reptiles, pachyderms and predators. You buy and sell, and make sure they are housed in the zoo where they belong. As the director of a zoo, your goal is to fill your own zoo as quickly as possible. If you manage to do this before any of the others, you are the winner.

Wild Life is a true family game and so must be played by more than 2 people. To make sure that young children who cannot yet read or do sums very well, are able to join in, Wild Life can be played according to different sets of rules: simple, for young children; a little harder, for older children and refined, for experienced players (older youngsters and adults). It is recommended that beginners play the first round, and perhaps the second as well, according to the simple rules.

This way they get to know the game and its various possibilities, and can better fit in the interesting variations later on. Depending on the number of players, the game master also plays. As a rule, the best way to organise a round is as follows:

3 players: One player takes on the role of game master. The other two players are each given two zoos from the start. It is also possible to close a zoo, i.e. to remove the animal cards belonging to it from the game. In that case the game master also plays, and all three players are each given one zoo.

4 players: The game master also takes part in the game. All four players are each assigned a zoo.

5 players: One player takes on the role of game master. The other four players are each assigned a zoo, depending on their luck with the dice.

The game master looks after the money, the cards, the coloured tokens (plastic), and the cover tokens bearing the animal pictures (these must be punched out of the pre-cut cardboard sheet before the game begins). Above all, the game master ensures that the rules are properly followed. In the event of any disputes, the game master has the final word.

Rules for Young Children

This children's round is played without money, harbour and transport cards, and without the white animal-dealer tokens. The game master lays out four piles of animal cards in front of themselves, sorted by zoo, with the pictures face up. Players now take turns rolling the die. Whoever rolls the highest number may choose a zoo first. Then the player with the second-highest roll chooses, and so on. Each player takes a playing piece matching the colour of their zoo and places it on the starting square, the red square in Switzerland.

Start of the Game

Players take turns rolling the dice in a clockwise direction. Players agree beforehand whether one or two dice will be used. The journey leads from the start towards Greenland, along the red line. The owner of the children's zoo may begin. If, for example, they roll a 5, they land on the polar bear square.

Note: every circle, every white dot, every ship and every lighthouse counts as a playing space. So if a 5 is rolled, the route reads: Le Havre – ship – Iceland – harp seal – polar bear. The player now receives the polar bear card free of charge from the game master and lays it face up on the table in front of them. It is now the next player's turn. If they roll a 4, they receive the harp seal card. If they roll a 2 and land on a ship, they may roll again. This is also the case if their piece lands on a harbour square, for example in New York. In this way the players continue to roll and receive, free of charge from the game master, the animals of the squares they land on. The dotted line to the Giant Panda counts as a detour. The panda can thus be reached, for example, from Shanghai with a roll of 1, and from Tokyo with a roll of 2.

Visiting Other Zoos

While the animals are being 'collected', the route leads past the various zoos. Every zoo must be visited, i.e. players must stop there on the white dot. Any pips rolled in excess of what is needed to reach the zoo are forfeited. In the zoos of fellow players, the animals that players are carrying with them are traded for other animals that the players can use for their own zoo. For example: the owner of the zoo for big cats and bears passes the zoo for pachyderms and reptiles. They are carrying an elephant, which they cannot use themselves, so they try to trade it for a big cat or a bear. The value of the animals plays no role in this. It is also permitted to trade several cards at once.

Arrival at Your Own Zoo

At last we can house our animals! Every carried animal that belongs in your own zoo takes up its enclosure upon arrival. This works as follows: the relevant animal square in the zoo is covered with a carboard token bearing a picture of the same animal (ask the game master for this). The animal card itself is set aside, as it is no longer needed for the rest of the game. The more animals that are 'at home', the greater the chance of winning the game.

Once Around the World

Whoever has been once around the world passes the starting square in Switzerland again and receives, as a good-luck gift from the game master, the top card from the pile belonging to their own zoo. Whoever is lucky enough not just to pass the starting square but to land exactly on it receives not one but two cards! If all the animals for one's own zoo have already been given out, then one has simply been unlucky.

Animal Squares Whose Cards Are Already Gone? Panda Tokens!

The further the game develops, the greater the chance of landing on an animal square whose card has already been given to one of the players. When this happens, the player may ask the game master for a round panda token in the colour of their zoo, and place it on that square, i.e. make a reservation. When another player later lands on a square marked in this way, they must give the owner of the panda token one of their animal cards from the zoo whose colour matches that of the panda token.

For example: the kangaroo has already been given out. The owner of the zoo for pachyderms and reptiles therefore places their blue token on the square. Now the owner of the zoo for monkeys and birds passes by, stops on the occupied kangaroo square, and must unfortunately hand over a card belonging to the zoo for pachyderms and reptiles — with nothing in return! If the player has no card of that colour, they must choose either to take back their own panda token, which they have already placed elsewhere, or to skip 2 rounds on Mauritius, the island of extinct animals). From there they must continue playing towards Australia.

The Game Ends

The game ends when one of the players has filled their zoo with all 12 animals that belong in it. Whoever, at that moment, has the second-, third- or fourth-highest number of housed animals takes second, third or fourth place respectively. Naturally, the players may also continue playing for second place. In that case, the winner returns to the game master all the cards that do not belong to their own zoo, and takes back the panda tokens of their colour from the board. These cards then come back into circulation.

Rules with Money and Chance Cards

The principle remains the same in this version. The game master looks after the bank, the animal cards, the harbour and transport cards, the cardboard cover tokens and the panda tokens. The harbour and transport cards are placed on the game board. Players agree beforehand whether one or two dice will be used. Players then roll to determine who acquires which zoo. Whoever rolls the highest number chooses first, followed by the other players in order of the number rolled. Each zoo owner is paid a starting capital. Since not all animals have the same value, this differs:

• Children's zoo: 80.000,--
• Zoo for pachyderms and reptiles: 70.000,--
• Zoo for monkeys and birds: 60.000,--
• Zoo for big cats and bears: 55.000,--

Course of the Game

The owner of the children's zoo begins; the players then take turns rolling and moving in a clockwise direction. The route runs anticlockwise from the starting square to Iceland, and so on. Every animal symbol, every ship and every lighthouse is a playing space and corresponds to one pip on the die.

The Meaning of the Different Squares

Animal symbols: Whoever lands on an animal square may buy the relevant animal card from the game master for the capture cost, even if the animal does not belong in their own zoo.

Giant Panda: This rare animal lives in a small, hard-to-reach area of China, off to the side of the travel route. To catch the panda, a player must break their journey in Shanghai (the remaining pips are forfeited). From there, one jumps onto the panda square with an odd number of pips — 1, 3, 5, and so on. To leave that square again, an even number of pips must be rolled.

Animal-dealer squares: (Asunción, Dakar, Sydney, Hyderabad) only have a special meaning when the game is played with the 'animal dealers' variant (see page 8).

Lighthouse: Lighthouses always stand at the major harbours. Whoever lands on such a square must take the top harbour card from the pile and carry out the instruction, either immediately or at a moment favourable to the player, depending on what is indicated on the card.

Ship: Whoever's playing piece lands on a ship must take the top transport card from the pile and likewise carry out the instructions.

Starting square: Every player who passes the starting square again during their journey receives from the game master (for as long as supplies last, of course) the top card from the pile of animal cards that fits their zoo, plus a contribution of 2,000 towards research costs. Whoever lands exactly on the starting square — that is, rolls the precise number needed to land there — receives, in addition to the card, a further contribution, which they determine themselves by rolling the dice again. Each pip is worth 1,000; so whoever rolls a 6 continues on their adventurous journey 6,000 richer.

Visiting Zoos and the Animal Trade

Every player who passes a zoo must stop there (the remaining pips of the roll are forfeited). For every animal carried, a fee for food and lodging is paid to the owner of the zoo. This fee amounts to 300 per animal. No payment is required for animals that the zoo owner buys or trades. Visitors and owners may trade, buy and sell. If the owner of a zoo is willing to pay the full value for an animal, the visitor must hand over the animal for that price. Whoever arrives at their own zoo may house all the animals they are carrying that belong there. The relevant animal squares are then covered with the corresponding tokens, and the animal cards are set aside. Whoever has already covered six of their own zoo squares may demand double, i.e. 600, per animal carried from fellow players who come to visit with animals. If two players happen to land on the same square somewhere along the way, they may, just as when visiting a zoo, trade, buy and sell animals.

Panda tokens: Whoever lands on an animal square whose card has already been given out may buy a panda token from the game master (for as long as supplies last), in the colour of their own zoo, for 2,000, and place it on the relevant square. Any player who later lands on a square occupied by such a token must sell the owner of the token an animal from the relevant zoo for the capture cost. If they do not own such an animal, the other player may buy a different animal from them instead, or demand a fee of 1,000. The tokens remain on their squares.

If a Player Has No Money Left

They must sell the game master as many animal cards, at half value, as needed to cover the shortfall. Cards returned to the game master come back into trade. Discarded panda tokens can also be sold to the game master, at the full price of 2,000 each.

End of the Game

Whoever is first to house all twelve animals in their zoo is the winner. Play may continue for second place, or players may agree that second place, and so on, is taken by the player(s) with the next-highest number of animals acquired.

For Experienced Players: Zoo Director and Animal Dealer at the Same Time

In this version for experienced players, even more money may come into play and the stakes increase. On the game board there are four animal-dealer stations: Asunción, Dakar, Sydney, Hyderabad. Whoever is first to pass one of these stations may buy it and mark it as 'occupied' with a white animal-dealer token. Each player may acquire only one station. It remains in their possession for the entire game and confers certain advantages: if a player lands on another player's station, the latter may sell them an animal of their choice from their territory for half the value printed on the card. This works as follows: the animal dealer requests, free of charge, from the game master the animal the visitor wants, and sells it to the interested player. The animal dealer thus acts as a kind of middleman between the game master and the buyer, and profits nicely from it. The animal-dealer stations have different prices, depending on their size and animal stock:

• Asunción: 10.000,-- — Territory: North and South America
• Dakar: 15.000,-- — Territory: Africa and Madagascar
• Sydney: 10.000,-- — Territory: Australia, New Guinea and Borneo
• Hyderabad: 10.000,-- — Territory: India, South-East Asia, Sumatra, Java and Siberia

The coveted panda does not belong to any animal-dealer territory and is in every case bought directly from the game master. If a player lands on their own animal-dealer station, they may choose an animal free of charge from the territory they control and request the relevant card from the game master. Otherwise, the course of play is the same as in the version described above.