Wooly Whammoth
Wooly Whammoth Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 4 sets of Hunting Path boards (top and bottom boards for each player)
- 4 sets of 8 Movement cards
- 8 CHARGE! cards
- 4 sets of Cave People standees, 4 in each Tribe
- 4 Mammoth standees
- 20 plastic stands
- 24 Mammoth Meat tokens
- 4 Tribal Ability cards (optional rules, see Tribal Ability Rules)
Set Up
Place the Mammoth standees into the plastic stands.
Assemble the Hunting Path boards by sliding the "Bottom" board underneath the "Top" board as shown. The Bottom board will stick out with the "Start" space showing. Give a Hunting Path board and a Mammoth token to each player, placing the Mammoth token on the last space on the Top board, where the 2nd Tusk icon is shown.
Have each player choose a favorite color tribe. (The Tribes are otherwise identical in the standard game. See Optional Rules on page 7 for special Tribal Ability cards.)
Take the Cave People standees of your color and place them into plastic stands. Place one of your Cave People on the "Start" space and the other three to the side of your board. Additionally, take the 8 Movement cards matching your Tribe's color to form your hand.
Place all 24 Mammoth Meat tokens within easy reach of all players in the center of the table.
Shuffle the 8 CHARGE! cards and place them face-down to form the CHARGE! deck.
You are ready for the hunt!
Game Play Overview
Instead of individual turns, everyone plays at the same time in Wooly Whammoth. Each Turn, players will choose a Movement card from their hand and place it face down on the table until everyone is ready. Cards are revealed at the same time, which cause all the Cave People to move the total showing on all the cards. Your goal is to have your Cave Person land on either of the last two spaces on your board (marked with Tusk icons), which topples the Mammoth over the cliff, earning you a Mammoth Meat token. But you want to avoid ending your movement on a Tar Pit or running off the cliff's edge, thereby losing one of your 4 Cave People.
A Game Turn
Expanded rules for these steps presented on following pages.
- Play Movement Cards a. Choose a Movement card from your hand and play it face down. b. Reveal all played Movement cards simultaneously.
- Move your Cave Person a number of spaces equal to the TOTAL of all the large numbers on the cards. a. Players with modifiers may choose to modify their movement. b. Cave People ending movement in Tar Pits perish and are removed from the game. c. Mammoths pushed off the cliff score a Mammoth Meat token. d. Mammoths CHARGE! (if required). Draw CHARGE! card(s) and resolve them. e. Reset the Mammoth standee onto last space of board.
- Clean Up a. Played Movement cards are discarded face down. b. If a Mammoth was knocked off the cliff, stretch your Hunting Path board one space. Place your Cave Person back on the Starting Space. c. If a Cave Person perished, remove them from the game and place a new Cave Person on the Start Space. (Then, reset Tribal Ability card per optional rules.) d. OPTION: "Eat" a Mammoth Meat token to place all your Movement cards back in hand.
- Repeat until win conditions have been met.
1. Play Movement Cards
Every player has the same 8-card hand of Movement cards. The cards have values from -3 to 4. Some cards also have a smaller number, either a -1 or +1, as an optional modifier.
Each round, players will select a Movement card from their hand and play it face down, waiting for the other players to be ready. Once everyone has selected a card, reveal them all simultaneously.
2. Movement
Add up the large numbers on ALL the cards. This is the total number of spaces that ALL Cave People will move forward on their own Hunting Path board. If your Movement card has a smaller modification number shown, it applies to your movement alone and you may adjust your total accordingly. This modification is never mandatory.
Other cards have special rules as well. If you choose the "2 Take Break" card, you add 2 to everyone's movement total but your Cave Person does not move. Certain special rules, like "Take Break" and "Charge!" are mandatory once played.
EXAMPLE: Add up the large numbers.
Four cards are played: "4 +1" (Get Mammoth!, Blue), "1 -1" (Get Mammoth!, Green), "-3" (Run Away!, Purple) and "2" (Take Break, Orange).
4 + 1 + (-3) + 2 = 4 spaces
- Blue has the option to move an extra space and may therefore move 4 or 5 spaces.
- Green can move one less space and so may move 3 or 4 spaces.
- Purple must move 4 spaces, as they have no modifier.
- Orange played the "2 Take Break" card and will not move at all, even if they now wished they could.
Note: At no time can a Cave Person move backwards past Start. Their standee remains on Start instead.
2. Movement (cont.)
If your Cave Person ends their move in a Tar Pit: Remove your Cave Person from the game. You've only got four lives, so be careful. Note that as your board extends, you'll begin to encounter double Tar Pits. Beware! These can be especially treacherous to avoid. Being able to modify your movement can make the difference between life and death when you are nearby.
If your Cave Person ends their move on one of the two Tusk Spaces: Congratulations! You have successfully driven the Mammoth over the cliff! Take a Mammoth Meat token.
If your Cave Person goes over the edge of the board: Your Cave Person has gone over the cliff with the Mammoth and perishes. Remove that standee from the game. But, it's not all bad news: you still hunted the Mammoth successfully and fed your tribe. Take a Mammoth Meat token.
If a Player played their "1 CHARGE!" card for Movement: This card adds 1 to the total movement for all Cave People, like any Movement card. In addition, after all Cave People have moved, any Mammoths that have not been pushed off their boards will try to stomp their attackers.
Draw a card from the CHARGE! Deck and move all surviving Mammoths the number of spaces shown, towards the Cave People.
If the Mammoth lands on or passes a space occupied by a Cave Person, that Cave Person has perished and is removed from the game. If a Mammoth lands in a Tar Pit, that player scores a free Mammoth Meat token. Additionally, some CHARGE! cards have added effects. These apply only to Cave People who were Charged at, but survived. (If you knocked a mammoth off the board, ignore the effect.)
If the CHARGE! Deck becomes exhausted, shuffle the discards to form a new CHARGE! Deck.
2. Movement / Charge! (cont.)
Duck & Ambush: There is a defense against a charging Mammoth. If a player played their "-3 Run Away" card during a Turn where a charging Mammoth would have landed on or passed their space, that Cave Person does not perish and scores a Mammoth Meat token instead. Treat this as though you knocked the mammoth off the cliff. (Duck & Ambush also appears as a Tribal Ability and works the same way.)
After Mammoths have charged and resolved all effects, reset the Mammoth standees to where they began, on the last Tusk icon space on the board.
3. Clean Up
Discard: Discard your played Movement card to the side, in your own discard pile. Next Turn, you can only choose from the cards remaining in your hand. So, plan accordingly.
If a Mammoth was knocked off the cliff, stretch the Hunting Path board one space, by pulling the bottom board towards you. (You now have to go farther afield to find more mammoths.) Note: If you've extended your board all the way, ignore this step, leaving the board as it is for the duration of the game. Place your surviving Cave Person back on the Start space for the next Turn.
If a Cave Person perished, remove them from the game and place a new Cave Person on the Start space for the next Turn.
Refreshing your Hand: (optional) To get your Movement cards back, just eat a Mammoth. This revitalizes your tribe. Return one of your Mammoth Meat tokens to the center pile. Then pick up your discarded Movement cards so you have all eight of your cards again. You may eat a Mammoth Meat to get your cards back at any time.
If you ever run out of cards and don't have a Mammoth Meat token to replace them, your entire tribe has starved. You are out of the game.
4. Check for Win Conditions / Repeat
Continue this process until one player emerges victorious.
4. Winning the Game
A player wins the game immediately if...
- They hold 6 Mammoth Meat tokens. This can be difficult because you have to eat Mammoths to hunt Mammoths. As soon as a player collects their sixth Mammoth Meat token, they are declared the WINNER.
- They are the last surviving tribe. Prehistoric times were brutal. If at the end of a Turn, your tribe is the only one left with Cave People in play, you WIN. Survival of the fittest.
Resolving Ties: If the remaining players all lose their last Cave Person on the same Turn, the tribe among them with the most Mammoth Meat tokens wins. If there is still a tie, the Cave Person who was furthest from the cliff beforehand is the winner. Otherwise, they will share their 'victory' and we shall all wonder how we managed to survive the Pleistocene at all.
Tribal Ability Rules (Optional)
Once you've played your first game, try playing using the special Tribal Ability cards.
During Set Up: Shuffle the 4 Tribal Ability cards and have each player draw one at random. Place this card face-up beside your Hunting Path board, representing the Tribe you will play this game. Take the matching colored standees and Movement cards.
Each Tribal Ability card has two abilities printed on it. An ability can be used at any time, and is often used in response to a potentially deadly situation, to avoid losing a Cave Person. However, once used, the card is flipped over. That ability is no longer available. Reset your ability when one of your Cave People perishes, flipping it back over to its Active side.
The four Tribal Ability cards are (each card's two abilities are separated by "OR" on the card):
- Nutty Tribe: Flip to add +4 to your move. OR: Place a discard of your choice back into your hand.
- Timid Tribe: Flip to subtract -3 from your move. OR: Place 3 random discards back into your hand.
- Stealthy Tribe: Flip to subtract -1 from your move. OR: Duck & Ambush a Charging Mammoth.
- Brute Tribe: Flip to add or subtract 2 to your move. OR: Place a random card from an opponent's hand into yours. (Return it when they eat a Meat.)
Specific Ability Notes:
Brute Tribe: "Place a random card from opponent's hand into yours." The Brute player chooses an opponent, draws a card at random from that player's current hand, and places that card into their own hand. It is fully usable as their card, until it is reclaimed. To reclaim it, their opponent must 'eat' a Mammoth Meat. The card is reclaimed from wherever it currently resides, your hand or discard pile.
Stealthy Tribe: "Duck & Ambush a Charging Mammoth." This ability allows the player to avoid being stomped by a charging Mammoth and scores them one Mammoth Meat token, as though they had played "-3 Run Away" this Turn.
Optional Rules
Sudden Death
Some people like a knock-down, drag-out fight, some want a crisp end. In this variant, when there are just two players left, you enter Sudden Death. Allow each player to refill their hand for the last time. Play until each has exhausted their hand or one player emerges as the victor.
Starting Positions
Do your games with NEW players tend to start with everyone running off the cliff? It can happen until players understand what happens when EVERYONE plays high cards and are starting in the same space. Try Starting Positions during Set Up - and ONLY for the first Turn of the game.
Each player shuffles their hand and draws one card at random. They will start the game that many spaces forward on the path. A "-3" remains on their starting space and anyone moving onto a Tar Pit chooses the space before or after the pit. The card is placed immediately back into their hand and the game proceeds as normal.