Object Game Materials Set Up Game Play

A prickly card game for 3–6 players ages 8 and up by Thomas Nezold
Object
Use wasps, scorpions, swordfish, and porcupines to take as many Tricks as possible. Each Trick gives you a
Plus Point. Special cards win you more Plus Points—but maybe also Minus Points! Whoever has the most
points after a predetermined number of rounds wins the game.
Game Materials
+2
-2+2
-2
+2 -2
+2
+1
6 Plus-Minus Cards
-3
for each
Scorpion
+2-2
48 Animal Cards (12 cards each of 4 colors)
breaks
a tie
-2
breaks
a tie
+5
for the most
Porcupines
1 Dealer Card
Wasps
are
Trump
for the
fewest Tricks
31 Special Cards (with 4 different back sides)
In addition you’ll also need Paper and Something to Write With (not included).
Set Up
Sort the cards according to the number of players and put the following back in the can:
3 Players
All cards of the value 11 and 12 and 1 card of your choice with the value 1
4 Players
All cards of the value 11 and 12
5 Players
3 cards of your choice of the value 1
6 Players
None
All players may look in the can at any time to see which cards have been removed.
Game Play
A game consists of several rounds. Each always proceeds as follows:
1) Determine Dealer
2) Deal Animal Cards
3) Distribute Plus-Minus Cards
4) Pick Special Cards
5) Take Tricks
6) Write Down Score
1) Determine Dealer
In the first round, a player of your picking receives the Dealer Card. In the ensuing rounds,
the Dealer Card always passes to the player to the previous dealer’s left.
2) Deal Animal Cards
The player with the Dealer Card shuffles all the Animal Cards. Then he deals all the Animal Cards
equally to all players, so that each player ends up with the same number of cards.
Each player puts the cards in a hand.
3) Distribute Plus-Minus Cards
Each player receives 1 Plus-Minus Card and puts it in his hand. If a player still has a Plus-Minus Card in
his hand from the previous round, he does not receive another. Consequently, each player will always
have exactly 1 Plus-Minus Card at his disposal.
4) Pick Special Cards
Sort all the Special Cards according to their backs. Now you’ll have 4 decks of Special Cards.
Shuffle all 4 decks individually and place them face down. Now, the top card of each deck is turned.
The player to the left of the dealer picks 1 card of these 4 turned Special Cards which is then valid
for this round. After that, the next player in a clockwise direction takes 1 second card which is
also valid for this round. The last 2 cards are placed back face down on their respective decks.
They are not valid for this round.
Chris
(chooses the second Special Card)
Wasps
are
Trump
+1
for each
Porcupine
-5
for the
most Tricks
+3
for the most
Porcupines
Daria
Bridget
(chooses the first
Special Card)
Andy
(Dealer)
Example: Andy has the Dealer Card. Bridget sits to Andy’s left and thus picks 1 of the 4 face-up Special
Cards. She chooses “-5 for the most Tricks“ because she has many cards with low values in her hand. So she
hopes to be able to apply the Minus Points to one or more other players.
To Bridget’s left sits Chris. He has the 8, 9, and 10 Porcupines. His chance for ending up with a lot of
Porcupines is consequently quite high, so he chooses the card “+1 for each Porcupine.”
The two other Special Cards are put back; they don’t apply in this round.
5) Take Tricks
A round is composed of several Tricks. In each Trick, proceeding in a clockwise direction, each player
plays exactly 1 Animal Card from his hand. Everyone places his chosen card face up on the table.
The first Trick of a round is lead by the player to the left of the player who drew the second Special Card.
Each subsequent Trick is lead by the player who won the previous Trick.
Example: Daria is sitting to the left of Chris, who picked the second Special Card. She leads the first
Trick of this round..
The player who leads the Trick may choose the first card of the Trick freely. The following players must
follow suit, if they can: all players must play a card of the same suit as the first card on the Trick. If a
player can’t follow suit, because he doesn’t have a card of the same suit, he may play any card from his
hand.
The player who played the highest card of the suit played first wins the Trick. One exception is if a
Special Card is played declaring one color as trump. If at least 1 card of the trump suit is played in the
Trick, the player who has played the highest trump card takes the Trick.
The winner of the Trick takes all the cards of the Trick and places them face down in front of him.
Then he leads to the next Trick.
Tip: We recommend placing Tricks you’ve won at
alternating 90° angles so you can more quickly tell the
number of Tricks you’ve won at the scoring.
Plus-Minus Card
Each player has 1 Plus-Minus Card at his disposal per round, which he keeps in his hand with the Animal
Cards. The Plus-Minus Card has two different sides, one with +2 and one with –2.
Each player can play his Plus-Minus Card whenever he likes along with an Animal Card. He thereby
changes the value of the card he’s played by 2, higher or lower according to his choice. The Plus-Minus
Card is then set aside. The player cannot use it until the next round.
N.B.: Only 1 Plus-Minus Card may be played per Trick! Therefore as soon as one player plays his PlusMinus Card in a Trick, no other player may play his Plus-Minus Card.
If a Plus-Minus Card creates a tie between 2 cards for winning the Trick, the player who played the
Plus-Minus Card always wins the Trick.
+2
+2
+2
bre
aks
Example: Daria plays a Scorpion 10. Andy has to follow suit. He plays a Scorpion
a tie 8 and his
Plus-Minus Card with the side +2 up. That gives Andy a Scorpion 10, and he takes
the Trick,
if no trump cards are being played. Bridget and Chris may no longer play their Plus-Minus Cards
in this Trick.
As soon as every player has played all his Animal Cards, the Tricks end.
Now, you compute the points that each player has earned in this round:
• Each Trick is worth 1 point.
• Special Cards provide their corresponding Plus- or Minus Points.
If a Special Card’s condition has been fulfilled by more than one player,
all of those players receive the corresponding points.
The points awarded in the round are written down, and with that the round ends.
+1
-5
for each
Porcupine
3
+2
+2
6) Write Down Score
for the
most Tricks
+4
-5 = 2
Example: Chris won 3 Tricks and receives 3 points for it. In his Tricks are 4 Porcupines which give him 4
extra points. No one has more than 3 Tricks, so Chris receives 5 Minus points for having the most Tricks.
So, in total, Chris receives 2 points for this round.
Andy and Daria have also each collected 3 Tricks, and receive 3 points for them. In addition to the
points they receive for their Tricks and Porcupines, they also each receive 5 Minus Points for tying for
the most Tricks.
End of Game
Depending on the number of players, you play the following number of rounds:
3 Players = 6 Rounds
5 Players = 5 Rounds
4 Players = 8 Rounds
6 Players = 6 Rounds
You can change the number of rounds if you’d rather have a shorter or longer game. But make sure that
every player is the dealer the same number of times, in order to make sure everyone’s got equal
chances! Whoever has the most points after the agreed-upon number of rounds wins the game. In the case
of a tie, there are multiple winners.
Credits
Game Designer: Thomas Nezold
Licensor: White Castle Games (www.whitecastle.at)
Illustration: Tom Thiel (www.illuvision.com)
Graphic Design: Tom Thiel, Torsten Hess,
Hans-Georg Schneider
Realization: Thygra Board Game Agency
(www.thygra.com)
Thanks to the authors’ Stammtisch and the
playtesters in Brot & Spiele as well as Christof Tisch.
 2010 Pegasus Spiele GmbH
Straßheimer Str. 2, 61169 Friedberg
All rights reserved.
www.pegasus.de