QUICK, EASY TO FOLLOW
RULEBOOK-STYLE LAYOUT
Game Objective
Match your animal cards (from the white deck) with their matching animal cards (in the black deck) to make them worth POINTS.
Each round, be the first player to have POINTS for all of your cards.
The first player to reach 800 POINTS wins the game!
Players
Best enjoyed with 2–4 players, though more can play if desired.
Setup
Separate the white deck from the black deck and shuffle each thoroughly.
Place the black deck face down in the center of the play area to form the draw pile.
Choose a designated player to be the dealer of the white deck.
Allow ample space for each player’s row of cards.
Dealing the White Deck
Cards in the white deck are always dealt face up for all players to see.
In the first round, the dealer receives the first card.
In following rounds, the winner of the previous round is dealt the first card.
For fun: Let that player give the deck a “lucky cut” before dealing.
Going clockwise, the dealer places one card at a time face up in front of each player until everyone has a straight row of six evenly spaced animal cards.
These six cards are called your STARTING CARDS.
The remaining white deck cards are not used for this round—set them aside, out of play.
Cards in the White Deck (3 Types)
Category Cards
Have white borders.
Display an animal and its CATEGORY at the top.
A small number in the upper corner indicating the card’s point value when matched.
Not worth POINTS until matched!
Connect Cards - Lower Half
Have white-to-gray borders.
Display only the LOWER HALF of an animal.
Say CONNECT at the top.
Worth 80 POINTS when matched (connected) to the UPPER HALF of the same animal.
Minus Cards
Have red borders.
Display an animal and say MINUS at the top.
Display minus POINTS in the upper right corner.
Are already worth POINTS… minus POINTS (-75, -90 or -100).
Do not need to be matched to win the round!
Any Minus Cards that aren’t matched (or covered by a Wild Card) by the end of the round must be subtracted from your score.
Gameplay
The player dealt the first card begins.
Draw a card from the black deck (draw pile).
If the animal illustration matches one of your starting cards, you have a MATCH!
When matching a Category Card or Minus Card: Place the drawn card OVER the matching starting card and completely cover it, face up.
When matching a Lower Half Connect Card: Align the UPPER HALF of the same animal directly ABOVE the LOWER HALF and connect them together (the image of the entire animal can now be seen).
Each time a starting card is covered or connected, it is now worth POINTS!
If you match a card from the draw pile, your turn continues — draw again.
If you cannot match the card, place it face up next to the draw pile to form the discard pile.
Discard rules:
A discarded card is available to the next player.
If the next player can match it, they must take it, along with any revealed matching cards underneath. ~It’s great luck when this happens, because it means you get to match more than one card during your turn! :)
After matching from the discard pile, your turn ends (no additional draw — next player’s turn).
Winning a Round
The first player with all their starting cards worth POINTS wins the round! You will see the word “POINTS” on all of your cards letting you know that you finished first and have won the round.
POINTS include any regular POINTS… as well as minus POINTS, and 0 POINTS, and also Side Bonus POINTS.
Only the winner of the round adds up the total POINTS from all their cards.
All other players score only the POINTS shown on their Minus Cards and Side Bonus Cards (if any).
NOTE: As soon as a player has POINTS for all their cards, the round instantly ends and they are the winner—even if they have any uncovered Minus Cards still showing, the round is over!
Scoring the Round
The Winner:
Adds up ALL all of the POINTS on their starting cards (now covered or connected).
Adds up all collected Side Bonus Card POINTS (if any).
Adds up and subtracts all Minus POINTS from their uncovered Minus Cards (if any).
All Other Players:
Score ONLY their Minus Cards (the negative POINTS showing on each card).
Score ONLY their Side Bonus Cards (the plus POINTS showing on each card).
Note: Category Cards, Connect cards and Wild Cards do not get tallied.
Scoring Reminders
The Big Risk: If you are left with an uncovered Minus Card, you must subtract the card’s minus POINTS (-75, -90 or -100) from your total score!
The BEAST card: Remember that the Wild Card BEAST cards are worth 0 points. They do help you win the round faster… but they don't add to your point total.
So, basically, whether you win or lose the round:
Getting stuck with Minus Cards is awful (because minus POINTS are subtracted from your score).
But having Side Bonus Cards is awesome (because you get to add guaranteed bonus POINTS to your score).
OK, time to start playing and get acquainted with the cards you’ll see in the black deck…
—CARDS YOU’LL DRAW FROM THE BLACK DECK—
ANTI-Minus Cards
ANTI-Minus Cards match to your Minus Cards (they will both match the same animal).
You do not need to match (cover) your Minus Card(s) to win the round since they already are worth POINTS, however
When a Minus Card is covered with its matching ANTI-Minus Card, it becomes worth positive POINTS!
When matched from the draw pile: your turn continues — draw again.
When matched from the discard pile: your turn ends — next player.
Any uncovered Minus Cards left in your row of starting cards at the end of the round deduct the card’s minus POINTS (-75, -90 or -100) from your score—whether you win or lose the round.
Connect Cards - Upper Half
They complete the animal illustration displayed on Lower Half Connect Cards.
When matching, connect both halves together (edge-to-edge) to form the entire elongated animal.
When matched from the draw pile: your turn continues — draw again.
When matched from the discard pile: your turn ends — next player.
Connect Cards are worth 80 POINTS when matched!
Only the Upper Half Connect Cards display an animal category at the top of each card.
The Lower Half Connect Cards all say CONNECT at the top of each card.
NOTE: You must match you Lower Half Connect Cards first before you can collect a Side Bonus Card for their category.
Side Bonus Cards
There are 8 different Side Bonus Cards:
Each card highlights an animal category (OCEAN, BIRD, INSECT, SEMI-AQUATIC, HORNS, REPTILE, ARACHNID and MYTHICAL).
When drawn:
Check your categories at the top of your starting cards.
If any of your cards match that same animal category, TAKE the Side Bonus Card and place it off to the side of your starting cards — draw again
If no match, discard it — the next player can now claim it if one of their card categories match the Side Bonus Card’s category.
Each Side Bonus Card you collect (and hold on to) is worth guaranteed POINTS! Add these bonus POINTS to your score at the end of the round, whether you win or lose.
REMEMBER: Even if you lose the round, Side Bonus Cards are always guaranteed POINTS!
Wild Cards
There are 2 kinds of Wild Cards:
Four BEAST cards worth 0 POINTS, and one BEST BEAST card worth 50 POINTS.
When drawn, you must place a WILD card over one of your starting cards.
- Best starting cards to cover:
Cover a Category Card with the lowest indicated point value, or
Cover a Minus Card to avoid getting stuck with minus points at the end of the round.
Only cover a Lower Half Connect Card if that’s your only choice left.
The covered card is now worth the POINTS showing on the Wild Card (0 or 50)
Once placed, Wild Cards cannot be removed.
You always draw again after placing a Wild Card over one of your starting cards.
Note: Wild Cards are the only cards that never get discarded.
Dig In Pile Cards (MOLE cards)
There are 6 MOLE cards that you can choose to use:
MOLE cards are used to “dig” for missed cards that get buried in the discard pile.
Allow you to pick up the entire discard pile and search through it to take out any:
Matching animal cards that cover or connect to any of your starting cards.
Side Bonus Cards that match to any of your animal categories.
There is no limit to the number of cards you can dig for — if they match.
When drawn from the draw pile:
If you choose to use a MOLE card and successfully retrieve at least one matching card, your turn continues, discard the MOLE card — draw again.
If you choose to use a MOLE card and don’t find a match, then you don’t get to draw again - discard the MOLE card — the next player may re-use the MOLE card to dig (if necessary), or they can just draw a new card.
If you choose not to use a MOLE card - simply discard the MOLE card — the next player may use the MOLE card to dig (if necessary), or they can just draw a new card.
When on top of the discard pile:
If you choose to use a MOLE card - Your turn ends after digging, whether successful or not. The MOLE card remains on top of the discard pile — the next player may re-use the MOLE card to dig (if necessary), or they can just draw a new card.
If you choose not to use a MOLE card — simply draw a new card.
NOTE: You should only use a MOLE card if you think it’s necessary… otherwise, you are just wasting time digging… and, if it’s on top of the discard pile, you will lose your chance to draw a new card.
Specialty Cards
There are 3 different Specialty Cards that have you do a special task:
EARTHWORM card: Switch one of your cards worth POINTS cards with one player’s card that is also worth POINTS (if you both have a card that is worth POINTS).
RACCOON card: Take a card worth POINTS from one player (if they have any cards worth POINTS).
HYENA card: Give one of your cards worth POINTS to one player (if you have any cards worth POINTS).
Specialty Card Task Rules:
You MUST perform the task on a Specialty Card if you’re able to.
Each Specialty Card is one-time use… meaning, after a player performs a card’s task, that Specialty Card is now “void” for all other players to perform the same task again.
You can give, take, or switch any POINTS (This includes regular POINTS, as well as… minus POINTS, 0 POINTS, and Side Bonus POINTS).
If a card is covering or connected to another card, transfer both cards together — place transferred card(s) in the player’s row of starting cards.
When drawn from draw pile:
If you perform the task on a Specialty Card, you turn continues after doing the task, discard the Specialty card — draw again.
If you can’t perform the Specialty Card task, discard the Specialty card — the next player must now perform the task on the Specialty Card if they are able to… if not, they just draw a new card.
When on top of the discard pile:
If you perform the task on a Specialty Card, your turn ends automatically after doing the task. The Specialty Card remains on top of the discard pile — the next player draws a new card.
If you can’t perform the Specialty Card task — simply draw a new card.
NOTE: Specialty Cards cannot be dug for using a MOLE card, once they get buried in the discard pile, they become “void” to all players.
