Mythical Menagerie
Description
Match cards by colour and creature to score points. Each of the 5 creatures has a special power to give you more control over your hand and card sets.
Strategic Choices:
- Curate your hand by drawing from either the deck or discard piles.
- Be careful which cards you discard, because other players may pick them up.
- Select which creatures to play based on their powers and the sets you are trying to build.
How to Play
Your primary objective is to score points by building sets of creatures. A set is 3, 4, or 5 cards of matching colour or creature type. Each card may contribute to both a colour set and a creature set (e.g. Red Rabbit scores for both the Red and the Rabbit sets).
Your Turn
You have a hand of cards. Play cards to the table to form sets. These sets score at the end of the game.
On your turn:
- Draw 2 cards from any piles (deck and/or discards).
- Play 1 card to your sets.
- Discard 1 card to your personal discard pile.
When you play a card to a set, you may optionally use the creature's power.
Creature Powers
- Rabbit: draw another card.
- Dragon: score +1 for a set of Dragons.
- Qilin: play another card. You need to discard a card to use this power.
- Fox: snag a matching colour card from another player.
- Tortoise: protect yourself from foxes.
The Tortoise has an additional special power: you may play it out of turn if you have it in your hand when someone plays a matching Fox!
End Game & Scoring
The first time the deck runs out, shuffle all discards into a new deck, and then play until the deck runs out again. (The game includes a Phase Card which helps keep track of the deck running out the first time). You then finish the round and everyone counts up their scores:
- 3-card set: 1 point
- 4-card set: 2 points
- 5-card set: 3 points
- +1 point if you have a set of Dragons