In Marienkäfer und so, ladybugs and other insects are crawling all over the cards. Try to find them based on their silhouetted profiles before the other players do – but that's not easy as the insect marked through on your search card must not be anywhere on the insect card!

The 63 insect cards feature three colored insects (all different) on one side of the card and three silhouetted insects on the reverse side, with one of those insects having a large X through it. Shuffle the deck with the black-and-white images face up, then deal one card to each player; this card is a player's search card.

On a turn, the player who last claimed a card (chosen randomly in the first round) flips over the top card of the deck. Each player races to slap this card – but only if the newly revealed card depicts at least one of the two non-Xed insects on that player's search card and that player's Xed insect is not on the newly revealed card. If the first player to slap the card has done so correctly, he claims the card, placing it black-and-white side up on his stack to become his new search card; if the first player has slapped the card incorrectly (as his Xed insect is on the card or neither of his other two search targets are present), that player must remove the bottom card of his search stack from the game. The slapped card is also removed from play. (A player can't lose his only search card. If no one slaps the card, remove it from play, then reveal the next card.)

Play continues until the final insect card has been slapped. Whoever has the most cards in his search deck wins.

For children as young as age three, Marienkäfer und so can be played with players taking turns consecutively instead of playing simultaneously. If a player can claim a card, he does so, making it his new search card; otherwise he removes it from play.

A second game is included in Marienkäfer und so. Shuffle the insect cards black-and-white side face up, then deal seven cards to each player. All players simultaneously flip their top card color-side up onto the table, then race to slap an insect card in front of another player that matches the search criteria on the newly revealed top card of their personal deck. Each card can be claimed by only one player, i.e., whoever slaps it first. If a player slaps a card correctly, he places it on the bottom of his deck black-and-white side face up; if a player slaps a card incorrectly, his current search card is removed from play. All unslapped cards are also removed from play. The game ends when one or more players have only a single card in their deck; the player(s) with the most cards in their deck(s) wins.

Games