Duration of a game: 20 - 40 min.

Material:

- Board 18 x 14
- For each player, a set of 10 pieces (8 animals + 2 humans)
- 99 cards (9 for each piece and a joker, with values 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 2x4, 1x5)

Preparation:

The cards are shuffled and a hand of 7 cards is dealt face down to each player. The players examine their hands.
The rest of the deck is placed next to the board, within reach of both players. It will serve as a draw pile for refurnishing each player's hand to 7 at the end of their turn.

Some suitable object (e.g. the board cover, if there is any, or a newspaper, etc.) is pressed into service as a screen which is placed in the middle of the board (one of the players, or a third person, may have to hold it).
Behind this visual barrier,  both players now distribute their 10 pieces on the 12 spaces marked with a star of their side of the board in any formation they like (hence two of those spaces remain empty).
When both players have finished their setup, the screen is lifted and lots are drawn for first play.

.Aim of the Game:

The player who achieves one of two objectives:
a) eliminate one of his opponent's humans, or
b) reach the last rank (his opponent's first) with one of his own humans
wins the game.

Game Mechanism:

On his turn, a player plays a card from his hand (exceptionally more than one card > see jokers) and moves the corresponding piece as many (or less) spaces as is the value of that card. Then he completes his hand to 7 again from the draw pile.
(When the draw pile is exhausted, all played cards are reshuffled.)

- As the board design suggests, movement is always orthogonal, never diagonal.
- During its movement, a piece may change direction any number of times. Stepping on the same space more than once is also allowed.
- It is possible to use only a part of the movement points provided by the card, or even renounce movement altogether (= pass). In this latter case, a player may, if he wishes, discard a card from his hand (just one!) and draw a new one.
- Movement across occupied spaces (be it by friendly or hostile pieces) is not allowed.

Taking pieces:

When a piece enters a space occupied by an inferior enemy piece, the latter is removed from the game.
If the active piece has movement points left, it can continue its movement.

Important: A piece can kill only once per turn!

Animal hierarchy, from strongest to weakest, is as follows:
Elephant, polar bear, tiger, lion, wolf, dog, cat, mouse.
[Tip for beginners: Size matters - this order is strictly according to size, not necessarily combat strength!]

There are two important exceptions:
1. The mouse is the only animal that can kill the elephant (and never the other way round).
2.  The dog wins against the polar bear (and never the other way round).

When two identical animals meet on the same space, they eliminate each other and both are removed from the game.

The humans are the weakest pieces and lose against any animal. If this happens, the game ends immediately and the owner of the animal wins.

Human against human:

When two humans meet on the same space, the more advanced piece (i.e. the one in the opponent's half of the board) wins this encounter and the game.

Jokers:

The cards with our little blue alien friend are jokers and can be used for any piece (animal or human).
The cards for a player's already eliminated animals are also jokers, but their value is always "1", if a single card is played.
If a player has more than one card for an eliminated animal, he can play them jointly, with their joker-value being equal to the number of cards played in this way.
[Example: Joey's elephant is no longer in play. He plays three elephant cards at the same time. He can move any piece up to three spaces and then replenish his hand to 7.]