Gamehelpbyebyeblacksheep

A push-your-luck card game for 2–5 players. Draw cards from other players’ hands to build matching sets in your zoo. But watch out for the Black Sheep!

Overview

Collect triplets in your zoo (3 cards of the same animal species). The first player to reach the target number of triplets wins:

• 2 players: 5 triplets
• 3 players: 4 triplets
• 4 or 5 players: 3 triplets

Game Play

On your turn, draw a card from any opponent's hand or stop. You draw one card at a time, as many times as you wish. If you draw a Black Sheep, you get all the cards you've collected and your turn ends immediately. If you draw a Special Card, resolve its effect and continue.

If you stop before you draw a Black Sheep, you take all drawn cards from the watering hole to your hand and may keep some of them aside as your zoo. The number of cards you can keep in your zoo this time equals to the total number of cards you have just drawn MINUS TWO. Special cards (Eagle, Mole, Magpie) cannot be placed in the zoo.

At the end of the turn, all other players refill their hands from the draw pile up to the hand limit (8 cards for 2 players; 7 for 3–5 players). Play then passes to the next player clockwise.

Zoo & Triplets

Three cards of the same species in your zoo form a triplet and count as 1 point. A fourth card of the same species may be held in the zoo but does not score an additional point (it protects against the Thieving Magpie).

Card Effects

Black Sheep

The Black Sheep is immediately returned to the player it was drawn from. All other cards currently on the table go to the active player's hand. No zoo placement is allowed after a Black Sheep — the turn ends immediately and play passes to the next player.

Eagle

The active player may ask one specific opponent for one specific animal species:

• Success: the opponent hands over that card; it goes on the table and the active player continues their turn.
• Failure: the opponent doesn't have that animal. All table cards go to the active player's hand. They may still place cards in their zoo (see Zoo Placement below), then their turn ends.
• The active player may also skip the Eagle without asking for anything.

Mole

The active player privately sees all of the cards in the hand of the player they drew from, then may take 1 animal card (not a special card) from that hand and place it on the table.

Thieving Magpie

The active player may steal 1 card from any opponent's zoo and place it on the table.

Note: The Magpie starts beside the draw pile and only enters the game the first time a player places their 3rd distinct species in their zoo, or places a species that already exists in another player's zoo.

Optional Cards

These can each be enabled independently via table options.

Wolf

The player you drew it from takes all other cards currently on the table and places them face-down in front of themselves. The Wolf itself stays on the table. At the end of your turn, those set-aside cards return to the source player’s hand.

White Sheep

The player you drew it from may place 1 set card from their hand into their own zoo. This can trigger the Magpie or even win the game!

Mother Sheep

You may draw 1 card from the deck and place it face-up on the table. If the deck is empty, nothing happens.

Joker

A single wild card shuffled into the animal deck. Can be used instead of any set card to finish a triplet in your zoo.

Winning

As soon as a player places the winning number of triplets in their zoo, the game ends and that player wins!