Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

Gamehelppickomino

2026-04-22T17:03:53Z

Tom Franco: /* Game play */ corrected rules explanation with what happens if you can't place a die.

== Pickomino ==

=== Introduction ===
This is a dice drafting and tile collecting game with "push your luck" elements.

The BGA game is based on the 40th anniversary edition, in which players are meerkats competing to gather tasty bugs.

=== Aim ===
The aim is to gather more bugs than your opponents. You do this by using a combination of dice rolls to either win tiles from the playing area, or steal tiles from other players.

=== Game play ===
1. Roll the dice. Choose one value. All the dice with that value are moved and put in a line at the bottom of the board.

* For example, if you rolled some 3s, you could choose them and they would all be added to the line.

2. Once you've added dice to the line, you can re-roll the remaining dice. However, you cannot choose any dice value that is already in the line.

* For example, you might roll a 3 and decide to add it to the line. If you now re-roll the remaining dice and get another 3, you cannot use it.

3. Your score so far is shown on the right hand side of the line. This is calculated as a total of all the dice, plus 5 points for each paw print.

4. To win a tile, you must have at least 1 paw print in your line by the end of the turn.

5. Continue re-rolling dice until either:

* you are happy with your current score, or
* there are no more dice to roll, or
* you can't add any more dice to your line. -> you BUST

You can now do the end of turn actions.

=== End of turn actions ===
If you have bust, not scored enough to collect a tile, or you do not have a paw print, you will not be able to collect a tile. In this case, you lose the top-most tile from your hand, which is returned into play on the game board (if you don't have any tiles, there is no penalty). Next, the highest value tile on the game board is turned over and removed from play for the rest of the game.

If you have a paw print in your line, you may now choose a tile from those available. If a tile exactly matches your score for this turn, you must take it, even if it is in another player's hand. Doing this steals points from your opponent. Otherwise, you may take a tile that is worth less than your score from the playing area.

Your new tile is placed on top of any existing tiles you have already collected. This protects the existing tiles, as your opponents can only steal the top-most tile.

Play now passes clockwise to the next player.

=== End of game ===
The game ends when there are no more tiles available on the game board.

Final scores are calculated by the number of bugs shown on each tile (not the tile value). The player with the most bugs is the winner.

=== Hints ===

* Remember that you need to add at least one paw print to your line, on each turn
* To get higher value tiles, you could hold out for more than one paw print to boost your score, but you run the risk of getting none
* Lower value tiles are easier to win, but also easier for opponents to steal
* Remember that the final score is based on the number of bugs on the tile, not the value of the tile

Tips forestshuffle

2024-05-26T13:53:47Z

Tom Franco: Formatting

# The game is a race, as soon as the second winter card is out, if you are ahead it's often better to try to increase the lead a bit than to prepare for a bigger turn that you might not get to play.
# It is as important to keep cards your opponent wants away from them, as it is to score big points for yourself. Be aware of what your oponents need.
# To do this you can discard those cards when the clearing (enough to get to 10 and clear it) or their hand are full (9 or 10).
# It is often worth your while to wait a turn and gain the right colors, in order to be able to use a card's bonus.
# Moles can overturn games with huge turns, to set it up, make sure you have trees with room and a full hand.
# Free-turn cards can help you clear a seeminly full hand before picking up something an oponent discarding thinking you could not grab.
# The most points that can be achieved in the game is if you get all of the deer and wolves. You do not need to play a deer+wolf strategy to win, but you will lose if you let your opponent have all the deer and wolves.
# Other powerful cards to build a game around:

Beech Martins - play them while filling all 4 sides of trees

Tree Ferns - Play them with Toads and Salamanders

Goshawks - Play them while playing lots of other birds

Oaks/Strawberries - Play them while getting all 8 species of tree

European Hares - Red Foxes: Generally a less power combination than deer +wolves, but can still get you a number of points if lucky. (Combine with a Silver Fir for more points, and a mole to play the hares quickly)

Chestnuts - playing a lot of these is a good, especially if you can all get the orange Roe deer.

Sycamores + Red Deer - Play a lot of trees with these

The right mushrooms can help boost any of these strategies powerfully.

Secondary strategies include:

Butterflies + Hedgehogs

Bats and Dormice

Lynxes (compliments 🦌 🐺)

Mosses

9. Easy to forget Rules:

* The “free play a type of creature” bonus does not trigger additional bonuses or effects
* The "Draw card" effect only draws from the deck (not the clearing)
* A card is added to the clearing when a tree/sapling is played, but not when a split card is played
10.There are 8 types of tree:

10.There are 8 types of tree:

* Sycamore
* Birch
* Beech
* Douglas Fir
* Oak
* Horse Chestnut
* Linden
* Silver Fir
* +2 more in the Alpine expansion for a total of 10: European Larch and Swiss Pine
11. The expansion makes buttefly and bird strategies more viable. Expansion tree colors are a bit more rare and may be confused with some base game ones if colorblind.

Tips forestshuffle

2024-05-26T13:50:43Z

Tom Franco: Tweaks

# The game is a race, as soon as the second winter card is out, if you are ahead it's often better to try to increase the lead a bit than to prepare for a bigger turn that you might not get to play.

2. It is as important to keep cards your opponent wants away from them, as it is to score big points for yourself. Be aware of what your oponents need.

3. To do this you can discard those cards when the clearing (enough to get to 10 and clear it) or their hand are full (9 or 10).

4. It is often worth your while to wait a turn and gain the right colors, in order to be able to use a card's bonus.

5. Moles can overturn games with huge turns, to set it up, make sure you have trees with room and a full hand.

6. Free-turn cards can help you clear a seeminly full hand before picking up something an oponent discarding thinking you could not grab.

7. The most points that can be achieved in the game is if you get all of the deer and wolves. You do not need to play a deer+wolf strategy to win, but you will lose if you let your opponent have all the deer and wolves.

8.Other powerful cards to build a game around:

Beech Martins - play them while filling all 4 sides of trees

Tree Ferns - Play them with Toads and Salamanders

Goshawks - Play them while playing lots of other birds

Oaks/Strawberries - Play them while getting all 8 species of tree

European Hares - Red Foxes: Generally a less power combination than deer +wolves, but can still get you a number of points if lucky. (Combine with a Silver Fir for more points, and a mole to play the hares quickly)

Chestnuts - playing a lot of these is a good, especially if you can all get the orange Roe deer.

Sycamores + Red Deer - Play a lot of trees with these

The right mushrooms can help boost any of these strategies powerfully.

Secondary strategies include:

Butterflies + Hedgehogs

Bats and Dormice

Lynxes (compliments 🦌 🐺)

Mosses

9. Easy to forget Rules:

* The “free play a type of creature” bonus does not trigger additional bonuses or effects
* The "Draw card" effect only draws from the deck (not the clearing)
* A card is added to the clearing when a tree/sapling is played, but not when a split card is played

10.There are 8 types of tree:

* Sycamore
* Birch
* Beech
* Douglas Fir
* Oak
* Horse Chestnut
* Linden
* Silver Fir
* +2 more in the Alpine expansion for a total of 10: European Larch and Swiss Pine
11. The expansion makes buttefly and bird strategies more viable. Expansion tree colors are a bit more rare and may be confused with some base game ones if colorblind.

Tips forestshuffle

2024-05-26T13:44:15Z

Tom Franco: Formatting improvements

# The game is a race, as soon as the second winter card is out, if you are ahead it's often better to try to increase the lead a bit than to prepare for a bigger turn that you might not get to play.

2. It is as important to keep cards your opponent wants away from them, as it is to score big points for yourself. Be aware of what your oponents need.

3. To do this you can discard those cards when the clearing (enough to get to 10 and clear it) or their hand are full (9 or 10).

4. It is often worth your while to wait a turn and gain the right colors, in order to be able to use a card's bonus.

5. Moles can overturn games with huge turns, to set it up, make sure you have trees with room and a full hand.

6. Free-turn cards can help you clear a seeminly full hand before picking up something an oponent discarding thinking you could not grab.

7. The most points that can be achieved in the game is if you get all of the deer and wolves. You do not need to play a deer+wolf strategy to win, but you will lose if you let your opponent have all the deer and wolves.

8.Other powerful cards to build a game around:

Beech Martins - play them while filling all 4 sides of a tree

Tree Ferns - Play them with Toads and Salamanders

Goshawks - Play them while playing lots of other birds

Oaks/Strawberries - Play them while getting all 8 species of tree

European Hares - Red Foxes: Generally a less power combination than deer +wolves, but can still get you a number of points if lucky. (Combine with a Silver Fir for more points, and a mole to play the hares quickly)

Chestnuts - playing a lot of these is a good, especially if you can all get the orange Roe deer.

Sycamores + Red Deer - Play a lot of trees with these

The right mushrooms can help boost any of these strategies powerfully.

Secondary strategies include:

Butterflies + Hedgehogs

Bats and Dormice

Lynxes (compliments 🦌 🐺)

Mosses

9.Easy to forget Rules:

* The “free play a type of creature” bonus does not trigger additional bonuses or effects
* The "Draw card" effect only draws from the deck (not the clearing)
* A card is added to the clearing when a tree/sapling is played, but not when a split card is played

There are 8 types of tree:

* Sycamore
* Birch
* Beech
* Douglas Fir
* Oak
* Horse Chestnut
* Linden
* Silver Fir
* +2 more in the expansion for a total of 10.
10. The expansion makes buttefly and bird strategies more viable. Expansion cards/colors are a bit more rare and may be confused with some base game ones if not careful.

Tips forestshuffle

2024-05-26T13:36:32Z

Tom Franco: Added more recommendations

The game is a race, as soon as the second winter card is out, if you are ahead it's often better to try to increase the lead a bit than to prepare for a bigger turn that you might not get to play.

It is as important to keep cards your opponent wants away from them, as it is to score big points for yourself.

To do this you can discard those cards when the clearing (enough to get to 10 and clear it) or their hand are full (9 or 10).

It is often worth your while to wait a turn and gain the right colors, in order to be able to use a card's bonus.

The most points that can be achieved in the game is if you get all of the deer and wolves. You do not need to play a deer+wolf strategy to win, but you will lose if you let your opponent have all the deer and wolves.

Moles can overturn games with huge turns, to set it up, make sure you have trees with room and a full hand.

Other powerful cards to build a game around:

Beech Martins - play them while filling all 4 sides of a tree

Tree Ferns - Play them with Toads and Salamanders

Goshawks - Play them while playing lots of other birds

Oaks/Strawberries - Play them while getting all 8 species of tree

European Hares - Red Foxes: Generally a less power combination than deer +wolves, but can still get you a number of points if lucky. (Combine with a Silver Fir for more points, and a mole to play the hares quickly)

Chestnuts - playing a lot of these is a good, especially if you can all get the orange Roe deer.

Sycamores + Red Deer - Play a lot of trees with these

The right mushrooms can help boost any of these strategies powerfully.

Secondary strategies include:

Butterflies + Hedgehogs

Bats and Dormice

Lynxes

Mosses

Easy to forget Rules:

* The “free play a type of creature” bonus does not trigger additional bonuses or effects
* The "Draw card" effect only draws from the deck (not the clearing)
* A card is added to the clearing when a tree/sapling is played, but not when a split card is played

There are 8 types of tree:

* Sycamore
* Birch
* Beech
* Douglas Fir
* Oak
* Horse Chestnut
* Linden
* Silver Fir

Tips supermegaluckybox

2024-05-26T13:25:51Z

Tom Franco: Typo fix

# Get boards so you have a use for every number, there are 3 possible rows: [123,456,789].
# Try to get 3 stars in a single round, if not possible it may be better to set up for a better future turn.
# Try to always have at least 1 bolt available so you don't miss a turn.
# You don't need to hoard moons, you can be 1 over and still get the bonus.
# Make sure the bonuses you are going to get can synergize with (help complete) the boards you have available.
# It's better to get moons at the end as other rewards improve with how early you get them.
# Aim to do a 3 star round on round 2 and/or 3.

Tips supermegaluckybox

2024-05-26T13:22:55Z

Tom Franco: Added recommendations

# Get boards so you have a use for every number,there are 3 possible rows: [123,456,789].
# Try to get 3 stars in a single round, if not possible it may be better to set up for a better future turn.
# Try to always have at least 1 bolt available so you don't miss a turn.
# You don't need to hoard moons, you can be 1 over and still get the bonus.
# Make sure the bonuses you are going to get can synergize with (help complete) the boards you have available.