Gamehelpbackyardbrawl

Bag & Snatch: Backyard Brawl

The quiet backyard has turned into a chaotic battlefield: In Bag & Snatch: Backyard Brawl, local animals fight for dominance. Thematically, you dive into the fray to recruit as many nimble teammates as possible. Mechanically, you use action cards to snatch animal tokens from the center of the table while protecting your own collection from the predatory raids of your rivals.

Goal of the Game

The goal is to earn the most valuable score cards by skillfully collecting animal tokens. At the end of the game, the player with the highest total points on their score cards wins the Backyard Brawl.

Game Setup

• Initial Configuration: Each player starts with 4 hand cards. Animal tokens (quantity based on player count) and the stack of score cards sorted by value are available in the central supply.

Turn Structure

A turn consists of four fixed phases performed in sequence:

1. Scoring Phase: Automatically receive score cards based on the number of tokens of the animal type you currently hold the most of (your majority). Note: This phase is skipped on each player's very first turn.
2. Action Phase: Choose and play an animal card from your hand. Immediately take as many tokens of that animal type from the supply as there are symbols shown on the card.
3. Effect Phase (Ability): Use the specific special ability of the animal on the card you just played (see details below). A maximum of one effect can be activated per turn.
4. Draw Phase: Your hand is automatically replenished to 4 cards.

Animal Abilities

Each backyard animal brings its own tactical advantage:

Animal	Effect Description
Raccoon	Reveal and discard the top card of the deck. Take all tokens shown on that card from the supply.
Crow	Choose a player and steal a card from their hand. It is played immediately, and you receive the corresponding tokens (without using the card's effect).
Fox	Choose a player. Steal all tokens of the animal type that you just played during your own action phase.
Duck	Exchange all tokens of one type you already own for the same number of tokens of another type from the central supply.
Dog	Acts as a protection card. Can be discarded to immediately block the attack of a Fox or a Crow.
Squirrel	Take one additional token of any type that you already have at least one of in your possession.

The "Snatch" Mechanism (Supply Reset)

This is the core element of player interaction:

• As soon as the central supply of an animal type is empty and a player needs to take more tokens of that type, a Snatch is triggered.
• At this moment, all other players must immediately return all their tokens of that specific animal type to the supply.
• Only the active player who triggered the Snatch keeps their current tokens and fills their loot from the now-replenished supply.

End of Game

The game ends immediately when the last card is drawn from the animal deck. The system totals the values of all collected score cards; the player with the highest score is the winner of the Backyard Brawl.