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The Game

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how to play

THE AIM OF THE GAME

A menagerie is a collection of different species of animals. The aim of the game, Menagerie™ , is to collect as many animals as you can for each habitat of your nature reserve and to protect them from threats to their survival eg fire, pollution and feral animals. You will score points for each animal you have in your nature reserve and the first player/team to gain 100 points or more wins the game.

NATURE RESERVES

A colourful fold-out board is used to represent each nature reserve. Each habitat in the nature reserve has a distinctive colour banner which is used to identify the animals which belong in each habitat.

Semi Arid Habitat playing boards Coastal Habitat

THE CARDS

Australian Menagerie™ features 11 animal species. There are 4 cards of each animal.

animal card
The colour of the banner on each animal card corresponds to the colour banner on the habitat to which the animal belongs.

The number is used for scoring and acquiring Management Strategy Cards in Level 2 games.

Threats to the survival of the animals are shown on the animal cards. Some animals have no threats in Menagerie™.

Some animal cards have 2 colours on their banner. These animals can live in either habitat. For eample, the Echidna can live in both the Forest Habitat and the Semi-arid Habitat.

threat strategy
There are 5 Threat cards and 5 Management Strategy Cards in the pack. These are used in Level 2 games.

LEVELS OF PLAY

Menagerie™ can be played at 3 levels. Level 1 is for young players but it is also the starting point for all players. Play a few hands at Level 1 before moving on to Levels 2 and 3.

LEVEL 1

Remove all 'Threat' and 'Management Strategy' cards from the pack. These will not be used in Level 1.

Shuffle the pack and deal 8 cards, face down, to each player including the dealer.

Place the next card face up in the centre of the table to start the discard pile.

The remaining deck of cards is placed face down beside the discard pile to form the Menagerie.

Each player picks up his/her cards and arranges them according to habitat colour and animal species.

Starting with the person sitting on the left of the dealer, and following in a clockwise direction, each player has a turn. Each turn consists of two steps -

STEP 1 ~ PICK UP

Pick up the top card from the Menagerie or the discard pile.

STEP 2 ~ PLACE OR DISCARD

Either place animal card(s) into your nature reserve or discard.

Discard by placing one animal card from your hand, face up, onto the top of the discard pile.

LEVEL 2 ~ How to play with Threats and Management Strategies

MANAGEMENT STRATEGY CARDS

Management Strategy Cards represent programs which are implemented to protect animals.

Acquiring a Management Strategy Card indicates that the player has put a program in place in his / her nature reserve which will protect the animals from the threat indicated on the Management Strategy Card for the remainder of that round.

STEP 1 ~ PICK UP

Pick up a card from either the Menagerie or discard pile

STEP 2 ~ PLACE, PLAY OR DISCARD

Either place animals into your nature reserve and/or play a Threat Card or discard a card

STEP 3 ~ AQUIRE MANAGEMENR STRATEGY CARDS

If you have sufficient points choose a Management Strategy Card.

LEVEL 3 - Introducing Melding

Play as for Level 2 but to make the game more challenging each player/team must meld to start their nature reserve. That is, the first animals placed into each nature reserve must be four (or more) cards belonging in one habitat. These must be placed in the habitat in one turn. These four cards could be two pairs or four of a kind.

If you require clarification or assistance with the rules, please feel free to contact the inventors at
Wild Connections™.