CAGONES
CAGONES Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
60 cards:
- 2 large cards (1 rabbit and 1 bear).
- 58 double-sided cards (BEAR on the front and RABBIT on the back).
Setup
The two large rabbit and bear cards are left on the table. The remaining 58 cards are shuffled and cards are dealt, face down, to each person. Depending on the number of people playing, we recommend these amounts (but they can be customised):
| Players | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards each | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
Leftover cards are returned to the box. They will not be used in this game.
Then each person picks up, without looking, the cards dealt to them and creates a draw pile (with the rabbit side visible) and takes 4 cards from it as their starting hand, with the bear face hidden from the other people.
How to Play
The person who most recently went to poop starts the game. The person whose turn it is may choose one of these two actions:
-
Play a card from their hand on top of the bear's pile (or the rabbit's, as we will see later) and then draw a card from their draw pile.
OR
-
Draw the top card of another person's pile. If all the other people's piles have run out, draw a random card from the hand of any person you want.
Then the turn passes to the person on the left.
Depending on its type, the card has certain effects in the game, and this can cause penalties, as we will see later.
It is important to stress that the piles of cards (both the bear's and the rabbit's) cannot be looked through unless a challenge card or a fly card has to be checked, or a card has been played that someone believes is wrongly placed.
REMEMBER: A person only draws cards from their pile when they play a card.
REMEMBER THIS TOO: If a person cannot or does not want to play a card from their hand, they draw a card from the pile of another person of their choice.
AND DON'T FORGET: When a card is drawn from another person's pile (or hand), that card always goes to the hand (there is no hand limit for each person).
Bear Cards
Fish cards
These cards can have one, two or three fish. They can always be played, but keep in mind that the limit of fish the bear can have in its stomach is 5, so you must keep count of how many fish have been played.
If a person plays a card of 1, 2 or 3 fish and exceeds the limit with it, another person can accuse them, saying that the card cannot be placed. Then the bear's pile is checked, and whoever is wrong will draw a penalty card from the other player's pile (of course, if the card could not be placed on the pile, it returns to the hand of the person who played it and, in addition, they draw a card as a penalty).
Poop cards
There are cards with one, two or three poops. While fish cards are added up, poop cards subtract from the amount of fish in the bear's stomach. That is, if in the bear's pile a card of 2 fish, 1 poop card, a fish card and another card of 2 poops are played, there are 0 fish in the bear's stomach.
As with fish cards, if someone plays a poop card when the total number of fish is zero, another person may think that is incorrect and ask for a check to verify it, with the person who made the mistake drawing the penalty card.
(Illustration: the stomach counter goes 2, 1, 2, 0 for the example above.)
Feast card
This card fills the bear's stomach with fish up to its maximum capacity (which is initially 5). That is, if it has 4 fish and a feast is then played, the bear would have 5 fish in its stomach; and in the other case, if its stomach were empty and a feast is played, there would now also be 5 fish.
But it is not that easy... when a feast is played, you must say out loud how many fish are missing to reach maximum capacity (in other words, those it has eaten in the feast). Of course, if someone believes a mistake has been made, they say so. The one who made the mistake (the one who places the card or the one who corrects) draws a card from the rival's pile as a penalty.
For example, if a person believes there are 4 fish in the bear's stomach, when playing a feast they have to say: "feast of 1". If the bear's stomach were empty they would have to say: "feast of 5".
Vomit card
This card empties the bear's stomach of fish down to zero and therefore the bear's pile of cards is discarded to the box. As with the feast card, you must announce how many fish we subtract to reach zero (in other words, those it has vomited).
If it is played, and another person accuses, saying it is wrongly placed (they believe there is no fish in the bear's stomach) or believes it has not "vomited" the correct number of fish, it is checked and the person who is wrong draws a card from their rival's pile as a penalty.
For example, if there are 3 fish in the bear's stomach and a vomit is played, that person would have to say out loud: "vomit of 3".
If the vomit card is played correctly, it removes from the game all the cards played up to that point (including the vomit card) from the bear's pile.
IMPORTANT: If a card that is actually wrongly placed is played (for example saying "feast of 3" when it was 2, or playing a fish exceeding the limit of the bear's stomach, or vomiting or playing poop cards with an empty stomach) and nobody says anything, it is considered correct and play continues!
Challenge cards
If a person plays a challenge card, they have to ask another person of their choice: "How many fish are there?". This person has to say the exact number of fish (adding each fish illustrated on the cards and subtracting each poop illustrated on the cards that they remember having seen). It is checked and, if they are right, the challenger draws a card from the rival as a penalty. If they fail, the challenged person is the one penalised with a card.
If you play a challenge card on another person, they can defend themselves with another challenge card and redirect the question to any other person (even the one who played it on them just before) to answer how many fish there are in the bear's pile. This chain can be done several times until someone answers.
Each challenge card played in this way adds one penalty card to be drawn by whoever is wrong.
Accusations (SUPER IMPORTANT)
If a person accuses another of having played a card wrongly, the person who made the mistake, after the accusation is checked, draws a penalty card from the pile (or from the hand if they have no pile) of the person involved in the quarrel.
That is, if A accuses B, and A was right, B draws a card from A. If A accuses B, and it was a false accusation, A draws a card from B.
Challenge example
Mrs. Casilda plays a challenge card and asks Mr. Olegario:
- "How many fish are there?"
Mr. Olegario was prepared and plays another challenge card and says:
- "And why don't you tell me, Mrs. Casilda?"
What nobody knew was that Mrs. Casilda had a second challenge card, which she does not hesitate to use, saying:
- "Because Mr. Clodoveo is going to be the one to tell me how many fish there are."
Mr. Clodoveo, in his infinite suspicion, answers confidently:
- "Well, I state without any doubt that there are 4 fish in the bear's belly."
(Illustration: "Challenge! x3 cards".)
Mrs. Casilda takes the bear's pile of cards to check and this is what she sees: the running stomach total after each card is 3, 0, 2, 3, FEAST OF 2 (total 5), 4, 1, 3.
There are 3 fish left in the bear's stomach.
As Mr. Clodoveo was not right, he has to draw 2 cards from Casilda's pile (she played two challenge cards) and one from Olegario's pile (who played one challenge card), who are the ones who caused him the penalty. Mr. Clodoveo adds the drawn cards to his hand, ending up with 7 cards. This will not stop him from playing and drawing, since there is no hand limit.
Fly cards
They work like the challenge card, but this time you have to ask how many poops there are. Remember that you do not subtract the fish and that there is no capacity limit for poops. Fly cards can still be played in response to another fly card.
In the earlier example, if instead of challenge cards it had been fly cards that Mrs. Casilda and Mr. Olegario had played, Mr. Clodoveo would have had to say 7 poops to avoid drawing the three penalty cards.
Nap cards
If this card is played on the bear's pile, immediately all the cards in the hand and in each person's piles are turned over, and play continues on the reverse (the rabbit side), and from now on cards are played on the large rabbit card. Of course, if a nap card is played on the rabbit's pile, play would return to the bear's pile.
Fat nap card
It has the same effect as the nap card, but the capacity of the bear's stomach increases by one, that is, now 6 fish fit instead of 5.
Each fat nap card raises the capacity by one, so if 3 fat nap cards are played, now 8 fish fit in the bear, and you will have to remember it when a card is played on it again.
TAKE NOTE: If a vomit card is played, all cards of the game are removed from the pile of the animal in question, so keep in mind that this can make the stomach capacity decrease again.
Rabbit Cards
Rabbit cards are the same except for these exceptions:
- The rabbit eats carrots instead of fish.
- There are cards of half a carrot, one carrot and two carrots.
- There are cards of one poop and two poops (there are none of three).
- The capacity of the rabbit's stomach is 3 carrots.
- If a fat nap card is played on the rabbit, the capacity of its stomach increases by a half (that is, it would go from 3 to 3 and a half capacity, and a second fat nap card would make the rabbit have a capacity of 4).
Otherwise, the effects of the cards are the same.
End of the Game
The person who first runs out of cards (in their pile and in their hand) wins, after checking the bear or rabbit pile if that is the case (whether after playing challenges or flies, or when checking whether a food, vomit, feast or poop card has been correctly placed).
Happy digestion!