Circus Puppy Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• Setup
• Playing Your Turn
• I. Performance
  • Acrobatics
  • Double Trick
  • Helper
  • Double Dog
  • New Stage
  • Stage card effects
  • Dogee Show
  • If dog cards on a stage fall while you're stacking...
• II. Score
• End of Game
• Storage

Components

5 Stage cards

Low & high stages (the box and box lid)

45 Dog cards (6 cards each for Shiba Inu, Corgi, French Bulldog, Schnauzer, and Husky, along with 15 other dogs)

1 Dogee card

5 Score cards

5 Player markers

Overview

Each player starts with 6 dog cards. On your turn, you'll draw a dog card and follow its instructions. Usually, you'll have to stack the dog on other dogs. If you can stack without dogs falling, you'll score points.

The game ends when any player has 30 points. At the end, you'll lose a point per dog card you have left. The player with the most points is the winner!

Setup

1. Fold all the dog cards and the dogee card along the dotted lines.

2. Put the high stage and low stage on the table.

3. Put the stage card with dog ears on the high stage. Then stack the rest of the stage cards face down between the stages.

4. Each player takes a player marker and a score card, and puts the player marker on the blue part of the score card.

5. Each player takes a set of 6 matching dog cards, placed face up in front of them. (This is their deck of dog cards.)

   When playing with only two players, each player takes two sets of dog cards instead.

6. Shuffle the rest of the dog cards, draw 4 dog cards, and stack 2 dog cards on each stage. Stack the rest of the dog cards in a supply nearby, and put the dogee card nearby. The youngest player takes the first turn.

Playing Your Turn

On your turn, do a Performance and then Score for it. Once you finish, the next clockwise player begins their turn.

I. Performance

Draw one dog card from your deck and perform the action listed on its back. (If you have a face-up dog card, you can perform its action instead of drawing.) All the listed actions are described more below.

Acrobatics

Use the drawn dog card to move a dog card from one stage to the other. Then stack the drawn dog card on either stage. (You score points for both dogs!)

Easy version: Before starting, you can choose to move the dog card with your hands, not the drawn dog card.

Double Trick

The next player chooses one of the two actions shown on the dog card. You must perform this action, and then you must perform Acrobatics.

Helper

Choose a player to help you to stack this dog card on either stage. (If any dog cards fall, your helper can still score up to 2 points. However, your helper takes the first two dog cards that fall, and you take any further dog cards that fall.)

Suggestion: Choose the player with the fewest points as your helper.

Double Dog

Draw another dog card and stack it on the first drawn dog card. Then stack them both at once on either stage.

New Stage

Draw a stage card and place it face up on the stage with more stacked dog cards. Then stack the drawn dog card on either stage.

Stage card effects

Each stage card has an effect that happens when any player stacks a dog card on it.

• +1: The current player repeats the action listed on the dog card they just stacked.
• +2: Each player draws 1 dog card from the supply and places it face up in front of them.
• +2: Everyone passes their deck of dog cards to the left.
• +3: All other dog cards stacked on this stage card score only 2 points.
• +3: Everyone passes their deck of dog cards to the right.

Dogee Show

Take the dogee card. Pinch Dogee's ears to pick up the drawn dog card and stack it on either stage.

Easy version: Pinch Dogee's body, not ears.

If dog cards on a stage fall while you're stacking...

• Steady the dog cards left on the stage. Place the fallen dog cards at the bottom of the supply in random order.
• Draw 2 dog cards from the supply and place them face up in front of you.
• If dog cards fall after you finished your action at least 5 seconds ago, only follow the first instruction above.

II. Score

If no dog cards fell in your Performance, you score points!

• A If you stacked a dog card on another dog card, you score one point plus another point for each dog card under it.
• B If you stacked a dog card on a stage card, you score the points listed on the stage card.
• C If there is a stage card below the dog you stacked, only score points for dogs above that stage card.

Move your player marker to show your new score. If your player marker lands on a red or star space, do the following.

• Red space: Draw a dog card from your deck and flip it face up in front of you.
• Star space: Take the top dog card from your deck and put it at the bottom of the supply.

If your score is more than 10 points, flip your score card over and keep scoring.

If you have run out of dog cards but have not scored 30 points, you must wait until another player scores 30 points to end the game.

End of Game

When any player reaches 30 points, the game ends immediately. At the end of the game, each player loses one point per dog card left in their deck.

The player with the most points is the winner! If there is a tie, the winner is the tied player with the fewest dog cards left in their deck.

Storage

The box can also be used as a coin bank.