Dogs: Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • 85 Dogs (17 breeds)
  • 20 Characters
  • 20 Coins (resources)
  • 30 Food cards (resources)
  • 10 Stalls under construction
  • 10 Licenses
  • 10 Upgrades
  • 15 Bonuses
• Variety of Breeds and Types of Dogs
  • Types of Dogs
• The Kennel (Player Board)
• Setup
• Game Flow
  • Step 1: Move or stay where you are
  • Step 2: Perform zero, one or two actions in any order
  • ACTION - Collect one, two or three dogs (only once per turn)
  • ACTION - Hire a character (only once per turn)
• Free Actions
• Characters
• Upgrades
• End of the Game
• Final Scoring
• Bonuses
• Playing with Children
• Two-Player Game
• Puppies Expansion (optional)
• Variants

Components

200 cards distributed as follows:

• (A) 85 dogs
• (B) 30 food cards (rações)
• (C) 20 coins
• (D) 20 characters
• (E) 15 bonuses
• (F) 10 upgrades (melhorias)
• (G) 10 stalls under construction and licenses
• (H) 10 puppies (expansion)

Also: 6 locations (corner, field, slope, square, park and highway); 5 kennels (one per player); 5 pick-ups (one per player); 1 dog miniature (for the starting player).

Dogs Cardgame has dogs of various breeds. To keep a good view of the images, they are shown at the largest possible size within the cards. Obviously, there is a size difference between the breeds.

85 Dogs (17 breeds)

Each breed has 5 cards, one for each type, and the symbols indicate:

• Bone = healthy dog
• Whistle = trained dog
• Cross = sick dog
• Suitcase = hotel dog
• Little house = dog fair dog

20 Characters

• 4 Veterinarians
• 4 Trainers
• 4 Kennel Managers
• 4 Merchants
• 4 Partners

They offer advantages to the players during the game.

20 Coins (resources)

These cards are used by players to hire characters, acquire licenses and make improvements to the kennel.

30 Food cards (resources)

These cards are used by players at the exact moment they collect dogs at the city locations.

10 Stalls under construction

These cards indicate that two stalls of the kennel are not yet working. During the game, the player can activate these stalls to receive food and increase the space in his kennel to accommodate new dogs.

10 Licenses

When a stall under construction is activated, the player turns the card to the license side. Now he has until the end of the game to pay 3 coins and acquire the license. If he does not do so, he loses five points for each license not acquired.

10 Upgrades

These cards can be bought when a player uses the effect of the Manager or the Partner. At the end of the game, kennels that have no upgrade card lose points!

15 Bonuses

Bonuses with light plaques are won during the game by the first player who fulfils the prerequisite. Bonuses with dark plaques are awarded only at the end. Each bonus is worth 3 victory points.

Note: Food and coin cards are unlimited. If they run out during the game, use any other available element to replace them. Upgrade cards, on the contrary, are limited, so if they run out no player can acquire them.

Variety of Breeds and Types of Dogs

In Dogs Cardgame there are a total of 17 breeds and each breed has exactly five cards. The number of breeds used varies according to the number of players in the game. However, never more than twelve breeds will be used (follow the table in the Setup section).

So the fun begins in the setup, since all players can choose which breeds will enter the game and which will be returned to the box. And note: always use all five cards of each selected breed, otherwise this will unbalance the game.

Types of Dogs

Below the breed name on the cards there is a small plaque with a symbol. This tells the players the type of dog, and what must be done when the player collects that card.

• Healthy: enter directly into the open stalls of the kennel.
• Trained: enter directly into the open stalls of the kennel.
• Sick: enter the infirmary.
• Hotel: enter the hotel.
• Dog fair: are placed in a row and form a general reserve on the table, within reach of all players.

Attention: Throughout the game, whenever a player collects and delivers a dog to the dog fair, he immediately receives a food card or a coin card, of his choice. Of course, if the player collects and delivers two or more fair dogs, he will receive one resource card for each dog of this type.

The Kennel (Player Board)

The individual player board shows the kennel (larger area) with five stalls that accommodate between 1 and 4 dogs of any breed. On the right there is the hotel for dogs and the infirmary just below the hotel.

In the center of the kennel there is a panel that shows the final game scoring and the penalties the player may suffer. Note that it is important to organize the dog cards well around the five stalls of the kennel so as not to mix them up accidentally during the game.

There is no limit to the number of dogs that can occupy the hotel.

Each symbol represents one space inside the stall, so it is easy to see the limit. Stall 1 holds only one dog, stall 2 holds two dogs, stall 3 also holds two dogs, stall 4 holds three and stall 5 holds up to four dogs.

Note that it is allowed to mix different breeds of dogs inside the stalls, although dogs of the same breed may earn more points for the kennel at the end of the game (see Final Scoring below).

At no time during the game may your infirmary have more than 3 dogs!

Setup

1. To create the city, form a row of locations in the center of the table, according to the number of players in the game (check the table below). Always place the locations in ascending order from left to right, according to the dog symbols. First the locations that show one symbol, then the locations with two symbols and last those with three.

2. Separate the number of dog breeds according to the number of players and shuffle these cards. Then form a pile, draw cards from the top and place them below the locations, exactly one card for each dog symbol shown on the location. Note: always use five cards for each selected breed and return the other breeds to the game box.

3. Separate the number of character cards according to the number of players, shuffle and deal three cards to each player. Everyone chooses one card, places it face up beside the kennel and returns the other two. Reshuffle the returned characters with the rest, form a pile, draw cards from the top and place one character above each location.

4. Each player receives a kennel mini board and a pick-up of the same color.

5. Each player receives three food cards and two coin cards. Separate the remaining food and coin cards into two piles and leave them in some area of the table within reach of all players.

6. Each player receives two stall-under-construction cards and blocks with these cards the two stalls at the bottom of the kennel (the stall with three spaces and the stall with four spaces). Note that on the back of these cards are the licenses, but players should only turn these cards to the side that shows the license when they decide to open a new stall in the kennel.

7. Separate the kennel upgrade cards and form a pile with them in an area of the table within reach of all.

8. Also separate the fifteen bonus cards and place them in view of the players.

The last player to have thrown a rubber ball for a puppy to fetch receives the dog miniature and starts the game. Note: this marker stays in front of the player until the end of the game and its function is only to remind who started the 1st round (see End of the Game, below).

City locations	Breeds	Characters
6 locations = (1/1/2/2/3/3)	12 breeds = 60 cards	20 cards
5 locations = (1/1/2/2/3)	10 breeds = 50 cards	20 cards
4 locations = (1/2/2/3)	8 breeds = 40 cards	15 cards (remove 1 of each)
3 locations = (1/2/3)	6 breeds = 30 cards	15 cards (remove 1 of each)

• The numbers 1 / 2 / 3 refer to the dog symbols on the locations. So, in games with fewer than six locations, you can choose which ones enter the game or not. Ex.: With 4 players, you can use the Park or the Highway, since both show three dog symbols.
• Remember that each breed has exactly 5 cards. Unused breeds must be returned to the game box.
• When removing 1 of each, remove exactly: one partner, one manager, one merchant, one veterinarian, one trainer, and return these cards to the game box.

Always keep your cards open on the table and face up.

At no time during the game may a city location receive more dog cards than the number of symbols indicated on it. Regarding diversity, a location can receive dogs of the same breed or of different breeds, without any restriction. (Example: dog card limit at this location = 3.)

Game Flow

The player who has the dog miniature in front of him starts the game. He takes his turn and then it is the turn of the player to his left. This continues, always clockwise, in successive rounds around the table until the end of the game is triggered by someone.

On his turn, each player performs two steps, one after the other, in the following order:

• STEP 1: Move to a different location in the city or stay where you are.
• STEP 2: Perform zero, one or two actions, in any order.

Important: Before, during or after each of the steps above, the player may perform one or more free actions (see Free Actions below).

Step 1: Move or stay where you are

At the start of the game everyone is outside the city and must therefore, each on his turn, choose a location to place his pick-up. From the second round on, the player always has the option of moving to any other location in the city or staying where he is. Note: There is no limit to the number of players that can occupy the same location.

Step 2: Perform zero, one or two actions in any order

BEFORE performing any action, the player must check whether there are one or more players at the same location as he is. If so, the player must pay exactly one coin to the other player. If there is more than one, he chooses whom to pay. If he cannot pay, the player cannot perform any action at the location.

Example: Yellow decides to move to the Park. So, before performing any action, he must pay one coin to the Blue or Red player. If he stayed at the Slope, before doing any action, he would have to pay one coin to Orange.

Note: Although it is allowed to take no action, try to avoid this situation!

ACTION - Collect one, two or three dogs (only once per turn)

When doing this action, the player collects all the dog cards that are below the location where he is, paying exactly one food card for each dog collected. It is not allowed to pay less food than the number of dogs collected, nor to collect fewer dogs from the location; that is, either the player collects all the dogs or collects none.

Food cards paid are returned to the pile in the general reserve. The dog cards collected by the player are immediately distributed in his kennel, in open stalls, in the hotel and in the infirmary, according to the type of dog on each card. Then the player draws new dog cards from the pile and refills the location, placing these cards below it.

Important: In the rare case that the player wants to collect dogs and has no way to accommodate them in his kennel, for lack of space, he cannot perform this action.

Example: In round 1 of the game, Ana visited the Square and collected a healthy Mutt and a trained Pitbull. She then occupied stall 1 and stall 2 in her kennel. (If she wished, she could have occupied stall 3 instead of stall 1 or stall 2.) In round 2, she moved to the Park and collected a Basset Hound that went to the hotel, a German Shepherd that went to the infirmary and a Poodle that she delivered to the Dog Fair. For the Poodle delivered to the Fair she chose to receive a coin. (Before doing an action and collecting the dogs at the Park, Ana paid one coin to the Yellow player.)

When placing new dogs in the open stalls, it is not allowed to change the position of the dogs that were already in the kennel. Only by using a trainer card is this possible.

Do not forget! To collect dogs from a location, the player must have enough food cards and must also have space in his kennel. Always observe the limit of dogs in each open stall and in the infirmary.

ACTION - Hire a character (only once per turn)

Hiring any character costs one coin. The player pays and returns the card to the general reserve. If he has no money, he cannot hire. And note, it is only allowed to hire the character positioned above the location where the player is. When hiring, if the player sees that there is another card of the same character at any other location in the city, he pays nothing (cost 0). Characters can be used in the same round in which they are hired or can be kept for use in another round. After doing this action, do not forget to place a new character at the location, drawing this card from the top of the pile.

Note: A player cannot end his turn with more than two characters in front of him on the table. Likewise, it is not allowed to end the turn with two identical characters (example: two Merchant cards).

Free Actions

It is allowed to perform one or more free actions before, during or after steps 1 and 2 explained above.

Open a stall under construction - At the start of the game the two larger stalls of the kennel are closed. To open one of them on his turn, the player simply removes the stall card and turns it to the side that shows the license, leaving it beside the kennel. Immediately the player receives two food cards from the general stock. Note: (1) The player must first open the stall with three spaces and only afterwards the stall with four spaces. (2) To open the stall with three spaces the player must have at least three dogs of any breed in the smaller stalls. (3) It is not allowed to open both stalls together, on the same turn.

Pay a license - When the player expands his kennel by building larger stalls, the need arises to acquire new licenses. The advantage is that they do not need to be paid immediately; that is, the player has until his last turn, in the last round, to acquire a license and settle all the fees charged by the city hall. Each license costs three coins. Furthermore, if he wants and can, the player may combine the two licenses to pay them at once, for a total of six coins. When paying a license, remove the card from the game. Unpaid license: -5 points at the end of the game.

Use characters - At any moment of his turn, a player may discard one or more character cards and apply their effects. The cards go to the discard pile. When the draw pile runs out, reshuffle the discard pile and form a new pile of characters.

Donate a dog - Each player may donate only 1 dog on his turn, and it must be taken from any stall, that is, it may NOT be in the hotel nor in the infirmary. The dog card is removed from the game and the player receives two resource cards, which may be: two coins or two food cards or one of each.

Characters

Merchant - Receive three food cards from the reserve. Note: During the game, there is no limit to the number of food cards in a player's hand.

Veterinarian - Cure all the sick dogs in your infirmary. Take these dogs and distribute them in open stalls of the kennel. Once inside the stall, ignore the cross symbol. These dogs are now healthy, and may be donated by the player.

Trainer - Receive one coin for each trained dog in your kennel. Also, if you wish, relocate one or more dog cards between the open stalls of the kennel. This will be useful in the final scoring of the game. Note: the trainer never relocates dog cards that are in the hotel or in the infirmary. (Relocating a dog card means taking the card from one stall and placing it in another.) And always observe the limit of dogs in each stall of the kennel.

Manager - Receive one food card for each open stall in your kennel that is occupied by at least one dog. Also receive one coin for each dog in your hotel.

Partner - Choose a dog card from the fair, take it and place it in an open stall of your kennel. Later, if the player wishes, he may donate this dog.

Upgrades

The only way to acquire upgrade cards in the game is by using the effect of the Partner or the Manager. They are the ones who control the improvements made to the kennel.

Also, when gathering 3 upgrade cards, the player immediately chooses and takes a dog card at any location in the city (not from the fair). The player follows the normal placement rules in the kennel, according to the type of dog chosen. Do not forget to refill the location with a new dog card drawn from the top of the pile. Note: Kennels without upgrades lose 3 pts at the end of the game!

End of the Game

When the LAST card of the dog pile is drawn to refill a city location, the end-of-game trigger is activated. At that moment it may no longer be possible to completely refill the exact number of dogs at the location. That does not matter. Play the current round to its end, then play one new, complete round without refilling dog cards at the locations, and finally end the game. Note: the round ends with the player sitting to the right of the one who has the dog miniature in front of him on the table.

Final Scoring

The game is over. Time for each player to calculate his score. There are three items to add up: (1) Dogs in the kennel, (2) Hotel, (3) Bonuses. After adding, deduct penalties, if any.

(1) Dogs in the kennel - Add up the score of all open, occupied stalls in the kennel. A dog of any breed inside the stall is worth 1 pt. Two dogs of the same breed are worth 3 pts, three dogs of the same breed 6 pts and four 12 pts. Example: In a stall with three spaces the player has one Poodle and two Beagles, so in that stall he receives a total of 4 pts. However, if he had in the stall one Poodle, one Beagle and one Pitbull, he would receive 3 pts. Furthermore, each trained dog in the kennel (whistle symbol on the card) earns 1 extra pt.

(2) Hotel - The player with the most dogs in the hotel receives 12 pts, the 2nd 10 pts, the 3rd 8 pts, the 4th 6 pts and the 5th 4 pts. In case of a tie follow the method below. Ex.: Two players tied for 1st place: add (12+10) and divide by two. Each receives 11 pts and the next player to score receives the points for the third position in the table, that is, 8 pts. If three players tie for 1st place, add (12+10+8) and divide by three. If there is a fourth player to score the hotel, he will receive points for the fourth position in the table.

(3) Bonuses - each bonus card is worth 3 pts.

Penalties: Subtract from your final score (-3 pts) for each dog in your kennel's infirmary, (-3 pts) if you do not have at least one upgrade card, and (-5 pts) for each license you failed to pay.

The player with the highest score wins the game. In case of a tie, the player who has the greatest number of dogs distributed only among the stalls of his kennel wins.

In the example, Ana scored 15 pts for the dogs in her kennel (12 pts from dogs in the stalls + 3 pts for the three trained dogs), 8 pts for the Hotel (she took 3rd place in the table) and 12 pts for the four bonus cards. So the total was 35 pts. However she lost 8 pts (-5 for the license that was not paid and -3 for the Beagle in the infirmary). Ana ends the game with 27 pts (35 - 8).

Bonuses

There are two types of bonuses: light and dark. The light ones are won during the game by the 1st player to fulfil the prerequisite and the dark ones are awarded only at the end of the match. On his turn, if the player wins a bonus, he announces it to everyone and takes the corresponding card, placing it in front of him on the table. Note: Each player may claim only one bonus per turn. Ex.: Ana won two light bonuses (A and B) on the same turn. She chooses to take bonus A. On her next turn, if bonus B is still available, she can claim it.

Light bonuses (won during the game):

• The first player to have 3 healthy dogs in his kennel receives this bonus. It does not matter whether the dogs are together in the same stall or separate.
• The first player to have 3 trained dogs in his kennel receives this bonus. It does not matter whether the dogs are together in the same stall or separate.
• The first player to have 3 dogs cured in his kennel, through the use of the veterinarian, receives this bonus. It does not matter whether the dogs are together in the same stall or separate.
• The first player to fill his hotel with 3 canine guests receives this bonus.
• The first player to have 3 fair dogs in his kennel, brought through the partner, receives this bonus. It does not matter whether the dogs are together in the same stall or separate.
• The first player to have in his kennel 1 fair dog, 1 cured dog, 1 dog in the hotel and 1 trained dog receives this bonus. It does not matter whether the dogs are together in the same stall or separate.
• The first player to have in his kennel 3 dogs of the same breed receives this bonus. Dogs in the hotel and in the infirmary do not count and it does not matter whether the dogs are together in the same stall or separate.
• The first player to have in his kennel 6 different breeds of dogs receives this bonus. Dogs in the infirmary and in the hotel do not count and it does not matter how many stalls the six breeds occupy.
• The first player to occupy 3 stalls in his kennel, each of them with at least two dogs of the same breed, receives this bonus.
• The first player to have 9 dogs of any breed in the stalls of his kennel receives this bonus. Dogs in the hotel and infirmary do not count!
• The first player to pay his two license cards, for a total of six coins, receives this bonus.
• The first player to pay one license card and also acquire two upgrade cards receives this bonus.

Dark bonuses (END OF THE GAME):

• In the final scoring, whoever has the greatest number of food cards receives this bonus. If there is a tie, nobody receives the bonus.
• In the final scoring, whoever has the greatest number of coin cards receives this bonus. If there is a tie, nobody receives the bonus.
• In the final scoring, whoever has the greatest number of upgrade cards receives this bonus. If there is a tie, nobody receives the bonus.

Note: If the player donates a dog that is part of a bonus he has already acquired, he does not lose the bonus. Example: the player cures the third dog, wins the bonus, and then decides to donate one of the cured dogs. There is, however, a small restriction: the dog cannot be donated on the same turn in which the corresponding bonus was achieved by the player.

Playing with Children

Dogs Cardgame can be played with children from eight years old, and this allows a family experience of the game. Although the mechanics are relatively simple, our recommendation is that when playing with children, three adjustments to the rules be used:

1. Remove from the game, return to the box and do not use, the 15 bonus cards.
2. Reduce the cost of licenses to one coin instead of three.
3. Ignore the cost of one coin when a player does an action at a city location where one or more players already are.

Note: After the children get used to this slightly simpler version, they can play with the full rules.

Two-Player Game

In games with two players there is a single change. In the hotel scoring, the 1st player scores 12 points and the 2nd scores 8 points. If the players tie with the same number of dogs in the hotel, neither of them scores in this category.

Puppies Expansion (optional)

In the setup, separate and organize on the table, in view of everyone, the ten puppy expansion cards. These cards offer extra points to the players at the end of the game. There are two ways to acquire a puppy card during the match:

(1st) Fill the stall with 3 or 4 spaces. When filling each of these stalls in the kennel with dogs of any breed, the player immediately receives a puppy card of his choice. He keeps the card in front of him on the table, outside the kennel. Note: If in a later round the player uses the trainer to relocate dogs among the stalls, after the relocation he must keep the stall that brought the puppies full of dogs!

(2nd) Use the partner and pay two coins. When using the effect of a partner, besides receiving a fair dog and being able to buy upgrade cards, the player may also pay two coins to acquire a puppy card.

Example: Leo completely filled his stall with three spaces. Immediately, he chooses and receives a puppy card. If he opens and fills the larger stall with four dogs, he will be entitled to another puppy card, among those available. At another time, Leo used a partner, paid two coins and chose another puppy card.

Note: It is not allowed to donate dogs from a stall with three or four spaces after that stall has been filled and the player has received a puppy card.

Puppy scoring at the end of the game - Each puppy card is worth 3 pts. Furthermore, for every two dogs the player has of the type shown on the card, he receives 1 extra pt. The five puppy types give 1 extra pt for every two: healthy dogs, cured dogs, trained dogs, fair dogs, hotel dogs.

In games with two players, use only 5 puppy cards, one of each of the five types shown above. Return the other five cards to the game box.

Variants

Variant 1: Swap the characters - Any player may, on his turn, spend exactly one coin to remove the characters from all the locations in the city. The player then places the removed characters on the discard pile, draws new characters from the draw pile and places a card above each location, to renew the city!

Variant 2: Donate two dogs - Allows the player, once on his turn, to donate two dogs instead of one. He may then receive four units of resources (coin and food), in any possible combination. But remember, it is only allowed to donate dogs that are in the open stalls of the kennel, that is, never in the hotel or the infirmary.

Variant 3: Three upgrades - When buying his third upgrade card, the player chooses any dog card that is at some location in the city. However, if it is a sick dog it is placed in the infirmary and if it is a fair dog it is delivered to the fair and the player receives a coin or food card. In this variant, if the player gathers three upgrades and chooses a sick or fair dog, the chosen dog may be placed directly in an open stall of the player's kennel. Note: If it is a fair dog, the player does not receive any resource card.