Dogs Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Icons to Know
• Components
  • Bonus Cards
  • Dog Fair Cards
• Setup
  • 1. Table
  • 2. Each Player Gets
• Phase 1
  • 1. Move or Return
  • 2. Move & Collect
  • 3. Return to ARC
  • 4. Put Dogs in Kennel
• Phase 2
  • 1. Assign Workers
  • 2. Collect Card
  • 3. Building Actions
  • Action Space Buildings
• Phase 3
  • 1. Feed the Dogs
  • 2. Pay Wages
  • 3. Board Clean Up
  • 4. Player Clean Up
• Game Ends
  • 1. 2-4 Players
  • 2. 2-Players
• Advanced Rules
  • 1. Roadwork
  • 2. Pet Store
  • 3. Last Stall
  • 4. Diversity
• 2-Player Changes
  • 1. Remove Breeds
  • 2. Remove Rewards
  • 3. Remove Cards
  • 4. Add Roadwork
  • Rule Changes
• Examples
  • Example: Movement
  • Example: Too Many Dogs
  • Example: Dog Fair Actions
• Scoring
  • 1. Scoring the Stalls
  • 2. Additional Stalls
  • 3. Kennel Diversity
  • 4. Infirmary
  • 5. Assistant
  • 6. Resources
  • 7. Tie Breakers
• Credits

Icons to Know

Hi, I'm Lou. Here are the dogs you will be playing with in this game. Unfortunately, I'm not playing, I have pizza crusts to eat.

• Country Dogs
• City Dogs
• Sick Dog
• Reward Dog
• Roadwork

Components

• 1 Main Game Board
• 1 Action Spaces / Dog Fair Board
• 1 Rulebook (you are reading it)
• 1 Starting Player Token
• 2 Draw Bags (may look different than picture)
• 4 Animal Rescue Centers
• 4 Printed Truck Tiles
• 4 Wooden Trucks
• 6 Roadwork Tokens
• 8 Meeples
• 12 Wooden Dog Houses
• 42 City Dog Tokens (7 of each of 6 breeds)
• 42 Country Dog Tokens (7 of each of 6 breeds)
• 51 Cards
• 108 Resource Tokens (28 Coins, 22 Food, 22 Medicine, 36 Gas)

Bonus Cards

• Dog Exchange (x2) — During Phase 1, before moving his truck, the Player may exchange any 2 dogs on the main board with each other. A country dog may be exchanged with a city dog.
• Additional Dog (x2) — During Phase 1 when returning to the ARC, take 1 dog at random from a bag (City or Country) and place it on your truck tile. (If you draw a Roadwork tile used in the 2-player / Advanced game only, put it back and draw again.)
• Veterinarian (x2) — During Phase 1, after returning to the ARC, the player may put all of the dogs collected this turn into the kennel instead of the infirmary. This does not affect dogs that were already in the infirmary.
• Free Entry (x2) — During Phase 2, the Player may place a worker on an already filled action space. However, he may not take a card from above the action space.
• Town Hall (x4) — During Phase 2, when selecting the Town Hall action, the Player may use this card to pay only 1 Coin to activate an additional stall instead of the normal 2 Coins.
• Trained Dog (x2) — During Phase 2, when taking the Dog Fair action and selling a dog to the Dog Fair, the Player may use this card to collect 1 extra Coin.
• Prized Dog (x2) — During Phase 2, when taking the Dog Fair action and selling a dog to the Dog Fair, the Player may use this card to collect 2 extra Coins.
• Assistant (x4) — During Phase 3, when it is time to pay the Assistant, the Player may use this card instead of a Coin.

There are 40 Bonus cards in total. Resource cards (blue background) make up the rest of the Bonus deck and are immediately traded in for the resources depicted when collected.

Dog Fair Cards

There are 9 Dog Fair cards. Each shows which breeds may be sold to the Dog Fair that round.

Setup

1. Table

• Set the Main Board in the center of the table.
• Place the Action Spaces / Dog Fair Board to one side.
• Shuffle and deal 2 Bonus Cards face up above each space on the Action Board. Put the remaining deck to one side.
• Shuffle and reveal 1 Dog Fair card face up beside the Dog Fair. Put the remaining deck to one side.
• Place tokens within everyone's reach. Tokens are considered unlimited in the game. If you run out, use a substitute.
• Randomly draw and place 1 dog face up on each empty paw print on the board (City dogs on blue and Country dogs on green).

For 3 Players: Remove 1 City & 1 Country Breed.

2. Each Player Gets

Your player board is called an Animal Rescue Center (ARC). Here is the layout of the ARC and its initial setup.

• Office — Put 3 Coins, 3 Doghouses, and 2 Meeples in the office. The Meeples represent the player and his Assistant.
• Store Room — Put 2 Food tokens here.
• Infirmary — The sick dogs that are collected are placed into one of the 6 bays. Only sick dogs are allowed in the infirmary. Dogs in the infirmary do not require food during Phase 3.
• Garage — Put 6 Gas tokens here. [NOTICE: You may never have more than 9 Gas tokens.]
• Veterinarian — Put 2 Medicine tokens here.

Built Stalls — Kennels start with 2 built stalls. Each stall houses up to 4 dog tokens. [NOTICE: The stall is internally divided into 2 rows and in each row there can be only 2 dogs of the same breed. No stall may contain more than 2 different breeds.]

Additional Stalls — May be built by a Player in Phase 2 of each round. They are each worth extra points at the end of the game if they are occupied by at least 1 dog of any breed.

Phase 1

In Phase 1, players move their wooden trucks through the city and the countryside to pick up stray dogs and rescue them. The Player with the First Player token goes first.

The first movement of all players in Phase 1 is from the main board's central starting location; all subsequent moves start from the last position of the player's truck.

1. Move or Return

Move and Collect Dogs, or Return to the Animal Rescue Center (ARC).

2. Move & Collect

Move your wooden truck to any unoccupied space that has a Dog. Pay 1 Gas for each space moved. Place the healthy or sick dogs on the truck tile. Reward dogs go to the Dog Fair (on the highest available number); collect the reward. Turn passes to the next player.

If the Player has the Dog Exchange card, he may play it now before he moves.

The Player moves his wooden truck by driving through the city streets or the country roads. The Player may move his truck through 1 or more spaces occupied by dogs and not retrieve them. When the Player decides to stop, he pays 1 Gas token per space he moved through (whether it had a dog or was vacant), including the one he stops on. The central starting location on the main board is not considered a space and costs no Gas to move through. A Player may move through, but may not stop on, a space containing another player's truck.

A Player may decide on his first action not to move from the central starting location on the main board; this will end his turn for Phase 1. If all players chose not to move, this will trigger Game End. Continue on to Phase 2, then proceed to scoring (see back page) after feeding your dogs and paying your Assistant.

The Player now collects the dog. If it is a healthy dog (no icon) or a sick dog, he places it on his Truck tile. If the dog is a reward dog, the Player immediately places the dog on the highest available number at the Dog Fair (if all the spaces are covered, simply place it beside the Dog Fair board), then he takes the number of Coins indicated on the main board beside the spot he retrieved the dog. The Player's turn is over and play passes clockwise. The players continue taking turns collecting dogs until they all have returned to their ARCs.

Lou's Tip: Place 1 Gas on your Printed Truck tile to be used as your return fuel, that way you won't accidentally spend it.

3. Return to ARC

Spend 1 Gas to return to the ARC. First and last player to return collect any 1 resource of their choice, but not a Coin. The Player's turn is over until all other players have returned to their ARCs.

To return to the ARC, the Player declares that he is done collecting dogs. The Player must pay 1 Gas token to move from anywhere on the main board back to the central starting location.

If the player has the Additional Dog card, he may choose to play it now. The first and last player to return to their ARC collects 1 Resource of their choice (Food, Medicine, or Gas, not Coins). [NOTICE: This resource cannot be used as the 1 Gas to return to the Player's ARC.]

If the Player makes a mistake and does not have any Gas left, he places all the dogs from his truck tile back in their respective bags and returns to his ARC (he ran out of gas and had to be towed back).

4. Put Dogs in Kennel

May rearrange dogs in stalls. Move healthy dogs to built stalls. Only same breed side by side in any row. Move sick dogs from the truck tile to the infirmary. Dogs that don't fit go to the player on the left.

The Player picks up the dogs from his truck tile and organizes them in his kennel stalls. A player may not place a dog in a kennel that has not yet been built. All Players start with 2 prebuilt kennels in their ARCs. When placing dogs in the stalls, only dogs of the same breed may be placed side by side. All sick dogs are placed in the infirmary part of the player board where breeds may be freely mixed.

If the Player has the Veterinarian Card, he may choose to play it now.

The examples in the rulebook show the correct and incorrect placement of 2 breeds of city dogs in a kennel stall — dogs of the same breed side by side in a row is correct; mixing 2 breeds in the same row is incorrect.

If the player has made a mistake and has more dogs than he can place in the kennel or in the infirmary, he must donate any leftover dogs to the Player on his left. When donating a dog, the Player who is making the donation may choose which dogs to donate, including dogs that were already in their kennel. A Player may only donate a dog if he cannot place all collected dogs in a stall and may only donate a sick dog if his infirmary is full.

The Player receiving the donation may take the dogs and rearrange his kennel to accommodate them. If after rearranging his kennel he has any dogs that cannot be legally placed in his kennel, he must pass the excess dogs to the player on his left. This continues until the dog has been placed in a kennel or the last player has passed.

If a dog is not placed, it is added to the Dog Fair on the highest available number. All dogs on the Dog Fair are considered healthy even if they were sick when donated. A Player is never obligated to take a dog from another Player.

If you fill a kennel with 4 dogs of the same breed, then you will immediately receive 1 Coin. This is a one-time bonus per breed of dog in your kennel; you can never get another Coin for the same breed of dog. Example: if a dog goes to the infirmary because you were unable to feed it, you do not get another Coin after healing the dog and returning it to the kennel.

Lou Reminds: The only time in which you may freely rearrange your kennels is at the end of Phase 1.

Phase 2

In Phase 2, players are working to make their kennels a better place for the dogs. They are also trying to heal the sick dogs and keep them all fed. To do this, each player starts with 2 Meeples that will be placed on building action spaces to achieve these goals.

1. Assign Workers

Place an available worker on one of the 5 building action spaces on the Action Board. Maximum of 2 workers per space. The Free Entry card allows a third worker to use the space, but gains no Bonus card.

The starting Player begins by placing a Meeple on an action space on the Action Board. Only 2 Meeples are allowed on each spot without the Free Entry Card. Both Meeples may be from the same player.

2. Collect Card

Take an available Bonus card that is above the action space. If it is a Resource card, collect the listed Resources and discard the card. Special cards are kept till you want to use them. When played they go to the discard pile.

The Player now collects 1 of the available cards above the action space he chose. When using the Free Entry Card you do not gain a card. If the chosen card is a Resource (blue background), it is immediately traded in for the items depicted. All Special cards may be played immediately, if applicable, or saved for another turn. There is no hand limit of held cards.

3. Building Actions

Do the Building's Action (optional). Turn passes to the next player. Once all players have assigned all their available workers and taken the actions, the phase ends.

The Player may now take the selected action. Sometimes the Player may not want to do the action, but just wanted the card above the action space. Once the Player is done, the turn passes clockwise and continues this way until all available workers have been placed.

Action Space Buildings

Town Hall — The Player may build one of the 3 additional stalls in his ARC. The Player pays 2 Coins and puts one of his Dog Houses over the shovel icon at the side of the stall. The stall is then used normally by the Player (additional stalls follow the same rules of occupation of the ARC's original 2 stalls). Stalls must be activated in the following order: 2pt, 3pt, and finally the 5pt stall. The stall will only score those points at the end of the game if there is at least one dog in it.

If the player has the Town Hall card he may play it now to pay only 1 Coin to build an additional stall instead of the normal 2 Coins.

Warehouse — The Player may choose to exchange up to 2 Resource tokens, stocked in his ARC, with the general stockpile of reserve tokens. Only Food, Medicine, and Gas tokens may be traded in any combination.

Pet Shop — The Player can buy Food and Medicine for his ARC. Each Coin buys exactly 2 tokens of these Resources in any combination. There are no limits as to how many Coins he can spend. If playing with the Advanced Rules, limit the Coins spent to 2 Coins.

Veterinary — The Player may spend Medicine tokens to cure up to 6 sick dogs that are in his ARC's infirmary. For each sick dog the player must spend 1 Medicine. Each dog that is cured is immediately moved to a legal open space in the kennel. Dogs in stalls may not be rearranged.

Dog Fair — The Player may make a deal with the Dog Fair to do one of the following: Buy, Sell, or Trade a dog.

• To buy a dog, the Player pays the dog's price of 10 Coins minus the number of dogs in the Dog Fair. An easy way to see the prices is to look at the highest visible number on the Dog Fair; that is the current price (minimum of 1). The Player must have a legal place in his kennel to put his new dog and he cannot rearrange his kennel at this time. After purchase, make sure that the remaining dogs in the Dog Fair cover the highest visible numbers.
• To sell a dog, the Player takes the dog from his kennel — the dog must be one of the breeds shown on the current Dog Fair Card — and places it on the Dog Fair space covering the highest available number. The player then collects 2 Coins. If the player has the Trained Dog and/or the Prized Dog card he may play 1 or both to gain extra Coins at this time.
• To trade a dog, the Player simply swaps one of his dogs in a kennel stall for one of the dogs at the Dog Fair. The Player must legally place the new dog in his kennel.

Phase 3

Phase 3 is the cleanup phase that gets you ready to play another round. For the most part, Phase 3 can be played simultaneously by all Players.

1. Feed the Dogs

Pay 1 Food per stall that contains at least 1 dog.

Each Player must now pay 1 Food for every stall that he has at least 1 dog in. He does not need to pay any Food for dogs in the infirmary. If he does not have enough Food to feed all the dogs in the stalls, then 1 dog from each stall he is unable to feed gets sick and goes to the infirmary. If his infirmary is full then the dog goes to the Dog Fair.

2. Pay Wages

Pay 1 Coin for your Assistant. If you cannot pay your Assistant, she goes away (remove 1 of your 2 meeples). Rehire an Assistant lost in previous turns for 1 Coin.

Each Player must now pay his Assistant 1 Coin for all the hard work they have done. If a Player does not have enough to pay the Assistant, the Assistant goes away until the player is able to pay in a future round. Lost Assistants are put to the side of the player's ARC and the Player cannot use his Assistant in Phase 2 of the next round. In Phase 3 of the next round he can hire his Assistant again for 1 Coin.

A Player with the Assistant Card can use it to pay the Assistant or to rehire the lost Assistant.

3. Board Clean Up

Remove all cards from above the action spaces. Put 2 new Bonus cards above each action space. Reveal a new Dog Fair card. Refill all empty dog spaces on the board.

Game Ends: If there are not enough tiles to fill all the empty spaces, the game ends immediately. Do not do the Player Cleanup, go to scoring.

Board Clean Up: Start by removing remaining cards from above the Action spaces. Now put 2 new cards from the Bonus deck above each action space. Reveal a new Dog Fair Card to replace the prior one. If the Bonus cards or the Dog Fair cards run out, reshuffle the discarded cards to form a new deck. Draw new dog tokens to replace those that were picked up last turn, making sure to put country dogs in the country and city dogs in the city.

Game Ends: If there are not enough dog tokens to refill either the city or the country dogs, then the game ends immediately. Do not do the Player Cleanup, go directly to final scoring. See the Scoring section of this rulebook.

4. Player Clean Up

Collect 1 Coin as income. You may purchase Gas, 3 for 1 Coin, max 9. Pass the First Player token clockwise. Go to Phase 1.

Player Clean Up: Each player now collects 1 Coin for his income. Players may now purchase Gas for the cost of 1 Coin for 3 Gas. A player may have up to 9 Gas tokens at one time. Any Gas tokens over 9 are discarded.

The First Player token is passed to the next Player in clockwise order. The players are now ready to start Phase 1 again.

Game Ends

All Good Things... There are two ways in which a game can end. There are two additional ways in which a game can end if you are playing a 2-Player game or using the Advanced Rules.

1. 2-4 Players

In Phase 1, if all players chose not to move from the central starting location on the main board, finish the round and continue to scoring after feeding your dogs and paying your Assistant.

In Phase 3, if there are not enough dogs to fill all the empty spaces, the game ends immediately. Do not do the Player Cleanup, go to scoring.

2. 2-Players

In Phase 2, a Player building his last stall will trigger game end with a final round being played (Phases 1-3).

In Phase 3, during the Board Clean Up, if all 6 Roadwork tiles are drawn and placed on the main board, play one final round (Phases 1-3) scoring the game after feeding your dogs and paying your Assistant.

Advanced Rules

Options — Sniffing around for a harder game? Add in 1 or more of the following rules to a 3 or 4-Player game to put your skills to the test.

1. Roadwork

Use the Roadwork tiles following the rules in the 2-Player section.

2. Pet Store

When taking the Pet Store action you may only spend 2 Coins per visit.

3. Last Stall

Any Player building his last stall will trigger game end with one final round being played (Phases 1-3).

4. Diversity

A player must have at least 1 city and 1 country dog anywhere in his kennel's stalls. If a player only has city dogs or only country dogs in his kennel, then the player loses 5 points. Dogs in the infirmary do not count.

2-Player Changes

In the 2-Player game, 4 of the dog breeds are removed from play: 2 City and 2 Country breeds of your choice. From the 8 remaining dog breeds in the game, remove 1 City and 1 Country reward dog, again it's your choice which two are removed.

1. Remove Breeds

Remove 2 City and 2 Country dog breeds of your choice (7 tokens of each removed breed).

2. Remove Rewards

Remove 1 City and 1 Country reward dog from the remaining breeds.

3. Remove Cards

Remove all the Resource cards that have 3 items shown on them.

4. Add Roadwork

There are 6 Roadwork tiles that will be added to the bags (3 to the city and 3 to the country). These Roadwork tiles are treated as a blank space in the game, the same as if another player had already picked up a dog from the space. You will need to spend 2 Gas to move over the space and you are not allowed to stop on it. When you add dogs to the board in Phase 3, remove all of the Roadwork tiles, placing them back in the bag, before placing dogs on the vacant spots.

Rule Changes

Phase 1: Roadwork tiles are treated as blank spaces and cost 2 Gas to move through. Players may not stop on them. Only the last returning Player to their ARC receives the bonus of 1 resource (Food, Medicine, or Gas), not a Coin.

Phase 2: Only 1 Meeple per action space is allowed. The Free Entry card allows a second Meeple on an action space but no card may be gained. A Player building his last stall will trigger game end with a final round being played (Phases 1-3).

Phase 3: Before adding dogs to the board, remove any Roadwork tiles and reshuffle them back into their respective bags. If all 6 Roadwork tiles are on the board this will be the final round.

Scoring: Kennel Diversity is worth 4pt for each breed. A Player must have at least 1 city and 1 country dog anywhere in his kennel's stalls. If a Player only has city dogs or only country dogs in his kennel, then the Player loses 5 points.

Examples

Example: Movement

The Yellow Player wants to rescue the Poodle. He must move a total of 3 spaces. The first space is empty, the 2nd space has a Bulldog, and the final space where he stops has the Poodle. He pays 3 Gas and ends his movement.

Example: Too Many Dogs

The Yellow Player returns to his ARC with 2 Poodles. However, he forgot to expand his kennel with a new stall in the previous round and has no place to put the 2 Poodles. He decides to keep the 2 Poodles and pass the Bulldog to the player on his left, the Red Player.

The Red Player collected 2 St. Bernards and 1 Bulldog, but now also receives a Bulldog from the Yellow Player. Not wanting to give up the Bulldogs or the St. Bernards, he passes the 2 Dalmatians to the player on his left, the Blue Player.

The Blue Player collected a Mutt, Border Collie, and a Golden Retriever. The Red Player is donating 2 Dalmatians to him. He does not want the Dalmatians so he donates them to the Dog Fair, covering spots "7" and "6".

Example: Dog Fair Actions

The Green Player wants to purchase the Rottweiler, he pays 5 Coins and puts the dog in his kennel. The Green Player then shifts the dogs left to fill in the space the Rottweiler used to occupy.

To sell a dog, the Green Player sees that the Dog Fair card allows him to sell Poodles, Bulldogs, Labrador, and German Shepherds this round. He takes his Labrador from one of the stalls in his kennel, places it in the Dog Fair on the highest available number (the "6" space), and collects 2 Coins.

To trade a dog, the Green Player swaps one of his Bulldogs with the German Shepherd in the Dog Fair. He places his new German Shepherd in his stall with a matching German Shepherd and places the Bulldog in the same spot on the Dog Fair from where he got the German Shepherd.

All dogs in the Dog Fair are considered healthy.

Scoring

1. Scoring the Stalls

For each stall, score based on the dogs inside:

• A pair of dogs, same breed = 2pt
• A pair and a spare dog (any breed) = 3pt
• Two different pairs = 5pt
• A trio of the same breed = 8pt
• Four of a kind = 12pt

2. Additional Stalls

Additional built stall: 2pt / 3pt / 5pt. The stalls must be built in order and have at least 1 dog of any breed inside to score points.

3. Kennel Diversity

Each breed of dog is worth 2pt (4pt in a 2-Player game). The dogs must be in the kennel and not in the infirmary to count for this bonus.

4. Infirmary

All dogs in the infirmary, regardless of breed = -2pt each.

5. Assistant

Assistant: 2pt. The Assistant only scores points if she was paid in the last round.

6. Resources

Any combination of 3 = 1pt. Coins = 0pt.

7. Tie Breakers

The Player with the most Coins breaks the tie. If there is still a tie both players share the victory.

The Winner is the player with the most points.

Credits

Lou would like to thank the following people:

• Marcos Macri — Creating Dogs.
• Diego Sanchez — The incredible art.
• Gary Gray — Art direction, Rule changes.
• Rob Masson — Rule changes.
• Steve Carey — Rules editing.
• Cristina Goldchain — Rules editing.
• Michelle Caldwell — Rules editing.

And everyone at Board & Confused who helped play test and make this edition possible. Craig, Edgar, Omar, David, Laura, Nick, Siskin.

Rahdo — For inspiring us to publish this game.

Special thanks to Elisa for her tireless effort rescuing dogs in Tijuana.

Dogs © 2016 - MS Jogos