Doktor Igel
Doktor Igel Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Aim of the Game
Who will be the most eager to gather apples & pears? The winner can only be the one who also hands over some fruit to the helpful hedgehog so that he can take food to his sickly animal friends. If cooperation does not occur all the players lose together.
Preparation
Lay out the game board in the middle of the table.
Put the hedgehog with the brush on the big hedgehog picture and one basket each next to the den of the dormouse and the nest of the robin.
Place 16 of the 18 pears and apples on each of the corresponding trees. Squeeze the remaining 2 apples and 2 pears into the brush of the hedgehog. It is best to insert the stalks into the bristles so that they do not fall out.
And finally, plug the three bridges into the holes of the game board and get the die ready.
Short Instructions
- Place game board in the middle.
- Hedgehog on its picture, basket on its place.
- Fruits on trees; push 4 fruits into hedgehog's brush.
- Insert the 3 bridges into the game board.
How to Play
Whoever has been feeling ill most recently starts the game. He or she throws the die once, passing it clockwise on to the next player.
What Appears on the Die?
The pear: Well done. Pick a pear from the tree.
- If there is none or only one pear in the hedgehog's brush you have to give the pear to Doctor Hedgehog: push it carefully into the brush - it is best to push the stalk in first.
- If the hedgehog has already two or more pears, you can decide if you want to give the fruit to the hedgehog or to keep it yourself.
The apple: Pick an apple and keep it or push it into the hedgehog's brush, as described above under "pear".
Apple and pear: Pick an apple and a pear. (If towards the end of the game there is only one kind of fruit left, you can only pick one fruit).
- Again, the rule is that you can only keep your fruit if Dr. Hedgehog already has enough of them.
Example: You have picked an apple and a pear. The hedgehog has only one pear at that moment but three apples. So you can keep the apple, but you have to stick the pear into the brush of hedgehog.
A robin appears on the dice:
- Carefully move the hedgehog along the path in the center towards the robin. Try to prevent the fruit from tumbling off its back. Be particularly careful when going over the bridge.
- Take an apple from its back and place it into the basket next to the robin, which especially likes apples.
- Then move the hedgehog along the path on the left hand side and over the bridge back home to its resting spot.
A dormouse appears on the dice:
- Move Doctor Hedgehog along the path in the center towards the dormouse.
- There you take a pear from its bristles and place it into the basket (the mouse likes pears) and move the hedgehog back along the path on the right hand side to its resting spot.
If the fruits fall off: If fruits fall off when moving the hedgehog (for example when going over the bridge), place the fallen fruit back into the game box. At the end of the game, the fruit in the box will be counted. The fewer the fruit, the more skillful the players.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as:
- ... all fruit have been collected from both trees. Hurray! Thanks to the assistance and cooperation of all the players, Doctor Hedgehog has been able to help the sickly animals.
- ... Dr. Hedgehog cannot help anymore. If a robin or a dormouse appears on the die and there is no corresponding fruit in the hedgehog's brush. In this case the players all loose together.
If there are fruit left on the back of the hedgehog they are distributed between the corresponding baskets. Robin and dormouse are healthy again.
Whoever collected most apples and pears (make piles and compare) wins the game.
Hint
Smaller children can start playing the game without the bridges so that less fruit fall off the hedgehog's back when it is moved. Later on only the two side bridges can be used so that the risk of already losing fruit on the way towards the poorly animal is lessened.
Variation: Helper's Game
In this variation the idea of helping becomes even more evident. The players always decide for themselves whether they want to keep the fruit for themselves in order to have more fruit at the end of the game or if they wish to give the fruit to the hedgehog in order to reduce the risk of everyone losing. The number of fruit on the hedgehog's back is of no importance. This variation is more exciting, but also ends quicker.
Verse of Consolation for Ill Children
Lucky, lucky spell Three days rain Three days snow And all is well
Lucky, lucky little mouse Coming to your little house Hedgehog with a little pear To chase the cold from a friend so dear
Lucky, lucky little bird Coming to your little tree Hedgehog with a tasty apple To help you fly fit and free
Information About Hedgehogs
- Hedgehogs are insectivores - but they also like to eat earthworms, snails, fallen fruit, nuts and mushrooms.
- Twice a year - in May and September - the hedgehog gives birth to 5 - 7 little ones which are then suckled.
- Hedgehogs are active at night when they become really lively: they have very good orientation in the dark thanks to their acute sense of smell and sensitive whiskers.
- When there is danger, the hedgehog rolls itself to a ball and spreads out its 5,000 to 10,000 spines. For a hedgehog, the biggest dangers are:
- predators (fox, polecat, eagle-owl);
- traffic (many hedgehogs are run over because in the evening they search for insects on the warm tarmac of the roads);
- eating snails which have been poisoned with snail pellets.
- In autumn the hedgehog stuffs itself to build up a thick layer of fat for hibernation. For hibernating, the hedgehog needs a heap of dry leaves, compost or wood in which it rolls itself up until spring. So do not burn all garden garbage.
- Whoever finds a hedgehog in winter should feed it only with cat food or minced meat and water (under no circumstances milk!) and inform the local animal Humane Society department.