Dragon Pets
Dragon Pets Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
A game for 2 to 4 players, 20-35 minutes.
Game Components
- 40 Dragon cards (4 pairs each of 5 breeds)
- 4 Egg cards
- 10 starting Dragon cards (1 male and 1 female of each breed)
- 4 player aid cards
- 12 wooden Dragon Seekers (3 each of 4 player colors)
- 5 dice (1 white, 1 gray, 1 violet, 1 brown, and 1 orange)
- 16 wooden tokens (4 of each dice color)
- 36 coins (20 x 1 gold, 8 x 5 gold and 8 x 10 gold)
Object of the Game
You begin the game with two dragons in search of mates. You must send your Dragon Seekers into the forest to collect more dragons, forming mating pairs. Each pair you collect will award you gold coins. The player with the most coins at the end of the game wins!
Setting Up the Game
- First, separate the starting Dragon cards from the rest of the deck (by the different color on the card back). Shuffle those cards, then deal two to each player. Each player must have dragons of two different breeds (colors). If a player is dealt two matching dragons, return one to the deck and deal another. The leftover starting Dragon cards are set aside.
- Second, give each player three Dragon Seekers of one color, the matching player aid card, and eight gold coins. Place the rest of the coins nearby to form a "bank".
- Third, create the draw deck by shuffling the rest of the Dragon cards together with a number of Egg cards. The number of Egg cards used depends on the number of players:
| Players | Egg cards |
|---|---|
| 4 Players | 4 Egg cards |
| 3 Players | 3 Egg cards |
| 2 Players | 4 Egg cards |
Turn over the top 16 Dragon cards from the draw deck and create a 4 x 4 grid in the middle of the table. These cards are called the "Forest". Separate the wooden tokens into sets - each set includes one token of each color.
Randomly place one set of tokens along each side of the Forest. Use one set of tokens for each player in the game: with 4 players, randomly place wooden tokens along four sides of the Forest; with 3 players, along three sides; with 2 players, along two sides.
When placing tokens, make sure that all tokens directly across from each other are not the same color.
Playing the Game
Choose a starting player randomly. The game is played in turns, with turns passing clockwise. The starting player begins the game by rolling all five dice, then takes the first turn.
Player Turns
On your turn, you may take a number of actions. These actions can only be taken in the exact order listed below.
Some actions are required - you cannot choose to skip those actions.
Other actions are optional, but you usually have to pay gold coins to the bank in order to take those actions. You cannot take an optional action if you do not have any coins to pay!
Each action may be taken only once per turn. You may wait to see the results of each action before deciding if you want to take the next (optional) action. The order of the actions is also listed on your player aid card.
Before taking your action, you must place the colored dice that are still in play on the wooden tokens along your side of the grid. Each die is placed on the token of the same color.
Catch Dragons (Optional)
Cost: 1 Coin
If any of your Dragon Seekers are on Dragon cards in the Forest, you may take this action. If you do, all players take their Dragon Seekers and the Dragon cards under them, adding those dragons to their collections.
Important: If all of your Dragon Seekers are in the Forest, you must take this action!
Refill the Forest (Optional)
Cost: 1 Coin
If there are any empty spaces in the Forest, you may take this action. Turn over cards from the draw deck and place them face up in the empty spaces.
Important: Before drawing a card, you must specify which empty space the card will fill. No peeking! If the draw deck runs out of cards when you take this action (even if you are able to refill the entire Forest), the game ends immediately (see "The End of the Game").
Reroll the Dice (Optional)
Cost: 1 Coin
You reroll all five dice, including the dice still in play and any set aside on earlier turns, and place them on the wooden tokens along your side of the grid. You may take this action even if there are no set aside dice.
Free Reroll: Occasionally, it may happen that you don't have any dice in play - if the previous player used all of the dice or the only dice you receive show useless numbers outside of the grid (5s or 6s with no helpful white die). If this happens, you may Reroll the Dice for free once!
Place One Dragon Seeker (Required)
At the end of your turn, you must place one of your Dragon Seekers on a Dragon card in the Forest. To place a Dragon Seeker, choose one of the colored dice on your side of the Forest. Count up a number of cards in the matching column equal to the number showing on the die. Your Dragon Seeker goes on that Dragon card. Then, set the die you used to the side - it won't be available for anyone to use until a player takes a Reroll the Dice action!
Example: Will chooses to use the orange die, showing "3". He places his Dragon Seeker on the third Dragon card in the column marked by his orange token.
Using the White Die: You can use the white die to modify the value of one of the colored dice when you place a Dragon Seeker. You may add or subtract the value of the white die from the colored die you are using. This is the only way you can use a colored die showing a value of "5" or "6"! If you use the white die, it is also set aside (and cannot be used until someone rerolls).
Example: Tammy wants to place her Dragon Seeker on the blue dragon. But, the gray die for that dragon's column shows a "4", and the blue dragon is only in the second position. Fortunately, the white die shows a "2": She can subtract the value of the white die from the gray die, changing it to a value of 2.
Challenging Another Dragon Seeker: You may place a Dragon Seeker on a dragon that is already marked with another player's Dragon Seeker. If you do, the other player takes his Dragon Seeker back. But, you must pay that player one coin as compensation.
Penalty: If you cannot place a Dragon Seeker in the Forest on your turn, you must pay a penalty of five gold coins to the bank (the Dragon Seeker's Trade Union is a very serious thing!).
The End of Your Turn
After you place your Dragon Seeker, pass the remaining dice in play to the player on your left, who takes the next turn. Remember: do not pass any dice that have been set aside!
Dragon Breeding
When at any time you have two Dragon cards of the same breed that have different genders (i.e., one male and one female), you must immediately breed them. You receive gold coins equal to the higher value of the two cards. Stack the new mated pair of cards together and place them face down in front of you.
Example: When Frank takes the Catch Dragons action on his turn, Dorothy ends up with a pair of purple dragons that she can breed. Since the most valuable of her purple dragons shows 5 coins, she takes 5 coins from the bank. Then, she takes the mated pair and places them face down in front of her.
If you have more than one possible match for your dragons, you choose which dragons to breed. For example, if you had two male gold dragons and one female gold dragon, you would choose which male dragon to use. The other gold dragon remains in your collection to use later.
Dragon Eggs: These rare treasures are the result of dragons that bred in the wild, so they don't have to be paired with other cards! Each Egg card you collect is worth two coins immediately. Place them face down with your mated pairs.
The End of the Game
If the draw deck runs out of cards when you take a Refill the Forest action (even if there were enough cards to fill the entire Forest), the game ends immediately. You do not get to finish the rest of your turn!
At this point, all players take any Dragon cards in the Forest marked by their Dragon Seekers. No one has to pay any coins for this special catch. As usual, all players immediately create any mating pairs they can from the dragons in their collection. Then, it's time for the final scoring!
Unbred Dragon Penalty: If you have any Dragon cards left in your collection that you were unable to breed, you must pay a penalty to the bank equal to the value of those cards.
Diversity Bonus: If you were able to breed at least one pair of each dragon breed, you receive a bonus of five gold coins. Each pair of Egg cards you collected during the game counts as a "wild" for the Diversity Bonus.
Example: At the end of the game, Tammy has collected 11 Dragon cards and 2 Egg cards. She has 17 gold coins. One of her Dragon cards was not part of a mating pair, so she has to pay a penalty equal to the value of the dragon: 3 coins. She was only able to make pairs of dragons from four of the five breeds, but she does have a pair of Egg cards that she can use as a wild. That means that she earns the 5 gold coin Diversity Bonus. Adding everything up, Tammy ends the game with a total of 19 gold coins.
Dragon Cards
- Male Dragon: To help you make pairs, all male dragons face to the right on the card, and the male icon is always on the left side.
- Female Dragon: To help you make pairs, all female dragons face to the left on the card, and the female icon is always on the right side.
- Dragon Breed: The five dragon breeds are recognizable by their color, picture, and icon.
- Gold Coin Value: The number of coins you can earn for breeding this dragon or the penalty you must pay if you can't find it a mate!