Floats McGoats Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Play
• Scoring
• Winning
• Possible Action #1: Adding a Goat
• Possible Action #2: Roll the Die
• Other Stuff to Chew On

Contents

• 24 Mama Goats
• 4 Baby Goats
• 2 Anchor Sticks (the black sticks)
• 48 Raft Sticks
• 1 Shark
• 1 Twelve-sided die
• 1 Playing board

Setup

1. Unfold the board, and place the two Anchor Sticks (the black sticks) on the image of the dark sticks in the center of the board.
2. Create a pile with all of the Raft Sticks. Place the stick pile and the Shark next to the board.
3. Each player selects a set of same-colored goats.

Play

The youngest kid goes first. (Get it?)

On your turn, pick ONLY ONE of the following actions:

1. Add 1 goat to any open spot on the raft.
2. OR Roll the die and take the action shown.

Note: If there are no open spots on the raft, you must roll the die.

After you complete your turn, play continues clockwise. The next player can either add one goat to an open spot on the raft or roll the die. Play continues until there is a winner.

Scoring

Single Goat Triangles:

• Mama Goat = 1 point
• Baby Goat = 2 points

Goat Love Triangles:

• Mama Goat + Mama Goat = 2 points
• Mama Goat + Baby Goat = 3 points

Goats count as points only if the goats are surrounded on all 3 sides by sticks (in any combination of light, dark, or Anchor Sticks), forming a complete triangle around your goat(s).

Winning

• 2 Players: The first player to have 6 points worth of goats within triangles at the same time wins!
• 3-4 Players: The first player to have 5 points worth of goats within triangles at the same time wins!

Possible Action #1: Adding a Goat

A goat can be added to either side of a stick. When adding a goat to the raft, only one goat is allowed per side of a stick. For example, the Xs in this graphic show all the open spots on the raft where you could put a goat.

Once you place a goat on the board, that goat becomes known as a "raft goat." If that goat gets sent out to sea (removed from the board), it is no longer considered a "raft goat."

Possible Action #2: Roll the Die

Add a Stick: Add 1 stick (light side up) to the raft. It must touch the end of an existing stick and follow the triangle pattern on the board.

Add or Move a Stick: Add 1 stick (light side up) to the raft, or move any light brown stick to any other position on the raft. Remember that any stick you add or move must touch the end of at least one other raft stick.

Caution: If the stick you move disconnects goats and/or sticks from the section of raft with the Anchor Sticks, all non-anchored goats and sticks will float out to sea. In the example graphic, once the non-permanent stick is moved, the circled sticks and yellow goat are sent out to sea (removed from the board) because they are no longer connected to the Anchor Sticks and the rest of the raft.

Goat Love: Move one of your raft goats (remember, that's one that is already on the board) to the same raft spot as another one of your raft goats, stacking them on top of each other. In the example graphic, the orange player rolled Goat Love and moves one of the orange goats to the spot with the other orange goat, stacking them together inside the triangle.

Note: Rolling Goat Love is the only way to stack two of your goats together in the same raft position. No more than two goats can be stacked in the same raft position. Goat Love only works with goats that you already have on the raft. You can only stack your raft goats together. You cannot stack your raft goat with someone else's raft goat.

Move Two Sticks: Move any two light brown sticks on the raft to any other position on the raft. Remember that wherever you move the sticks, an end of each stick must touch another raft stick.

Note: You cannot move the second stick into the spot created by the first stick you just moved. That means when you move two sticks, they have to go to two entirely new places.

Flip a Stick: Flip over any light brown stick to reveal its dark side. Once a stick is flipped to dark brown, it can't be flipped back, and it can't be moved.

Shark Attack: The first time Shark Attack is rolled, choose a goat or stack of goats on the board for the Shark to attack. Send the attacked goat(s) back out to sea (back to their player) and replace their spot on the raft with the Shark. If Shark Attack is rolled again, choose a goat or stack of goats to attack, sending them out to sea and replacing their spot on the raft with the Shark. Then, you MAY (but don't have to) move one of your raft goats (or a pair if you already have some stacked) into the now open space where the Shark was before.

Danger: If you roll Shark Attack, and the only goat on the raft is yours, your goat gets attacked and sent out to sea.

Goat Fight: Swap one of your raft goat positions with an opponent's raft goat position.

• Baby goats can only fight babies. In the example graphic, only the green baby and yellow baby can fight each other, swapping positions. The orange mama and the red mama cannot fight either of the babies.
• Mama goats can only fight mamas. In the example graphic, the orange mama, the yellow mama, or the red mama can fight each other, swapping positions. They cannot fight the green baby.
• A stack of 2 goats can fight anything else on the board, except for a baby by itself. In the example graphic, the stacked orange mama goats can fight any other goats on the board, except the green baby goat. Nothing on that example board can start a fight with the stacked orange mamas.

Note: The only goats that can start a fight with a stack of two goats is another stack of any two goats.

Other Stuff to Chew On

1. Any goat(s) surrounded by a triangle of 3 dark sticks (which can include Anchor Sticks) is locked in and protected. That means it cannot be involved in Move a Stick, Goat Love, Goat Fight, or Shark Attack.
2. In order for your goat to count as a point, the goat must be surrounded on all three sides by sticks. It does not matter what color those sticks are, but if your goat's raft sticks aren't dark brown (or Anchor Sticks), someone else can move those non-permanent sticks and take away your points.
3. If you roll the die but are unable to complete that specific move, you must add a stick to the raft instead. Here are a few examples of when that would apply:
   • You roll Goat Love, but only have 1 goat on the raft.
   • You roll Move Two Sticks, but there is only 1 light stick on the board.
   • You roll Goat Fight, but you don't have a goat on the board.
4. Don't let the board edges contain you! If your raft takes shape beyond the edges of the board, keep playing on the table but follow the same triangle pattern as printed on the board.
5. One strategy tip for beginners: Early in the game, add as many goats as possible to the raft.
6. Tiebreaker: If two players achieve the winning number of points at the same time, keep playing as normal until only one player has at least the winning amount of points AND more points than everyone else.