Here Comes the Dog
Here Comes the Dog Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- Dogs: 25
- Villagers: 12
- Bonfire: 1
- Base: 1
- Round-counter Die: 1
- Color Dice: 3
- Sticks, Meat: 9
- Sticks, Charcoal: 7
- Sticks, Fire: 5
Set-up
- Mount the bonfire on the base and lay the sticks on the base towards the center (meat 9 / charcoal 7 / fire 5). This location is called "the bonfire" and the sticks placed here are called "the bonfire sticks."
- Each player takes 3 villagers and keeps it at hand standing erect.
- Arrange the dogs randomly surrounding the bonfire.
- Place the round counter die with number "1" facing up.
- Decide the playing order in whatever way you like.
Order of Play and Objective
This game has 5 rounds. At the end of each round, the sticks will return to the bonfire before a new round begins. Turn the round counter die to a new number everytime the round moves on to the next one. Players compete to tame as many dogs as possible during the five rounds.
1) Things to do during your turn
Choose either to A throw the dice, or to B exchange your stick to the bonfire sticks.
A | Roll the 3 dice and take the bonfire sticks
Roll the 3 dice simultaneously and take 2 sticks of your choice from the colors that show up on your roll.
- A white die with a tan (meat) pip = Meat
- A white die with a black pip = Charcoal
- A white die with a red pip = Fire
The manual's example shows a roll of two meat dice and one charcoal die: choose 2 from the 3 colors.
You must always choose 2 sticks, but in case the roll of your dice indicates a color that is not available anymore on the bonfire, take 1 stick only.
B | Exchange your stick to bonfire sticks
Instead of rolling the dice, you may exchange your stick to those on the bonfire once using your turn, according to the following exchange rules. However, you may not end a round with the exchange of sticks.
The manual illustrates three exchange pairs, each shown as an arrow from one stick to a stick taken from the bonfire: charcoal to meat, fire to meat, and fire to charcoal.
- They are not mutually exchangeable. For example, you may not exchange your meat to a charcoal.
- If the bonfire sticks are not sufficiently available to allow any exchange, you may not exchange your sticks.
2) End of a round and occurence of an event
When either of the two types of sticks (meat or charcoal) are all taken, the round will end immediately and an event will take place.
A | If all meat sticks are taken: "Feed" Event
Once all the meat sticks are taken, the round will end immediately, and each player will get to feed the dogs.
- For every 2 meat sticks at hand: Tame 1 dog.
- If you only have 1 meat or 1 extra, this will be wasted.
Tamed dogs are kept at hand.
Example from the manual: the player has 5 meat sticks, from which 4 can be used to tame 2 dogs. The 1 extra will be wasted as it does not form a complete set of 2 meat sticks.
B | If all charcoal sticks are taken: "Assault" Event
Once all the charcoal sticks are taken, the round will end immediately and each player is assaulted by dogs equivalent to the number of meat sticks in hand. You can fend them off by below combinations of sticks, but if your combinations are not sufficient to guard all your villagers, the ones unguarded will faint.
- For every meat stick in hand: 1 dog coming for assault.
- For every 2 meat sticks in hand: Fend off 1 dog.
- For every (fire + charcoal) set: Fend off 1 dog.
Dogs on assault minus dogs fended off equals the number of villagers to faint.
Example from the manual: the player has 5 sticks, so there will be 5 dogs on assault to the player's villagers. Although 2 dogs were fended off by 4 meat sticks and 2 dogs by 2 sets of (fire+charcoal), 1 dog remained without any defense combination so 1 villager will faint from assault.
The manual's example shows "1 villager faints. The rest of dogs will return to the pack."
C | If meat and charcoal sticks have run out at the same time: This round ends without any event
In this round, there will be no event, but the round count will move on to the next one.
Cautions for the end of round
- You may not end a round by the exchange of sticks ①-B.
- The player who has ended the round will handle the event only after taking sticks from the bonfire.
- In the next round, the person after the player ending the previous round will continue.
3) Other rules
a) Incidents
If there is any of the following combinations on the dice roll, a sudden incident will occur.
- "Feed" = three white dice showing meat (tan): All players perform ②-A. All meat sticks used for taming will return to the bonfire.
- "Assault" = three dice showing charcoal (black): All players perform ②-B. All meat, fire, charcoal sticks used for defense will return to the bonfire.
- "Fire Fest" = three dice showing fire (red): All players return the fire sticks to the bonfire.
After everyone has finished their count for the incident, the same player who has just rolled the dice keeps the turn and rolls the dice again until there is a roll that allows the player to take any stick(s). If an incident roll occurs consecutively, players handle it each time according to above rules.
- If no one has sufficient sticks for any count of the incident, the same player simply rolls the dice again.
- Sticks used in the incident will not return to the bonfire. For example, if you have 1 meat stick when "Assault" occured, you will lose 1 villager, but the 1 meat stick is not being used for defence in the incident, so you don't return the stick.
b) Theft
If you have the following dice roll, it's a theft turn.
- Dice showing fire (red), meat (tan), and charcoal (black) together.
If no one has any stick for you to steal from, roll the dice again.
"Theft" = The player who has rolled the dice can steal 1 stick of any color from any other player (1 player only). Once you have chosen the stick to steal, your turn is over and players continue the round.
c) If all villagers faint
If all your villagers faint, you must return all your dogs back to the pack. Then, restore 2 villagers to life and continue the game. If the 2 villagers restored faint again, you must return all your dogs again and restore 1 villager. If this 1 villager faints yet again, you are knocked out of the game leaving other players to continue the game.
4) End of the game and conditions for winning
Once you have completed 5 rounds, the winning order is determined by counting the total number of dogs tamed. If the numbers are even, decide the winner by the number of active villagers.