Méchanlou
Méchanlou Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Information
- Age: 4 to 7
- Players: 2 to 4
- Number of cards: 50 cards (24 "story" cards, 10 "wolf" cards, 8 "hunter in the forest" cards, 8 "wolf in the forest" cards)
Aim
Be the first player to have all 6 Little Red Riding Hood "story" cards.
Before Starting
Place any 8 "forest" cards face down in a circle in the centre of the table. Place the remaining 8 "forest" cards in a pile in the middle of the circle.
Shuffle the 34 "story" and "wolf" cards and deal 3 to each player; the remaining cards form the draw pile.
Rules of the Game
The youngest player starts.
Players have three options during their turn:
- Place any numbered "story" card face up in front of them in no particular order (except for card number 6, which must be played last).
- Return one of their 3 cards to the bottom of the draw pile.
- Try to "win" a "story" card played by one of the other players by placing a wolf card on top of it.
When this happens, the other player tries to "protect" the card by turning over one of the "forest" cards from the circle in the centre of the table.
Before picking a forest card, the player has to move both hands over the circle of forest cards while singing: "While the wolf's away in the woods we'll play, if the wolf comes home, he'll eat us up, flesh and bone".
The player then turns over one of the forest cards.
- If the card shows a wolf in the forest, the player loses the "story" card to his opponent, who uses it to start or add to his own row of "story" cards in front of him. The "wolf" card is returned to the bottom of the draw pile.
- If the card shows a hunter in the forest, the player shouts "Bang!" and the wolf is killed by the hunter. The player keeps the "story" card and the "wolf" card is returned to the bottom of the draw pile.
NB1: Players must take a card from the draw pile each time they have finished their turn so that they always have 3 cards in their hand. Play then continues with the next player according to the same rules.
NB2: Each time a forest card is turned over, it must be removed from the circle and replaced by the next forest card from the pile in the middle of the circle. Put the new forest card face down in place of the one removed from the circle.
NB3: A player who has lined up the first 5 "story" cards can use a "wolf" card to try to win the final story card (no. 6) by taking a card from another player. If the card taken is not story card number 6, it goes to the bottom of the draw pile together with the wolf card, and the player and the opponent take a card from the draw pile.
End of the Game
The winner is the first player to have all 6 "story" cards.