Mutton Bustin
Mutton Bustin Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The Golden Rule
Mutton Bustin' is a silly game. Although it is a competitive game, the primary goal for all players is to just have fun and make the most of the game. A lot of the sheep cards can be completed quickly, but the spirit of them is to embellish and be a bit over the top with the actions.
That said, if you find a sheep card to be uncomfortable or not possible for you to do, simply replace it with a new card.
Have fun and
(The printed Golden Rule text ends at "Have fun and" in the source; the sentence is transcribed as printed.)
Contents
- Ranch Board
- 75 Sheep Cards
- Score Board
- 4 Score Cubes
- 7 Dice (1 for the Rider and 6 for the Sheep)
- Rider Meeple
Set Up
- Place the Ranch Board in the middle of the playing area within reach of all players.
- Place the Rider Meeple on the Start space on the Ranch Board.
- Shuffle the Sheep Cards and form a face down deck near the Ranch Board.
- Assign each player a Score Token and place it on the "0" spot on the Score Board.
- Determine who will be the first Rider through any method you wish or just let the person reading the rules be first. That person takes the one Rider Die.
- Distribute the Sheep Dice evenly among the other players.
- Reveal a Sheep Card and place it face up near the Ranch Board. Deal one Sheep Card to each sheep player and place it face up in front of them (the rider does not get their own card).
How to Play
When the Rider is ready, they yell "Go" and all players immediately start rolling their dice at the same time, as fast as they can, without taking turns. This is a simultaneous play game with no turn structure.
The Rider
Roll the die then check to see if the value is equal to or higher than the next space on the Rider Track. If so, move into that space.
FOR EXAMPLE: The next space on the track has a "3" on it. The Rider must roll a 3 OR higher in order to move their Rider Meeple forward into that space.
If the roll was not equal to or higher, the Rider MUST roll again. And KEEP ROLLING until they get a successful roll to move forward into that next space.
Once a successful roll occurs AND the Rider moves the Rider Meeple into the next space, the Rider has a choice to make. They can yell "STOP" to end their turn immediately and lock in their points. OR The Rider may choose to pick up the dice and keep rolling. If the Rider picks up the dice, they MUST KEEP ROLLING until they get another successful roll and move their Rider Meeple into the next space.
The Rider will continue their turns in this manner making a choice to keep going after each successful move of the Rider Meeple into the next space. The Rider's turn will end by their own doing by yelling "STOP" OR it will be forced to end if the Sheep can complete their objectives.
The Sheep
All players who are not the active Rider will all be working together collectively as the Sheep trying to knock the Rider off.
While the Rider is continuing to roll, the Sheep are all simultaneously rolling the dice that were distributed to them during Setup.
After each roll, check to see if a "sheep" facing is rolled. If so, you must perform the actions as listed on your Sheep Card starting with the personal card given to you, followed by the card(s) in the center of the table next to the Ranch Board.
Once you complete all of the actions on the current Sheep cards, place the die in the middle of the Ranch Board. That die is now locked and that means the Rider is getting closer to falling off!
Continue rolling dice as fast as you can until all of your dice are locked or the Rider chooses to "STOP".
If you roll more than one sheep facing on your dice, perform the Sheep Card actions and place one of the dice, then immediately perform the actions again for the additional die and place that one as well.
Once all 6 Sheep Dice are locked in the Ranch Board the Rider will fall off their sheep if they have not yelled stop.
End of Turn
The Rider's turn will end in one of two ways:
Yell "STOP" choosing to end their turn themselves.
OR
All 6 of the Sheep Dice have been placed into the Ranch Board.
If the Rider ends their turn by yelling "STOP", then the Rider will move their scoring token forward as many points as the highest successfully crossed point space.
If the Rider ends their turn by being knocked off their sheep, then the Rider is awarded no points for the turn.
All players will then pass their personal Sheep Card to the player on their left. The Rider will also pass the Rider Meeple and the Rider Die to the player on their left as that player will be the new Rider for this turn. The other players will take an even distribution of the Sheep Dice and play will resume when the Rider says "GO".
End of Round
Once all players have had a turn being the Rider, that will conclude the first Round. Next draw another Sheep Card at random and add it to the center near the Ranch Board next to the communal card from the first round. There will now be two communal cards for the second round that all Sheep players must perform.
The Rider who went first will again be the initial Rider in the second round. Play will occur as usual, with this time all Sheep needing to complete a total of three Sheep Cards (one personal and two communal) before placing their dice in the Ranch Board. In a two player game, you will play a third round, adding a third communal card and getting a new personal card.
In addition, all of the personal Sheep Cards will be discarded back to the box and the Sheep players will all draw a new personal Sheep Card.
End of Game
Once all players were able to be the Rider twice, completing two full rounds in a 3 & 4 player game (or three full rounds in a 2 player game), the game will end. Highest number of points is the winner. If there is a tie, the Riders will share the victory.
Family Mode
To play a more casual and easier game for the Riders, everything is played as above with the exception that the Rider CANNOT fall off their sheep. The Rider does not have to make a decision on whether to "STOP" rolling after completing a successful move.
Instead they can just keep riding all the way until they reach the end of the track on the Ranch Board OR the Sheep successfully place all six of their dice in the Ranch Board. Once that last die is placed, wherever the Rider is at that moment is what they will score.
Adjusting the Sheep Cards
The Sheep Cards are marked as one of three types: Vocal, Dexterity, or Vocal & Dexterity. Players are welcome to choose if they want to exclude certain categories or even remove specific cards based on the ability and needs of the players. Remember the Golden Rule: just have fun.