Penalties: Animal Cup Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Components
• Setup
• Penalty Shootout
• Shots
  • Panenka and For the right
  • For the left corner
  • Paradinha
  • For the top corner
• Victory
• Game Variants
  • Picking Teams mode
  • Big Final mode
  • Championship mode
• Tips

Introduction

Never before has a final been so tight. The match between Jungle United and Forest F.C. has been intense and tough. At the final whistle, and with no extra time left, the score remains a draw... We go to penalties!

Mislead the rival goalkeeper in order to score a goal and guess the intentions of the striker to prevent their shots from ending up in the back of your net. The team able to hold their nerve will win the crucial penalty shoot-out of the Animal Cup.

Players: 2. Age 8+. Playing time: 10 minutes.

Components

20 cards, 1 coin, 1 scoreboard, rulebook.

Setup

One of the players takes the coin for the initial draw, flips it in the air, and covers the result with their hand. The other player chooses heads (the ball) or tails. Whoever wins decides between shooting first or picking one of the two teams: Jungle United or Forest F.C.

Take all the cards for your team. Keep the 3 goalkeeper cards secret and place the 7 striker cards face-up on your side of the table. Place them as follows, so they are visible:

• Shooting for the left corner and Shooting for the top corner cards - on the left side.
• Paradinha and Panenka cards - in the centre.
• Shooting for the right cards - on the right side.

Goalkeeper cards are kept in your hand. Striker cards (left, centre and right shots) are on the table.

Finally, flip the scoreboard onto the side with the fans celebrating that their team is shooting first. Then, set it aside on the table so each player has their team's crest on their side.

The scoreboard is placed to one side of the table. After each penalty, the shooting player places their card on the corresponding side, indicating whether it is a score or a miss. At the end of the game, the scoreboard result will determine who is the winner.

Penalty Shootout

Players will play a series of 5 penalties. Each penalty follows these steps:

1. The player defending the goal secretly chooses one of their three goalkeeper cards and places it face down in the centre of the table.
2. The other player then chooses one of their striker cards to shoot: they select one of the cards that are face up and available, and place it in the centre of the table.
3. The goalkeeper card is revealed. Both cards are placed opposite each other to compare the shot and the goalkeeper's move indicated at the top of the cards, and the result is determined (see SHOTS section).
4. The result of the penalty is indicated with the back of the used striker card. Place it under the scoreboard, on the side of your team. If it is a score, the ball is shown. If it is a miss, the X is shown.

Example: For the second attempt, Hector has decided to defend the CENTRE of the goal. Claudia has chosen a card to shoot for the RIGHT. The goalkeeper didn't catch the ball, so it's a goal! Claudia puts her moose striker card face down on her side of the scoreboard, showing the ball to indicate she scored a goal.

Shots

Panenka and For the right

The goal is saved by simply guessing the direction of the ball.

"Panenka" is a type of soft and lob shot to the centre of the goal.

Example: Claudia secretly chooses her goalkeeper card to defend a shot for the right. Hector uses one of his cards to shoot for the right. Claudia flips over her goalkeeper card and places it in front of Hector's card. The goal is saved, so Hector adds a miss on his side of the scoreboard.

For the left corner

The left is the natural (favourite) side of right-footed strikers. A good shot is very difficult to save, so it is not always enough to guess where the ball goes and sometimes you need to be lucky: If the goalkeeper guesses the direction of the ball, the striker tosses the coin. If heads (ball), it's a goal. If tails, it's a miss.

Example: Hector thinks that Claudia is going to shoot for the right to save the option of shooting for the left for later. Therefore, he decides to defend the right side and places the corresponding goalkeeper card face down. Claudia, anticipating his move, shoots for the left corner. As Hector has not guessed, Claudia scores a goal.

Paradinha

When the striker plays a paradinha, the goalkeeper card is flipped over:

• If the goalkeeper chose left or right, the striker can choose the other side. It's a goal.
• If the goalkeeper stayed in the centre, they must choose another goalkeeper card in secret. The striker will then place the coin with the ball facing up on the side of their choice (left or right). If the goalkeeper guessed the direction of the ball, they stop the penalty (it's a miss). If not, it's a goal.

Paradinha is a type of penalty shot consisting of making a short stop during the movement -without actually stopping- to wait and see which way the goalkeeper will move before hitting the ball.

Example: Claudia secretly chooses to defend the left side this time. Hector plays a paradinha. When Claudia flips her card over, Hector takes the coin and places it on the right side. Hector scores a goal.

For the top corner

A good shot to the top corner is unstoppable. It doesn't matter which goalkeeper card has been chosen. The striker flips the coin to check if the shot goes in or it goes to the sky.

Example: Hector places -face down- the card of the goalkeeper staying in the centre. Claudia plays her shooting for the top corner card. Hector can't do anything. Claudia tosses the coin and the result is tails. Therefore, she doesn't score a goal.

Victory

The player who wins a series of 5 penalties wins the match. It is not necessary to use all 10 striker cards if at some point, by the partial result, a player already wins.

Example: Forest F.C. wins, 4 to 2.

If no one wins in the series, each player takes back their 5 cards and places them on the table as in the initial setup. The game goes to the sudden death round. Each player shoots 1 penalty:

• If both fail, they keep playing.
• If both score a goal, they keep playing.
• If one of the players scores a goal and the other doesn't, the player that scored wins the match.

If the tie continues after 5 penalties, the penalties are repeated until someone wins.

Example: Hector and Claudia have scored the same number of penalties, in the series of 5. They take back their striker cards and go to the sudden death round. Hector scores a goal in the first penalty. It is Claudia's turn and she also scores. The tie persists. Then Hector scores a goal. When it is Claudia's turn, she also scores a goal. They keep shooting. Hector scores a goal but, in her turn, Claudia misses. Hector has won the match and his team is the new champion of the Animal Cup!

Game Variants

Picking Teams mode

Before playing, place all the cards face up on the table. In turns, as if it were the schoolyard, each player chooses their team members one by one. When finished, both teams must have 3 goalkeepers of the same animal and 7 strikers.

Big Final mode

Do you want more thrill? Play with only 6 strikers on each team. Each player chooses one of their striker cards and discards it without showing it.

Championship mode

If there are more people playing, you can organize a World Cup with all its phases. Depending on how many players there are: a round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. The qualifying rounds consist of -needless to say- the penalty shootout.

Tips

• The paradinha and the shot for the left corner are usually the best shots, according to the statistics.
• As a striker, try to keep the good and varied shots for the end.
• As a goalkeeper, try to save your opponent's best shots.
• Vary your strategy. Try to be unpredictable!