Peter's Two Sheep Dogs Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• Setup
• Glossary
• How to Play
  • 1. Dividing Animal Pieces
  • 2. Trick-Taking
    • 2-1. Playing Animal Pieces
    • 2-2. Determining the Winner of the Trick
    • 2-2-1. "Call" Action
    • 2-2-2. "Welcome Back" and "Chase" Actions
    • 2-2-3. "Welcome Back" Action
    • 2-2-4. "Chase" Action
    • 2-2-4-1. Wolf Pieces
    • 2-2-4-2. Additional Actions and Hard Worker Bonus
    • 2-3. Lead Player of the Next Trick
  • 3. Spring Scoring
• Tips

Components

• 21 Livestock Animal pieces (7 Sheep, 7 Pig, and 7 Cow)
• 7 Wolf pieces
• Note: Animal pieces (including both Livestock Animal and Wolf pieces) are each numbered "1" to "7".
• 2 Grassland partitions
• 8 Fence pieces (2 prefabricated sets of fences)
• 2 screens
• 1 bag
• Note: Pen and paper are required to keep the score.

Overview

Peter's Two Sheep Dogs incorporates trick-taking and mancala elements. The objective is to herd more livestock animals to your territory. On each round, calculate the score twice. The player who obtains more Good Dog Points wins.

On each round, play 11 trick-taking games. The winner of the trick obtains Animal pieces and the loser plays mancala. It is important to make clever decisions to win or lose the trick according to the game's current situation.

Setup

1. Insert the partitions into the top and bottom boxes to form 4 Grasslands and place them in the center of the table.
2. Each player receives 4 Fence pieces to fabricate their Goal Fence. Place the completed Goal Fences on the sides of Grasslands.
3. Each player receives a screen and places it in front of themselves.
4. Randomly determine the first lead player.

"A" and "B" are Grasslands of Player 1. "C" and "D" are Grasslands of Player 2. Thus, "your Grasslands" in this rulebook indicates this ownership.

Glossary

• Trick: The players take turns to play an Animal piece and determine the winner when both of them have played their pieces. Such a mini-game is called a "trick".
• Round: Each player receives 11 Animal pieces and the players play 11 tricks on each round.
• Play: This is an action to take an Animal piece from behind your screen and place it in front of you for your opponent to see. The played Animal pieces are visible to both players during the round.

How to Play

Put all Animal pieces into the bag.

1. Dividing Animal Pieces

Each player draws 11 Animal pieces from the bag and places them behind their screen. Then one of the players draws 4 Animal pieces from the bag and places one piece on each partitioned Grassland. Two Animal pieces remain in the bag. Leave them without seeing what is inside the bag.

2. Trick-Taking

2-1. Playing Animal Pieces

The lead player plays any one of their Animal pieces. Then the other player also plays one of their Animal pieces. If they have the same type of Animal piece as the one played by the lead player, they must play it. If they do not have it, they can play any one of their Animal pieces.

2-2. Determining the Winner of the Trick

After two Animal pieces have been played, determine the winner of the trick. The player who has played an Animal piece with a higher number wins the trick, regardless of the type of Animal. In case of a tie, the lead player wins the trick.

The winner and loser of the trick will perform the following actions, starting from the winner.

2-2-1. "Call" Action

The winner of the trick performs the "Call" action.

Take the 2 Animal pieces played in the current trick and allocate them freely to one or both of your 2 Grasslands. (= Call the Animals playing in the mountain to your Grasslands.) You cannot allocate these Animal pieces to a Goal Fence.

2-2-2. "Welcome Back" and "Chase" Actions

The loser of the trick performs the "Welcome Back" or "Chase" action according to the following conditions.

If you do not have any Animal pieces in your Grasslands, perform the "Welcome Back" action.

If you have any Animal piece in either of your Grasslands, perform the "Chase" action.

2-2-3. "Welcome Back" Action

If you do not have any Animal pieces in your Grasslands, perform the "Welcome Back" action.

Move any one of the Livestock Animal pieces in your Goal Fence out of it (back to the Barn).

When you return a Livestock Animal piece to the Barn, place it upright to differentiate it from the Animal pieces eliminated from the game. Note that the effect of the Wolf pieces (to be described later) will not be applied to the Livestock Animal pieces returned to the Barn.

If you do not have any Livestock Animal piece in your Goal Fence, complete this action without performing anything.

2-2-4. "Chase" Action

If you have any Animal piece in either of your Grasslands, perform the "Chase" action.

Choose one of your Grasslands and take all the Animal pieces in it. Then, starting from its next (counterclockwise) slot (Grassland or Goal Fence), place any one of the Animal pieces you have taken in the slot, place another one in the next slot following that and so on, until no more Animal pieces are left in your hand. (Chase the Animals to move them.) There are 6 slots, comprised of your 2 Grasslands, your Goal Fence, your opponent's 2 Grasslands, and their Goal Fence.

Ex. The player performs the "Chase" action to the Animals in Grassland D. The player takes the 6 Animal pieces from Grassland D and, moving counterclockwise, places each of them in their Goal Fence, Grassland B, Grassland A, the opponent's Goal Fence, Grassland C and Grassland D.

2-2-4-1. Wolf Pieces

Unlike the Livestock Animal pieces that earns you positive points, Wolf pieces count as negative points. Each time a Wolf piece is placed in a Goal Fence housing any Livestock Animal pieces in it, eliminate the Wolf and any one the Livestock Animal pieces from the game. (The Wolf has caught that Animal.) Resolve this action when placing a Wolf piece in the Goal Fence of either you or your opponent.

If placing a Wolf piece in a Goal Fence not housing any Livestock Animal in it, eliminate only the Wolf piece from the game. (The Wolf has fled without catching any Animal.)

The Livestock Animal pieces returned to the barn are not in the Goal Fence, so the Wolf's effect is not applied to them.

2-2-4-2. Additional Actions and Hard Worker Bonus

If, in your "Chase" action, you manage to place the last Animal in the Goal Fence of you or your opponent, you can perform an additional action.

If you have any Animal piece in your Grasslands, perform the "Chase" action again. If you do not have any Animal piece in your Grasslands, perform the "Welcome Back" action.

The additional action may occur repeatedly. If you manage to perform the "Chase" action 3 consecutive times or more in 1 trick, draw 1 Animal piece from the bag and receive it as your "Hard Worker Bonus".

Then place that Animal piece in any one of your or your opponent's Grasslands or Goal Fence. Unlike the "Call" action, you can directly place the Animal piece in a Goal Fence. If there is not any Animal piece left in the bag, there is no "Hard Worker Bonus". Thus, "Hard Worker Bonus" is available up to twice on each round.

Ex. There are 2 Animal pieces in Grassland C and 1 Animal piece in Grassland D. The player performs the "Chase" action in Grassland D and places an Animal piece in their Goal Fence. It is the last Animal, so the player can perform an additional action. The player performs the "Chase" action in Grassland C and places an Animal in Grassland D and their Goal Fence. They have placed the last Animal in their Goal Fence, so they can perform another additional action. The player performs the "Chase" action in Grassland D and places an Animal piece in their Goal Fence. This triggers another additional action. The player does not have any Animal pieces in their Grasslands, so the player performs the "Welcome Back" action. The player has performed the "Chase" action 3 consecutive times in 1 trick, so the player receives the "Hard Worker Bonus". The piece drawn from the bag turns out to be a Wolf piece, so the player places it in their opponent's Goal Fence and eliminates it from the game together with a Livestock Animal piece they have chosen from the Goal Fence.

2-3. Lead Player of the Next Trick

After the winner and loser of the trick have completed their actions, play the next trick. In the next trick, the loser of the trick becomes the lead player.

Proceed to "Spring Scoring" after 5 tricks and to "Summer Scoring" after 11 tricks.

3. Spring Scoring

Each player obtains their Good Dog Points (pt) according to the Animals they have in their Grasslands, Goal Fence and Barn. And they lose points for Wolf pieces in their Grasslands.

• Per Livestock Animal piece in your Grasslands: 3 pt
• Per Livestock Animal piece in your Goal Fence: 6 pt
• Per Livestock Animal piece you have returned to the Barn: 10 pt
• Per Wolf piece in your Grasslands: -3 pt

Calculate your score by adding these points. Then eliminate all the Animal pieces in the Goal Fences from the game. (Peter has taken them away.) Then move all the Animal pieces you have returned to the Barn to your Goal Fence. (Peter has brought them out of the Barn.)

After "Spring Scoring", resume the game from the 6th trick.

4. Summer Scoring

Each player calculates and records their score in the same way as they did for "Spring Scoring".

The total of the Spring and Summer Scorings will be your current round's final score. In accordance with the Spring and Summer Scoring results, "Achiever" Bonus and "Shoddy" Penalty are applied.

4-1. "Achiever" Bonus

If your Good Dog Points from "Summer Scoring" is double or more than double the points from "Spring Scoring", double your Spring points.

Ex. The player has obtained 15 pt in Spring and 33 pt in Summer. The player's points from Summer is more than double the points from Spring, so the player receives the "Achiever" Bonus. The final score is (15 x 2 =) 30 pt from Spring plus 33 pt from Summer, adding up to 63 pt.

4-2. "Shoddy" Penalty

If your Good Dog Points from Summer is lower than that from Spring, your Good Dog Points from Summer is nullified to 0 pt.

Ex. The player has obtained 36 pt in Spring and 33 pt in Summer. The points from Summer is lower than that from Spring, so "Shoddy" Penalty is applied and the player's points from Summer is nullified to 0 pt. The player's total score is 36 pt from Spring and 0 pt from Summer, adding up to 36 pt.

After completing the Summer Scoring, determine whether or not to end the game. If either player's Good Dog Points have reached 100 pt, end the game.

5. Ending the Game

The player with higher Good Dog Points wins.

If both players have not reached 100 pt, start the next round. The player with lower total points becomes the lead player of next round's first trick. In case of a tie, the player who lost the last trick becomes the lead player of next round's first trick.

Tips

The "Hard Worker Bonus" that can be obtained by performing the "Chase" action 3 consecutive times is a key to play the game advantageously. You can definitely obtain the "Hard Worker Bonus" by accumulating a certain number of Animal pieces in the Grasslands before performing the "Chase" action.

• Pattern A: 2 Animal pcs in your left Grassland, 4 Animal pcs in your right Grassland. "Chase" from the right Grassland.
• Pattern B: 5 Animal pcs in your left Grassland, 6 Animal pcs in your right Grassland. "Chase" from the left Grassland.
• Pattern C: 2 Animal pcs in your left Grassland, 1 Animal pcs in your right Grassland. "Chase" from the right Grassland.

Be aware of additional actions. Each Grassland has a sign board that indicates the number of Animal pieces to place there to trigger additional actions.

If your opponent is seeking additional actions, it may be strategically recommended to lose the trick and hinder the opponent's plan to "Chase" at the right timing.