Wombat Rescue Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Components
• Preparing to Play
  • Setup
• How to Play
  • Smell Areas
  • Wombat Movement
    • Normal Moves
    • Special Moves
    • Wander Moves
• Taking Your Turn
  • Movement Phase
    • Using Action Tiles
    • Running into Other Mama Wombats
    • Rescuing Baby Wombats
  • Digestion Phase
  • Cleanup Phase
    • Refilling Food Spaces
    • Moving the Dingo
• Game End
• Options
  • Fifth Player Rules
  • Solo Game Rules
  • Advanced Rules
    • Boulders
    • Dingo Eats Poop!
    • Second Dingo
  • Optional Rules
    • Shorter Game
    • Dingo Protection Action Tile
    • No Run Home Action Tile
  • Alternate Layouts

Object of the Game

The object of Wombat Rescue is to be the first player to find all 4 of your baby wombats and bring them home.

Components

• This rulebook
• 24 terrain tiles (1 home tile, 4 baby wombat tiles, 19 regular tiles)
• 1 food bag
• 30 wander cards
• 60 food disks (30 green; 20 orange; 10 black)
• 2 dingoes, 1 dingo die
• 1 player board, 1 mama wombat, 4 baby wombats, 4 action tiles, and 15 poop cubes in 4 different player colors

Preparing to Play

Setup

1. Each player chooses a player color and takes all the components (player board, mama wombat, baby wombats, action tiles, poop cubes) of that color.

2. Place the home tile in the playing area. Shuffle the 19 regular terrain tiles and lay them out, with the home tile and all 4 baby wombat tiles, to form the playing area. (If this is your first time playing, use the suggested layout shown in the diagram at right. For more ideas, see the Alternate Layouts section.)

3. The player who most recently saw a live wombat is the start player. If no one has ever seen a live wombat, use a method of your choice to determine the start player.

   Give each player a black food disk to place on the middle digestive tract section of the player board. Give the second player in turn order (clockwise from the start player) a green food disk, the third player an orange food disk, and the fourth player a black food disk. Place these extra food disks on the mouth space of the player board.

4. Put all the remaining food disks into the food bag. Blindly pull disks and place 1 food disk on each food space on all the terrain tiles.

5. Each player places their mama wombat and 1 of their poop cubes on the home space; then, each player places 1 of their baby wombats on the indicated space on each of the 4 baby wombat tiles.

6. The player last in turn order takes the dingo die and places the dingo on a dingo den space of their choice.

7. Shuffle the wander cards and place them within reach of all players.

How to Play

Before explaining the turn structure, you must first understand smell areas and how mama wombats move.

Smell Areas

The key to moving around the playing area quickly is creating smell areas. You create smell areas by eating food, digesting that food, and then pooping cubes. A single poop cube in a space creates a smell radius of 2 spaces; 2 poop cubes of the same color in a space create a smell radius of 3; and 3 poop cubes of the same color in a space create a smell radius of 4. (The maximum number of poop cubes each player can have in a space is 3.)

Multiple poop cubes in different spaces will create a much larger smell area if they are close enough for their smell radiuses to overlap. As long as you are still in the radius of any of your poop cubes, you are in your smell area.

In the example below, the single red poop cube creates a smell radius of 2 and all the spaces marked with a green checkmark are in the smell area created by that single red cube.

Wombat Movement

There are three types of moves: normal moves, special moves, and wander moves.

Normal Moves

When you are in your smell area, you can move any number of spaces in a straight line. (Why a straight line? Wombats are very obstinate and once they pick a direction they stick to it.)

However, you must stop immediately if you leave your smell area or if you move into a space containing any of the following obstacles:

• a food disk
• a baby wombat
• a poop cube from a different player
• the edge of the playing area
• the dingo

In the example below, if the red player moved in the A direction, she would have to stop in the space indicated because that space is outside her smell area. If she moved in the B direction, she would have to stop in the space with the blue poop cube. If she moved in the C direction, she would have to stop in the space with the orange food disk. For both examples B and C, the red player is still in her smell area at the end of that move.

Special Moves

If you are out of your smell area but adjacent to a space with a food disk, you can move into that space because you can smell the food. Wombats have an excellent sense of smell, after all.

If you are out of your smell area but adjacent to a space with 1 of your baby wombats, you can move into that space because you can smell your baby. You cannot use the baby wombats of other players to move in this manner.

Wander Moves

When you are not in your smell area or adjacent to a space with a food disk or 1 of your baby wombats, you are lost! If you want to move you must reveal the top card from the wander deck and then must move into an adjacent space from the options listed on the card. If none of the options on the card are legal (most likely because you are at the edge of the playing area), continue revealing cards until there is a legal option.

After moving, place the wander card on the discard pile (but if the card has a food symbol on it, set it aside for now). When the entire wander deck is exhausted, shuffle the discard pile to create a new draw deck.

In this example, the red player is not in her smell area and is not adjacent to a food disk or 1 of her baby wombats. If she wants to move, she will have to reveal a wander card to determine where she must move.

Taking Your Turn

Your turn consists of 3 phases, which occur in this order:

• Movement phase
• Digestion phase
• Cleanup phase

Movement Phase

You can move 0 to 3 times during the movement phase of your turn. Moves can be any combination of normal moves, special moves, and wander moves.

If any of your moves ends in a space with a food disk, you must eat the food by placing the food disk on the mouth space of your player board.

Using Action Tiles

You have 4 action tiles that you can use at any time during your movement phase. Using an action tile does not count as one of your 3 moves for the turn. Each of your action tiles can only be used once during the game, so use them wisely! After using an action tile, flip it over to indicate that it has been used.

Hold It In — Use this tile to stop a set of food disks from moving off the rightmost space on your player board during your digestion phase this turn.

Scamper — Use this tile to move 1 space in any direction, regardless of whether you are in your smell area or not.

Run Home — Use this tile to immediately return to the home space. You can use this tile when carrying a baby wombat.

This action makes you so exhausted you know you'll never be able to move that fast again this game.

High-Fiber Diet — Use this tile to move the rightmost set of food disks in your digestive tract all the way off your player board so that you produce a poop cube immediately.

No other sets of food disks in your digestive track move. You cannot use this tile to move food disks from the mouth section.

Take 1 poop cube from your supply and place it in your current location. (If you do not have any more poop cubes in your supply, instead take any 1 of your poop cubes already on the playing area and move it to your current location.) You've just expanded your smell area! You only produce a single poop cube, no matter how much food you ate that turned into the poop cube.

Running into Other Mama Wombats

Other than the home space and the baby wombat spaces, mama wombats can never share a space on the board.

Mama wombats are too regal to share spaces, but not too regal to shove each other around!

If there is another player's mama wombat in the direction you are moving, you can push that mama wombat up to 2 spaces. You must stop your movement if the mama wombat you are pushing encounters an obstacle. You can push multiple mama wombats at the same time in this manner. If you cannot push a mama wombat out of a space, you cannot move into that space.

Rescuing Baby Wombats

When you reach the space where 1 of your baby wombats is located, you've found that baby wombat; he will travel with you until either you get back to the home space or until the dingo catches you. Place the baby wombat in your pouch at the bottom of your player board. If you make it back to the home space, you have rescued that baby wombat! Move him to the home area on your player board. You can only rescue 1 wombat at a time. Your pouch isn't big enough for more.

Digestion Phase

During the digestion phase, you digest food disks you have eaten. Any food disks in the 3 digestive tract spaces on your player board now all move 1 space to the right.

If there are food disks with a total value of 3 or more on the mouth space of your player board, move all those food disks 1 space to the right on your player board.

Green food disks (grasses) have a value of 1; orange food disks (herbs) have a value of 2; and black food disks (roots) have a value of 3.

You can have more than 1 set of food disks moving through your digestive track at any given time. Sets of food disks will never combine with other sets. If any food disks moved off your digestive tract, put those food disks back in the bag.

Cleanup Phase

Check to see if you need to refill food spaces or move the dingo.

Refilling Food Spaces

If you revealed any wander cards during your movement phase, check to see if there are now 3 cards set aside with the food symbol on them. If there are, place those cards in the discard pile and refill all the empty food spaces with food disks pulled blindly from the food bag.

Do not refill any food spaces that have a poop cube, a mama wombat, or a dingo. In the rare case when all 4 wander cards with the food symbol are revealed, discard 3 of them and keep the fourth card set aside.

Moving the Dingo

If you control the dingo and he is not already out on the playing area, place the dingo at an unoccupied dingo den space. The dingo must return to a den after he catches a mama wombat. He needs to gloat to all his dingo buddies. In the rare case that all dingo dens are occupied, the dingo will not be returned to the playing area until at least 1 den is unoccupied during your cleanup phase.

If you control the dingo and he is already out on the playing area (you did not place him back on the playing area this turn), roll the dingo die. The dingo moves that many spaces toward the nearest mama wombat. If there is a tie for nearest mama wombat, you choose which mama wombat the dingo moves toward.

The dingo ignores any mama wombats on the home space, even if they are the closest to him. It's not sporting to chase a wombat at home. If all mama wombats are on the home space, the dingo does not move at all.

If the dingo catches a mama wombat by moving into the same space, that mama wombat must flee to the home space; if she was carrying a baby wombat in her pouch, the baby wombat must flee to the space where she found him. Give the dingo and the dingo die to the player whose mama wombat was caught. (If the dingo catches your own mama wombat, give the dingo and dingo die to a player of your choice.)

Game End

The game ends immediately as soon as a player rescues all 4 of their baby wombats. That player is the winner!

Options

Fifth Player Rules

At the beginning of the game, give the fifth player a black food disk to place on the middle digestive tract section of her player board, a black food disk to place on the mouth section of her player board, and a black food disk to place next to her player board (3 total black food disks). At any point in the game, she can add this extra black food disk to the mouth section of her player board. Food can be scarce in a 5-player game and the extra food helps to make up for going last.

Solo Game Rules

Wombat Rescue can be played solo with just a couple tweaks to the rules.

When setting up the playing area, make sure 1 of the terrain tiles with a dingo den space is roughly the same distance away from the baby wombat tiles as the home tile. This is the starting den for the dingo. You can use your tough wombat hide to ram into the dingo and chase him all the way back to the starting dingo den space. This means that if you run into the dingo during your movement phase, move the dingo immediately to the starting dingo den space. If you are carrying a baby wombat, he must flee back to the space where you found him. However, you do not have to flee back to the home space.

You will move dingo every turn during your cleanup phase, but not until you have 2 poop cubes out on the playing area. Roll the dingo die a number of times equal to the number of baby wombats you have rescued (minimum of 1 roll) and move the dingo after each roll. The dingo becomes more and more agitated with each baby wombat you rescue and he moves much faster! In the solo game, the dingo will always move toward the nearest baby wombat!

You win if you manage to rescue all of your baby wombats. If the dingo catches any baby wombat by himself before you can rescue him, you lose. Try again! If you find the solo game too easy or too difficult, try varying the position of the starting dingo den.

Advanced Rules

Boulders

Experienced players can add boulders for a more challenging game. During setup, place 1 boulder on each boulder space on the terrain tiles. Boulders act as barriers. Wombats and dingoes cannot move into spaces with boulders. Boulders do not disrupt smell areas and do not affect which mama wombat is considered nearest to the dingo. If, during a wander move, you reveal a card that has no legal movement options due to a boulder, keep revealing cards until you do find a legal option.

Dingo Eats Poop!

Experienced players who want a more cutthroat game can use the dingo to disrupt smell areas. Any time that the dingo moves into a space with 1 or more poop cubes, the dingo eats the poop. Return the poop cubes to their respective players' supplies.

Second Dingo

For a very difficult game use 2 dingoes. The player who controls the dingoes rolls the dingo die once, chooses which dingo to move, and then rolls the die again to move the other dingo.

Optional Rules

Shorter Game

For a shorter game, remove 1 of the baby wombat terrain tiles and 4 of the regular terrain tiles. (Make sure you do not remove more than 1 terrain tile with a dingo den space.) Players only need to rescue 3 baby wombats and the first player to do so will be the winner.

Dingo Protection Action Tile

When you use the dingo protection action tile during your movement phase, the dingo will ignore you until the start of your next turn. Rotate the tile 90 degrees to indicate that you are protected. Even if your mama wombat is the nearest to the dingo, the dingo will completely ignore you and move towards the next nearest mama wombat. At the beginning of your next turn, flip the tile over to indicate it was used. This tile will not protect you if you choose to move into a space the dingo. If there is a mixture of new and experienced players, consider allowing the new players to use the dingo protection action tile while the experienced players play without the benefit of the tile.

No Run Home Action Tile

Experienced players may consider playing without the run home action tiles, which are intended to make the game easier for new players.

Alternate Layouts

The modular nature of the terrain tiles allows you to create lots of different playing areas. Here are some suggested layouts. Feel free to create your own!