Game: Animalia

Thread: Re: Extra token for hand with five different types of animals?

jda1974 — 2008-11-24T21:53:20+00:00

Seb -- Thanks for the clarification. I actually like that rule but wanted to know it was "legit" before trying to convince others to play that was!

Thread: Re: Extra token for hand with five different types of animals?

s.pauchon — 2008-11-24T18:26:38+00:00

Hello, this is a rule that has appeared after the game has been published, and that was an idea from Bruno. You don't have to apply it, but you can.

I believe it was built in the online version by mistake, but left there because we actually like it :-)

Cheers
seb

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krit1789 — 2008-11-20T22:30:05+00:00

Scoresheet that comes with the travel edition

Thread: Re: A spur of the moment purchase, but we just love animals..

caradoc — 2008-11-09T02:33:45+00:00

This is one my favourite games from this year. An excellent card game that is easy to learn, easy to play, looks fantastic and has a few twists in the mechanisms that makes play an enjoyable and engaging experience!

Great review!

Cheers,

Giles.

Thread: A spur of the moment purchase, but we just love animals..

jadzianess — 2008-11-08T17:18:39+00:00

Okay, after promising myself to play some more of the unplayed games
we have before I buy more, I got all hyped up after reading about the Essen games, so I did a little browsing online.
I just had to have Dominion, but you can't just buy one game and I saw the box cover for Animalia. How darn cute is that? Having a menagerie of animals at home and 2 girls, I decided to get it, plus there was only 1 left in stock, no time to think about it. Can't let someone beat me to it!
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Game Contents:
Oh goodness, are these cards cute. 5 different types of animals (rabbits, cats, dogs, horses and birds and one wild owl card, so I guess 6 animals). There are 7 colorful drawings of each animal, so only a total of 7 x 5 + 1(owl)= 36 cards in the deck. A small deck to shuffle and go through. I got the Deluxe edition just because I wanted to spend more money (not!). But the cardboard medals representing the animals are so cute and handy. They serve the same purpose as the scoresheet, but with kids, it just adds to the theme of the game.

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Rulebook:
Rules come in 4 languages, English being one. There are about 4 pages per language with plenty of illustrations and examples. You read it, play a round and you are up and running.

Gameplay:
My first game was with my 8 year old, so it was a 2 player game. There is a 2P variant which seemed to play just fine. The object is to try and get the most medals/awards over 3 rounds of play. Each round ends when each player has a row of 5 cards face up in front of them (2 rows of 5 cards when playing 2P).

Each set of 7 animal cards have identical symbols. One card has 3 above it, indicating the champion animal, another has 2 above it, the smartypants. Then there is the rogue animal with a black paw print above it. There is one plain animal, one thief, one spy and one prankster. The last 3 have powers you can use when you get 2 of them in your row. A dog thief card and a rabbit thief card allow you to take a card from someone else. The stars and black paw print are used to determine elegance points when your row of 5 cards is complete. If you have the highest elegance points, you get bonus cards that you can use to hopefully improve your row of 5 cards. For example your row of 5 cards might include 4 of the dog cards and 1 bird card. If your bonus card is a dog card, you can now make your row 5 dogs = 5 medals. Or if it is a bird card, you can place it over one of your dogs and get 3 dog medals and 2 bird medals. It should be noted that if you have one card of one type of animal in your row, it gets you NO medals, you need at least 2 (unless of course you get one of each kind, that is a special exception and you get one medal for each).
Okay, lot of rules there in one space, but it is soooo easy when you play. I read in some comments that people compare it to Medici style bidding (never played Medici, don't know. Or to Coloretto. I disliked Coloretto and gave it away years ago, so I wouldn't agree too much).

Bottom Line:
My 8 year old adores the game, loves the cards, picked it up very easily and can win.
We did 3P with 12 year old sister. She also loves the game and tended to win. Yes, yes, yes, there is much luck in the card draw. I was notorious for getting the rogue horse card several games in a row, which just cracked them up mercilessly. I do not mind luck in games like this. I don't think a bunch of hardcore gamers would bring this out to have a real brain burner session. It is a light filler and excellent with kids. I might compare it to a very simpler style of Lost Cities without the wacky scoring at the end. Just count your medals and bonus points. The player has to know which cards to keep and which cards to pass up. Filling up a row of 5 cards is quick and you often don't get what you were trying to go for.
2P games ran a little longer because each player did 2 rows, maybe 15 minutes to complete 3 rounds and score. 3P goes by fast, probably 10 minutes total. We've put in 8 games so far, and they are asking for it again.

8 year old rating and her quote "I like that it doesn't have a board where you have to move all these people around". No doubt a reference to the Stone Age game we played the night before.

12 year old rating
"Kind of strategy, but not a whole lot"

I will give it also as it is very easy to pick up and play and it provided a lot of laughs already.

Thread: Re: Differences between travel and de luxe edition?

jadzianess — 2008-11-07T17:51:54+00:00

I just received the deluxe edition and have to say I like the charms/medals. They are just cardboard disks with cute animal drawings on them to represent each of the 5 animals. They do make it fun after each round to dole out the medals and then count them at the end. For the kiddies sake, it is funner as they would prefer to hold the medals than to count hash marks on a sheet of paper. But it does cost more, still, I would pay more for the cuteness of it all. That's just me. And the cards are adorable. Gameplay simple to learn. from me.

Thread: Re: Two-player best-of-show & end of the round

jadzianess — 2008-11-07T17:41:56+00:00

Just to add to the mix and excitement , with my first 2 player games we just added up all the elegance points from each players two sets (10 cards), so one player always got 2 cards, the other 1. For simplicity, I think I will keep it that way. Plus, I play with my kids and I would rather they get at least one extra card than none. Keeps the "no fair" chatter down, although they are good sports either way.

Thread: Re: Extra token for hand with five different types of animals?

Starsunsky — 2008-10-05T04:27:07+00:00

I am not aware of this rule, either. I only know that a player can get a model for each animal if he can make a collection of 5 animals all from different families.

Thread: Extra token for hand with five different types of animals?

jda1974 — 2008-10-04T19:57:17+00:00

I just got in a copy of Animalia. I have previously played it several times online. Whenever I play online, when I get five different types of animals in a hand, I always get to choose one "extra" token of any animal I want. I noticed that wasn't in the rule book of the version I received. Anyone else play this way? Which is the "official" way to play?

Thread: Re: Two-player best-of-show & end of the round

linael — 2008-09-07T13:36:50+00:00

In the first 2-player game we played, the same problem appeared. Player one had both first and second best in show. So we played according to the rulebook, player one got 2 cards for his first collection and one for his second.

The cards he didn't use on that turn remained face down to mark the two collections. So the cards could still only be used for the collection he built next to it, not both.

This seemed quite complicated, and we felt we missed something here.

With the "clarified" rules above, it seems obvious that if a player is both first and second best in show, and he only receives 2 cards, he can use them to improve the collections of his choice or keep them to improve any collection he builds later in the game...

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UnknownParkerBrother — 2008-08-14T19:53:03+00:00

Animal cards and medals display larger "tooltips" when you hover your mouse over them. (Composite image)

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Capoeirista — 2008-07-03T18:09:07+00:00

Contents of "travel" version

Thread: Re: Differences between travel and de luxe edition?

Furan — 2008-07-03T12:24:31+00:00

So, does the scoresheet (instead of medals) change the charm and ,,theme feeling"?

I don't know, myabe it has a syndrome of ,,naaah! without medals it's not the same"?

Thread: Re: Differences between travel and de luxe edition?

olavf — 2008-06-17T11:58:23+00:00

Yes, the smaller version has scoresheets.

Thread: Re: Differences between travel and de luxe edition?

Moviebuffs — 2008-06-17T09:36:26+00:00

I'm pretty sure that the smaller box just has the cards (and possibly a scoresheet).

The larger box has a stack of round cardboard "medals" for each colour/animal to keep score with.

N.

Thread: Differences between travel and de luxe edition?

barnyams36 — 2008-06-17T09:15:49+00:00

So, apart from the size of the the box, what other differences can be found between both editions?

Thread: Re: Looking for Animalia

Hieken — 2008-04-08T21:17:53+00:00

It's now distributed in Germany by Pro Ludo, so most of the gamestores should have it - at least no more animal insurances needed

Thread: Re: Animalia -- Session Report

grandslam — 2008-03-05T23:11:56+00:00

Really good review Greg.

Just a note for those reading the above report and trying to figure out how Greg was short of cards on the third round if all the cards are reshuffled between rounds. . . Between rounds, the deck is reshuffled, but those who won 'face down' cards from coming in first or second in Elegance (Stars - Scallywags) do not throw away their face-down cards, instead they get to keep them for subsequent rounds.

Since the deck has 36 cards, and ties for second place are friendly, there can be four cards removed from the deck each round (or more if a three way tie for second). This means that at the start of the third round, as we understood it, there could well be 28 cards left in the deck, which is fine for five players, but not for six.

In the future, I am not sure about playing this with six, unless we got something wrong.

Thread: Re: Two-player best-of-show & end of the round

af7hqs — 2008-03-05T16:25:38+00:00

Henry Rhombus wrote:

Two-player best-of-show awards
You look at each of the four collections separately. If a player wins first AND second place, he takes 2 cards and the opponent gets zilch. If a player is first and the other one second, the first takes 2 cards and the second only 1, as usual.

In spite of the two collections, if a player receives 2 cards, is he free to decide whether to use both of them for one collection or to use one for a collection and the other for the second collection?

Thread: Re: Two-player best-of-show & end of the round

af7hqs — 2008-02-24T10:28:28+00:00

Henry Rhombus wrote:

Two-player best-of-show awards
You look at each of the four collections separately. If a player wins first AND second place, he takes 2 cards and the opponent gets zilch. If a player is first and the other one second, the first takes 2 cards and the second only 1, as usual.

This was also one of my doubts. We played differently, because the rules say that the points are calculated per collection and (italian rules) add that the bonus cards must be assigned to a collection, not to a player. I'll take into account this explanation by Sebastien. Thanks.

Thread: Re: Looking for Animalia

arielle — 2008-02-22T15:10:29+00:00

www.funagain.com has them in stock

Thread: Re: Looking for Animalia

metalchorus — 2008-01-16T14:41:41+00:00

I looked into getting the deluxe game directly from the company but the cost in US dollars after the exchange rate and shipping came up to a very large total...just a heads up. I got a basic copy in a lucky trade.

Thread: Looking for Animalia

wittdooley — 2008-01-14T16:30:11+00:00

If there is anyone out there in BGG-Land in the United States willing to trade/sell their copy of Animalia (preferably the deluxe edition) Please sent me a shout!

I love the art in this game!

Thanks!

Sean

Thread: Re: How To Order?

smithhemb — 2007-12-31T15:18:36+00:00

I balked at that price and bought the travel edition from Robbirob which worked out to about $10 less (based on a two game order and inc. shipping). As far as I can tell, the difference between the two editions is that travel version replaces the 90 medals with a score pad. But that also has the effect of making secret information public. Personally, it's the kind of information I'd probably rather have than conceal, but YMMV.

Thread: Re: How To Order?

ctskas — 2007-12-30T04:52:33+00:00

For the US I only found at Funagain for the low price of $34.95 USD. Yikes. Looks fun though. And awesome artwork.

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hbirger — 2007-11-11T16:50:37+00:00

Birthday present from my grilfriend

Thread: Re: How To Order?

Echtalion — 2007-11-04T12:16:00+00:00

It's been released at Essen, and widely available now.

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Ternal2 — 2007-10-28T22:10:05+00:00

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Gonzaga — 2007-10-23T17:42:28+00:00

Some of the cards ... the most beautiful cards I've ever seen.

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cuazzel — 2007-10-19T23:26:25+00:00

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Legomancer — 2007-04-25T16:19:35+00:00

The Owl card is wild

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Legomancer — 2007-04-25T16:17:23+00:00

Animal coins

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Legomancer — 2007-04-25T16:14:42+00:00

The humorous artwork extends to the play data

Thread: Re: How To Order?

dogea — 2007-01-16T15:17:35+00:00

Hi,

I may be able to get some copies of this game as my girlfriend works for the insurance company that ordered the game.

I have to check that with her.

Best Regards,

David

Thread: Animalia -- Session Report

gschloesser — 2007-01-15T18:52:31+00:00

Animalia has an interesting background, being designed specifically for an insurance company as a promotional item. This begs the question: What do animals have to do with an insurance company? Well, it seems that this Swiss company markets insurance for animals, which explains the theme of the game. Sadly, since the game was an exclusive for the company, it means that it is generally unavailable outside of Switzerland. A shame.

Designed by the team of Bruno Cathala, Sebastien Pauchon and Malcolm Braff, Animalia places players in the role of animal breeders seeking to present their finest collection of animals in shows over the course of three seasons. Players assemble a show of five animals, and collect medals based on assembling duplicate or unique animals. The player with the most medals over the course of three rounds is the champion breeder, and wins the game.

The deck of large cards depicts five types of animals: dogs, cats, horses, parrots and rabbits. Some animals are tops in their class, indicated by depicting elegance stars, while some animals are less-than-impressive, which is illustrated with a black “scallywag” stain. The artwork, penned by Mathieu Leyssenne, is delightful, and some of the best cartoon images I’ve seen in games.

On a turn, the active player reveals one animal card and either keeps it or passes it to the player on his left. That player then decides whether to keep it, or continue to pass the card around the table. As soon as a player opts to keep it, play passes to the left of the active player, who reveals a card and follows the same procedure. If, however, no one takes the card, the active player reveals a second card and has the same choice: keep them both, or pass them around the table. Likewise, if no one opts to take the two cards, a third card is revealed. If these, two, are not taken, the active player MUST take them, thereby ending his turn.

The game seems influenced by Reiner Knizia’s Medici, as each player may only possess five cards. Thus, deciding whether to take a card or collection of cards can be a tough decision. Ultimately, players are attempting to collect multiples of animals, as single animals normally do not yield medals. Further, presenting the most “elegant” ensemble earns bonus cards, which can be used to further enhance one’s animal assembly. The five card limit really does force players to make some tough choices.

Making one’s decisions even more difficult are the special cards, of which there is one wild card (an owl) and three “special ability” cards for each type of animal: thief, spy and prankster. The thief allows the player to steal an animal from an opponent, while the spy allows the player to rearrange the top five cards in the deck. The prankster may give a card to an opponent, who must place it into his collection. These powers can be quite useful, but since a player must possess two of a particular type in order to execute its power, it can be a difficult choice whether to take one or not when it appears.

Sadly, the special ability of a card is not indicated by a symbol. Rather, it is part of the illustration itself. It took us awhile to realize this, and it necessitates carefully looking at the illustration on each card. A symbol on the card would have made spotting its identity easier.

Once each player possesses five animal cards, medals are awarded. First, players determine who has presented the most impressive assembly by tallying the number of elegance points on their cards and subtracting one each scallywag. The player with the most points receives two bonus cards, while the player in second receives one bonus card. These cards can be used immediately to replace an animal in their collection, or be saved for a future round.

Players then receive medals. If a player possesses two or more of a particular animal, he receives one medal for each. A single animal earns no medals, unless a player possesses one animal of each type, in which case he receives five medals. Medals are animal specific, so a player who has three cats and two parrots in his assembly will receive three cat medals and two parrot medals.

All cards are returned, the deck re-shuffled, and another round is conducted. Three rounds are conducted in this fashion. After the third round, player will receive a bonus medal worth five points for each five medals they have a particular animal type. So, if Alison has five cat medals and ten dog medals, she will receive three “5 point” medals as a bonus. Players then tally their medals, and the player with the greatest total is named “Best Breeder” and wins the game.

While not a brain-burner or filled with deep strategy, there are some interesting decisions to be made. Deciding which animals to keep and which to by-pass can sometimes be tough – but never agonizing. While the special ability cards can be quite useful, one must keep a constant eye on the long-term goal of collecting medals in groups of five, thereby earning bonus medals at game’s end. This is essential, as these bonus points seem to always determine the ultimate victor.

Serious gamers will not likely find much here to entice them, but clearly the game is not targeted for that market. Rather, it is aimed at families, and in that market it appears to fit quite well. Sadly, unless you live in Switzerland or have a friend who does, you will likely be unable to acquire a copy. However, unless you are desperately seeking a light family game with an animal theme, you really shouldn’t lose any sleep over this situation.

Six of us vied for the coveted medals and title, breeding and displaying our animals. In the end, both Sheila and Alison managed to three groups of five like-type medals, thereby each earning three additional 5-point medals. They ended the game in a tie, which was broken in favor of Sheila as she had more animals of one type of animal. This victory does merit an “asterisk”, however, as on the final round there was only one card remaining to distribute as a bonus card. Alison allowed Sheila to take it, which enabled her to complete another set of five. I’ve written to the designer to determine how this situation should be handled.

Finals: Sheila 30, Alison 30, Greg 25, Gail 12, Rachel 12, Rhonda 11

Ratings: Sheila 6, Greg 5.5, Gail 5, Alison 5, Rhonda 5, Rachel 5

Thread: Two-player best-of-show & end of the round

Henry Rhombus — 2007-01-14T20:53:59+00:00

I received a couple of rules clarifications from co-designer Sébastien Pauchon:

End of the Round
When the final player in the round is drawing cards, he draws them one by one and adds them to his collection, optionally activating the special animal abilities as long as he meets the right condition (i.e., already having one animal of the same type).

If his fifth card is a prankster (and he already has a prankster), he can throw away a card and draw another one.

If his fifth card is a thief (and he already has a thief), he can steal as usual. The stolen card is discarded (since his collection is now full), and the player who was stolen from has to draw a new fifth card for his own collection.

Two-player best-of-show awards
You look at each of the four collections separately. If a player wins first AND second place, he takes 2 cards and the opponent gets zilch. If a player is first and the other one second, the first takes 2 cards and the second only 1, as usual.

Thread: Re: How To Order?

MarvelNemesis — 2007-01-03T20:05:13+00:00

Oh bother.

Thanks anyways Seb.
Justin

Thread: Re: How To Order?

s.pauchon — 2007-01-03T13:20:15+00:00

Hello Justin
We designed and then published Animalia for a private Swiss insurance company. The have gotten their copies on December 14th and are now selling the game in Switzerland, with a discount for their clients.

Their website is the following : http://www.animaliasa.ch
I'm not sure they will take orders and ship outside Switzerland, though.

So, basically, the game is impossible or, to say the least, very hard to find at the moment.

There is one to be won on BGNews, though :
http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

Regards and good luck
Seb

Thread: How To Order?

MarvelNemesis — 2007-01-01T23:08:14+00:00

Right after seeing this games theme and a quick reading of the rules, I can say that this would be a perfect game in my collection.

One problem though. Where can you get this from?

Thanks!
Justin