Game: Reiner Knizia's Amazing Flea Circus

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sauceybugger — 2008-11-05T04:44:02+00:00

Rulebook Front

Thread: Re: How to Throw the Game

robul — 2008-10-24T20:15:25+00:00

Neil, no problem. It's just us 200,000+ friends here.

Adam and William, most of the games I play with my children, I play to win. The thing is, if I try to win, I almost always do, even at Flea Circus. Sure, there's a lot of randomness in the game. But even though one daughter knows to play the higher number cards, sometimes she still gets confused by the choices of special cards or simply forgets. Sometimes I just find it better to restrain myself to keep them interested.

Andy, yes, maybe I am putting more into it than necessary. But its about managing my natural urge to win, as well as managing the flow of the game to maximize the kids excitement and interest. Much or most (I don't keep track) of the time, I play normally. Sometimes I decide it's time for one of them to win. I could play randomly and there's a good chance one of them would win. But this way, I have something to do, and I control who wins, how they win, and how long it takes.

Thread: Re: How to Throw the Game

Neil Thomson — 2008-10-24T19:41:01+00:00

In response to the Heading of this Thread -

Grab game with preferred hand

Draw back elbow, raising said hand to just past ear. Shift weight to back foot whilst doing so.

Shift weight onto front foot as you take a step forward and extend arm forward.

Release game at height of arm extension, thereby propelling game forward.

Congratulations - you have effectively thrown the game!

Sorry to be a smarty $&^#, it's 6am in the morning here and I couldn't resist.

Thread: Re: How to Throw the Game

andylatto — 2008-10-24T19:26:29+00:00

It sounds like you are trying to make the absolute worst play you can find. Your kids may not be expert strategists, but they're not trying to lose, either. If you just played randomly, your kids would win more than their share. Isn't that good enough, or is your goal to ensure that you never, ever, win. Even your kids will notice that, and figure that something's up. Do you really need to play worse than making choices at random?

Thread: Re: How to Throw the Game

wmshub — 2008-10-24T17:24:41+00:00

I usually play to win, but when a daughter is having a streak of bad luck or otherwise feeling down, I throw the game to let her win and feel better.

I'm not sure whether they do the same for me or not.

Thread: Re: How to Throw the Game

Daddys_Home — 2008-10-24T17:08:04+00:00

I play to win. There is still enough luck in this game that kids can beat an adult. I probably do start with acrobats when I only have one and what not, but generally I don't "throw" the game.

Thread: How to Throw the Game

robul — 2008-10-24T16:56:00+00:00

How to Throw the Game

Only Throw a Game You Like

I play Flea Circus because I love playing games with my children. I intentionally lose because I honestly like the game.

I think Flea Circus is a wonderful game for playing with children. It’s rules can be understood by very young children. The little dog and cat pieces are fun to play with. And the game is engaging enough for adults, so that at least for me, it doesn’t feel like a chore or burden to play. On the other hand, while my children understand all the rules of the game, they’re only beginning to think strategically. If I pay even a little attention, it’s been no trouble for me to win.

I know however, that if I win every time, they’ll soon tire of the game and go back to one of those really horrible, entirely random, roll-and-move games mass marketed to children. So, often when I play this game, I play less than optimally, knowing that I’m more likely to lose. I don’t always make the worst play and I don’t always lose. In fact, I play so that I win much of the time but lose often enough to keep the children coming back for more. This is not an argument that you should do the same. You may not agree with this, consider it dishonest. That’s okay. We have fun as a family. And over time, the children’s skills have improved and I’ve had to do less to give them a chance to win.

This Is How I Do It

To win Flea Circus, the best strategy is to always play the card that most increases your score relative to the leading other player (if you’re in first place overall, that’s the second place player; if not, it’s the first place player). What I do, then, is play more like my children. Instead of playing to win, I’ll generally make a less than optimal play. It’s not always the worst card that I’ll play, but it’s usually not the best. Instead of playing the matching 3 card that would allow me to steal a dog and cat from the leading player, I’ll play a 2 card, or even a 3 card that doesn’t match. I try to avoid playing 4 cards, until they start filling up my hand.

Of course, there are many special (not numbered) cards in Flea Circus. This is how I deal with them:

Tickets are very powerful cards. I try to avoid playing them. But then, sometimes your hand starts filling up with cards you’re trying to avoid, and you have little choice. Therefore, I plan to play tickets only either to retrieve dogs and cats stolen from me, or to balance the score between the two children. Either one may be the optimal play at the time. However, if I plan in advance to use tickets in these ways, I feel I’m doing so only when it brings me back to where I was before (or in the latter situation, gives the lagging child a better chance of catching up).

Acrobats are simple enough to deal with. I play them first, so they’re worth only one point. Being the second to play the acrobat (in a three-player game) isn’t bad, and it looks more like you’re actually trying. I avoid playing the acrobat so that it would earn 3 or more points.

Similarly to acrobats, with clowns, I only play one or two at a time. In fact, I try not to accumulate more than two at a time in my hand. By the way, this is where another adult should recognize that you’re throwing the game. If only two cards out of five are clowns, then almost certainly one of the other three is worth more points.

The animal catcher can also be a very powerful card if you are trying to win the game. It’s not too difficult, though, to undermine its power. I just try to play it when the children’s top discards are either low numbers, like 2s, or are clowns (where no matter how many were played at once, in this situation only requires the player to replace 1 point).

Good Luck!

Just as you work hard to win those other games, enjoy the challenge of losing this one without looking like that was your intent.

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AntoineBertier — 2008-09-14T14:48:34+00:00

Unboxing

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AntoineBertier — 2008-09-14T14:42:22+00:00

The Blue Dog

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

Yokiboy — 2008-08-23T20:33:54+00:00

Werebear wrote:
Yokiboy wrote:
Another question - do you play the "round up" (I need 3 points, so I take 3 dogs), round down (I need 3 points so I take one dog), or something in between? If I need three points, can I take two dogs and return one cat? Since you play that way, I'm curious about how you decided it should work.
We don't round up 3pts to 3 dogs for sure.

We actually just round down. If you need 3pts and there are no more cats, but dogs available, then you only get one dog.

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cdunc123 — 2008-08-23T20:26:59+00:00
The miniature dogs and cats are a surefire hit with 5 year olds.

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

Werebear — 2008-08-23T12:52:46+00:00
FranklinTV wrote:
It always amazes me that game publishers lurk around BGG being helpful with words of advice & clarification. I am just not use to this level of "niceness" in other endeavours!

Thanks, David!

I should say, I was a member of BGG long before I left my career to spend my time trying to help get games published.

And - I know there is a big community of active game publishers and designers here - so there are a lot of us.

And, finally, for most of us working in the games industry, we started out as gamers, and most of us still love games. So naturally we'd find ourselves hanging around here!

Thanks for the kind words - the general niceness is one of the things I like about BGG...

Russell

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

Werebear — 2008-08-23T12:49:14+00:00
Yokiboy wrote:
We don't make change, but I'd go with Russell's statement over mine.

Yokiboy, my personal philosophy is - once you've bought a game, it's yours - and I think we should play with our own games in any way we choose. While I can tell you the "offical" word, there isn't any reason at all (*of course*) to defer to me.

This game is often described as a kid's game, but the math behind it is pretty neat, and there are some very interesting interactions that arise from that backing. I've played this a lot with adults, and have had a lot of fun with it.

I know that not making change might have some interesting side effects, and I have played with people who will dominate a denomination of currency simply to deny it to other players, so I think it could create a sticky problem... But play with it as you will.

I'm curious - in situations where dogs or cats are drawn over to watch another act - do you let the "stealing" player decide which animals to draw, or do you let the "victim" player decide? Someone who took all of the cats might be a target if people wanted the "ones".

Another question - do you play the "round up" (I need 3 points, so I take 3 dogs), round down (I need 3 points so I take one dog), or something in between? If I need three points, can I take two dogs and return one cat? Since you play that way, I'm curious about how you decided it should work.

Thanks!

Russell

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

FranklinTV — 2008-08-23T06:04:49+00:00
Thanks Russell,

It always amazes me that game publishers lurk around BGG being helpful with words of advice & clarification. I am just not use to this level of "niceness" in other endeavours!

cheers,

David

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

Yokiboy — 2008-08-22T21:30:59+00:00
We don't make change, but I'd go with Russel's statement over mine.

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

Werebear — 2008-08-22T17:34:04+00:00
David;

peacmyer and robul are correct. Yes, you definitely just make change. It does not say it in the rules, but that's definitely the intent.

We usually just ask other players to turn in some cats, if we've run out of cats. Players should be willing to make change, especially with your interpretation that would let you get an extra point if they did not.

I have seen some players that will insist on only taking cats, because they personally don't like dogs - but that's just infantile, and I avoid playing with people like that. If a child is doing this, they probably just need to see an adult doing some "modeling behavior" to understand how they should be willing to play.

(This question hasn't come up very often, and there are games that would encourage hoarding of small change. We just reprinted this, but I'll try to remember to make a note in our next printing.)

Russell Grieshop
Sales Director
R&R Games, Inc.

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

robul — 2008-08-22T17:21:27+00:00
I understand your point, but I do think that is taking the theme too far. We also always play with making change.

Thread: Re: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

peacmyer — 2008-08-22T17:02:42+00:00
Hm. We've always played that you make change, treating the dogs and cats as mere victory point tokens....

Thread: I know it shouldnt matter with a kids game, but i need a rule clarification ...

FranklinTV — 2008-08-22T15:34:03+00:00
Ok. I don't want to dwell on a paste-on-theme discussion. However, the apparent goal of the game is to "fill your tent with the most spectators and win the game as the most successful ringmaster".

So, with this in mind, lets assume all the cats are removed from the centre pile (leaving only dogs). If I play a 3 point card, do i just take only one dog (2 pts), two dogs (at 2 points each because its the first combination that completely fills the 3pt criteria); or should I play two dogs but give back a single cat (1pt) as change to get it back to 3pts?

My theory is that if the theme is about attracting spectators, I should take two dogs but not give back a cat (as this implies my acrobatics act attracted the dogs but somehow offends an existing cat member of the audience that they decide to leave).

Yes, I know its a kids game, and you should be just playing to enjoy; but I got to know!

Thread: Re: The Animal Catcher snags this adult

wmshub — 2008-07-28T23:22:29+00:00
This sounds like it would really slow the game down, especially with a lot of players. The game's "clock" is run by pulling animals out of the main pile, so every time that you steal for your turn you delay the end of the game. (Animal control, of course, actually runs the clock backwards).

If it worked for you, it worked, but 6 player games take a long time as-is (due to the extra stealing opportunities when there are more players), and I shudder at the thought of how long a 6p game would last with these rules added in!

Although I like your acrobat suggestion. Acrobats are the worst cards in the deck, they need something to help them out. I am considering trying out "when you play an acrobat, you take your points, and everybody else with an acrobat showing takes 1 point from the pot." That way you aren't guaranteed screwed if you play the first acrobat.

Thread: Re: Very minor variant for under 5's

Werebear — 2008-07-23T00:34:22+00:00
wmshub wrote:
I wouldn't recommend it for a 3yo though. My daughter learned it very slowly. At first she was always "on a team" with somebody else, and we would ask her which card to play, then tell her which many animals to take and from where/who. She played that way for a couple months before she understood the cardplay on her own.

I showed this game to two 5.5 year olds, and they really liked it - and got the making change stuff... I'll take your advice about 3yos... in fact, we run into a problem with small parts if we say that sort of thing anyway, y'know?

The other day Lucy (the 3yo) gave us all a good laugh. She was telling our neighbor about something, then quickly got sidetracked into talking about her favorite Flea Circus card, which left him completely confused:

"We have tickets to the Aquariam! Flea Circus has tickets too. They're yellow and when I play them I get to take animals from people! I can take two animals every time I get a free ticket."

She rambled on more there, but clearly she has games on her mind.

Yay for her - I'm happy to hear that there are families who raise their kids playing games. I really have enjoyed seeing what's different in cultures that embrace gaming more readily than we do. Germany has been a real eye-opener every time I've visited.

Edit: Oh wow, I see you're from R&R games! We love Flea Circus and Horse Fair in our house, and the hide & seek tiger too. All are great! Thanks for putting these out.

Thanks, I am from R&R. I'm glad you like these games! We get a lot of good reactions for all three of these games. I actually played Pig Pile and Too Many Cooks for years before I realized that R&R is based out of my home town, and later I met Frank, and later still, here I am.

Thanks for the kind words!

Russell

Thread: Re: Very minor variant for under 5's

Yokiboy — 2008-07-22T15:48:47+00:00
Great story William. My family loves this game too. My now 4-year old daughter Ella has been playing this since she was three and loves acting the role of a circus barker.

She will sometimes get a bit confused over the various fleas and their acts, and exclaim "my flea is stronger than your flea" as she plays the firebreather.

However, after playing the game for a year and a half, she understands that one dog is worth two cats and is just as happy getting a dog as two cats.

Great family game, lots of fun!

Thread: Re: Very minor variant for under 5's

wmshub — 2008-07-22T15:35:47+00:00
Hi Russel!

The 3 year old understands all the cards *EXCEPT* the acrobats. That's OK, though, because the acrobats are the worst cards in the game, so it's no big deal to play them poorly. They get stealing animals too; when I play, for example, a cannonball flea, the three year old will say, "Well...*I* have a cannonball flea! I'm going to take your animals!"

I wouldn't recommend it for a 3yo though. My daughter learned it very slowly. At first she was always "on a team" with somebody else, and we would ask her which card to play, then tell her which many animals to take and from where/who. She played that way for a couple months before she understood the cardplay on her own. The 5 year old got it very quickly though, so I'd say that 5 is about the right age (although if younger kids are in the house definitely let them participate!)

The other day Lucy (the 3yo) gave us all a good laugh. She was telling our neighbor about something, then quickly got sidetracked into talking about her favorite Flea Circus card, which left him completely confused:

"We have tickets to the Aquariam! Flea Circus has tickets too. They're yellow and when I play them I get to take animals from people! I can take two animals every time I get a free ticket."

She rambled on more there, but clearly she has games on her mind.

Edit: Oh wow, I see you're from R&R games! We love Flea Circus and Horse Fair in our house, and the hide & seek tiger too. All are great! Thanks for putting these out.

Thread: Re: Very minor variant for under 5's

Werebear — 2008-07-22T13:39:40+00:00
Hi, William!

I'm often asked how young a child can play this game, and I explain that the challenge is going to be understanding the dog vs. cat value. I'm not sure at what age kids can "make change" and understand relative values. I have suggested just letting each animal be worth one point for very young children.

Do your children have any trouble with the special cards? The clowns, acrobats, or the dog catcher? And do they understand who they steal animals from when they have the same act? I know some children find all of that a bit confusing, and I've experimented with removing the special cards, and then adding them in one at a time as the players get more familiar with the basic mechanics.

I'm glad your family like this!

Russell

Thread: Very minor variant for under 5's

wmshub — 2008-07-22T05:38:26+00:00
My 5 year old loves this game. My 3 year old can't count by two's though, and can't understand why a card worth 3 sometimes means 2 animals and sometimes 3.

So we made a super-simple variant when the 3yo is playing: Each animal (cat or dog) is 1 point.

With that, the 3yo loves it too! It's still hard for her to count out the points (after a fire-breather flea, she counts very carefully, "one...two...fee...four!"), but she can do it! At the end she can tally her points also. Now this is a game we can all play together with no help.

Once Lucy (the 3yo) can count her points easily, we'll go to the 2p per dog with her, but for now this is great.

Thread: Re: A Great way to play with 3 - 5 year olds!

Yokiboy — 2008-03-30T14:41:28+00:00
I've been playing this game with my 3 1/2 year old daughter without any adjustments and she loves it. I play this game with kids a lot using the rules as written, and we always have fun.

Thread: A Great way to play with 3 - 5 year olds!

darthpilgrim — 2008-03-30T03:35:38+00:00
I recently got Feed The Kitty and Hiss for my 3 year old daughter and she loves them both. Well, she REALLY loves Hiss. I wanted a game with some cool - eye catching components that was very cheap. (I don't have the cash for Chicken Cha Cha Cha right now) Well, this was that game. Right out of the box my daughter was smiling ear to ear looking and all those colorful dogs and cute cats that I had just dumped out onto the table.

Knowing that this game is card based, I thought my daughter might have a rough time with it.(It's recomended age limit is at least 6 and I strongly agree to that) However, I did play a few games with just me and my 11 year old son and the game can be quite strategic and fun. In fact, I like it better than that other Knizia game...what's it called again? oh yeah, Lost Cities. That's right....jump all over me for that one or just go post over at my Lost Cities review!

Anyway, With some minor alterations and a few game play test, I think I've come up with a great little way to play the game so it can be played with the younger ones and still be fun for adults.

- Shuffle the cards and make a single stack in the center of the players. Youngest player goes first. Flip up the top card and play it in front of you. Collect your cats/dogs. Play passes.
- The cards you draw are still formed in a stack or pile in front of you with the exception of the "Acrobat" cards. They are placed to the side.
- Attraction card (played the same): still collect that number of points from the middle. If someone else has the same attraction card showing, collect the points from them.
- Ticket card (played the same): Collect two points from any other player.
- Animal catcher (played the same): All other player return points to the middle based on there top card in the stack. Important-reshuffle stacks but keep Acrobats.
- Clowns (new rule): The clown allows the drawer to collect 1 point from the middle. On the drawers next turn, if another clown is drawn, the drawer may collect two points form the middle. (The drawer will continue to earn an additional point for every clown they draw IN A ROW - once a different card is drawn, the next clown will be worth 1 again.)
- Acrobats (new rule) When an acrobat flea is drawn the player puts it to the side of his/her main stack. He/She collects 1 point from any other player for every acrobat they have. (so 1 for the first, then 2, 3, etc.) Important-If a player is collecting two or more points, they may split who they want to collect there points from.

That's it! So check this game out if you don't have it already and don't be afraid to get it and try it out with the younger ones using my rules. By the way, my kids aren't the only ones who love stacking and playing with the blue bulldogs!

Final Judgement:
8 (one of my favorite kids games yet)

Thread: Re: First play with a three-year-old cat lover

hlopez — 2007-09-26T17:42:18+00:00
Played it with my three year old also and he seemed to have a very specific notion about the ratio of dogs to cats he wanted which I could not figure out. He had a lot of fun and now when I get home from work he points to our game room and says, "I want to play the flea game."

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BrewB — 2007-08-29T23:55:02+00:00
Reiner Knizia's Flea Circus - Age 4

Thread: Re: First play with a three-year-old cat lover

Yokiboy — 2007-08-12T17:56:20+00:00
Flea Circus really is a fun game. I play it with my family, and our 3-year old daughter is in charge of handing out the Cats and Dogs to the circus barkers.

Thread: First play with a three-year-old cat lover

Hellfish — 2007-08-12T14:58:06+00:00
In a moment of cabin fever fueled desperation last night, I cracked open Reiner's Flea Circus to play with my three-year-old daughter, Avery. I know it is recommended as ages 6+, but I thought at the very least she'd enjoy the plastic dogs and cats. To my surprise, we had a great game session!

Since we were both learning, we played with open hands. She loved the artwork nd immediately took an interest in learning what each one did (although I frequently had to remind her). When she scored points, she tried hard to work out how many dogs and cats she should be taking. With some parental prompting, she was able get through her turn easily.

Anyway, the session went like this. I jumped out to an early lead thanks to some fire-breathing 4 beetles, but Avery was not far behind, employing many 3's and acrobats. We both had our share of free tickets, we well. No matter what her score, Avery insisted on no more than one dog attending her show, so she had quite a sea of white cats on her side of the table. Finally, an animal control officer showed up in my hand and cleared the shows out. When we restarted, she went all clowny on me, laying down 3 clowns at once. Thanks to that, she was able to draw more cards from the deck which ultimately led to her victory. She got two 4 fire-breathers from that draw alone.

So there you go- I was bested by a three-year-old. I had to help her out, of course, but it's pretty clear what your optimal move is, so it felt pretty real. Keep your eyes peeled for the clown attack. Seems to be one of the few strategies you could employ in this game.

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dante9 — 2007-08-05T08:48:27+00:00
Though surrounded, the cats will never give up their hostage!

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SwedeLad — 2007-07-17T23:02:13+00:00
Game components in size-relation to an average hand.

Thread: Re: The Animal Catcher snags this adult

Dr. Burd — 2007-06-08T21:30:57+00:00
Close Aura Lee, but we played it a little bit differently.

1) Acrobat cards stay on the table (not in a player's discard pile) until the Animal Catcher is played.

2) If you play identical "attraction" (numbered) cards onto your own discard stack two turns in a row, you may steal that many points from an opponent of your choice.

3) When you play Clown cards, you may steal as many points as cards played, from your opponents (you may choose more than one opponent. total points stolen may not be more than the number of Clowns you played.)

These are in addition to the normal rules. If you play the same attraction card as the player to your right, you still steal points from that player, you may not choose a different opponent.

Hopefully I remembered them correctly =) Have Fun!

Thread: The Animal Catcher snags this adult

chinalotus — 2007-06-08T11:08:34+00:00
I bought this hoping to entice my six year old into the world of boardgames (a common theme it seems amongst parent gamers). The illustrations have captured her interest ... a good beginning I think!

But I digress even before starting ... not a good sign.

Our 30 pound package of fun arrived at my gaming group and out jumped this wonderfully compact little box. A couple of fleas must of escaped the shrink wrapping process because a couple of adults were itching to play.

The first game was by the books and not a bad game.

The second was a flurry of "how about ..." and much more entertaining to the adult crew. After the scratching stopped, we had the following variants:

(1) Play two of the same "Attractions" card simultaneously. Take the number of points from any opponent.

(2) "Flea Acrobat" cards stay out on the table (available for play) until the animal catcher arrives.

This is at heart still a children's game. But it can be a fun, quick filler with lots of friendly hissing and growling as cats and dogs are stolen and recaptured.

Thread: Flea Circus after 10 plays

flakybiscuit — 2007-05-08T16:09:15+00:00
After roughly 10 sessions of playing this simple children's game, I thought it was time to post my impressions.

The Group:
The majority of games were played with 3 players: myself, age (mumble*cough*mumble), my son, age 8, and my daughter, age 5. In roughly 3 of the games, we were also joined by my wife.

Rules:
As stated in the game reviews, there are a collection of points in the middle that are drawn from as directed by the cards played by each player. Additionally, points can be 'liberated' from other players. Play continues until the point supply in the middle is exhausted.

The Cards:
I like the different card types used in the game. The card actions vary enough to keep it interesting while the number of types (5) make it easy to remember what each card does.

Gameplay:
I think this game gets more fun as the number of players increases. More players seems to even out the point totals throughout the game. Each player attempts to keep the balance and ensure no one player is charging ahead on points. Also, several of our earlier 3 player games devolved into a 'take that!' session between siblings. When you play this game with your kids the first few times, you would be well served to just review the most basic of strategies (play to take points from the leader and if you have the dog catcher and are behind use it as the game is coming to an end to extend it).

Conclusion:

Overall, this is a nice quick game to play with your kids before bedtime. As I said in my review, I'm sure we'll be playing something else by next year at this time, but for the price, theme, components, and approachable mechanics for kids, this one rates pretty high in our book.

Thread: Under the Little Top

flakybiscuit — 2007-05-03T02:28:59+00:00
I'm always on the hunt for games I can play with my kids. They are my primary 'gaming group', so I try and seek out games that appeal to my 7 year old, my 5 year old, and myself (with an occasional guest star appearance at the table by my wife). It's not always easy to strike a balance between something with a theme we all like, mechanics they can readily understand, and a straightforward enough strategy with which they can be consistently competitive.

Enter Reiner Knizia's Amazing Flea Circus. When I first came across this little game I was immediately reminded of an old Tex Avery cartoon about a flea circus that I loved as a kid, so, with quick browse of the game summary, I ordered it.

Components:

The game comes with 55 amazing flea cards, 20 rubber cats (good name for a band), and 20 rubber dogs.

The box itself was well made, as was the component divider. Everything fits nice and compactly in the box.

As you might imagine, the 40 rubber animals were of nice quality and overall pretty neato.

The colors of the cards were rich and vibrant on the front and back. I did feel like the card stock could have been heavier and should have had more protective coating applied. It is, after all, a child's game.

The rules were clear and fairly concise, although, again, I was pretty underwhelmed with the quality of paper that they were printed on. It was close to newsprint.

Gameplay:

The goal of the game is to persuade the most cats and dogs to your circus by virtue of how attractive the shows are under your big top.

Setup consists of dumping all of the animals into a pile in the middle and then dealing out five cards to each player.

There are 5 card types, with the most common being 'Attractions'. Each attraction has a number associated with it. This is the number of points, in denominations of Dogs (2 points), and Cats (1 point) that the card can attract when it is played. So, if there is an attraction played that appeals to 4 points worth of canines and felines could be taken as 2 dogs, 4 cats, or 1 dog and 2 cats. Dogs and cats are either attracted from another player's show, or from the middle pile of available animals.

A player may only have one 'show' in play at a time, which is the upturned card in front of them. Subsequently played shows cover the show that proceeded it. When you play a particular type of attraction and it matches the same currently displayed attraction (or show) of another player, you take the points earned from that show from that player. If your attraction does not match any currently displayed attraction, you take your points from the middle.

The other cards are just variations on the same theme of taking dogs and cats from your neighbor or the middle. Free tickets allow you to take 2 points from any player (as opposed to players seated to your right in the case of matching attractions), Flea Acrobats allow you to claim points from the middle based upon how many flea acrobats are showing at the time. Clowns allow you to play as many clown cards as you like from your hand, claiming a point per card. The Animal Catcher card, in addition to reshuffling everyone's discard show pile into the new draw pile, penalizes everyone by making them throw the number of points on their last played show back into the middle.

The game continues until the animal pile in the middle is exhausted. Points are counted up, and a winner is declared.

Overall, I would give this game a B- rating. I don't know that we'll be playing it a year from now, but it does have enough going for it to keep it in the rotation for now. It appeals to everyone because of the rubber dogs and cats and great theme.

Thread: A fun game for both Kids and Adults!

ptsuk — 2007-05-02T21:51:39+00:00
Review of Reiner Knizia "Amazing Flea Circus". I picked it up for 9.00 bucks on clearance at an online retailer, so the price was certainly right!

Audience: Geared for kids but fun for adults as well. Could be used a drinking game/party game too! Your only as young as you think of yourself I've played with all adults and we all really liked this game.

# of Players 2-6: This game supports up to 6 players total. Which would be tremendously fun I would imagine, as I've played it with 4 and 5 and had a fun time playing. I can't imagine playing with only two players as the mechanics of the game, while allow 2 players, would be exceedingly boring.

Game Time: Box says 10 minutes. We had a few games last 10-15 and one which concluded very fast in about 6-7 minutes.

Components: The cards are of good quality and have some nice cartoon art on them which fit the game nicely. The other "key" components are the little plastic cats and dogs, which represent the points in the game. Both cats and dogs are molded in a classic cartoony fashion, and very sturdy plastic, and each has it's point value impressed in its tummy.

Setup: All of the plastic dogs and cats are placed in the center of the players within easy reach this is the points "pool". Each player gets dealt out 5 cards, and the rest of the cards are also placed in the center.

Gameplay: Flea Circus is a fast and furious game where you try to "out do and become the best showman/woman" in the circus business by attracting cats and dogs to your "flea circus". These cats and dogs are worth the victory points, Cats are worth 1 and Dogs are worth 2 pts. When the center of the points pool is empty the game ends.

There are various cards which are called "attractions or Acts" and have a value of 2-4. For example the Fire Breather Flea has a value of 4 while the Flea Juggler has a value of 2. During a game you have a pile of cards which are placed in front of you. This is your "show pile". You play one card per turn, or in some instances multiple cards, on top of the previously played card/act. If you are playing an attraction card, one with a "flea act" and a number value (2-4) you place it on top of your show pile. You then look to see if another player has the exact same attraction card starting with the player to your right working around counter clockwise. If a player has the exact same card then that player looses the value of that card to you thus increasing the number of cats and dogs viewing your "show". Once the condition is met it stops with that player whom was affected. If there is no player who meets the condition, then the value of the card played is taken from the center pile of cats and dogs. Then play continues on from the player who played the card last.

There are a few "specialty cards" which allow you to do extra things such as :

1.The Free ticket card allows you to steal away two points (cats or a dog) from ANY other player.

2.The flea acrobats give you X number of points for each flea acrobats card that is showing on players show pile. 1 player showing/played a acrobat = 1 pts, 3 players showing acrobat cards =3 pts. These points are taken from the center point pool.

3.Clown cards are worth 1 point when played, however clown cards are the only cards you can play more than one on your turn. So if you have 3 clown cards you can play all 3 onto your showpile and gain 3 pts, if you have 5 clown cards you can play all of your cards and gain 5 pts. It’s a very good idea to "collect" clown cards for a large play toward the end as you can sometimes end the game abruptly by playing all 5 of your clown cards to remove the remaining 5 pts from the center pool. You can also use clown cards to extend the game by only playing one and thus dwindling the center pool by one in hopes the animal control card comes out to replenish the center pool. These points are taken from the center point pool.

4.Animal Control/Catcher Card When this card is played each player looks at the top of their showpile and removes a number of points from their cats and dogs and places them back into the center point pool depending on what card is shown. If a attraction or act card is shown then that value of points Is placed back into the center pool. If it's a clown card only 1 point is lost. If it’s a Free Ticket card you lose two points to the center pool, and if players have acrobat cards showing then it’s the total of acrobat cards showing that players will lose in points to the center. After which all show piles are reshuffled into the draw deck. Then play continues.

Recommendation: A BUY! I Highly recommend for some fast fun! Yes it's a "light" game, and just because it's kiddie oriented doesn't mean adults can't have fun too! There is a "bit" of strategy involved in that your trying to play cards to remove any lead advantage from other players, and playing of clown cards and catcher cards at the correct moment can either extend or end the game for a quick win. So pick it up especially if you can get it for 9 bucks or less!

Thread: Big fun under the Big Top

BrewB — 2007-02-22T02:21:11+00:00
Reiner Knizia’s Amazing Flea Circus – Big fun under the Big Top

A review

Preamble -

I ordered this game from an online retailer (that advertises here on the Geek) for the express purpose of playing it with my four-year old daughter after seeing it listed on several Geeklists recommending games to play with kids.

Considering how this game was supposed to contain soft rubber dogs and cats, I was not expecting such a small container.

Game components -

I opened the box and sure enough – there were a host of rubber dogs and cats:

20 White rubber Cats
20 Blue rubber Dogs (Cartoon-like Bulldogs)

and a package of 55 cards.

I have no other game that is packed with such economy, and yet there is room to spare.

Theme -

Each player is a ‘Ringmaster’ of a flea circus. The fleas will be performing various acts and they intend to draw spectators in the form of ‘Dogs and Cats’. (Get it? It’s a Flea Circus and the Fleas are looking to draw a crowd of Dogs and Cats! Knizia is a genius!)

Game Play -

This is basically a card game. The points scored are represented by the blue dogs (two points each) and the white cats (one point each).

The dogs and cats are the lure that will hook your average 4 year old. While the game is recommended for players age 6-years and older, the game is most definitely teachable to a four year old child. The various cards and their associated actions/point values are not too complicated yet offer enough variety to make for an interesting game.

Tallying up points in the end is a fun exercise for a four year old – each dog counts twice and each cat counts once.

Rules – a (very) brief overview:

Each player will manage a hand of five cards. The object is to either draw spectators (dogs and cats) from the pool in the middle of the table, or to STEAL spectators from other Ringmaster. The players proceed in a clockwise order and play one card (or multiple cards if playing ‘clown’ cards). The card played is placed face up in front of the player and is his ‘current attraction’. As the rounds continue the players will place new cards on top of the current attraction cards – thereby there is only one card showing in front of each player. Depending on the card played in combination with the other player’s cards/current attraction two things will determined: 1- how many points are scored; and 2 - where the points will come from. (I.e. Are you gaining new spectators from the pile in the middle, or are you stealing a competitors spectators? Finally, after playing the card(s) the player replenishes their hands to five cards.

There are:

-Various “attraction” cards worth 2,3, and 4 points.
-Free Ticket cards(steal 2 points from another player)
-Flea Acrobats (cumulative points scored based on ‘SHOW’ stacks.)
-Clowns (a player can play as many ‘clown’ cards as they hold for one point each)
-Animal Catcher (a penalty for all other players followed by a reshuffling of the deck)

(refer to the game rules for a complete explanation of the cards and scoring)

The game ends when there are no more dogs and cats in the pool of spectators.

Conclusion –

Small children tend to get bored with card games fairly quickly, but the rubber cats and dogs included with this game seem to keep their attention. A four year old child can easily master the concept of the game in it’s entirety – this includes all of the cards, and the prospect of stealing spectators from competing ringmasters.

The only part they have trouble with is the point system. For a four year old the following math problem presents an almost insurmountable challenge: A dog is worth two points and a cat is worth one point. How many animals should you take if you scored three points? A four year old child has extreme difficulty figuring this out; AND THAT IS PRECISELY WHY YOU SHOULD PLAY THIS WITH YOUR FOUR YEAR OLD CHILD; they will slowly develop some math skills.

While there is certainly some strategy that might get overlooked by a child, this is a fairly light game for adults. I’ve found that it I a good game to play with a mixed age of children – ages 4 and older.

I highly recommend this game. The rules are fairly brief, the game is highly portable, the cats and dogs put a simple card game over the top.

-Stephen Brewbacker
(Real Men Play Board Games with Children)

Thread: Flea Circus with children

cagriggs — 2007-02-02T02:29:32+00:00
I am a huge Knizia fan and have recently begun to purchase some of his children's games to play with my boys. His Flea Circus game is among those I purchased and it has been a big hit with my sons.

Game play is simply. Each player has a hand of five cards and on his or her turn, the player simply plays a card on the table in front of himself or herself. Depending on the type of card played, a player will score from one to five points or may force his opponents to put back some of their points. After a player's turn, he or she draws back up to five cards and play passes to the next player.

Here are they types of cards:
Attraction cards - these cards picture fleas performing various circus stunts and have number values from 2-4 representing the points earned for playing the card.
Free Ticket cards - these allow a player to take two points from another player.
Flea Acrobat cards - these cards are worth one point for each flea acrobat displayed in front of each player.
Clown cards - these cards are unique because a player can play up to five of these at a time. They are worth one point for each clown played.
Animal Catcher cards - there are only two of these in the deck and when played, they force all other players to surrender the point value on the top card they have placed in front of themselves.

Score is recorded with 20 cat and 20 dogs figures included in the game. Each cat is worth 1 point and each dog is worth two. When a player scores points, he takes any combination of the cats and dogs, called spectators, that add up to the points earned. The game ends when all the spectators are out of the middle of the table.

My five-year-old loves this game. He certaily enjoys the animal figures but he also really likes the fun artwork on the cards. He understands the game well and may not pick up on all the strategies, like waiting to play a flea acrobat card until others have also done so, but he has the basic rules down. He also loves that players can attack each other. The animal catcher card is his favorite, but he also likes the free ticket card because he gets to steal spectators from another player. In addition, if a player lays down the same attraction card as one of his opponents has on top of his stack, then the player gets to take his spectators from his opponents stash.

The game really is a lot of fun and my wife and I enjoy playing it with my sons. My two-year-old does not grasp the game but likes to sit in our laps and help us. My sons will also play with the cat and dog figures without the game. Overall, I have found this to be a fun and interesting game that is one of the best to play with children.

Thread: Amazing Flea Circus -- Session Report

gschloesser — 2007-01-15T18:51:00+00:00
Editor's Note: My full review of Amazing Flea Circus will appear in Knucklebones magazine. What follows is an abbreviated version.

Prolific designer Reiner Knizia must like fleas, and appears especially enamored with performing fleas. He has released two games using the theme of a flea circus, both bearing very similar names. While this can be confusing, there is no confusion over the fact that both games are entertaining for the entire family.

The Amazing Flea Circus, released by R&R Games, is a card game featuring an abundance of talented fleas performing various circus acts. Observing the various acts – and serving as scoring tokens – are dozens of adorable plastic bulldogs and cats. The object is to collect the most dogs and cats by the opportune play of your cards.

A player’s turn is quite simple: play a card, collect animals, and draw a replacement card. When playing cards, each player places the card face-up in front of him, covering any previously played cards. This is known as the player’s “show stack”. The player collects a number of animals equal to the value of the card played. Dogs are worth 2 points, while cats are 1 point. If another player has an identical card face-up on his show stack, the animals are taken from that player. Otherwise, the animals are taken from the general supply.

If a special card is played, its particular function is executed. Acrobats earn points equal to the total number of acrobat cards face-up on opponents’ show stacks. Free tickets allow the player to steal two points from an opponent. Multiple clowns may be played, with the player collecting points equal to the number of cards played. The animal catcher forces players to return some animals to the general supply, and all show stacks are then returned and re-shuffled with the deck. Timing the play of these special cards – indeed, all cards – is the critical tactic to be employed.

The game ends when the final animal is taken from the general supply, and the player with the greatest value of animals in his collection is victorious. The game plays to completion in 15 – 20 minutes, making it a good choice as a filler.

Don’t expect too much from the game, as it is clearly intended to be a light, family game. Decisions aren’t terribly taxing, and there aren’t many long-term strategies to employ. Play the card that will give you the most animals, perhaps conserving the clown cards in order to accumulate duplicates, and delay the playing of acrobat cards until others are face-up on opponents’ show stacks. That’s really about it. You also don’t want to get comfortable with the animals you have collected, as the nature of game play means that they will constantly be stolen by other players as the game progresses. Don’t worry, though – you will assume both the role of the thief and victim throughout the game!

In spite of the fact that there aren’t many tactics or strategies to employ, the game is perfectly suited for families, especially those with young children. The artwork is cute, and game play is easy, fast and fun. This is one group of fleas you won’t mind bringing into your home.

While Alison and I constantly swapped animals, Rhonda steadily built a stable of dogs and cats. She survived the assaults from her opponents to capture the victory.

Finals: Rhonda 16, Alison 11, Gail 10, Kevin 10, Paul 8, Greg 6

Image

catnthehat — 2007-01-07T07:39:59+00:00
Balancing dogs

Thread: Introducing fleas to the lunchroom.

Mr Penguin — 2006-12-13T19:57:04+00:00
Having recently moved to new offices that have a kitchen and a room with sofas and a coffee table where staff can interact I decided that it was time to introduce some lunchtime game play. I chose Flea Circus because it is a recent acquisition, it is easy to teach, and the cute cats and dogs are often enough on their own to convince people to play.

We started with four players, myself as dealer and round the table Karyn, Sanjeev, and Peter. Karyn immediately set out to collect all the cats; an interesting tactic that made her undesirable to poach from as she would immediately try and take the cats back from you even if you were coming last. Peter revealed a desire to be a thief as in the first three rounds he played the same card as Sanjeev so taking the points from Sanjeev rather then the pile in the middle.

Peter’s early thievery set the tone for the game with all players preferring to steal points if at all possible (incidentally they way that I believe is the best way to play). With so much stealing going on the pile of points in the middle was still quite large even though the draw pile was getting down when Peter played the first Animal Control card. This caused Sanjeev and I to throw back 3 of our points but as Karyn had a 4 on top of her card stack she had to return 4 of her cats to the middle.

Tim decided that he wanted to play too so we dealt him in pointing out that he was starting on zero points but wasn’t much worse off then me on 3. The game continued but with five players there was even more opportunity for nicking points off others. The instance I liked best was when Karyn took points from the middle, only to have them taken by Tim, Sanjeev then took them from Tim, Peter broke the sequence by playing a different card but then I was able to take the points from Sanjeev. I also got to play an Animal Control to reasonable effect stinging all players for either 3 or 4 points except for Peter who had played three clowns to earn himself 3 points but only had to repay 1 point to the middle as only one clown was showing on top of his deck.

With so many points being swapped between players rather then taken from the middle, and the animal control cards being played more and more frequently, the game lasted almost half an hour. The final result was joint win to Karyn with seventeen of the cats and Sanjeev with eight dogs and a single cat. I was not last.

Image

fenwic — 2006-11-09T19:12:02+00:00
That cat is SO taunting those dogs.

Image

fenwic — 2006-11-09T19:11:51+00:00
Dog and Cat pile at the start of the game.

Thread: Session Report by Sag, Father of Four

Sagrilarus — 2006-06-07T19:14:21+00:00
    The rules to Amazing Flea Circus can be picked up by an adult in about four minutes, by a five-year-old in about seven. This is not a terribly complicated game, but the nature of it makes it difficult for a much older (or better) player to run away with it -- most games are won by a few dogs or cats. This is good -- siblings can play and it stays relatively competitive.

    The game started with a few referrals to the rules, but for the most part all understood what was expected. The kids frequently forgot to replace their cards at the end of each turn and had to pick up multiples at later turns. Not a showstopper, but be sure to cover them or they'll quickly run out of options.

    At one point my son (5) was on the brink of victory, as there were just one dog left to be claimed. My daughter (9) was in a position where she had to take at least a cat, or maybe the last dog and give her brother the win. The game ends when all the pieces are gone, so as it ends it can become necessary to NOT take pieces in spite of needing them to win. As luck would have it my daughter was able to play the dog catcher -- a fateful arrival that forced players to return animals to the pot and she managed to keep the game going -- that is, to stay in the game.

    The strategy is extremely simple, but there's just enough wiggle to allow each player to keep a certain level of control on the action. Holding a dog catcher seems like a good strategy to cover your bases for the endgame. As the game winds down it proved important to keep close count on everyone's score and to not end the game too quickly unless you were in the lead.

    In the end my son won, but we were within three, and this on the first session. Excellent game for the under ten crowd, the rules are tight, adults can play (and help their kids during play) with enjoyment. Quick to learn, set up, break down, and the cards and pieces are VERY sturdy. This was an impulse buy that I am very happy with. Costs less than a CD or DVD; well worth the money.

Sag.

Thread: Amazing Flea Circus Review

abodi — 2006-04-04T06:19:24+00:00
Reiner Knizia's Amazing Flea Circus

Picked up this little game from the local shopping centre in the kids section. I saw it and was shocked to see a Reiner Knizia game, you don't see them normally just on the shelf of your normal store.

It looked pretty basic, but it was cheap i thought why not.

The Aim of the game is to get as many points as possible, you achieve these by playing flea circus attraction cards. and for these cards you then pick up either Dogs = 2points or Cats = 1point

At the start of the game all the cats and dogs are placed in a central pile and when you play a card (normally only play 1 card per turn) you pick up the amount of points the card says from the central pile. If you play an attaction and someone already has this attraction on the top of their pile you take the points from them instead.

Another type of card is the clowns, you can play as many of these in a turn as you like, but they are worth only 1 point each.

after your turn you pick up the amount amount of cards you played from the draw pile.

The game ends when there are no more points to be drawn from the central pile.

Players than count there points, and whoever has the most wins.

Summery

The Game is quick and basic. Good for younger players, or as a light filler to pass some time quickly. Games last no more then 10 minutes.
But i encourage quick play, as there really aren't any hard choices to make in this game.

Thread: Session Report

snoozefest — 2004-05-25T04:08:44+00:00
My wife and I played this for the first time. Rules are pretty simple, and nicely "summarized" in Tom Vasel's review. Basically, pool of points in middle. You draw hand of 5. Play cards worth points - pull from center usually, or from other player if your card matches theirs. One special card allows you to take 2 pts from any player, and clowns can be played in sets (1 pt per card, from center). Animal catcher card reshuffles deck (and players lose top card value in points? If so, I didn't know ... will look at rules again). Game over when point pool gone.

This wasn't much fun - mostly draw and play. Definite possibilities with more players, since there will be more interaction. Still would be pretty random, but more fun. I'd rate this a 3 or 4 with 2 players, but will certainly try it with a larger number. This should be a good one for kids, though (recommended ages: 6+) - cute illustrations, really cute little cats and dogs used as scoring markers for 1 and 2 points, respectively.

Thread: Re:User Review

snoozefest — 2004-05-24T02:34:56+00:00
TomVasel (#26696),

I enjoy reading your reviews, but it's amazing you had so much to say about this little game!

Anyway, I mostly agree with you. I've played only once, with another adult - this is a filler only if you're filling in with kids, I think. Maybe it's better with more players (I played 2 player) - heck, it must be! I also disagree about the cards - while the illustrations are great, I don't really like the quality ... they feel kind of cheap (most of that $15.95 went into the awfully cute cats and dogs).

Thread: User Review

TomVasel — 2004-01-29T15:17:06+00:00
I have to hide Pig Pile in my house, because my two young daughters are really enamored with the toy pigs that come with the game. The pigs were entirely unnecessary for the game, but added a cute, nice touch, which made the game that much more palatable. Now, we have a game with even cuter little toys – Reiner Knizia’s Amazing Flea Circus (R & R Games, 2003 – Reiner Knizia). There are little white rubber cats, and blue bulldogs – looking like they came right out of a Looney Tune. And this time, they are actually part of the game, rather than just window dressing.

So, how does the game hold up, with all these little pieces? Basically, it’s a fun little filler, with strategy along the lines of Uno or Pig Pile. Nobody will ever accuse this game of being heavy in tactics or of having great depth. And I doubt most “serious” gamers will give it a second look. However, it is certainly an enjoyable romp – and I found that kids especially found it a lot of fun. It was an instant hit with my game club at school – and I found that I also got enthusiastic about it. And any game that I can use to entice children into the wonderful world of board gaming is a huge plus with me!

A deck of 55 cards is shuffled, and five of them are dealt to each player. All the dogs and cats (twenty of each) are placed in the middle of the table. The Youngest player starts the game, and each player follows clockwise.

On a turn, a player plays a card in front of them, into their own “Show” pile. The card replaces the face-up card currently in the pile. There are five types of cards a player can play:
- Attractions: The most common card in the deck, there are seven different types. Each shows a flea performing a circus act, and are worth two, three, or four points. The player takes animals equal to that amount of points from the middle of the table, and places them in front of them. (Dogs are worth two points, cats one.) If, however, an identical circus act is face up in front of another player, the points are taken from that player, rather than from the middle of the table.
- Free tickets: This card, when played, allows a player to take two points from any other player.
- Clowns: This card gives a player one point of animals, but multiple copies of the card can be played at one time, allowing the player to multiply the amount of points they receive.
- Flea Acrobats: This card also gives the player one point worth of animals, but also one additional point for every flea acrobat that is face up on other players’ decks.
- Animal Catcher: Each other player must discard points according to the card that they currently have face up on their pile. After this card has been played, all decks are shuffled back into the draw pile. This is the ONLY time this is done.

After playing their card, the player draws their hand back up to five cards, as long as there are sufficient cards in the draw pile. When the last animals from the middle are taken, the game ends, and the player with the most points is the winner!

Some comments on the game…

1.) Components: If I ever reach the point of games gone mad (hopefully never), and have to get rid of this game – the rubber animals in the box will make great toys for my kids or grandkids. And indeed, just like Pig Pile, I often find the players of Flea Circus playing with them. While the pigs were used to score who won each round in Pig Pile, the animals in this game are constantly moving, and thus play a more important role. They are colorful, easy to handle, and make the game more attractive. The cards are not dull creations, however – as their brightness and colorful artwork help really brighten up the game! I’m not sure why dogs and cats are the “spectators” for a flea circus, but it still looks really good, and everything fits in a small, sturdy – circus-decorated box.

2.) Rules: The rules also reflect this carnival atmosphere, colored brightly, with full color illustrations. Of course, they only take two small pages on a pamphlet, since there really isn’t much to this game. The game probably ranks as the most simple of all Knizia games I have ever played, and I found that people picked it up easily. The only problem was that people forgot the difference between the clowns and the flea acrobats, since there is no text on the cards.

3.) Strategy: There’s really not much to say here. Play cards that help you, and hurt the leader. Playing a good attraction card is more of a liability, because it makes you a bigger target. The game has a slight “Uno” feel, where everyone strives to make one person’s life miserable, if possible. However, don’t get the wrong idea, as the game is so light and fluffy, that I doubt anyone would ever get mad over it.

4.) Theme and Fun Factor: The theme is layered on (what a shock for Knizia, I know…), but the presence of the toys and the colorful artwork really help put a theme where no theme should be. All of this adds into the fun factor. It’s rather difficult to win, as luck plays a rather large role. But it still feels satisfying, somehow – and the game has a fun, albeit light, feel.

There’s not much to this game – it’s a piece of overworked fluff. But yet, it’s fun fluff, and I found that most people I’ve played it with like it. If you hate Uno, and light games like Pig Pile or Target, then don’t touch this game; you’ll probably hate it. But if you like playing with little toys, and want a fun, fast little game – give it a try, especially with kids!

Tom Vasel

Thread: Session Report

jaywowzer — 2003-07-31T12:33:00+00:00
This was a casual after-dinner family affair with grandma visiting as well. My kids have recently become quite attached to Reiner Knizia's Amazing Flea Circus so we pulled it out and played five quick games.

The game iteself is very simple -- play cards into your individual circus show (discard pile) to collect spectator points (cats count as 1 point and dogs as 2 points), then draw a card. Repeat until there are no more cat or dog points available in the center pile. The winner is the ringmaster with the most spectators.
Now some details...There are 5 different types of cards, each of which play slightly differently. There are 28 ATTRACTION cards which have a spectator value between 2 and 4. Playing an attraction card scores the indicated points. If another player (starting on your right) has the same card on top of their circus show pile you collect the point from them. If your card is unique, points are collected from the pool of cats and dogs at the center of the table. The FREE TICKET card lets you steal two points worth of spectators from another player. The FLEA ACROBAT cards score points from the middle pile based on the number of flea acrobat cards that are the top card of the various players circus show piles. (Thus the first player to play on scores 1 point, the second 2 points etc.) The CLOWN cards are the only type of card that can be played in sets. All other cards are played singularly. Clowns score spectators from the center pile at the rate of 1 spectator per card played. finally the ANIMAL CATCHER card requires players (execpt the person playing the animal catcher card) to return spectators to the middle pile based on the point value of the top card of their circus show pile. Additionally, all circus show piles are collected and shuffled and placed below the draw pile.

The first two games were with five players; my wife and I, our two children, ages 5 and 8, and grandma. These games were rather chaotic in their gameplay, between everyone counting cats and dogs to see who to steal from with their free ticket and attraction cards and pure 'luck of the draw' the score bounces around frequently. I must say that I think the fun of this game is in this chaos, but if one is looking for more than that, the lack of any real control can be frustrating.

The last three games were three player affairs without the kids (bath time intervened) and verged on tactical play, but any tactics were too limited by card draw luck. The Flea Acrobat cards held much less value in the smaller games and rarely saw the table. Scores of the last games were very close: 19,20,21 18,20,22 19,19,22.

I'd rate this a solid 6. My kids say it's an 8.