Beaver Mania Card Game - Playing manual

Content:

Explanation of terms
Quick start (Video)
How to play
Tips, Strategies, Tricks
Game variant collecting points
Rule-Extension for „Professionals“
Free Gamehelper (PDF)

Explanation of terms:

Stabbing or stinging: High numbers trump the same number of lower numbers,
e.g. a 5 stabs 4, or 2x6 stabs 2x3 etc. (see also What stings what)

Stealing: Action or Number card(s) open on the table will be taken on hand
(possible with Thief and Superbeaver).

Quick start:

How to play:

Strategy: By skillfully stabbing, stealing and using the Action cards,
cards are collected and placed on the own discard pile.
Goal of the game: collect lots of cards and put them on your discard pile, i.e.
at the end have as many cards as possible on your discard pile (plus points),
but fewer, best none, cards in the hand (minus points).

Game preparation:

1. The cards are shuffled and each player get 13 cards on hand.
With 5 players each player get 10 cards on hand.
2. 9 cards are laid out face up, as card display, and sorted by card type.
3. In the center 5 more cards, as card stock, are laid out face up next to each other.
4. The remaining cards are placed in the center as a draw pile.

For example, with 4 players it looks like:

Rules of the game:

The youngest, the smartest or the prettiest player starts in the first round.
Next continue clockwise.

1. Discard: The player, whose turn it is, discards any number (at least one)
of cards - the more, the better - and put them on his own discard pile.
The following conditions must be met:

One or more identical number cards, also combined with one Action card
One or more identical number cards combined with one or more Jokers
One or more Jokers without any other card (exclusively Jokers)
A sequence of number cards (2-6 number cards) combined with the Hippie
A sequence of number cards without Jokers and without the Hippie, if a laid out
sequence with the Hippie can be stabbed.
Partybeaver together with 3 different number cards (see Partybeaver)

2. Stabbing: If stabbing with the discarded cards at the 9 open display cards is
possible, you must stab and you must take the cards on hand. If you can stab
the top cards from another players discard pile, you must stab them as well.
You can take those cards on hand, or if you do not like them, refuse. Rejected cards
will be put away, they have no function any more and are not counted at the end.

What stings what:

Always cards of the same number but of higher value prick. Action cards take
on the value of the Number cards. Digit sequence only possible with Hippie.

Who stabs where:

If it is possible to stab multiple times in the open display of 9, you have to
decide on one stab. In the example above: two 7s or two 10s.

3. Execute Action cards: If an action card was discarded during the turn, the Action
is now carried out (after stabbing). If you have placed an action card individually,
point 2 (stabbing) does not apply.

4. Refil: After each move - from the draw pile - e.g. first refill the 9 card display to 9
and then the 5 card stock to 5 cards.

5. Draw: If one or more cards have been stabbed or stolen from a player, he must
draw the same number of cards: from the draw pile and/or from the 5 card stock.
The 5 card stock allows you to draw matching cards if any.
Cards drawn must be put on hand.
Wished Handcards from the Fairy are not pulled back.
Drawn is clockwise starting from the active player. The 5 card stock is refilled after
each draw, but not while a player draws.

Then it is the next players turn and he makes his move (also in the sequence 1-5)
based on his possibilities.

End of game:

1. When a player has played his last hand card.
2. When the draw pile and the 5 stock are used up.
In these cases the game ends immediately and no further actions are taken:
no stabbing and also no action cards.
The cards are counted: each card on the own discard pile counts as 1 plus
point; Cards in the hand count as 1 minus point each. The player with the
most points wins the game round. If several players have the same number
of points, they win together.

The Action Cards:

An Action card can be played together with one or more number cards and
takes their numerical value. Only one Action card can be played each turn.
This card cannot be combined with a joker. An Action card can be played
individually and can be stabbed by an individually played joker. Individually
played action cards do not stab (just action is played).

The Superbeaver must steal 2 cards: from the display of 9,
the 5 stock, from the the top cards of the discard pile of
another player. The cards can come from different
locations and are taken on hand.

The Thief must steal one card: from the 9 display, the
5 stock, the top cards of the dicard pile from another
player. The card must be taken in hand.

The Fairy can wish for any card from the face down
hand of another player and take the card on the hand.
If the other player doesn't have this card, the wish expires.

The Partybeaver can be played with three additional
cards. These cards must not go together, so no
same digits and also no consecutive digits. These
4 cards cannot be stabbed. If you don't have any
such cards, he must be played individually.

With the Hippie, a sequence of numbers can be formed from
3 to 7 cards. The Hippie replaces any number in the digit
sequence. The sequence of digits can be stabbed with any other
sequence with the same number of cards (no Jokers allowed).

With the Bad Guy, you pull 2 cards for one other player:
from the 5 stock and/or from the draw pile. The pulled
cards must be taken from this person in hand.

Cards, that are played together with the Bodyguard,
cannot be stabbed. Stealing, even the Bodyguard
itself, is possible.

If the King is played with other cards, all other players
that do have the same number card on hand, must add one
of these cards. He has no function when played individually.

The Joker:

The Joker can be used as any number card, also multiple times,
i.e. 2x5 + Joker = 3x5. If played without Number cards, he has the
highest value in the game. He cannot be combined with Action cards.

Tips, Strategies, Tricks:

For a good overview on the gaming table, we recommend placing the top cards
in a fan shape on your own pile.

	1. Move		2. Move		3. Move		4. Move ...

* If you want cards from the 5 stock, it can be tactically smart to make the
stabbing attractive to your opponent, e.g. with low Number cards, so you
get the desired card by draw.

* You should only play the Fairy when the desired card is known, e.g. if one
of the other players have stabbed or stolen this card.

* Stinging at fellow players usually makes sense, because the opponent loses
points from his discard pile. It is only advisable to take the stabbed cards on
hand if you can actually use them.

* The Partybeaver is a powerful card, because often hand cards appear in the
game that do not go together. Therefore it is sometimes wise to keep the Party
beaver until the end of the game so that you can put down 3 such cards together.

* With the Trick-Steal tactic, it is possible to steal cards from below the top cards
of another player. First, the top cards of the opposing discard pile are stabbed
with a combination of number card(s) plus thief or superbiber and then the topmost
cards that are now exposed are stolen.

Game variant „collecting points“:

In this variant, a score of points are agreed, e.g. 250 points. A player writes
down the points of the winners per game round and adds them up.
The first player that reaches the agreed number of points wins.

Rule extensions for „Beaver-Mania Professionals“:

The Extended Rule for „Beaver-Mania Professionals“ prohibits to end the game
with a sequence of digits incl. the Hippie. That means a sequence of digits together
with the Hippie can not be played as the last move and gives opponents the chance
to stab the played sequence of digits with another sequence of digits.
One Hippie alone, i.e. without additional cards, may still end the game.