Animal Upon Animal

Why it's in our library

We keep Animal Upon Animal on our little-kids shelf for young players who like to build.

How to play

Everyone builds on one shared pile. It starts on a wide crocodile base in the middle of the table, and each player begins with an equal set of wooden animals in front of them. Your goal is to be the first to place all of your animals on the pile.

On your turn, roll the die and do what it shows. Most of the time you place one of your animals on the pile, or two of them, one after the other. One face lets you set an animal on the table touching the crocodile instead, which makes the base wider for everyone. Another face lets the other players pick which of your animals you have to place. The last face skips your placing and hands the die to the next player.

Use only one hand. You can't press down on the pile or hold up animals that are already there. If a few animals fall while you're placing, they come back to you. If the whole pile collapses, you take back only some of the fallen pieces and the rest go back in the box. Then play passes to the left.

The game ends the moment one player places their last animal and it stays put. That player wins.

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