Zooloretto: The Dice Game

Description

--- "Zooloretto: The Dice Game" is a dice-driven adaptation of Zooloretto/Coloretto, focusing on zoo management through strategic animal collection and resource balancing on personal scoresheets. Key mechanics include: - *Dice placement and rolling* Players roll two dice and assign them to transport carts, introducing uncertainty in animal types. - *Cart claiming* Players take all dice from one cart, marking animals or coins on their zoo scoresheet. - *Zoo expansion limits* Scoresheets feature fixed pens for specific animals (1 crocodile, 2 ostriches, up to 5 lions), with barns for overflow. - *Bonuses and penalties* First to fill an animal pen earns a bonus; overflows cost barns (-2 points each), mitigated by coin groups. - *Round structure* Play continues until each player claims once per round, ending when a player fills all pens or has one pen left. Zooloretto: The Dice Game transforms the core Zooloretto/Coloretto gameplay—alternating between adding to displays or taking sets—into a dice-based system where unpredictability arises from rolling. Each player manages a personal scoresheet representing their zoo, with dedicated spaces for five animal types (one crocodile, two ostriches, up to five lions), plus areas for coins and barns to handle excess animals. On their turn, the active player either draws two dice from the reserve, rolls them, and places each into one of the transport carts (limited to six, eight, or ten dice based on player count), or claims all dice from a single cart, ticking off the depicted animals or coins on their scoresheet. Rounds proceed with players alternating actions until everyone has claimed once, then reset. Completing a pen first grants a bonus, but exceeding pen capacity requires marking a barn per overflowing animal type. The game concludes when any player fills all pens or leaves space in only one. Scoring awards one point per animal plus bonuses, deducts two points per ticked barn, and allows coin groups to either negate one penalty or score one point each, with the highest total victorious. ---