Objective
The first player to defeat all of the animals in their opponent’s playing zone wins the game.
1 To make a game deck you need 9 animal sets, 3 dojos, and 10 health/item cards. One animal set includes 3 animals of the same kind at three different levels. (See Figure A.)
2.1 Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine who goes first.
2.2 Place six level 1 animals on the game grid (3x3) at the beginning of the game. Only the first card in each column can be attacked. (See Figure B.)
3 All other cards are shuffled into the draw deck. Each player must always have five cards in hand.
4.1 On each turn a player first 'makes a play' and then 'makes an attack'.
4.2 To 'make a play' a player can either play a health card, play an item card, discard cards from their hand and pick up, add another level one animal to the field, or play nothing.
5.1 To 'make an attack' a player chooses an animal card in play, selects a target, and performs the exercise to activate the card. (See list of exercises on reverse.)
5.2 After attacking, subtract the amount of damage your animal deals from your target’s health.
5.3 Check the bottom left corner of your animal’s card to see if it is strong or weak against your target. This affects the amount of damage done by +1 or -1. (Optional. See gameplay formats.)
5.4 Once an animal has 'made an attack' the animal must rest for one turn and cannot attack. Partially cover that animal with a rest card to indicate that it is resting. Resting animals can still be attacked.
6.1 Keep track of the health of your animals with a score sheet. If an animal's health reaches zero, it must be placed in the defeated pile.
6.2 Once an animal is in the defeated pile it cannot be brought back into the game (unlike discarded cards). Any other cards of the same animal must be placed into the defeated pile once drawn.
7.1 An animal that has defeated an opponent may be upgraded with the next level animal from your hand. Animal must still rest for their next turn.
7.2 Play a dojo to upgrade an animal in play with the next level animal from your hand. That animal may be used to attack immediately.
7.3 Once upgraded, level 1 animals cannot be played again. Put into the defeated pile.
8 Cards instructions can direct the player to play a card out of turn or play multiple cards.
9.1 A player can have one health card and one item or dojo card in play at a time. At the end of a turn, any health or item/dojo cards played are discarded unless it says otherwise.
9.2 If a health or item card says “stay”, it remains until it is destroyed or another card of the same type is played. It is then discarded.
10 Once a player has used up all the cards in their deck, they reshuffle their discard pile and then pick up cards as needed to have a five card hand.
