Zooperation

A cooperative card game with cute animal cards about building a zoo that’s good enough. Cooperation + Zoo = Zooperation

All of this is quite inspired by Jaipur (neat little card game).

These are multiple different ideas in one. They might each work on their own, but probably not all together.

Zooperation I

Setup

Your objective for this mission is dynamically generated. (Though we might have missions, like the Crew.) How? Some cards are drawn, and tokens placed on top of them.

Example: Pig + 5 = we need 5 pigs. A cross (X) token between Pig and Cow = no pigs next to cows

Gameplay

On your turn, you either

Add cards to the zoo
Or draw from it

When drawing, you must take

All animals of the same type
All animals with the same number

When placing, you may put any card at the start or end of the zoo

PROBLEM? The game doesn’t end this way. Because no cards are actually removed.

Communication allowed? Place an animal, mark it somehow to say “I have this animal the most”, or “I have this animal the least” or “I only have one card for this animal”

Zooperation II: Bidding

There’s always a general mission for the main board. Players might have individual missions.

Bidding system: a new card is revealed. (Or the active player plays it?)

All players secretly (or publicly?) bid on it
Highest bid gets the card, adds it to their own pile (for personal objective)
The cards used for bidding are added to the main zoo.

Zooperation III: Delivery

A tug-of-war between two parts:

Cards with highest possible values (and streets/pairs/combos)
Cards needed to actually deliver this

Some idea for rules:

Whenever you do something with your own cards, they must all have the same type or number
Exchange: add cards to the market/zoo, draw equally many from it
Rotate: a special card that forces players to give 1 card (or as many cards as you played) to the player on the left/right.

At the end of the round, you can score as many cards as you have delivery people. (If you have 4 delivery employees, you score your 4 highest cards.)

Zooperation IV: Merger

Similar to Tiny Towns. Could repurpose to a cooking, candy or building theme.

Each game, a random set of “merges” is created by combining two cards.

One is the pattern, and one is the reward. Example: “PLACE 3 PIGS IN A ROW” (pattern) + “DRAW AN ANIMAL OF CHOICE” (reward)

In the center of the table, people can place cards.

Whenever cards match a pattern, somebody can choose to remove them and replace it with the reward for that pattern.

This just doesn’t really work as a cooperative game. (Not unless you claim parts of the board, but that would add extra tokens and complexity, which we do not want.)

We can, however, connect everyone’s own store/area. If we make them fixed sizes, we can add bridges or roads between them (using cards), allowing exchange and interplay.

To allow simultaneous play:

Players simply place their cards at the same time.
But after every round there’s some rule or event that pulls everyone together. Like that exchange of goods with neighbours.

To allow impacting each other:

Merges can only be achieved X number of times. (Each time, rotate the card to keep track.) Then it’s removed and replaced.
Many buildings influence other players. If you are the active player, placing such a building allows you to somehow dictate what others do.

A cooperative card game with cute animal cards about building a zoo that's good enough. Cooperation + Zoo = Zooperation All of this is quite inspired by **Jaipur** (neat little card game). > These are multiple different ideas in one. They might each work on their own, but probably not all together. ## Zooperation I ### Setup Your objective for this mission is dynamically generated. (Though we might have missions, like the Crew.) How? **Some cards are drawn, and tokens placed on top of them.** > Example: Pig + 5 = we need 5 pigs. A cross (X) token between Pig and Cow = no pigs next to cows ### Gameplay On your turn, you either - Add cards to the zoo - Or draw from it When drawing, you must take - All animals of the same type - All animals with the same number When placing, you may put any card at the start or end of the zoo **PROBLEM?** The game doesn't end this way. Because no cards are actually *removed*. Communication allowed? Place an animal, mark it somehow to say "I have this animal the most", or "I have this animal the least" or "I only have one card for this animal" ## Zooperation II: Bidding There's always a general mission for the *main board*. Players might have individual missions. **Bidding system:** a new card is revealed. (Or the active player plays it?) - All players secretly (or publicly?) bid on it - Highest bid gets the card, adds it to their own pile (for personal objective) - The cards used for bidding are added to the main zoo. ## Zooperation III: Delivery A tug-of-war between two parts: - Cards with highest possible values (and streets/pairs/combos) - Cards needed to actually *deliver* this Some idea for rules: - Whenever you do something with your own cards, they must all have the same *type* or *number* - Exchange: add cards to the market/zoo, draw equally many from it - Rotate: a special card that forces players to give 1 card (or as many cards as you played) to the player on the left/right. At the end of the round, you can score as many cards as you have delivery people. (If you have 4 delivery employees, you score your 4 highest cards.) ## Zooperation IV: Merger Similar to _Tiny Towns_. Could repurpose to a cooking, candy or building theme. Each game, a random set of "merges" is created by combining two cards. > One is the *pattern*, and one is the *reward*. Example: "PLACE 3 PIGS IN A ROW" (pattern) + "DRAW AN ANIMAL OF CHOICE" (reward) In the center of the table, people can place cards. Whenever cards match a pattern, somebody can choose to remove them and replace it with the reward for that pattern. **This just doesn't really work as a cooperative game.** (Not unless you *claim* parts of the board, but that would add extra tokens and complexity, which we do not want.) We **can**, however, connect everyone's own store/area. If we make them fixed sizes, we can add bridges or roads between them (using cards), allowing exchange and interplay. To allow simultaneous play: - Players simply place their cards at the same time. - But after every round there's *some* rule or event that pulls everyone together. Like that exchange of goods with neighbours. To allow impacting each other: - Merges can only be achieved X number of times. (Each time, rotate the card to keep track.) Then it's removed and replaced. - Many buildings influence other players. If you are the active player, placing such a building allows you to *somehow* dictate what others do.