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HOW TO PLAY - ONTO THE DESERT
- GAME
RULES
Before You Begin
There are two ways the game may
be timed and scored.
Decide before play which will be used.
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Timed Rounds: Play 3 or 4 rounds
of 20 minutes each. After each round record each players
score. After all rounds the player with the most points wins.
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Long Version: Set your timer for
45 minutes. Whoever has the most points at the end of the time
wins.
At the end of the round or game the player
with the most sun points, or with the most cards wins. Players
decide which way to score before beginning play.
To Play
Deal out all the cards.
There may be some players who have one less card than the others.
These players will be awarded 5 extra sun points at the beginning of the
round.
On their turn a player may approach
another player with a SEARCH or a HUNT. In a SEARCH the player
tells any other player that he/she is SEARCHING for food from their
hand. The player does not know what cards the other player holds.
Both players lay down a card face up at the same time. If one card
"eats" the other then that player takes the "eaten" card and puts it in
their hand. If neither card "eats" the other, or they both eat
each other, then it is a stand-off and each player keeps their original
card. At the end of the SEARCH play passes to the next player no
matter who won the SEARCH. At the beginning of the game, the
SEARCH is used most because players have no seen who has which cards.
In the HUNT one player asks another for a
specific card and shows the card with which he or she is taking it.
Example: "Leo, I am going to HUNT your Jackrabbit with my Cougar."
The player then wins the card and is entitle to another turn. As
long as the player can win cards in the HUNT they are entitled to
another turn, however, it must be a HUNT. The player cannot use a
SEARCH after a HUNT.
If the player was wrong and the person
being approached with a HUNT did the card that was asked for, then the
Predator (person using the HUNT move) must give up their hunting card to
the person wrongly hunted and their turn is over.
Special Cards: The Element Cards and
Recyclers
The Element cards represent the forces of
nature and time. All life in the desert is adapted to the harsh
conditions, but sometimes the challenge to survive is too great.
Flooding can rip even the giant majestic Saguaro right out of the
ground; a Kangaroo Rat may not find enough seeds to eat in a drought
year; a Cougar gets old and can no longer hunt to survive.
The Recyclers are Termites, and Turkey
Vultures who eat decayed or decaying matter. Without their work
the desert would soon be piled high with decaying animals and wood.
These important creatures convert the decaying matter into a useable
form of compost which in turn feeds other forms of desert life.
An Element card may be used to HUNT only
once in a person's turn. The Element cards take all other cards
when used in a HUNT. In a SEARCH the Recyclers provide a stand off
with SEARCHing Element cards.
Used as a HUNTing card, a Recycler can
take an Element card. Only one Element card may be captured by a
HUNTing Recycler on any one turn.
Because it is so vital that the vultures
and termites do the job of cleaning up the decaying matter in the desert
we have given them a special place in the game.
When an Element card is used to take a
plant card anyone with the Termite card may jump in and STEAL both the
Element card and the plant card. All three cards are then taken
out of play and set aside to be counted as a part of the hand of the
player who played the Termite. This move must be made before
another person takes a turn.
When any card is used to take an animal
card anyone with the Turkey Vulture card may jump in and STEAL both
cards. Again, the three cards are set aside to be counted as part
of the hand of the player who played the Turkey Vulture. This move
must be made before another person takes a turn.
Scoring
When the timed round is over everyone adds
up all the sun points (or total number of cards) that they hold in their
hand. If they hold a special set of STOLEN cards (taken with
Turkey Vulture or Termite) they count each set as 20 points. If
the card count is the chosen way of scoring the game then the STOLEN
three cards are counted as 5 points. At the end of the game the
high score wins.
Classroom Onto the Desert
Up to 40 Players
Onto the Desert can be played with large
groups of people. 2-6 groups of players can use the rules spelled
out above an play as teams. Also, the deck can be dealt out to
everyone, one or two cards each, and turns can be taken to SEARCH and
HUNT for food. Playing this way is like a life simulation, with
players taking on the role of the plant or animal that is represented on
their cards.
Desert Search
2 Players
Each player takes half the deck. In
unison, each flips over the top card from his/her stack. If one
card "eats" the other that player puts both cards in his/her "win" pile.
If neither eats the other, or if both eat
each other, the cards are left on the table face up and the players flip
another card on top of them. If one of these cards takes the
other, all turned up cards are taken by the winner. Element cards
are wild and take all.
The winner can be the one with the most
cards, or the one with the most sun points.
Desert Poker
2 - 6 Players
Players try to group all their cards in 2,
3, 4, and 5 card food chain runs, and/or 3, 4, and 5 card family groups.
Suggested groups might be plants, birds, reptiles, mammals, herbivores
(plant eaters), carnivores (meat eaters), omnivore (plant and animal
eaters), nocturnal animals, annual plants etc. There are many more
possibilities for grouping. Have fun finding ways to group the
cards, leave the possibilities open and let the player who created the
grouping explain their reasoning. Let the rest of the players
decide if the grouping is legitimate.
Deal out five cards to each player.
Place the remaining cards in a draw pile. Each player organizes
their hand into food chains or family groups, trying to include all the
cards into a run or group. The player each take one turn
discarding their choice of 1 - 5 cards face down on the table (the cards
that did not fit into a run or group). The player then replaces
the thrown cards with new cards from the draw pile. The player
uses these cards to create the best hand possible. Each player
throws and draws cards only once per hand.
Hands rank as follows (low to high):
3 card group - 3 cards that are related (i.e. 3 birds, or 3 plants)
2 card chain - 2 cards, one "eats" the other
4 card group
3 card chain - 3 cards, card 1 "eats" card 2 "eats" card 3
Two 2 card chains.
Full House - One 2 card chain and one 3 card group
One 2 card chain and one 3 card chain
4 card chain
5 card group
5 card chain
Element cards are used as wild cards, as
part of any chain or group.
When two or more players hold the same
kind of hand the winner is determined by the total of sun points in
their hand. A hand using the Element card as a wild card is worth
less than the same rank hand with no wild card. Play as many hand
as you like. The game winner is the player who wins the most
hands, or who accumulates the most points.
Desert Rummy
2 - 4 Players
The object of the game is to aquire the
most and the longest food chains.
Deal out all the cards. To begin, each player lays a plant card
face up on the table in front of them. The first player then lays
down a card from their hand onto any card on the table in food chain
order. When a player adds a card to a chain he or she takes the
chain and lays it down in front of them. Any time a player has no
card that eats the plants on the table they may lay down another plant
cards as the base of a new chain. If they have no card that can be
laid down play moves to the next player. When all cards that can
be played are down the game is over. Who has the most chains?
Who has the longest chains? Whose chains have the most sun points?
Desert Solitaire
1 - 6 Cooperating players
To set up for play: Remove the
Element cards from play. Lay down 6 cards in a row, the first card
face-up, the rest face-down. Put two more cards face-down on each
of the 5 piles. The remaining cards are used during play and are
kept face down.
The object of the game is to beat the deck
by building all the cards onto food chains.
Plant cards are the aces of the deck, they
go up above the array of cards and are built upon. Parts of chains
may be built (always in food chain order) on any face-up card. As
cards are move onto food chains the revealed face down cards are turned
face up to be used in play. When a pile is used up or move, fill
in the space with another face up card or chain of cards, accessing
another face down card. When all possible moves are made from the
cards on the table then the remaining cards are gone through 3 at a time
(like in regular solitaire). If a card can be played pull it out
and play it.
When absolutely no more cards can be added
to any chains the game is over. It is very hard to get all the
cards used in a food chain. Instead of an all or nothing win use
this scoring system and try to improve your score:
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All plant cads that are placed above
the piles
as the base of food chains, but not yet built on.
0 points
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2 card chains, each
2 points
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3 card chains, each
3 points
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4 card chains, each
4 points
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5 card chains, each
5 points
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6 card chains, each
6 points
Total all these points. These are
Player points.
Total the sun points from the cards that were not played during this
round (cards left face down, and cards unused from the draw pile).
These are Deck points. Did you beat the deck?
Desert Web
1 - 6 Players
The object of the game is for all the
players to work together to build a desert food web.
Place the entire deck in a stack on the table face down. Players
take turns drawing a card laying it on the table in food chain order.
If the cards down not fit onto the chain the player discards it to the
bottom of the draw pile and picks again. If the card is a plant
card it is placed near the first chain to be made a part of the web as
the game proceeds. Cards may be added to the top, bottom, and
sides of the chains on the table. Try to make as many connections
as possible.
What are Sun Points?
In the top right corner of each animal and
plant card there is a sun symbol with a number in it, these are the sun
points. the value of the points on each card is related to its
place in the desert food web.
All life on Earth is dependent on energy
derived from the Sun. Plants have the ability to turn sun energy
into food energy usable by animals. This miraculous, natural
chemical process is called photosynthesis. A plant combines the
energy from sun, water, and carbon-dioxide from the air to manufacture
carbohydrates. Sugar, starch, and cellulose are carbohydrates.
A by-product of photosynthesis is oxygen, is also essential for animal
existence on the planet. The plant kingdom is the foundation of
the food chain. Without the food energy provided by plants there
would be no animal life. As the foundation of the food chain the
plants are given the highest point value, 10 points.
The next link in the food chain are the
herbivores. These are the animals which eat only plants.
They may be big or small, and simple or complex creatures, but they all
eat plants which convert the energy from the sun. Since they are
one step removed from the source of our energy, the sun, they are given
a slightly smaller point value, 7 points.
Those animals that eat both plants and
animal matter, the omnivores, are ranked next. They eat animals
which eat plants which convert the energy from the sun. They are
one step further removed from the source of energy, but since they still
utilize the plant material directly they are given 5 points.
Animals which each only insects are in the
next category. Though they do not eat any plant matter they are
dependent on the simpler life forms, i.e. not mammals, reptiles or
birds. They are given 3 points.
Last on the chain are the carnivorous
animals that eat mammals, reptiles and birds. They eat animals
which eat animals and plants, which eat plants, which convert the energy
from the sun into food. They are given a value of 1 point.
The points values given are not meant to
approximate real energy values of organisms. They are meant to be
used as a tool to understand the interdependency of plants and animals.
The glamour and power of the large predators such as Cougar is
fundamentally based on the plants that feed the Cougar's prey.
Thus, Onto the Desert becomes a game of strategy; the large predators
are able to hunt more creatures (and can take more cards), but the
plants have the higher point value. As in life, the choices are
complex. How will you play your hand?
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