🎟 Intro - a Zoo kinda game
Zuuli is a card game for 1-6 players that combines the best of both worlds: adorable animals and strategic game play. In Zuuli, players take on the roles of zookeepers, competing to create the most successful wildlife park.
The game features charming artwork 🎨 and a wide range of animals, including fierce lions 🦁 and friendly red pandas 🐼 and sloths 🦥. Zuuli offers three types of habitats that challenge you to keep the fierce animals apart from the friendly animals while ensuring all animals fit into the correct type of enclosures. This closed-drafting card game typically takes about ten minutes to teach and set up as well as twenty minutes to play ⏱️.
But what exactly is a closed drafting card game?🃏 It's a strategic decision-making game where players select cards from a known pool of cards and pass the remainder to others. This gameplay requires careful planning and anticipation of opponents' moves. Choosing the right balance of luck and strategy should lead to victory 🤔💡
Components - A Menagerie in a Box 🎪
Inside the box, you'll find a scoring pad along with 96 cards. The cards include 6 New Plot Cards, one for each player. 21 enclosure cards, 54 adorable animal cards, and 15 upgrade Cards. Each component is beautifully designed. The animals are so cute, you may want to pet the cards!
Enclosures: These essential cards come with unique abilities and scores based on animal types and numbers 🏠
Animals: The heart of your park, they score based on rarity and enclosures 🐾
Upgrades: Enhance enclosures and animals with special abilities like expanding the size of your enclosure or allowing fierce animals to cohabitate with friendly animals 🛠️
Game Play - Strategic Drafting 🃏
Main Goal 🏆: Achieve the title of the top wildlife park in three rounds called "Years" through the development of enclosures, acquisition of animals, and upgrades.
📆 Each year, deal cards to players based on the number of participants. Every player selects a card, then passes the remaining cards to the next player. Players keep their chosen cards secret until the final card is passed on.
🏞️ Next, they strategically develop their park by balancing the construction of enclosures, implementing upgrades, and placing animals. It's crucial to ensure they have sufficient enclosure space for each animal and the right animal types. Remember, fierce animals cannot share enclosures with other species or friendly animals.
📊 At the conclusion of each year, calculate scores based on the values of the animals and deduct points for any animals that couldn't be placed due to space constraints.
🏁 After the third year, combine the scores from all previous years. The player with the highest total score wins. In case of a tie (as we had one yesterday and I lost to the tie breaker), the player with the most unique animals claims victory! 🐾🥇
🦁 What I Like - Roar-some Fun for All Ages 🐾
Zuuli is a treat for gamers and non-gamers alike! It's like having a beautiful mini zoo in a box ready to be taken and played anywhere. With various animals, from fierce bears 🐻 to friendly giraffes 🦒, every game feels like a safari adventure. Plus, it works for solo play up to a party of six 👥. The game is easy to teach and fast to play. The cards are so adorable, you’ll want to pet them!
Concerns - 🐾 The Wild Can Get a Bit Too Wild 🌿
Zuuli can get super competitive 🔥! Managing enclosures and animals can be a bit tricky 🦁. Your animals may not be able to be placed in an enclosure providing you negative points. The game may be intimidating for new players, but hey! The jungle's not for the faint-hearted 🌿💪! I wish the game was available in more languages 🌎. It's not very language-heavy, but there are bonuses on animals that require English knowledge. I feel that the game is a bit too luck based at 6 players, but I do enjoy it at all other counts.
Where to Play the Game
Zuuli is not yet available worldwide, but it is available in Board Game Arena. The game is originally from the UK. If you are like me, you can be impatient and buy a copy from Zatu. Let's all cross our fingers and hope Zuuli makes its grand entrance to the US and around the world soon 🤞
Conclusion - A Wildly Addictive Card Safari 🌍🃏
This game is becoming a must with our different friend groups 😃 . I’ve really enjoyed playing it with my wife as a two-player game. It plays really well at three, four, and five. I feel that it gets a bit too luck-based at six, but the game scales well at each player count. The components are beautiful. At first, I thought the game was for children, but don’t let the art fool you.
Gather your friends and enjoy a game! May your cards be spot-on and your wildlife park thrive 🎉
🐟🐻🐊🦛🐸🦒🦁🐼🦥
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