Game Instructions

You can watch this YouTube clip on the basics of Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot.

* Video courtesy of Jesse Chapman.

How The Game Works

The basic strategy of the game is to keep as many bunnies alive as possible while eliminating your opponents’ bunnies. Of course all the other players are trying to do the same thing, which can get dreadfully vengeful, horribly nasty, hilariously messy, and just plain fun! While folks are trying to eliminate each other’s bunnies, each player is also trying to collect as many Carrots as possible. At the end of the game, one of the Carrots is revealed to be the Magic (or winning) Carrot and each game, the Magic Carrot will be different. Logically, the more Carrots that a player collects, the better his chances will be of winning the game. Collecting as many Carrots as possible is another basic strategy of the game.

Let’s Hop Right In: Getting Started

STEP #01:

• The game comes with three decks of cards. Unwrap the small cards first and take a look at them. You will see that there are three different kinds of small cards: Carrot Cards, Cabbage Cards and Water Cards. Shuffle each deck separately and place them on your table. We will return to these small cards in STEP #3.

STEP #02:

• Next, unwrap the large cards. The backs of these cards are Blue, Yellow, Orange or Gray.
• Shuffle all of the Blue and Yellow cards together. You will probably want this initial shuffle to be a really good one to make sure that you have a proper mix of the cards. The Blue and Yellow cards together will form the Draw Pile and should be placed face down on your table where everyone can reach it.

STEP #3:

• The Orange cards are the Carrots that each player will try to collect in order to win the game. These 12 cards should be placed face up on your table and close to the decks of small cards.
• The Gray card is the Kaballa’s Market Starter Card. The Kaballa’s Market Starter Card lists the prices of Cabbage Cards, Water Cards and Carrots that players may purchase during the game. (For more details on Kaballa’s Market, please see the Bunny Bits.)
• The game also comes with six fancy dodecahedral dice. (Please, don’t be too impressed, we had to look up the word dodecahedral to write this book!) These 12-sided dice are used with many of the cards during the game. For now though, just lay them out near the Draw Pile.

Hey! What happened to the small Carrot Cards? You may have noticed that the small Carrot Cards are not in the picture above. Here’s why: the small Carrot Cards will not be used until the end of the game. So for now, we suggest that you set them off the table and in a place where no one is likely to look at them or knock them over. We will talk about these small Carrot Cards again a bit later.

STEP #4:

• Deal each player seven cards from the Draw Pile. Throughout the game each player will always have seven cards.
• There are five types of Killer Bunnies® cards; RUN, SPECIAL, VERY SPECIAL, PLAY IMMEDIATELY and KABALLA DOLLA. Most cards have the type title printed in the top window of the card and a matching color bullet in the top left corner. KABALLA DOLLA cards have big numbers in the center of the cards. Take a minute to make sure you know the type of each of your seven cards.

Card Information

KABALLA DOLLA cards:

• The cards with the big numbers in the center are KABALLA DOLLA cards. We like to call them the ‘Bunny Money’. When you draw a KABALLA DOLLA card you must place it face up in front of you and draw another card. KABALLA DOLLA cards cannot be kept in your hand. If any player has one, or several KABALLA DOLLA cards in their hand right now, then place these cards down on the table and draw cards. If you get more KABALLA DOLLA cards, then keep placing them down and drawing cards.

Hey! What do I do if I draw a KABALLA DOLLA card during the game? If you draw a KABALLA DOLLA card during the game, then you must immediately place it down on the table and draw another card.

All of the Bunny Money that you have collected is yours to keep or spend at Kaballa’s Market. We’ll tell you why buying Cabbage Cards and Water Cards is helpful a bit later. You already know why buying Carrots is a good idea, you’ll need Carrots to win the game!

PLAY IMMEDIATELY cards:

• When a player draws a PLAY IMMEDIATELY card he must announce it by stopping the game and playing the card immediately. All PLAY IMMEDIATELY cards in this Starter Deck are Terrible Misfortune cards, which means that if the player who drew the card has a bunny in play it will have to die (discarded). However, at the start of the game there are no bunnies in play. All PLAY IMMEDIATELY cards held by players before the game starts are discarded and cards are drawn. Since our first game has not started yet, you might want to take a minute to discard all of your PLAY IMMEDIATELY cards now. If you discarded one, then you will need to draw a replacement card.

Check! Each player should be holding seven cards. The types of these cards should be only RUN, SPECIAL or VERY SPECIAL. We will explain the differences between these types of cards a bit later. But for now, let’s get set up for the first round of play. (For more details on Card Information, please see the Bunny Bits.)

Setting Up The First Round

During the game, players will be asked to choose which cards they will play two rounds in advance. This requires a bit of planning. But don’t worry, we’re going to walk you through it.

The first card that you will want to play is a bunny card. You can recognize a ‘bunny card’ by the names of the bunnies: Congenial, Gleeful, Lumbering, Sinister and Timid. There are twenty-five bunnies (five different colors and five different kinds), so hopefully everyone should have a bunny at the start of the game.

Hey! What if I was unlucky and didn’t get a bunny card? Well, let’s just say (for the first time you play the game) that if you did not get a bunny card in your first draw of seven cards, then you may quietly sift through the Draw Pile and exchange one of your cards for a bunny card. Later, we’ll give you a few suggestions for starting the game without a bunny. (For more details on starting a game without a bunny, please see the Bunny Bits.)

Next you will have to pick the second card that you will play. You may choose any card in your hand. Here are a few good choices:

Choose A Carrot:

• These cards allow a player to take one (or two) Carrots from the market. Remember that the more Carrots you have at the end of the game, the better your chances will be to win.

Weapon:

• These cards allow you to attempt to kill an opponent’s bunny right away.

Feed The Bunny:

• These cards also allow you to attempt to kill an opponent’s bunny, but more slowly. The opponent may, however, be able to buy Cabbage and Water to save his bunny.

Many of the cards are very unique. Read carefully to see what each card will do.

Hey! What’s that rectangular box on the left side of every card mean? Why is it Pink on some cards? When the rectangular box on a card is Pink it means that you must have a bunny in play first before you can use the card. It is the reason that everyone wanted to play a bunny card first so that everyone would have the freedom to play any other card from their hand second.

After you have chosen your second card to play, place it face down on the table below the first one. This will be your BOTTOM RUN card.

Check! Each player should have two cards placed face down on the table that they will use during the first and second rounds of play. All KABALLA DOLLA cards are on the table face up and all PLAY IMMEDIATELY cards have been discarded. Finally, each player should have five cards in their hand. These five cards may be RUN, SPECIAL and VERY SPECIAL only. Take a look at the picture to see an example of a table with four players.

Once you have placed your cards down in the TOP and BOTTOM RUN positions you may not change them. If you forget which cards you put down you are allowed to take a quick peek!

Playing The Game

Determine with a roll of the dice which player will go first. The first player will follow these four steps (FLIP, SLIDE, DRAW, REPLACE):

1. Flip over the TOP RUN card.
2. Slide the BOTTOM RUN card up to the TOP RUN card position.
3. Draw a replacement card from the Draw Pile.
4. Replace the BOTTOM RUN card with a card from your hand.

Each player will take a turn clockwise around the table going through the four steps (FLIP, SLIDE, DRAW, REPLACE). At the end of a few rounds the table may look something like this:

As you can see, all of the bunnies that are ‘in play’ form what we will call The Bunny Circle.

During the first round of play almost everyone plays a bunny, if they have one. However, as the game continues, each player will choose his own unique strategy.

(For more choices instead of flipping over your TOP RUN card, please see “A Turn, A Round” in the Bunny Bits.)

The game continues with each player playing one card each round. Folks will blissfully collect Carrots, and vengefully kill bunnies over and over again using Weapon cards, Feed The Bunny cards, etc. The Bunny Bits gives you more information about these (and other) cards. Just don’t forget to laugh, growl, carry on, and exhibit both hilarity and general mayhem. Also, it may not be a bad idea to have a pretty decent sense of humor.

Hey! When do I use the fancy dice? Take a look on any of the cards and you’ll notice eight small squares on the right border. When these squares are filled in, the colors of the squares indicate which dice you will need in order to play the card.

Ending The Game

Hey! When is the game over? The game is over when the last Carrot is chosen or purchased from the market. If a player used his TOP RUN card to finish the game, then he does not draw a replacement card.

If a player does not have at least one bunny in The Bunny Circle at the end of the game, then he cannot win the game.

If a player does not have at least one bunny in The Bunny Circle at the end of the game, then he cannot win the game. This fact is so important, that we printed it twice!

The need to keep at least one bunny ‘alive’ in The Bunny Circle is part of the basic strategy of Killer Bunnies®. It is why players try to eliminate their opponent’s bunnies before the end of the game. If a player has no bunnies in The Bunny Circle when the game ends, then he must give all of his Carrots away to the player that has at least one bunny in The Bunny Circle and the most KABALLA DOLLA saved.

To determine the winner, retrieve the small deck of Carrot Cards that you put aside at the start of the game. The last card in the deck (the bottom card) is the Magic Carrot for this particular game and the player holding the Carrot with the matching picture is the winner. Just for fun, go through the small deck of Carrot Cards one card at a time from the top to the bottom. This builds the suspense. Try it. It’s fun!

And Then …

We hope that you will enjoy your game of Killer Bunnies® and the Quest for the Magic Carrot. You may have noticed another booklet included in your game called Bunny Bits. This book gives you vital information about playing the game and more specific details about the cards. Please take the time to read it now. Thank you so much for playing our game.