In Giraffe Buffet, players are Giraffes on a mission to be the tallest and best Giraffe in the Savanna. Try to stretch your Giraffe neck above your opponents while scoring bonus points for fancy neck shapes, tasty leaves, and stylish bow ties. The player with the highest score after four rounds is the winner!
Components
5 Body cards
72 Neck cards
Setup
Deal 1 Body Card to each player. Each player places their Body card on the play surface in front of them.
Shuffle the Neck Deck and deal 2 Neck Cards (face-down) to each player. Then place the deck face-down in the center of the play area.
Giraffe Buffet is played in four rounds. Each round, all players perform the same three actions in the following order:
DRAW 3: Draw 3 cards from the Neck Deck (players may draw in any order).
PASS 2: Choose 2 cards to give to your opponents face-down to add to their hand.
In a 2-player game, pass both cards to your opponent.
In a 3, 4 or 5-player game, pass one card to each neighbor.
PLAY 3: Choose three cards from your hand to play to your Giraffe.
Playing Neck Cards
A Neck card may be played anywhere on your previous played neck card in such a way that:
The new neck continues the path of the old neck without any overlapping or broken neck sections. see example below
The head on the previous neck card is completely covered (including ears).
Note: You may cover up scoring icons on previous cards, but remember, at the end of the game only your visible icons score points (with the exception of knots, which will always count).
Ending a Game / Scoring
A game is over after 4 rounds of play (each player’s Giraffe will have 12 neck cards). Scoring occurs at the end of the game. To score, look at your Giraffe and score points according to the following:
Height
Score points based on your place in the Tallest Giraffe Contest. Height is determined by the location of your final Giraffe Head position. If desired, you may use the measuring neck (on the edge of the rulebook) to check and compare the height of Giraffes.
Rank
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Points
5
3
1
0
Fancy necks
Extra fancy neck shapes are marked with a star. Each visible star = +2 points.
Style
Try to collect pairs of stylish matching bow ties. Each visible pair of matching (Color/pattern) bow ties = +2 points.
Leaves
Score points based on the number of tasty leaves you’ve collected.
# Leaves
1
2
3
4
5+
Points
1
2
4
6
9
Knots
Each Knot = -1 point. But, if you have the most Knots, score an additional +4 points as recognition of your superior flexibility.
Note: Knots still deduct points even if their associated icons are covered by new neck sections.
The player with the most total points is the winner and best Giraffe!
