Max on Tour 2012

A cooperative game for young children that focuses on colour recognition and dexterity.

Background story: Max, the snail, travels the world. He meets new friends and is given lots of gifts in different sizes, weights and shapes. He wants to bring them home before caterpillar Rosi has eaten all the lettuce.

Aim of the game: The players cooperate in trying to get Max and his presents home before it is too late.

Setup: The six round cards - five showing one of Max' animal friends and one showing the garden in which Rosi lives - are placed in a circle. The six lettuce chips are placed on the garden card. The colourful gifts (mostly wooden objects but also a pillow and a blanket) are placed in the center and Max' journey starts. He is placed outside the circle of cards, next to the garden card.

Gameplay: Players take turns rolling the die. If a colour is rolled, Max (a wooden plate with stalk eyes and a semi-circle shaped house) is moved with a wooden pushing rod along the circle of cards to the animal of that color. Then a gift of the same colour is loaded onto Max. If the next player rolls the same colour, he/she must push Max one full circle. If there is no gift left in that colour, the die is re-rolled. If a star is rolled, the player may choose any colour and doesn't have to move Max. If Max loses a gift (i.e. it falls down while Max is being pushed), one lettuce chip is turned over and the gifts are put back on Max.

As soon as gifts in all five colours have been loaded onto Max, the active player returns him to the garden. If there is at least one head of lettuce left, the players win the game.