Xplor - The Game!

Xplor – The Game!

A Race to Survive

In this issue you’ll find everything needed to play this animal survival board game, including instructions, Critter Cards, Survival Cards, Action Cards, a game board, and critter character game pieces.

Setup

• Remove the staples from the center of the magazine.
• Cut out the Critter Cards, Survival Cards, Action Cards, and instruction sheet.
• Make the game pieces by following the steps on the inside back cover.
• Gather two dice. If you don’t have dice, you can use 12 coins. To “roll” the coins, gently toss them and then count the number of heads to determine how many spaces to move.
• Store the cards, game pieces, and instructions in a zip-top bag so you don’t lose them.
• Grab a grown-up to help you learn how to play. After you learn the rules, Xplor — The Game! is easy!

Instructions

• 2 to 6 players
• 10 minutes to 4 hours
• How To Win: It’s a race to survive! Be the first to gather your critter’s four Survival Cards AND return to your home habitat.

Critter Cards

Before game play begins, each player chooses one Critter Card (there are six in total). Your Critter Card shows:

• Which animal you are.
• The home habitat where you live.
• The Survival Cards (water, food, mate, and nest) you must collect to win the game.

Survival Cards

Every animal needs water to drink, food to eat, a mate, and a nest where its babies can grow. To win the game, you must collect a Survival Card from each of these four categories:

• Water Card: You must collect one water card. All of the water cards look alike, so they can all be used by any critter.
• Food Card: There are three foods listed on your Critter Card. You must collect one of those food cards.
• Mate Card: You must collect one of your critter’s mate cards.
• Nest Card: You must collect one of your critter’s nest cards.

Tip: Your food, mate, and nest Survival Cards will have a picture of your critter on them.

Action Cards

Action Cards tell you what happens to your critter (and other critters) as you play the game. When you draw an Action Card, it must be played immediately unless it has a “Hold in Hand” symbol on it (see below). When you play an Action Card, read it out loud so everyone can hear.

Any Action Card with the “hold in hand” symbol may be played as soon as you draw it, OR it may be kept in your hand until you want to play or discard it.

Tip: Some Action Cards apply only to the player that drew the card. Other Action Cards involve several players. Read carefully what’s written on the card!

Prepare to Play

• Each player chooses a Critter Card and its matching game piece. Look on your Critter Card to find your home habitat. Start the game with your game piece in your home habitat.
• Separate the Survival Cards from the Action Cards. Mix up the Survival Cards and deal five to each player.
• Combine the remaining Survival Cards with the Action Cards, place all of them face down, and mix them up.
• Deal the mixed-up cards one at a time around the board in face-down piles beside each habitat. When you’re done, you should have six piles of cards, one pile beside each habitat.

Tip: You’re allowed to look at the cards that are dealt to you. If you already hold some of your critter’s Survival Cards, great! Now work to collect the rest.

Tip: For a faster game, remove the food, mate, and nest Survival Cards for critters that aren’t playing.

Moving Around the Board

• Decide who goes first. The first player rolls the dice and moves that many spaces. The player to the left goes next.
• Only one player can occupy a space on the board. You can jump over occupied spaces, but you can’t stop there.
• If you land on the LEAP space, you may jump to the other LEAP space. From there, you may move any additional spaces left in your turn. (See the example on the game board above.)
• You don’t need to roll the exact number of spaces to enter a habitat.
• More than one player can be in the same habitat.
• You may not enter the same habitat twice in a row.

Entering a Habitat

Each time you enter a habitat — even if it’s the result of another player’s Action Card — you must do the following:

• If you want to play an Action Card from your hand, play it first. THEN …
• Draw the top card from the habitat’s face-down pile, OR …
• Collect one of the habitat’s face-up Survival Cards (if there are any).

About Those Cards…

You may keep only five cards in your hand. At the end of your turn, discard so you have only five cards.

• When you discard a Survival Card, place it face up beside the habitat where you are. Do not stack them. Other players may collect these Survival Cards when they get to that habitat.
• Action Cards can be 
  played only once. After you play one, discard it face up in one of the “dead” piles located at either end of the game board.
• If an Action Card has a “hold in hand” symbol and you don’t want to play it or keep it, you may discard it in the dead pile during your turn. But if an Action Card doesn’t have a “hold in hand”  symbol, you must follow the instructions on the card — even if you don’t like them!

Tip: Pay attention to Survival Cards that other players discard. You might need them to win the game!

Critter Profiles

There are six critter characters:

Box Turtle

Home Habitat: Forest

Where: Two species of box turtles crawl across Missouri. Eastern box turtles (sometimes called “three-toed box turtles”) live in forests. Ornate box turtles prefer prairies.

When: Box turtles are active from April through October. In the fall, they dig a shallow hole and sleep through the winter.

Menu: Insects make up a large part of a box turtle’s diet. They also eat earthworms, snails, berries, and mushrooms.

Family Facts: In May and June, mama box turtles dig a shallow nest in loose soil and lay two to eight eggs inside. Mom carefully covers the eggs with soil, and then she leaves. About three months later, baby turtles emerge from the dirt. Warmer nests usually produce girl turtles. Cooler nests usually produce boys.

Strange but True: A box turtle has a hinge on its lower shell that lets it pull in its head and legs, and close the shell tight. Box turtles are the only turtles in Missouri that can seal themselves up like a box.

Monarch

Home Habitat: Prairie

Where: Monarchs flutter across prairies, parks, and wetlands. If you find milkweed, a leafy plant with sticky white sap, you’ll likely find monarchs.

When: Look for monarchs from May through September. In the fall, they fly thousands of miles south to spend winter in Mexico.

Menu: As caterpillars, monarchs eat nothing but milkweed. Once they turn into butterflies, they sip nectar from a variety of flowers.

Family Facts: Mama monarchs lay hundreds of tiny eggs on milkweed leaves. In about four days, comma-sized caterpillars hatch out. The caterpillars eat and eat, and get bigger and bigger. In about two weeks, they form jewel-green chrysalises. Two weeks after that, striking orange-and-black butterflies emerge.

Strange but True: Milkweed is poisonous. Eating it doesn’t harm monarch caterpillars, but the more they munch, the more toxic they turn. As butterflies, they’re so poisonous, if a bird eats one, the bird often throws up.

Great Blue Heron

Home Habitat: Wetland

Where: Great blue herons are found wading through marshes, slow rivers, and the edges of lakes.

When: Herons are common from spring through fall. Most fly south for winter, but a few stay in Missouri in areas where water remains unfrozen.

Menu: Fish form the bulk of a heron’s diet, but herons will eat nearly any small aquatic animal, including frogs, crayfish, small snakes, and rodents.

Family Facts: Mom and pop heron build a nest near other herons. A nesting neighborhood, called a rookery, can contain hundreds of nests. Mama herons lay 3 to 6 eggs, and both parents sit on the eggs and care for the young once they hatch (it takes about 27 days).

Strange but True: When a hungry heron spies a fish … Splash! It jabs its spear-like beak into the water. Though catching dinner is easy, swallowing it can be a pain in the neck. Herons have been known to choke to death when they gulp fish that are too big for their skinny throats.

Raccoon

Home Habitat: City Park

Where: Raccoons prefer wooded habitats near water. They also live in cities and towns. They make dens in hollow trees, abandoned woodchuck burrows, and unused buildings.

When: Missouri’s masked bandits are active all year, but often hole up in dens during cold spells. Raccoons are nocturnal (active at night).

Menu: Raccoons eat anything they can get their agile little paws on, including small animals, insects, eggs, fruits, and corn. They can be a nuisance if they scatter trash from bins while looking for food.

Family Facts: Mama raccoons give birth to three or four babies in April or May. Mom spends the summer teaching her kits how to climb trees, find food, and escape from predators. By fall, most kits are smart enough to fend for themselves, but they usually stay with mom until spring.

Strange but True: A raccoon’s paw has more nerve endings than a human’s hand. Raccoons use their sensitive digits to feel for food in murky water, unzip backpacks, and open trash can lids.

Bullfrog

Home Habitat: Stream

Where: Bullfrogs are found in marshes, ponds, and streams throughout Missouri.

When: Bullfrogs are active from mid-March through October. In winter, they burrow into mud at the bottom of a stream or pond. Bullfrogs rest during the day and search for food and mates at night.

Menu: A hungry bullfrog will eat nearly any critter it can cram inside its cavernous mouth, including insects, crayfish, fish, small snakes, other frogs, birds, and rodents.

Family Facts: In June and July, mama bullfrogs lay a jelly-like glob of over 10,000 tiny eggs that float on the water’s surface. In about five days, the eggs hatch into chubby tadpoles. The tadpoles eat algae and grow quickly. About a year later, they grow legs and turn into air-breathing adults.

Strange but True: When startled, young bullfrogs yelp as they hop to safety. To attract a mate, adult males make calls that sound like loud, rumbling burps. The love burps can be heard half a mile away.

Big Brown Bat

Home Habitat: Cave

Where: Missouri has over a dozen kinds of bats. Big browns are found statewide in hollow trees, chimneys, and caves.

When: Many bats hibernate during winter. Others migrate south to escape the cold. When insects return in spring, so do bats. Bats are nocturnal (active at night).

Menu: Bats eat insects like beetles, flies, and moths. They use their wings like catcher’s mitts to bag bugs in midair.

Family Facts: In June, mama big brown bats give birth to one (rarely two) babies. Newborn pups are blind, hairless, and helpless. Moms feed their pups milk, and the little squeakers grow quickly. In about a month, pups are able to fly and catch bugs on their own.

Strange but True: To navigate at night, bats “see” with sound. A bat emits high-pitched squeaks that echo off objects. By listening to the echoes, a bat forms a picture in its batty brain of its surroundings.