Ticketack

A children's game focusing on the clock.

The little cuckoo that comes out of the clock to announce the hours is very busy. Can you help him to organise his activities so that he can call out the hours on time?

Setup: The 12 clock counters (one for each hour) are turned face down and shuffled. Players take turns turning them face up and placing them on the board in clockwise order. The clock hand is placed in the center of the board. The wooden cuckoo is placed on the red twelve. The 24 cards are distributed evenly among the players. They show what the cuckoo is doing (watching TV, going for a hike etc.) and how long it takes him (1-4 hours).

Game play: The starting player spins the clock's hand. The hand shows the time at which the cuckoo has to be back to call out the hour. Then the active player puts a card next to the board and moves the cuckoo 1-4 spaces, depending on the duration that the card states. If the cuckoo lands on a space before the time indicated by the clock's hand, the cuckoo is too early. He's got time for another activity and it is the next player's turn now. If the cuckoo lands on space indicated by the clock's hand, he is just on time. As a reward, the player may place another card of his/her choice on the stack next to the board. If the cuckoo lands after the time indicated by the hand, it means he is late. As a penalty, the player has to take back his/her card and draws an additional card from the pile.

The player who manages to get rid of his/her cards first wins the game.

A second variant listed in the instructions consists of players taking turns telling what the cuckoo is doing when. e.g. player 1 says "At seven o'clock the cuckoo gets out of bed." Then the clock's hand is advanced one hour and the next player says what the cuckoo is doing at eight o'clock. (This is a speaking activity rather than a game; there is no winning condition.)