Maulwurfs bunte Blumenwiese

Contents:

4 Player figures – these are children, whose names you can imagine yourselves. 1 Playing board, which represents a meadow with lots of colourful flowers, divided in 38 spaces. 28 Animal tiles. 1 six sided dice with the numbers 1, 2 and 3 (each number twice).

Goal of the game and game idea:

The children are playing at the flower meadow of the Mole. Other animals grow curious of their cheerful laughter and, as they begin to approach the flower meadow, are invited one after the other to join them. The meadow is small, though, and the children must consider which is the best way to distribute the space on it so that as many animals as possible can get a spot, or maybe even all 28!

Setup:

 Distribute the player figures randomly on the playing board (2, 3 or 4 pieces, one per player).
 Place the tile with the Mole on one of the corner spaces, and the rest of the tiles face up or face down beside the board.

Note: it is suggested to play with 20 animal tiles on the first, introductory game. The rest of the tiles are then put back in the box and are not used in that game.

Gameplay:

 The youngest kid begins. After rolling the dice, they move they player piece as many spaces on the meadow grid as the number rolled. They are allowed to move on any direction on the grid, but only forwards. That is, they can't turn or change direction midway.
 If the player figure lands on a new space (not occupied), an animal tile is freely chosen and placed on the space the player just left when moving (on the first roll, the space from which the player started, and so on).
 Going around the table, each player then does the same on their turn, bringing more and more animal tiles onto the board.
 While moving, both other player pieces and occupied spaces can be jumped over, but they still count as spaces moved towards matching the total rolled on the dice.
 As the game goes on, the available space for placing tiles becomes more and more scarce, and one can't land beside another player's figure!
 If a player can't place a tile on their turn, they can move another player's figure instead of their own. To do so, though, they must ask the figure's owner for permission first.
 The children are allowed to discuss and give advice to each other regarding where to best place the animal tiles. Nevertheless, the decision is always on the hands of the currently active player.

Mainly through the rule that makes the players ask for permission to move another player's figure in case that they can't move their own, children are motivated to play fairly and respectfully, which ends up being of benefit to all players as a group.

End of the Game:

If the players manage to lay down all the animal tiles, they win. If they don't manage to do so, they lose.

For subsequent games, add or subtract one tile from the 20 tiles used in the introductory game, depending on whether you won or lost the last game respectively. For example, if the introductory game played using 20 tiles is lost, try with 19 tiles next time; if that game is won, try with 20 tiles again – if the introductory game is won, try with 21 tiles next time and work your way up to using all 28 animal tiles at once.

—description from the manual (translated)