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Deck running out of animal cards

Posted: 07 October 2025, 22:14
by tbhp
I've been wondering for a while what would happen if, during a game, the players pick so many cards that there isn't enough left for the deck to be able to be filled with five animal cards.

This is obviously possible, since it would only require everyone in a 4 players game to take 7 animals each, which would leave the game with only 4 cards to present on the deck.

The official rules say nothing about this possibility, and I'm wondering how BGA would handle the situation if it were to happen.

Strangely enough I've never seen it happen, in all the games I've played or witnessed, but maybe someone has?

Re: Deck running out of animal cards?

Posted: 08 October 2025, 01:20
by Yippiedada
That would be an interesting situation, though I have never come across anything close to it. For a 4 player game, we don’t usually last that long as we run out of tokens, often rather prematurely. Would be fun to test it, players drawing the maximum number of animals cards despite not wanting them. 😁

Re: Deck running out of animal cards?

Posted: 08 October 2025, 02:38
by SaggySag
I would assume nothing happens as there's no rule to suggest otherwise. You would just have 4 animals to draw from instead of 5.
Never had it happen, or at least never noticed. Though most my 4p games include spirit animals too.

Re: Deck running out of animal cards

Posted: 26 February 2026, 00:34
by I Love You More Than
This is an interesting situation.

The situation I've been wondering about is similar - what happens when someone's scores on more than 9 animal cards. What does the final score sheet look like?

Re: Deck running out of animal cards

Posted: 26 February 2026, 02:02
by tbhp
Oh, I’ve had that happen. The interface just doesn’t list all the scores.

Also note that the animals you don’t score are listed as zero, so you don’t need to score all those animals, just have them in your deck.