Unlike most other games Beast Arena has several different ways to play it. Each game is as clever and cunning as the next. On this page we have given you the rules for “Poker Style”. Other game styles are included in the game box.

Setting the scene:

Do you think you know about the worlds deadliest animals? Would you be able to tell who would win a fight to the death between a Saltwater Croc and a Grizzly Bear? Would you put your money where your mouth is?

First of all we have to set the scene, its hard to imagine the outcome of a fight if you don’t know under what circumstances the animals will be fighting. You have to imagine that all the fights take place in a specially built circular Arena, All animals are at their best and want to fight, every animal starts face to face so normal hunting tactics are out of the window, and no one can sneak up on anyone else. If any animal normally (mostly) lives in water then there will be water in the arena, Just enough to cover the largest aquatic animal e.g. if the fight was between a Lion, Polar Bear and a Salt water croc then the water would be 60cm high which is the height of the Croc.

Now you know the settings for each fight you will be able to judge if your animal will do any good in those circumstances.

Game Rules:

The idea of the Game is to win your friends cash by betting on the outcome of fights between your animals and theirs! You only have one card each round so try and build up the pot of money before you take it from them.

1. The player who rolls highest on the 30 sided dice starts as the dealer.
   
   
2. Each player is dealt one card from the stack face down in a clockwise order from the dealer.
   
   
3. Going in order, every player must place the ante (minimum bet e.g. 1 Dollar) in the pot (The pot is the middle of the table)
   
   
4. At this stage everyone is allowed to swap their card for another ( TIP: if a player keeps their original card its usually a sign that its a strong card)
   
   
5. Once all players have placed ante in the pot, the game is ready to start. In clockwise direction each player has a choice of 5 things they can do with their card in round one, STACK, STICK, RAISE, FIGHT or BLUFF!
   
   
6. You can “STACK” which means they throw their card back to the dealer and the dealer puts the card on the bottom of the stack without looking at it. Betting then stops for that player. This is normally done when the player has a weak animal card and feels their animal will lose a fight against the other animals in the game. If you STACK to often people will know you only bet on winners and that won’t help you.
   
   
7. You can “STICK” which means they stick to the minimum bet (the same amount as the last person placed in the pot) to stay in the game you must bet on every turn.
   
   
8. You can “RAISE” which means you raise the amount of money you place in the middle, everyone who wants to continue with the game must then meet that new amount. This is normally done if you believe you have a strong animal card. Raising the bet is a way of getting more money off the other players.
   
   
9. You can call “FIGHT” which means you have to double the last amount placed as a bet in the pot and then everyone has to turn their cards to see which animal would win in a fight*. The winner of the fight between the animals gets to keep all of the pot! The hand is over when someone calls “FIGHT” a good player won’t call FIGHT in the first round.
   
   
10. You can “BLUFF” which means that you act as if you have a really good card in order to make the other players STACK and leave the pot to you! Bluffing is expensive if you get it wrong but amazingly satisfying if you get it right. This is the most skilful part of beast arena so keep your cool.

    HINT:

    STACK: do this if your card is rubbish

    STICK: do this if your not sure and don’t want to bet too much

    RAISE: do this if your card is good and may beat the others

    FIGHT: do this if you want to stop the betting and feel confident you could win

    BLUFF: do these if you think you can fool the other players into stacking.

11. The idea is to keep the game going for as long as you can, keep going around the table building the pot up, if you have got a good card you can raise the bet, people with poor hands will STACK, people who are unsure will STICK, people who RAISE usually have a good hand, people will call FIGHT when they don’t want to bet any more and they think they may win. A skilful player wont call FIGHT until they have drained every dollar from the others.

• *The winner of the fight is decided between the players, use the statistics on the cards to work out who the winner is. Sometime it will be obvious who has won e.g. a Tiger against a prying mantis. The tiger would win without doubt. Sometime it won’t be so obvious and you may not agree who’s won. WARNING: THIS LEADS TO SOME GOOD ARGUMENTS 
• If the outcome can’t be solved by discussion then refer the Beast Board to replicate the odds of the fight.

• In certain cases the players will not know who might win the fight, in this case the players then use the fight chart. The player who called “FIGHT” finds their animal on the left of the chart and then you find the next player clockwise on the top of the chart. (a ruler will come in handy here) Once you line up the names of the animals, the chart will give you a number that you use with the coloured key chart below, you then may have to replicate the same odds with the 30 sided dice in order to win that fight.
• E.g. an Anaconda may have a 30 to 1 chance of beating the saltwater Croc so the player with the Anaconda will have to roll the number 1 on the 30 sided dice to replicate those odds.
• The player on the left of the chart always rolls the dice. Continue around the players with the winner always on the left until there is one clean winner who can then take all the money in the pot!...

Repeat the game until you’ve won all the money or lost all your money.