ZooTactics

How to play Zootactics

The Basics

Here are the basic concepts of the game:

• This is a game for two players. In the current version, your opponent will be played by the computer A.I.
• You and you opponent take turns moving pieces around the board. (see Game Pieces below)
• On your turn, you move one game piece to an empty square or into battle with an opponent's game piece. (see Battles below)
• Between each turn, the game board changes. (see Color Cycle below)

Winning the game

1. A player has accumulated 300+ points
3. A player has taken 8 of the opponent's 10 game pieces

The Game Board

The Zootactics game board is a 5 x 5 grid. When the game begins, your game pieces will occupy the two rows at the bottom of the screen.
A game board at the start of a game.

The Game Pieces

Each player begins with 10 game pieces.

Statistics

Attack Ratings

The Rock

Battles

Battles occur when a player moves a game piece into a square occupied by an opposing game piece. There can be several outcomes:

• If the attacking piece has an attack rating that is greater than or equal to the defender's rating, the attacker will take the square, the defending piece will be removed from the game board, and the attacker will earn points equal to the defender's value.

  Example:

  Attacker (75) attacks opponent (50)
  Result: Attacker captures game piece and earns 50 points.
  attacks = +50 points

  Example:

  Attacker (75) attacks opponent (0)
  Result: Attacker captures game piece but earns no points.
  attacks = no points gained

• If the attacking piece has an attack rating that is lower than the defender's rating, the attacker will move to an adjacent square (if farther away), the defending piece will lose rating points for the current turn color, and the attacker will earn points equal to the attacker's rating.

  Example:

  Attacker (50) attacks opponent (75) during a Red turn
  Result: Attacker earns 50 points, and the defending game piece will lose 50 Red points. On the next Red turn, the defending game piece will have an attack rating of 25.
  attacks = +50 points

The Color Cycle

The game board has 3 color states: Red, Green, and Blue. With each move, the color state is changed, and each game piece adopts an attack rating according to the current color. For example, a game piece with Red:25 Green:75 Blue:0 will alternate between attack ratings of 25, 75, and 0. For each game piece, the attack rating of the next turn is displayed in small gray text next to the game piece.
This piece is 75 now, but will be 25 during the opponent's turn.