Gary Gouda

A light-fi ngered memory game for 2 - 4 players ages 4 - 99.
Author: Guido Hoffmann
Illustrations: Michael Schober
Length of the game: 15 - 20 minutes

Shoo, get away! Was that really Gary Gouda the mouse cheese-hunting again? The greedy mouse just can’t stop! Not one piece of cheese is safe and he even risks becoming stuck in the mouse holes with his big belly. He really should have memorized by now which holes he can pass through after eating one, two or more pieces of cheese! He also has to avoid the quick pet cat, Kiki, who always seems to be ready to pounce on the next mouse hole.
Can you help Gary memorize the best way to the target mouse hole and collect the most pieces of cheese?


Contents

1 cheese apartment (= bottom of game box)
1 Gary Gouda
1 cat Kiki
12 walls
16 orange mouse holes
8 violet mouse holes
24 cheese tiles
1 die rod
Set of game instructions

Game Idea

You push Gary mouse from one corner of the apartment, passing through different rooms, to another corner of the apartment and feed him as many pieces of cheese as possible on the way. Gary of course will become increasingly fatter, making it ever more diffi cult to fi nd mouse holes which he can pass through. Gary must try to not get stuck while also watching for cat Kiki blocking his way, again and again.
Whoever is able to memorize a suitable path through the apartment and collect the most cheese will win this witty cheese heist.

Preparation of the Game

Before starting to play for the fi rst time you must slide the mouse holes into the slots in the walls. The eight violet mouse holes mark the four corners and the orange mouse holes should be slid randomly into the other slots in the walls. Make sure none of the mouse holes stick out.

Place the cheese apartment in the center of the table and place the cheese tiles with the symbols face-down next to the game box.

Place the cat in front of any orange mouse hole and get Gary and the die rod ready.

How to Play

Who can eat the most cheese at one sitting?
This player starts and draws four cheese tiles. The symbols on the back are also shown on the fl oor of the room. Place the four tiles face down in the corresponding rooms.

Hint:
It may happen that you have to put two tiles in one room. In this case you have to stack the tiles.
Now roll the die rod and place Gary in the corner of the color that appears on the die.

Then you roll the die rod once again. The color shown indicates which corner is the target corner that Gary has to reach.
Now the cheese heist starts. Push Gary through mouse holes into a room where there are one or two cheese tiles.

Now you can decide if
• You want to place the mouse on one or both (if applicable) cheese tiles and slide it directly towards the target corner
Or
• You want to collect more cheese on your way. You are always free to choose in which room you collect cheese and when to push the mouse past the cheese.
But watch out!
You may not pass the mouse through a hole where Kiki cat is lurking.
Watch out:
The mouse holes all look equally large but they are not. You will fi nd out how big they really are when you try to slide your mouse through. The mouse will pass through some holes even after eating one, two, three or even four pieces of cheese, others he can only get through with an empty belly.
This means that each additional piece of cheese increases the risk of Gary getting stuck in a mouse hole.

• Have you guided the mouse to the target corner without getting stuck?
You really are a talented cheese feeder! As a reward you receive the cheese tiles Gary has collected and can keep them in front of you.
• Gary got stuck?
Oh dear! Gary is too fat! Unfortunately your turn is over.
Take the cheese tiles Gary has collected up to this point out of the game and pass the mouse on to the next player.
Then you can place cat Kiki in front of another mouse hole.
The next player takes as many cheese tiles as he needs so that there are four tiles distributed in the apartment and places them there. This player can now try his lucky mouse dip and hopefully will have memorized the size of the mouse holes.

End of the Game
The game ends as soon as there are not enough cheese tiles left to have four distributed in the apartment.
The player who has collected the most cheese tiles at this moment wins and is the wiliest cheese snatcher.
Important:
After each game take out the mouse holes, shuffl e them and slide them back into the slots.

The author

Guido Hoffmann was born in Bremen and grew up in Frankfurt am Main. He studied product design in Offenbach, as well as painting and fi lm animation in Vienna. Since then he has worked as an author of games and as an illustrator. Guido Hoffmann received the “Best Children’s Game of the Year 2006” award for the HABA game “The Black Pirate” and also received many distinctions in 2005 for the HABA game “Akaba” as well as many other prizes such as the “German Games Award” in the category “Best Children’s Game”. Guido Hoffman lives with his family in Vienna.
Dedicated to Johanna Sterry.

The illustrator
Michael Schober has been illustrating books and games for 20 years now. He not only has a family that adores cheese but also has a tomcat that likes to offer him mice.
“Grubs up, who’s grumbling!”, “Chaos in the Kids‘ Room” and “ Carrot pinching” are some of the games he has illustrated for HABA More information at www.michael-schober.de Dedicated to all cheese, cat and mice lovers!