Top Dog (1995)

This is a game intended to teach children about dogs. The rulebook has a general information section on dogs, including what meaning of different behavior in dogs, what an angry/scared dog looks like, and how to teach children about dogs. Sometimes, the rules instruct the players to act dog like (barking, rolling etc.) The game includes a board with an imaginary village printed on it, 4 playing pieces (dogs) on plastic bases, a deck of cards which represent 24 breeds of dog - some of which are "leaders" - and one 6-sided die. All of the dogs belong to families living in the village, identified by the first letter of a dog's name. The game is subdivided into 6 different variants: Game #1: 2-4 players, 10-15 minutes. This is described as a "warm-up" game, the board is not used. Players are "leader" dogs trying to gather their own pack by drawing cards blindly. The player with the most dogs after all non-leader breeds have been drawn wins. This game also has a solitaire variant. Game #2: 2-4 players, 30 minutes. Again, the players represent leaders trying to gather a pack. This is accomplished by visiting the 4 houses in the village to pick up dogs, then take them to the dog park. This game has rule variants to make it a bit more challenging. Game #3: 2-4 players, 20-30 minutes. Again, the players represent leaders, but this time they already have a pack. The players must return the dogs in their pack to the families, then find a way to their own house. Game #4: 3 or more players, 10-20 minutes. This time the players must co-operate to gather a pack and take it to the dog park, playing against time (die rolls). This game also has a solitaire variant. Game #5: 2-4 players, 20-30 minutes. This is basically a version of the Game of Authors - players are trying to complete series of dogs belonging to the same family. Game #6: Solitaire, variable playing time. The aim is to rescue dogs from the kennel by pairing up the kennel dogs with free dogs.