The Object of Tally Ho!:
The winner is whoever has bagged the most prey when all the tiles have been turned face up.
Setup:
The game board goes in the center of the table between the two players.
Shuffle the 48 tiles face down and place them face down on the game board spaces. Leave the center space empty.
The players decide who will be blue (bear and fox) and brown (lumberjack and hunter). The blue player goes first, after which the two take turns.
Gameplay:
The person whose turn it is may select one of two options for their turn:
- Turn over a tile
- Move a face-up tile
Turn over a Tile:
If you want to turn over a tile, select any still face down on the board and flip it over. You are not allowed to change the orientation of a tile (or rotate the tile) in the process of turning it over.
Move a Face-up Tile:
- Brown tiles can be moved only by the brown player.
- Blue tiles can be moved only by the blue player.
- Either player can move neutral green duck and pheasant tiles.
- Tree tiles (the neutral green tiles with a tree on them) cannot be moved.
Moving Rules:
- You can move only in a straight-line direction, and only through empty tiles for the tiles you are allowed to move.
- A fox, hunter, duck, or pheasant can move across as many open spaces per turn as the player desires, as long as it is in a straight line.
- A bear may be moved only one space per turn.
- A lumberjack may be moved only one space per turn.
- You are not allowed to move back and forth in consecutive turns.
- If one player turns over or moves a neutral green tile, the other player cannot move that tile in the next turn.
Capturing Tiles:
The game's goal is to capture the opponent's tiles and neutral tiles. Each character must follow specific rules:
- The lumberjack can capture only trees.
- The hunter can capture all of the animals (bear, fox, pheasant, and duck), but only in the direction in which the rifle is pointing. (That's why it is essential not to rotate the tiles when you turn them over.)
- The direction of the rifle is only significant for capturing, however. The hunter can move to empty spaces in any direction.
- The bear can capture the lumberjack and the hunter.
- The fox can capture pheasants and ducks.
- Capturing is achieved by moving to a space on which there is a tile you can capture.
- A captured tile is taken from the game board and placed face-up in front of the player who captured it.
End of the game:
As soon as the last tile has been turned over, the next player begins the game's final phase.
From this point on, each player has exactly five turns. The players count the number of remaining turns out loud.
In the final phase, there is another way to get points. According to the standard movement rules, the player may move tiles in his own color out of the four forest exits (indicated by the dirt paths in the middle of each side).
These tiles also count as winnings and are added to the others in the final point calculation.
At the end of the game, each player adds up all the points for their tiles; the highest point wins.
These are the point values for each type of tile:
- Bear: 10 Points
- Fox: 5 Points
- Lumberjack: 5 Points
- Hunter: 5 Points
- Pheasant: 3 Points
- Duck: 2 Points
- Tree: 2 Points