Objective of Rhino Hero
The objective of Rhino Hero is to be the first player to place all of your roof cards on the tower before the other players.
Setup for Rhino Hero
- Find the foundation card. Choose which of the sides you want to use. The side with the “V” in the middle is more difficult. Place your chosen side of the card face up in the middle of the table.
- Shuffle all of the roof cards. Deal five cards to each player. If there are only two players, deal seven cards to each player.
- Place the rest of the roof cards in a draw pile away from the foundation card.
- Set all of the walls and Rhino Hero on the table near the rest of the components.
- The last player to do a good dead gets to start the game. If you can’t agree, the youngest player starts the game.
Playing Rhino Hero
To begin your turn you will look at the top of the last played card to the tower. There should be wall outlines printed on the card. These outlines show where you should place wall cards on the previous floor of the building. Take one or two wall cards and place them as closely as you can to the wall outlines. To create the angles you will bend the wall cards.
After you have placed the wall card(s), you will choose one of the roof cards from your hand. You will place your chosen roof card on top of the walls that you just placed. The roof card should be placed in the same direction as the foundation card. After you place your roof card your turn ends unless you played a roof card with a unique symbol on it. See below for details on how each symbol impacts the game.
When placing wall and roof cards you can use both of your hands. You can only touch the wall and roof cards that you are using this turn though.
Play then passes to the next player in turn order. The game does not say whether turn order starts clockwise or counterclockwise.
Rhino Hero Symbols
Whenever you play a roof card you should check to make sure there are no special symbols on the card. If there is a special symbol, you will take a special action. See below for details on what each symbol does.
Change of Direction
When you play a roof card with a change of direction symbol on it, turn order reverses. If play was moving clockwise, it will now move counterclockwise. When play is moving counterclockwise, it changes to clockwise. Should there only be two players, the change of direction symbol has no impact on gameplay.
Take a Breather
Should a take a breather symbol be played, the next player in turn order loses their turn. If there are only two players, the player who played the roof card with the symbol gets to take another turn immediately.
Additional Card
When you play a card with the additional card symbol on it, the next player in turn order has to draw a new roof card and add it to their hand. They will do this before they start to build on their turn.
Double Roof
The double roof card allows you to immediately play a second of your roof cards on top of the card that has the symbol on it. You will place the second card directly on the previous double roof card without putting any walls between the two cards.
You may not play a double roof card on top of another double roof card. If you do not have a second card that you can play, you will ask the player on your left for one of their cards. You will play the card you got from the other player on top of the double roof card.
If you play a double roof card as your last card, you still win the game. The next player still gives you one of their cards though that you have to place on the tower.
Rhino Hero
Whenever a card has the Rhino Hero symbol on it, the next player has to take Rhino Hero from its current position and place it on the symbol. The next player cannot place any walls or their roof card until they have moved Rhino Hero.
Winning Rhino Hero
Rhino Hero can end in three different ways.
If you ever place your last roof card, you win the game.
Should a player knock down the tower, the game ends immediately. The player that knocked down the tower loses the game.
The player with the least roof cards in their hand wins the game. If there is a tie, the tied player with the most special symbols left on their remaining roof cards wins the game. If there is still a tie, all of the tied players share the victory.
Finally the game can end if all of the wall cards have been added to the tower. In this case all of the players share the victory.
Rhino Hero FAQ
If you have any questions about how to play Rhino Hero, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
Components
- 31 roof cards
- 7 basic roofs
- 3 change of directions
- 3 take a breath
- 3 additional cards
- 3 double roofs
- 12 Rhino Heroes
- 28 wall cards
- Foundation card
- Rhino Hero
- Instructions
Year: 2011 | Publisher: HABA | Designer: Scott Frisco, Steven Strumpf | Artist: Thies Schwarz
Genres: Children’s, Dexterity, Family
Ages: 5+ | Number of Players: 2-5 | Length of Game: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Light-Moderate
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For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.
