Buy the Elephant is a fast-paced card game based on the well-known game Believe it or Not. The goal of the game is to get rid of all your cards faster than anyone else.
The rules of the game are simple:
Before the game begins, the cards are dealt equally among the players.
At any moment during the game, if a player has 4 identical animal cards in hand, they must discard them face up, with the pictures facing up.
Players take turns. On their turn, a player can place 1-5 cards face down on the table and declare what animal is depicted on all these cards (For example, the player places 3 cards and says: these are horses).
The next player can say I Believe or I Don’t Believe:
- If the player says I Believe, they must place their own cards on top of the previously laid cards and declare the same animal. After that, the turn passes to the next player.
- If the player says I Don’t Believe, they must conduct a check and turn over 1 card laid down by the previous player. If the revealed card depicts the declared animal, the player who said I Don’t Believe takes all the laid cards for themselves. If the card shows a different animal, all the cards are taken by the player who placed the incorrect card.
The game includes 3 special Creature cards that can replace any animal.
By collecting sets of 4 identical cards, players discard them and gradually reduce their decks. But they must try to get rid of the Elephant card, as there is only 1 in the deck and it cannot be discarded (only passed to an opponent).
The game Buy the Elephant differs from the classic game Believe it or Not by special cards. These cards can be played before the player’s turn and make adjustments to the game (skipping a turn, adding cards to the pile on the table, changing the rules for 1 round…).
Buy the Elephant is a simple, fun board game that is liked by both children and adults.
Game components:
- 44 animal cards (11 sets of 4 identical cards);
- 3 special Creature cards;
- 1 special Elephant card;
- 12 special cards;
- rules.
Number of players: 3-5
Playing time: from 15 minutes