''Zooloretto'' is a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

Michael Schacht Michael Schacht (born 1964 in Wiesbaden) is a German game designer, graphician and owner of the small publishing company ''Spiele aus Timbuktu''. Life and work Schacht studied graphic design at the FH Darmstadt. About 15 years he worked as Art Di ...

, published in 2007 by Abacus Spiele and in English by

Rio Grande Games Rio Grande Games is a board game publisher based in Placitas, New Mexico. The company primarily imports and localizes foreign language German-style board games. History In 1995, Jay Tummelson began working for Mayfair Games. At that time, ...

. The premise of the game is that each player is the owner of a

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

, and must collect animals in order to attract visitors to their zoo (thus scoring points to win the game). Having full, or nearly full, animal enclosures scores more points. However, if a player has too many animals such that they must be stored in their "barn", this causes them to lose points. Vending stalls also offer a means for players to score points with enclosures that are not full. The method that players use to collect animals is based on the mechanics of the card game ''

Coloretto ''Coloretto'' is a card game designed by Michael Schacht, originally published in 2003. The game cards depict chameleons, showing that "a player may change his color many times during the game".''Coloretto'' game box description Rules are provi ...

'' (also designed by Michael Schacht). Zooloretto 1

Expansions and spin-offs

Three large expansions have been published, XXL, Exotic, and Boss. Numerous small expansions have been published, many of which are available for download (at no cost) at the publisher's website. These include extra animal enclosures, a

petting zoo A petting zoo (also called a children's zoo, children's farm, or petting farm) features a combination of domesticated animals and some wild species that are docile enough to touch and feed. In addition to independent petting zoos, many genera ...

, restaurant,

souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

shop, and

pavilions In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, each of which offers different opportunities for players to score points or money. An additional large expansion, Aquaretto, can be played as a stand-alone game or in combination with ''Zooloretto''.

Digital versions

An iPhone and iPod Touch version was developed by Spinbottle games and published by Chillingo in May 2009. ''Zooloretto'' for PC (including digitally via Steam) was developed by White Bear Studios and published in 2011. Nintendo DS and Wii versions were in deployment but canceled The game has a single player campaign mode and a multiplayer mode. The game can be played (just like the board game) with five local players, with no online option.

Animals

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...

* Camel * Leopard *

Elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...

Panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes use ...

* Chimpanzee *

Zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

Kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

* Lion * Rabbit NOTE: The lion is on the King of the Beasts edition of the game. Both the Lion and Rabbit are available as a Promo from their webstore.

Awards

*Winner of the

Spiel des Jahres The Spiel des Jahres (, ''Game of the Year'') is an award for board and card games, created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting excellent games in the German market. It is thought that the existence ...

2007 *Winner of the

Golden Geek Award BoardGameGeek (BGG) is an online forum for board gaming hobbyists and a game database that holds reviews, images and videos for over 125,600 different tabletop games, including European-style board games, wargames, and card games. In addition ...

s for ''Best Family Game'' and ''Best Children's Game'' *5th place

Deutscher Spielepreis __NOTOC__ The Deutscher Spielepreis (, ''German Game Prize'') is an important award for boardgames. It was started in 1990 by the German magazine ''Die Pöppel-Revue'', which collects votes from the industry's stores, magazines, professionals a ...

2007 *Finalist Game of the Year in Finland 2007 *Spieleblitzlichter 2007 *Japan Boardgame Prize 2007 for ''Best Foreign Game for Beginners''

References

External links

*Schacht's *
Brief game review
by

Bruno Faidutti Bruno Faidutti (born 23 October 1961) is a historian and sociologist, living in France, who is best known as a board game designer. Early life and education Bruno Faidutti studied law, economics, and sociology, eventually earning a doctorate in H ...

(in French and English) *
YouTube video of iPhone version
{{Spiel des Jahres Biology-themed board games Board games with a modular board Michael Schacht games Spiel des Jahres winners Rio Grande Games games Board games introduced in 2007