The game includes a deck of 30 animal cards – each showing one or two
animals of the normal or mutant variety – along with 48 criteria cards
and 18 special cards. Fifteen animals are laid out face-up on the table,
then a player turns over a criteria card that shows animal-claiming
restrictions (e.g., you cannot claim an animal card showing any part of a
lion) or requirements (e.g. you can claim only those animal cards
showing a blue starfish and a giraffe).
Each player has a color-coded island card, and once the criteria card
is revealed, everyone races to slam their island card on an appropriate
animal. Once everyone has done so or passed, they claim the card if it
meets the criteria or lose a previously-claimed card if it doesn't.
Once most of the animals have been claimed, the second set of 15
animal cards is added to the table. Once at most one animal card is on
the table, the game ends.
Galapa Go! contains two variants, one in which two criteria
cards are revealed each round with animals being claimable only if they
match both criteria cards, and a second in which the special criteria
cards are shuffled into the deck at the start of play. These cards
include conditions like claiming a non-mutant animal or claiming the
animal that appears most or least frequently in play.
