Animal Upon Animal

Animal Upon Animal - Balance one whimsical animal upon another.

Winner of multiple awards, Animal Upon Animal is one of Haba's best selling games. Use a steady hand and be the first to balance all your animals on the alligator base to win this wobbly stacking game. The eight different animals are all wooden and brightly painted. Animals included are crocodile, hedgehogs, toucans, sheep, snakes, monkeys, penguins and lizards. The die is custom and the six sides include one dot, two dots, crocodile, hand and question mark.

Left: Back of the box showing stacking.                         Right: Pieces included.

Object:

Be the first to successfully stack all your animals on the alligator base. 

Set up:

Place the alligator in the middle of the players. Each player selects seven animals for their own and places them in a pile.

Play:

Each player will start their turn by rolling the die. Depending on what is thrown, the player will then do one of the following:

• A dot - Take one of your animals and place it anywhere on the animal stack.
• Two dots - Take two of your animals and place them, one at a time, anywhere on the animal stack.
• The crocodile - Take one of your animals and place it next to the alligator, so that it is touching either the mouth or the tail, increasing the stacking surface. Each time you throw the crocodile, place another animal on the table, touching one of these animals (making the surface area longer in a horizontal line).
• The hand - Choose one of your animals and give it to another person to immediately stack.
• The question mark - The other players must determine which of your animals you must stack.

If an animal(s) falls off the stack or the stack collapses:

• One or two animals fall off as someone is attempting to stack - The player who tried to stack the animal has to take the fallen animals and add them to his pile (it will take him longer to go out).
• More than two animals fall off - The player takes two and places the rest of them in the game box.
• The entire pyramid collapses - The player takes two, the crocodile is again placed in the middle of the players and all other pieces are returned to the box.
• The entire pyramid collapses while no one was actively adding an animal - The crocodile is placed back in the middle of the players and all the other pieces are returned to the box.

Players continue taking turns until someone has successfully stacked all his animals and wins the game.

Try this:

• Play with the animals before starting a game. Try stacking different animals and see how they balance on each other. Try to stack an animal in different positions (on all fours, on end, upside-down, etc.)
• Skip the rules and the die and just have fun trying to stack the animals. How many can you stack before they fall. Play again and try for one more.
• Skip the die and call out either the animal name or a color of animal for the next player to stack.
• Sort the animals by type.
• Put a timer on yourself. How many animals can you stack in one minute. Go again and try for at least one more.
• Ask the individual to cup the hand before adding the die. If they have difficulty, place a small ball in the hand to help form the cup, then remove it while the player keeps his hand in that position. Add the die.
• Ask the individual to shake the die in the hand for a little while to keep it in that position longer. Recite a few lines from a kid's crocodile song or poem. Bussongs.com has lots of lyrics to poems and songs.
• Skip the game. Place the animals flat on the table in different orientations, upside-down and such. Ask the individual to pick up each animal, turn it in-hand, and stand it on the table top. Add interest by making up a story about the animals as you go, identifying the animal by color or name, lining them up for the animal's day parade, etc. 
• Work on visual discrimination, animal recognition, in-hand manipulation, eye-hand coordination, graded release, manual dexterity, executive functioning skills, process skills, socialization skills, play and leisure exploration and participation

In the box: 29 wooden animals, 1 custom die