BASIC INFO

NEW VERSION AVAILABLE

• This game has been updated and renamed to Fire Gibbon.

REQUIREMENTS

• 2 - 6 players.
• A normal deck of 52 playing cards + a couple of jokers (optional, but recommended).
• And with Heartless Monkey Hat extension an obtrusive / demeaning hat.

BASIC IDEA (and story)

In an ancient bamboo forest, a campfire is burning and a few gibbons are gathered around it to play a fire game (called Don't Burn Your Tail).

• In their game, the gibbons pole vault over the fire one by one and leave their bamboo pole onto the fire feeding the flames (= to the number played).
• Each gibbon jumps from their dedicated spot (in clockwise order) and has a nearby storage of 3 bamboos. On his turn, he picks one and jumps over (or sometimes onto) the fire, and then goes and fetches a new bamboo before it's his turn again. The jumps fall into three main categories:
  • HANDS UP & CHEST UP (face up): These classical jumps are powerful, but out of question if the flames are too high (as the legs and the tail are left hanging).
  • BACK FLIP & SIDE FLIP (face down): A back flip (played with a higher heart ♥) and side flip (with the same number) are initially safe options as they only expose your back. However, other gibbons can ask to "see the back": If it shows fresh burns, the cheater is pushed to the fire - otherwise the falsely accusing one.
  • PANIC (random): A panic jump often lands right onto the fire (= lower number), although the rapidly moving limbs can protect from slight touch (= same number).
  • The gibbons can also use the fire to deliberately moult their fur (before playing or doubting) and be granted some time to go find better bamboos (= fresh cards).
• Each player can hold 3 cards (one for each bamboo) but the card slots also carry another meaning.
  • PROTECTING FUR: Having hand cards represents having a protecting fur layer on each limb. Only the two legs and tail (which they still have) need protection, as the hands are on the pole upon crash - or the gibbon is pushed on his bottom (in a doubt).
  • EXPOSED LIMBS: Having table cards implies exposed limbs. Luckily the fur grows back quickly and gibbons know how to land on their legs (protecting the tail).
  • BURNMARKS: Whenever a gibbon with exposed limbs falls onto the fire, he gets a burnmark on one of them.
    • However, old burnmarks are fire resistant and are actually useful to block other exposed but yet unburned limbs (by placing table cards on the burnmarks).
    • But with two burned legs the flames eventually deflect onto the exposed tail burning it away, and the game ends (as the other gibbons get really scared).

LAYOUT & START UP

The deck represent a spot in the forest with a lot of bamboo poles. All cards are shuffled and each player dealt 3 hand cards.

• The fire is in the center of the table and the deck nearby.
  • The face up cards on the fire are played into one pile (= rising flame), while the face down cards point out towards their owner - as those jumps leave the bamboos sticking out (and the flames won't rise much).
• When the deck runs out, the gibbons moves to a new spot: the deck is reshuffled from the discarded cards by the player who next needs a new card.
  • In the rare case of having no discarded cards to shuffle from (= all are in the fire), the topmost card of each player is kept while the fire below is reshuffled.
• The player on the dealer's left starts the first fire by playing any card into the center. The turn moves clockwise from there on.

PLAYING

ON YOUR TURN

On your turn, you must either:

• JUMP (play & pick): Play a hand / table / random card onto the fire (pointing towards you) and then pick a new one from the deck (unless played random).
• DOUBT: Or doubt the latest card of any player, if it was played face down. The loser is punished, while the winner starts a new fire.

But before doing either, you might also have an extra option for moulting (one or many times) to try gaining some better cards.

PLAYING FACE UP (hands up, chest up & panic)

When a card is played face up, the flames rise to the played number (regardless of the suit).

• HANDS UP (hand card): Higher number hand cards can be played face up, unless the card is a heart (♥).
• CHEST UP (table card): Table cards are always played face up (suits make no difference). Only higher numbers are allowed to be played.
• PANIC (random card): Random cards (= topmost of the deck) are also always played face up. Exceptionally, they can be the same number or higher.
  • A panic jump of a lower number results in crashing onto the fire, and the next player then starts a new fire (after the punishment).

PLAYING FACE DOWN (back flip & side flip)

Only hand cards can be played face down, and in doing so the card is promised to be either a higher heart or the same number (and not a heart).

• BACK FLIP (with a higher heart):
  • The player says "(higher) heart" and/or motions the face down card upwards over the fire a couple of times (as if raising the flames).
  • The number of the fire is then raised by one (eg. 5 -> 6), and the card should be a heart (♥) of the raised number or higher (joker always fits the promise).
  • Blessing a heart over a king is like an ace, and so the number drops to 1. Likewise when starting a new fire, the number goes to 1 (from 0).
• SIDE FLIP (with the same number):
  • The card is often wiggled sideways shortly before placing it on the fire (or can say the number, or "same number"). It should be a non-heart of the same number.

REFRESHING CARDS (moulting fur)

Before playing or doubting the gibbons may also moult the fur away to buy some time, either only a spot or by taking a full fire bath.

• FIRE BATH: The gibbon quickly rolls in the fire by discarding all remaining hand cards and replacing them with new table cards (face up) from the deck.
  • This option is always available if you have hand cards left. You can also do it after trying spot moulting.
• SPOT MOULTING: The player puts one (same or lower number) hand card face up as a table card, discards remaining hand cards and draws new ones.
  • The chosen card can be of any suit but must be same or lower than the fire number: For example, with fire at 8 only cards from 2 to 8 are allowed.
  • If any new hand card is same or lower, you can repeat the process. (Note that it makes no sense to spot moult your last hand card, as you won't get anything in return.)
• In both types of moulting, the player can always choose which of the 3 table card spots to lay the card(s) on, which is important with burnmarks.

special bamboos: ACES & JOKERS

The numbers represent the bamboo length in number order, face cards being above low cards (J = 11, Q = 12, K = 13) and aces the highest (A = 14).

• However, ace bamboos (A) are wet and distinguish the fire: the number drops to 1 (without any penalties). So aces are 14 when played and 1 after.

Jokers are very flexible bamboos, except you can never use them for spot moulting.

• As a hand card, a joker must always be played face down blessing it as the same number or higher heart - either option fills the promise.
• When played face up, jokers are always the lowest fitting number: same number by random, or 1 higher from table. On an empty fire they're always 1.

DOUBTING & GETTING BURNED

DOUBTING ("see the back")

If there are doubtable face down cards in the fire, you can choose to doubt one of them.

• Only the latest card of each player (except your own) can be doubted, and only if it's face down. The face down cards should always point towards their source, so it's clear which belongs to whom.

A doubt is made by turning the doubted card face up (= the gibbon turns around to reveal his back).

• If the card was as promised (either 1. a higher heart, or 2. non-heart of the same number) the doubter is punished (for false accusation) and the next player starts a new fire. Otherwise the cheater (with visible burns on back) is punished and the rightful doubter starts a new fire (the turn stays or rolls clockwise - no jumps).

ONTO THE FIRE

Whenever a player fails (by a failed random jump or by losing a doubt), the flames always punish in one of two ways:

• GETTING NAKED: If the gibbon had no table cards, or all of them were on safe spots (= on a burnmark), the fire only burns the fur layer.
  • The gibbon is left fully naked: his hand cards are put face up on the table. (To get rid of them the player must play one away and draw a new hand card in return.)
• GETTING A BURNMARK: Otherwise (= at least 1 table card was exposed) the fire gets to the exposed limbs and leaves a burnmark.
  • The losing card is "burned": put face down and sideways onto a table card slot, where it stays for the remaining round (or until the gibbon drops out).
  • The remaining table and hand cards are discarded and the player gets a fresh layer of fur (= 3 new hand cards) from the deck.
• After the punishment, the old fire is discarded and a new one started. If the player failed on his own turn (by a random or false accusation), the next player starts a new fire. Otherwise, the rightful doubter (whose turn it still is) starts it as a reward. (So the turn always moves clockwise steadily - no jumps.)

ENDING

When the first gibbon burns his tail by getting the 3rd burnmark, the game ends. There is only the loser: the one without a tail.

• If playing for many rounds, the loser is the next dealer and chooses the player to swap places with (to shuffle the positions a bit).
• You can also count the losses and play until someone loses twice or thrice.

EXTENSIONS

HEARTLESS MONKEY HAT (recommended)

Following the Gibbon tradition, whenever a player gets caught cheating with a heart, he gets the Heartless Monkey Hat as an extra punishment.

• Cheating with a heart means either declaring a false higher heart (= not higher or not a heart) or not declaring a heart (when playing a heart face down).
• The gibbon with the hat cannot perform back flips (= not allowed to bless higher hearts) - so the only legal way to play a heart is if the card is naked.
• You're relieved of the burden of the hat by getting a burnmark, or if another player gets the hat.

THE VETERANS (short play)

The only change in this extension is that each player starts with 1 burnmark (and so can only take 2 more burnmarks).

• After dealing the hand cards, the dealer deals each player one burnmark. (The card is not revealed.)

NEVER MY TAIL (short play)

The only change in this extension is that getting the gibbons can only take 2 burnmarks, so the game ends earlier.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST (long play)

This is in the spirit of the original game, where gibbons drop out one by one - the last gibbon jumping wins (= the one with a tail).

• When a gibbon gets the 3rd burnmark (= burns his tail), he's out: any table/hand cards as well as the burnmarks are discarded (= back into game).
• However, the first droppers might have to wait a while, so only recommended for 3 or 4 players, and often combined with Never My Tail.

STRATEGICAL ADVICE

CHEATING, DOUBTING AND MOULTING

Having good cards (= high numbers & jokers) is of course very helpful, but mastering the game is all about when and how:

• You must learn the good times for cheating, doubting and moulting.
  • Often the best times to cheat are the "innocent" times, like when the number is relatively low, or the momentum such. However, as patterns become known counter patterns emerge, and so you should always "read" the situation the best you can.
  • Remember that the players with vulnerable naked cards (= not on a burnmark) are very unlikely to doubt you, as the punishment is a permanent burnmark. The game is often about hunting down a gibbon when he's weak - often it starts by ending up with a very low naked card and accumulates further.
  • If you have no table cards and very high bamboos in hand, doubting (or trying random) costs you less, as you can easily get rid of the table cards - however, remember that (non-heart) hand cards can be the same number whereas table cards must always be higher when played. Conversely, with very poor hand cards, consider spot moulting them late or taking a fire bath early instead of getting caught cheating or failing by random.
  • For spot moulting, the best time is when the card you put down as naked is relatively high, so in other words when the fire is high. The best time for a full fire bath is if you have only 1 or 2 hand cards left (both very poor) and you already have a vulnerable spot: The more you have table cards, the less hand cards you can moult.
  • A fire bath is always risky, but especially if the flames are high (typically over 10), in which case you should use spot moulting (unless you have just 1 hand card) and/or good old cheating, or try trandom. If you have no table cards on vulnerable spots, do not put them there (by moulting) and then crash or doubt - just crash or doubt while you still have some protecting fur.
  • When choosing which hand card to spot moult on a safe spot, the lowest card is recommended - as most often you get rid of the higher bamboos first.
• In addition to timing, it's important how you play your card and everything before and after that moment:
  • If it's apparent (from your behaviour) that you don't have a high enough bamboo, it might be better to try a random than try cheating - or use spot moulting to "reset" the doubtful atmosphere. Of course, if you manage to act exactly in that vulnerable way, you might be able to lure someone to doubt you wrongly.
  • Either way, it's important to keep up the appearances, do some fakes and use the openings here n there to escape blows and deliver some (like in boxing). You can also try imagining that you had better cards (like a joker or a high heart) and play face down with that confidence.
  • Remember that when you play face down anyone can doubt your card until it's your turn again (or a new fire is started). So keep your poker face.

JUMPING WITH LONG AND SHORT BAMBOOS

It's tempting to play away the low cards (= jump with a short pole) when given a chance. However..

• If the other players (especially the one on your left) have table cards, try to play high enough so that they can't get rid of them - especially if there are cards on vulnerable spots. They are also less likely to doubt you with (vulnerable) table cards - so it's more likely for your cheats to be successful.
• You should especially play very high when you're about to "hunt down a gibbon" - to give him a burnmark. But even otherwise, it can be beneficial to play a much higher (non-heart) bamboo and watch others crumble - especially the more there are players. Of course, sometimes it might come right back at you (with or without an option for doubting).
• And so, generally speaking the best time to play away low cards is when you can cheat them away and not get caught.

CHANGE LOG

v2.4 (2023-03-13)

• Changed the game to end when the first gibbon drops out (= Losing Touch), and added Survival of the Fittest extension (and Never My Tail for a short play).

v2.3 (2023-03-01)

• Burnmarks now mean safe spots (not losing a card) useful for spot moulting, whereas other table spots are vulnerable.
• Table cards must be higher number (same is not enough), and can spot moult same or lower number. A face up joker (= random / table) is lowest that fits.
• Getting a burnmark lifts the burden of the Heartless Monkey Hat. (Also added Losing Touch and the Veterans extensions.)
• Refined the layout, and changed the story to be about jumping over the fire and losing your tail (from sorcerer gibbons).

v2.2 (2023-02-27)

• Added another way to moult hand cards: now you can also put one unplayable hand card face up and refresh the remaining hand cards (if any).
• Refined who starts after the punishment (so that the turn always moves clockwise, no jumps - again) and added a related Let Me Start extension.

v2.1 (2023-02-16)

• Refined a few details for smoother gameplay and enhancing the Gibbon spirit (1. the winner of the doubt starts a new fire, 2. joker can also be a higher heart, 3. hearts cannot be blessed as the same number, 4. when losing a card can keep some hand cards).
• Added Heartless Monkey Hat extension in the spirit of the Gibbon series.

v2.0 (2023-01-31)

• Revised and reorganized the original Naked Gibbon concept. Now the game is much simpler, requires no bookkeeping nor 2-player specialities.

THANKS

FOR IDEAS, HELP WITH DEVELOPMENT & PLAYING

Johannes Aho, Ville Viitala, Rosanna Viitala, Antti Mannila, Tomi Laine and Johan Rautio.