Let The Elements Go Wild in ZooNo — Elemental Madness
Welcome to the official playguide for ZooNo — Elemental madness.
Get ready to brave the elements and have a blast in the process!
ZooNo — Elemental Madness has landed and we are delighted to be able to share it with you all! Whether you are a blockchain-savvy individual or just wish to play a fun casual game, ZooNo has what you’re looking for.
Let’s get to know this new ZooGames exclusive and dive right into the details.
GETTING STARTED
ZooNo supports both regular ZooGamesID and Instant Play Pass logins — the latter enabling you to jump right into the action without any extra steps or hassle.
SETTINGS
Here you can adjust sound and graphics settings, as well as choose between windowed and bloomed display options. Get comfortable and play your way!
GAME MODES
In ZooNo you will be presented with two main game modes — Play Online and Play Solo, as well as Settings and Claim Web3 Address (Instant Playpass) buttons. If you are logged in with Instant Playpass, make sure to create a ZooGames account to keep any rewards you receive during this play session.
Note also the “refresh” icon next to your vZOO balance; use this to re-load your account’s updated balance.
PLAY SOLO MODE
You will be competing against bots in this mode, without vZOO in play.
Take your time and get acquainted with the game mechanics, scoring system and immersive elemental feel of the ZooNo arena. Show these clankers who’s the real boss.
- Tips & Tricks — Double-click a card in your hand to play it (desktop).
PLAY ONLINE MODE
In this mode you will be going up against players from around the world and competing for vZOO rewards (Free-To-Play or Custom Match)
Free To Play
Earn free vZOO rewards, courtesy of the ZooGames protocol. Classic Type play, with four (4) players required to start a game.
Create a Room — Custom Match
Get your friends and foes together for an exciting showdown in which you determine the stakes; give your room a snazzy custom name, choose between Timed and Classic style play, and most importantly, set how much vZOO will be needed to enter. Four (4) players are required to start a game. Make sure you have enough vZOO to pay the entrance fee.
CHAT FUNCTION
Adding to the online interaction and playful in-game banter, you can send chat pop-up messages in the arena. To do so, simply touch your own avatar during play (mobile) or press the “ENTER” / “RETURN” key (desktop) on your keyboard to bring up the text field. Make good use of this but remember to stay courteous towards other players.
- Tips & Tricks — Talking across the table is frowned upon but could be a strategy for some cunning team wins…
GENERAL RULES
Loosely inspired by the highly popular card game which you have all undoubtedly heard of, ZooNo is played by matching and then discarding the element cards in one’s hand till none are left.
The game is always played with four (4) participants and each player starts with five (5) cards.
The starting player is chosen at random and gameplay begins in a clockwise direction. Come their turn, players try to match the element card in play.
Matching cards either occurs by the number, color, or symbol / action played. For example, if the play pile has a fire element card that is an 8 you have to place either a fire element card or a card with an 8 on it. You can also play an element change card or a +4 card (this will shift the element type in play).
Note that +2 and +4 cards are stackable and passed on to the next player.
If the player has no matches or they choose not to play any of their cards even though they might have a match, they must draw a card from the draw pile. If this card can be played, play it. Otherwise, keep the card, and the game moves on to the next person in turn.
The game continues until a player has one card left. The moment a player has just one card they must click the “ZOONO” button on the bottom right of the screen. Failure to do so in a timely manner will result in that player receiving one (1) card from the draw pile as a penalty.
Once a player has no cards remaining, the hand is over; points are scored, and the next hand begins immediately.
- Tips & Tricks — Click on the main deck to draw a card during your turn, whether you can play or not.
There are two (2) game play types:
- Classic Type — the game ends when a player reaches +100 points and the player with the lowest score wins.
vZOO rewards are given to 1st and 2nd places. - Speed Type — (only available when creating a custom room) this is a 5 minute timed game and when the timer runs out, the player with the lowest score wins.
vZOO rewards are given to 1st and 2nd places.
Here is how a Classic Type match will be played:
A game starts with four (4) participants playing with five (5) cards each (for a maximum of ten (10) cards per player)
Note that in this mode players have 10 seconds to take their turn.
A hand is over when a player is out of cards. This player wins the round and receives -10 points on their overall score.
The losers receive + whatever points they had in their deck at the end of the hand.
How to score the points at the end of a hand:
- Count number cards as their +numerical value;
- Count +2, Skip, and Reverse cards as +10 points;
- Count Elemental cards as +15 points;
- Count Change Element and +4 cards as +20 points.
A new round starts immediately after each player’s score has been recorded.
- Tips & Tricks — Always get rid of you highest cards first, and don’t get caught with that +4 you were saving!
The game ends when any of the four (4) players’ scores reaches +100 points at the end of a hand.
The player with the lowest score wins the game, and the player with the second lowest score achieves second place. Both players are rewarded with vZOO.
Here is how a Speed Type match will be played:
The game will use a 5 minute timer. At the end of the timer, the player with the lowest score wins the game.
A game starts with four (4) participants playing with five (5) cards each (for a maximum of ten (10) cards per player)
Note that in this mode players have just 5 seconds to take their turn.
The hand is over when a player is out of cards. This player wins the round and receives -10 points on their overall score.
The losers receive + whatever points they had in their deck at the end of the hand.
How to score the points at the end of a hand:
- Count number cards as their +numerical value;
- Count +2, Skip, and Reverse cards as +10 points;
- Count Elemental cards as +15 points;
- Count Change Element and +4 cards as +20 points.
A new hand starts immediately after each player’s score has been recorded.
- Tips & Tricks — Make sure to stay alert and play fast! A five second turn has a tendency to go by in the blink of an eye.
Keep on playing the game until the timer goes to 0.
The player with the lowest score wins the game, and the player with the second lowest score achieves second place. Both players are rewarded with vZOO.
The types of cards in ZooNo
- Numerical (0–9)
As the name suggests, these are your run-of-the-mill face value cards which can be played using the four (4) ZooNo elements (Fire, Earth, Water, and Air);
- Skip Turn
Play this card to smugly hop over the next player’s turn, effectively frustrating their boots off in the process;
- Reverse Play
This card will change the current direction of play (clockwise to counter-clockwise and vice-versa) so you can flip the script on everyone and strategically avoid your pesky neighbor’s +4s;
- Elemental Cards
Fire Elemental — Use this to burn one of the cards in your hand and get one step closer to that sweet rewarding victory;
Earth Elemental — Your opponents all receive an extra card in their hand; oh, the sheer joy of giving, ay?
Water Elemental — Not liking what your current hand has to offer? Fret not — this nifty one allows you to switch out up to three (3) cards of your choosing, no questions asked;
Air Elemental — Sneak peek into your opponents hands to strategize and plan elemental dominion;
- +2 Minor Skulls
Play this card to really get under your opponent’s skin and make them draw two (2) cards; note that if the player has a +2 handy, they can stack it and pass on to the next player (thus making them draw four (4) cards and so on);
- Change Element
This immensely helpful card changes the current element in play. Make sure to use these wisely and turn the tide in your favor.
- +4 Major Skulls
The ultimate guilty pleasure of watching your opponent squirm and curse as you unload this one on them. Play this card to make the next player draw four (4) — note that if the player has a +4 handy, they can stack it and pass on to the next player (thus making them draw eight (8) cards).
Closing note from Timmy Tare, lead ZooNo project manager at ZooGames:
“Hello everyone!
Thank you for taking the time to read through this post; hopefully you are now ready to jump into ZooNo and are just as excited as I am about its completion. It has been a long time coming, I know, and I truly appreciate your patience and understanding!
Now, let’s create tons of great memories together and bolster exciting competition across the gaming world with ZooNo!
See you there, and don’t forget — We Build, You Play — with love for the game.”
- Download the game right now, exclusively from Zoo.Games (does not require a wallet and is totally free to use; available on Windows, Mac, and Android).
Some other useful links to exploring more of the vibrant ZooEcosystem can be found below:
- The ZooEcosystem general overview — https://Zoo.one
- The ZooGames protocol and platform — https://Zoo.Games
- All ZooEcosystem links and socials — https://linktr.ee/zooecosystem
