Dogs with Shoes

In Dogs with Shoes, players compete to collect adorable dogs and outfit them with matching shoes — four shoes per dog makes a completed pup. Dogs come in seven breeds, and shoe cards must match a dog's breed to be played on it, though the versatile Cool Dog wildcard accepts shoes of any type. On each turn, a player takes exactly one action: play a dog card to their play area, attach a matching shoe to one of their dogs, send a Robber to steal shoes (or even unshod dogs) from an opponent, launch a Firework to scare a rival's dog and prevent it from receiving shoes, calm one of their own scared dogs, buy a card from the central market by discarding one, flush the entire market for new options, or simply draw a card. Guard cards can be played reactively to block incoming Robbers. Hands are limited to five cards, and most actions involve playing a card and drawing a replacement. Completed dogs with exactly four shoes are permanently safe from Robbers and Fireworks. Scared dogs cannot receive shoes and are especially vulnerable — Robbers can strip multiple shoes from a scared dog in a single action. The deck composition scales with player count, adjusting the number of breeds and cards to keep the game balanced. The standard game ends the instant a player completes their third dog. A scored variant awards points for partially and fully dressed dogs, and a quick variant for larger groups reduces the target to two completed dogs. —description from the publisher