Overview

duck! duck! Go! is a rubber ducky racing game played on a modular hex-tile board. Each round, players secretly select movement cards from their hand, then reveal simultaneously. Duckies move in the order shown on the cards, following the programmed movement patterns. The first player to visit all three buoys and reach the drain wins.

Components

• 4 rubber duckies
• 1 bird dog
• 1 bird dog control token
• 10 two-sided game board tiles
• 12 buoy tokens (4 each in 3 colors)
• 54 ducky movement cards
• 17 circular action tokens

Setup (Beginner)

1. The bird dog and circular action tokens are not used in the beginner game.
2. Players agree on a board layout from the rulebook suggestions (beginners should pick a beginner board).
3. Place hex-shaped buoy tokens beside the board by the matching colored buoys.
4. Shuffle ducky movement cards and deal 3 to each player.
5. Each player draws 1 more card and shows it. Highest number places their ducky first on an empty starting space (clockwise order). Ducky must face a hex side, not a corner.
6. Discard the 4th card. The race begins!

Turn Structure

The race is played over a series of rounds:

1. Select: Each player secretly picks a card from their hand and places it face down.
2. Reveal: Everyone flips their cards simultaneously.
3. Move: Starting with the lowest numbered card, each player moves their ducky following the pattern on their card.
4. Draw: Players draw cards to refill their hand back to 3.

Actions

Movement Cards

Each card shows:

• Number (top left): Determines turn order (lowest moves first)
• Purple arrow: Direction your ducky faces at the start of the move
• Blue hexagon: Starting position reference
• Red arrows: The path your ducky follows (space by space)
• Green arrows: Possible facing directions after the move ends

You must move your ducky all spaces indicated if possible. Movement can be halted by hitting another ducky or the board’s edge.

Buoy Spaces

• If your ducky finishes movement on a buoy space, collect that buoy’s token AND immediately play another card for bonus movement.
• You must end on the buoy space – passing through does not count.
• You must visit all 3 different colored buoys.

Collisions

When your ducky runs into another ducky or the board edge during movement, your ducky stops in the last valid space. Remaining movement is lost.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

Winning: The first ducky to touch all 3 buoys (collect all 3 buoy tokens) AND reach the finish drain wins the race.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Duckies must clearly face a hex side, not a corner.
• Movement follows the exact pattern on the card (you cannot deviate from the shown path).
• If multiple duckies have the same card number, the players decide among themselves who moves first.
• Advanced rules add the bird dog (controlled by the player in last place) and circular action tokens for additional strategic options.

Player Reference

Round Sequence:

1. Pick card secretly from hand
2. Reveal simultaneously
3. Move in number order (lowest first)
4. Draw back to 3 cards

Win Condition: Visit all 3 buoys + reach the drain

Buoy Bonus: Land on buoy = play another card immediately