In this game, you and the other players are the new friends of Tohru Honda. On your turn, you hang out with Tohru as she interacts with the Sohma family. As you share experiences, memories, and advice with the zodiac-cursed Sohmas, you become friends with them too!

Table of Contents

Part 1: Game Rules
Part 2: Example Turn.
Part 3: Game Variations.
Part 4. Dai Hin Min (Rich Man Poor Man)

Part 1: Game Rules

Your Goal

Whoever makes the most friends wins! In this game, your goal is to befriend 7 of the cursed Sohma family members. The first player to do so wins the game. If you've watched a lot of Fruits Basket, we're sure you realize you've already "won" if you're playing this game with your friends!

Optional Long Game: For a longer game for 2-4 players, you can play until someone collects one of each of all 13 friendship cards.

Components

In this game you get:

(1) Tohru Honda - Tohru's card is used to show which Sohma family member she is spending time with during the game. Each side of this card has a different game effect that impacts play. Each effect on Tohru's card only applies when that side is face-up. The front side features Tohru with blue ribbons in her hair. The back side has a "Wild" memory symbol in the lower-left corner.

(13) Sohmas - The Sohma family member cards have 2 fronts: one side with the human form; and the other showing their animal form. The western calendar years that match this zodiac sign also appear on these cards. Which zodiac year are you?

(52) Friendship Cards - In Friends of the Zodiac game, players use the Friendship Cards to show which Sohmas each player has become friends with. These can also be used as a poker deck, so you can play other games with the Fruits Basket playing cards (like Dai Hin Min!). The first player to collect 7 of these wins the game (or all 13 in the long version). The diamonds, hearts, and spades cards feature quotes from the Sohmas, while the clubs cards have descriptions of the personalities associated with the Chinese zodiac.

(2) Jokers - These complete the standard poker deck so you can play regular card games. The joker cards feature Saki Hanajima and Arisa Uotani, Tohru's classmates and best friends. The jokers are not used in the Friends of the Zodiac card game.

(53) Play Cards - there are 2 kinds of cards in the play deck: Memories and Events.

Memories represent Tohru's experiences. These include advice she received or gave, as well as important milestones in her growing friendship with the Sohmas. Each memory card has one riceball symbol in the upper left corner. If you can match these symbols to the symbols on a Sohma's card, you can become their friend.

Events represent things that encouraged or discouraged the Sohmas and Tohru from spending time with each other. In Friends of the Zodiac, players use Event cards to move Tohru around the circle to spend time with the Sohmas they want to befriend.

Setup

Before you play a game, lay out the 13 double-sided Sohma cards clockwise in a circle with their human sides up. Lay them out in the order of their Zodiac years: Yuki, Hatsuharu, Kisa, Momiji, Hatori, Ayame, Horse, Hiro, Ritsu, Bird, Shigure, Kagura, and Kyo last. Poor Kyo, he doesn't have a year at all. Place Tohru face-up inside the circle with her "blue ribbon" side up, next to Yuki. Be sure there's enough room so everyone can clearly tell which Sohma she's hanging out with.

Now place on the outside of the circle, next to each Sohma, its stack of 4 matching friendship cards face-up (the 4 Aces next to Yuki, for example). Shuffle the 53 play cards and deal 3 out to each player. Put the rest of the play cards to one side of the circle, face-down. When you draw a card, take it from this deck. The discard pile will be right next to it.

Have everyone sit around this circle of cards in the order of their Chinese zodiac signs. The person born in, or closest to, the year of the rat goes first. If 2 of you are tied, the younger of those 2 will be first. Here's a quick reference chart…

How to Play

Starting with the first player, players take turns in a clockwise order to try to befriend the Sohmas. On your turn, you get 3 actions. Once you've used all 3 of your actions, your turn is over. There is no "passing" on your 3 actions - you must use them all.

You can choose any one of these 4 things as an action. Repeating the same choice is fine, and the order is up to you.

The 4 Things You May Do as an Action:

• Draw a Card from the play deck.
• Play a Memory Card to the center area from your hand and draw a card.
• Play an Event Card from your hand and do what it says.
• Move Tohru Clockwise by One Sohma.

Once you've taken exactly 3 actions, your turn ends and the player to your left starts his or her turn.

The Actions Explained

Here's a little more detail on each of the action options.

Draw a Card - Take the top card of the play deck and add it to your hand of play cards. You may not draw a card if you already have 4 or more cards in your hand. If at any time in the game, you end up with more than 4 cards in your hand, immediately discard down to 4 cards.

If the play deck runs out, shuffle the discard pile and turn it face-down as the new play deck.

Play a Memory - Making happy memories with Tohru, the Sohmas and your friends is what Fruits Basket is about! You want to match the memory cards in play to the memory symbols on the Sohmas. When you match the symbols on the memories in play with the Sohma that Tohru is next to, you make friends with them.

On each Sohma card are 2 sets of memory symbols. The large set is for the side currently face-up. The smaller set is the symbols on the other side of the Sohma. This means that the memories needed to win a Sohma's friendship depend on which side of the Sohma is face-up.

When you play a memory card from your hand, put it into the center area between the 13 Sohmas and leave it there. If there are more than 4 memories in the center area after you've added one, you must put one of them into the discard pile (when discarding a memory in this way, you may choose any one of them, including the one you just played). You also draw a card each time you play a memory.

There are optional instructions on each memory card, printed below a horizontal line in the text box. You can use these questions and instructions if you want to get to know the other players better. When you use these optional questions, you're playing the "True Friends" variation of the game.

Play an Event - When you play an event card from your hand, read the card aloud and do what it tells you to do, and then put it into the discard pile. Most of the events involve moving Tohru around to hang out with a different Sohma.

Move Tohru - When you choose this option, simply advance Tohru clockwise by exactly one Sohma. You cannot move her counterclockwise with this action.

You have to take all 3 actions on each of your turns, you can't skip or take only 1 or 2 of them. You can pick the same option more than once; for example you could move Tohru clockwise, then draw a card, then move her clockwise again.

Befriending

All of these conditions need to be met for you to become friends with one of the Sohmas:

• Tohru is next to that Sohma family member.
• You do not already have a friendship card for that Sohma.
• There is at least one remaining friendship card for that Sohma (in 5-7 player games you might run out of some friendship cards, see p. 9 for a way to include more players in the game).
• The large symbols on the left edge of the side of the Sohma's card that is currently face-up are all present on the memories in the center of the play area. There can be memories you don't need to use in the play area - you just have to have the ones the Sohma asks for. You do not need to match the small memory symbols on the right hand side of that Sohma card - these are the symbols for the other side. We put them on there so you can see what the Sohma will want when their card flips over.
• Additional conditions on the Sohma are met. Some of the Sohmas have additional requirements listed on their cards.

When you meet the conditions during your turn, take one of the Friendship cards from that Sohma and place it face-up in front of you. The first person to get one each of any 7 Sohma's friendship cards wins the game (the long game requires all 13 friendships to win).

Once you have completed 3 actions, don't forget to check Tohru's card. If her front side is face-up, it has an effect that tells you to flipover the Sohma she is next to. After that, your turn is over.

Ending the Game

When one player collects 7 (or all 13 in a long game) different friendship cards, the game ends. Everyone else gets one final turn. After that, the player(s) with the most friendships wins. Sometimes there may be more than one winner, but of course, everyone wins if everyone has fun.

Part 2 Example Turn

Here is a sample turn. To go through this example, you need the play area set up as shown on page 3.

Tohru is next to Hatori.

You have these 2 cards in your hand:

Brotherly Love and Insecurity

These memories are in play:

Trust and Sharing Heartache

You decide to try and become friends with Hatsuharu this turn. First, you play Brotherly Love (placing it into the discard pile from your hand). This card tells

you to move Tohru 3 or 5 Sohmas counterclockwise, or directly to Ayame. You choose to move the Tohru card 3 Sohmas counterclockwise. Tohru ends up next to Hatsuharu.

For your second action, you play the memory Insecurity (putting it from your hand into the middle of the play area, near Trust and Sharing Heartache) and draw a card from the deck. There are only 3 memories in play, so you do not discard any of them (remember, you can only have 4 memories in play at a time).

Now you befriend Hatsuharu! His human side (the side currently up) has large symbols on it. The same symbols all appear on memories in play, and Tohru is next to him. You don't already have one of his friendship cards, so you met all the conditions to win his friendship and take any one of the remaining Hatsuharu Friendship cards.

You still have one more action remaining. You decide to move Tohru one space clockwise, to make it a little harder for the next player to befriend someone on their turn. This puts Tohru next to Kisa.

Now that your 3 actions are done, your turn ends. Tohru's card has an effect that happens at the end of each turn, that says "At the end of each turn, flip the Sohma Tohru is next to." So you flip Kisa over. Now the next player to your left may

begin their turn and take their 3 actions.

Part 3: Game Variations

These rules are optional changes to the regular game. After you've played the basic game a few times, you can try these out!

Long Game For 5-8 players

If you'd like to play to 13 friendships with 5 to 8 players, you need 2 copies of the game. Shuffle both play decks together into one big play deck, and use all 104 friendship cards (so that there are 8 for each Sohma). You only need one set of the 13 Sohma cards, and one Tohru Honda card. Set the extras of each of these cards aside. Now there are enough friendship cards for all 8 players in a long game of Friends of the Zodiac! You can keep adding game sets for every 4 additional players you have.

True Friends

In this variation, you explore each other's memories and friendships as you play the game. We recommend this for groups of players that are already friends, or for people who are outgoing.

When you play a memory card, follow the optional instructions (below the horizontal line in the text box) and tell the other players about a similar memory from your own life. Also tell them how you felt about that experience at the time, and how your feelings have changed now that you reflect back upon it.

Bestest Friends

This variation is for 2 or more players to play cooperatively. Be you lovers,

siblings, cousins, or just great friends, please enjoy cooperating to befriend

the Sohmas.

• At the start of each player's turn, reveal the top card of the deck. If it is a memory, put it into play (both players decide together which memory to discard if there are already 4 in play). If it is an event, one of the 2 players must play it immediately.
• When you befriend a Sohma, share the friendship card between you.
• If you befriend all 13 Sohmas as a team before the play deck runs out, you win! Count the remaining cards in the play deck. You get a point for each one. Play again and try to leave more cards for a higher score.
• If the play deck runs out first, console each other with a hug and try again!

Part 4: Dai Hin Min (Rich Man Poor Man)

Rich Man Poor Man (Dai Hin Min)

(For 4 to 7 players - as seen in the Fruits Basket anime)

For this game, use only the friendship cards and the 2 jokers for a total of 54 cards. Shuffle them all together like a standard deck of poker cards. Deal out the cards one at a time, until the deck runs out. Some players might start with fewer cards than others.

Game Play

Starting with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, each player plays a set of cards into a central pile. When you play cards, you must play exactly the same amount of cards as the previous player and the cards you play must all be the same rank (aces, twos, Queens, Kings, etc.), and that rank must be higher than the rank of the previously played card set. If the pile is empty, you may play any amount of cards within one rank.

You may choose to pass and not play at all, even if you can play (and you must pass if you cannot play anything high enough).

When everyone passes consecutively, the dealer sweeps away the pile of cards and whoever played the last set on the previous pile, plays first set on the new pile. Because the pile is empty, the player may play any rank and any amount of cards on that rank.

For example: Greg starts a new pile and plays 5, 5 & 5, the next player must play 6, 6 & 6 or 7, 7 & 7 or 3 cards of any other rank higher than 5. Even if a player has 2 Kings, they cannot play them unless they have a 3rd King or a Joker, to make the same amount of cards.

Going Out

When a player runs out of cards, they've "gone out" for that round. Keep track of the order in which players go out each round. When a player goes out, they score one point for each player still in the game in the current round.

Once all players have gone out, players are assigned titles. The first to go out is now the Rich Man, and second is 2nd Richest, last to go out is the Poor Man and second to last is the 2nd Poorest. Everyone in the middle is a Merchant. Players now change seats; the Rich Man doesn't move, but the rest must re-arrange so they are seated, clockwise, in the order they went out. The Poor Man becomes the new dealer.

After the cards for the next round have been dealt out, but before play begins, there is an exchange of cards. The Poor Man must give the Rich Man the 2 highest cards they were dealt. Simultaneously, the Rich Man gives any 2 cards he was dealt to the Poor Man. Second Richest and Second Poorest exchange 1 card in the same manner. Rich Man will play first in the next round.

Order of the cards

The lowest card is the 3, then proceeding up to Ace, but with the 2 as the highest card. Jokers are used as wild cards: when you play a set of cards, you can use a joker to copy the other cards in the set, thus increasing the amount you have (if you don't have enough of that rank to play on the current pile). Individually, jokers are actually the lowest card (so the Poor Man never has to pass them away), and if played as a single, the joker has the lowest rank of all cards - so even a single 3 is higher than a joker.

Revolution

If the Poor Man is dealt both jokers, they may reveal them before cards are passed and declare a revolution. No cards will be passed in this round, and play starts with the Poor Man and proceeds counterclockwise!

Game End

The game ends when one player reaches a pre-determined point total (usually chosen before the game begins - 21 is a typical number). You can also play for a predetermined amount of time and then compare point totals. The winner is the player with the most points.

Credits

Director of Games: Carl Braun
Game Design: Gregory Marques
Assistant Designer: Sean Poestkoke
Creative Editor: William Harper
Creative Direction: Carl Braun
Graphic Design: Carl Braun & Jerry Comandante
Production Direction: Stephanie Carlson
Marketing Manager: Deanna Cass
Public Relations: Elissa Berchelmann
Webmaster: Cory Davis
Playtest Manager: Eric Kunkel
Playtesters: Eric Kunkel, Gregory Marques, Garrett Wilkinson