A Day at the Zoo

A Day at the Zoo swaps the dungeon for a sunny zoo and the monsters for animals. Spell your way through seven enclosures, fill them with creatures and snap as many photos as you can before the day is done.

That's the Word Dungeon formula on a day out. Place letters, spell words, find your way through. Each word connects to the last, carrying you from enclosure to enclosure. A Day at the Zoo just asks you to fill the place with animals as you go.

Any word works. Animal words work better. Spell YAK or FLAMINGO inside an enclosure and it lives there.

Each enclosure has camera spaces. Land a word on one and you take a photo of every animal already in that enclosure, a point each. Some enclosures have two cameras. The animal holding the camera doesn't make it into the shot.

Each enclosure also has target letters on the map. Use them all and that enclosure scores its points. You roll a die to pick your starting enclosure, and once you leave one there's no going back.

When the map is done, you build the Menagerie. Take every animal you placed in your zoo and fit as many as you can into one final crossword grid. A point for every letter. Score 80 and you're a Conservationist.

It's the gentlest game in the Word Dungeon range. Good for younger players, and good for playing together.

Every animal is illustrated by Tom Stratford. All you need is a pencil and a six-sided die.

A Day at the Zoo comes with five map variants. Print it on A4 or play it on a tablet.

A Day at the Zoo is also in Word Dungeon Series Two, with Rumpledonk's Ruins and Dragon's Castle. All three for £10, saving £5.

Note: This is a print-and-play game. After purchase, you'll receive the files by email. The printed sheets are A4, and unlike the preview images, the files have no background and are designed to use as little ink as possible.