Bonkers! (game)

Board game

Bonkers! (also known as This Game is Bonkers!) is a race style board game designed by Paul J. Gruen and produced first by Parker Brothers, later by Milton Bradley, and briefly reissued by Winning Moves. The object is to be the first player to score 12 points by adding instruction cards to the empty spaces in an attempt to move to several scoring stations. The game's slogan (for all versions) is "It's Never the Same Game Twice!"

The game starts with each player being dealt four track cards and a large "Go to Lose" card, and placing their pawns on the scoring space marked "Start". On a turn, a player rolls the dice, and moves the corresponding number of spaces shown. If the space is empty, the player places a track card in the outline next to that space and follows its directions; if already occupied by a card, the player follows the instructions on that card. A player's turn ends if landing on an unoccupied space marked "Score" (scoring 1 point), the space marked "Lose" (deducting 1 point), or on an unmarked space after having already played one card. At the end of a turn, the player draws another card to replace any played during his or her turn, and the next player takes their turn. Most of the track cards have a number between 1 and 6, in addition to 10 and 12, as well as the direction for the player to travel. The track is a loop; as pawns travel counterclockwise along the loop, "ahead" cards move the pawn forward, and "back" cards move in reverse. Other cards include "Roll Again", "Go to Nearest 'Score'", "Go to Start", and "Exchange Cards" (in which the player swaps the Exchange card for any other card currently on the track.) If a space is occupied by another pawn, the player rolls again (except for the Lose space), while disregarding any instructions on any adjacent track card (but still scoring a point on Score spaces).

The object of the game is to play track cards in a way that directs one's pawn to a "Score" space, upon which the scorekeeper moves that player's peg ahead one point. A player can also score by rolling a 12, or by means of "Entrapment": If the player's pawn ends in a continual loop (for example, ahead 2/ahead 3/back 5), that player is said to be "trapped", at which point his or her pawn is left on the space at the "front" of the trap, and the player scores one point. If a player lands on a Score space that is already occupied, he/she scores a point and rolls again.

There is one space on the board marked "Lose". Players landing on this space lose one point, and the turn ends immediately (even if the space is already occupied by one or more pawns.) There are two spaces on the back side of the track that also send the player directly to "Lose". In addition, each player has a large "Go to Lose" card; at any point in a player's turn, an opponent can use this card against that player to force him or her to go to the Lose space immediately. Once a large "Go to Lose" card is played, it is removed from the game. At no time can a player's score drop below zero.

The first player to score 12 points wins the game.

In addition to reusing the original disco theme, the 2016 Winning Moves reissue also reverted to the original Parker Brothers rules.

The pawns are now cutesy characters. The game now has a more modern theme. The original Parker Brothers rules are also intact.