The object of the game is to collect cards totalling five brown stars before being caught by the Pooman or the game running out of cards.
One player is chosen to act as the Pooman. The Pooman places all the cards face down in front of him/her. The other players sit on the other side of the cards in a semi-circle.
The youngest player goes first and picks a card by pointing to it. The Pooman slowly turns the card over, creating as much suspense as possible.
There are three types of card. A character card (which has either one or two brown stars at the bottom), a Pooman card, or a special card.
If the card that’s revealed is a Character card it is placed in front of the player and it is the next player’s turn to choose a card.
If the card is a Pooman card, the dreaded chase begins. The player who is the Pooman must immediately run after the players whilst counting to ten in as scary a voice as possible. If the Pooman touches a player within the ten seconds, they lose all of their cards which are put into a discard pile. After ten seconds have passed the players return from wherever they may be to resume the game.
In addition to the Pooman cards and the Character cards there are seven Special cards with their own rules.
Roll Again: The player discards the card and chooses another card.
The Dire Ear: One of the players character cards (the one with the most stars should be chosen) falls violently ill and is discarded. If the player has no character cards this card is just discarded and it is the end of their turn.
Smell the Freshness: The beautiful smell of the air freshener allows the player to tempt a character to join his/her deck. They can take a character card of their choice from any player. If no player has a character card they can save it and play it at the start of another turn, as well as picking a card.
Power Flush: This card is able to flush away Pooman. If you pick this card it sits in front of the player alongside the character cards. If anyone picks a Pooman card the player can choose to activate his card by shouting ‘Power Flush’ at the top of their voice. This instantly flushes the Pooman away. They can choose to do this at any point of the Pooman ten second chase. Once used this card is discarded. It cannot does not work if shouted after being touched by the Pooman.
Poodini: This card allows the player to become invisible to Pooman. It is activatedby them shouting ‘Poodini’ at any point after a Pooman card has been turned over. Once used it is discarded.
Poocicle: This card freezes the Pooman for five seconds. It can be played at any point after the Pooman has turn over. The Pooman must stop, freeze, count to five with their teeth chattering, then start their ten second chase again.
The Pooperman: The Pooperman is the most dreaded card in the whole deck. None of the special cards work against The Pooperman and if they are shouted by mistake they must be thrown away. The Pooperman is like the Pooman but twice as strong so he can chase players for an entire 20 seconds!
More than one special card can be played anytime a Pooman card is turned over.
Whoever is playing the Pooman should always try to catch the player with the most brown stars first as they are also trying to win the game, ideally they will try and catch as many players as possible in the ten seconds.
Winning: The first player to collect five brown stars wins the game. Pooman wins the game if all the cards have been turned over and no player has collected five stars. The game winner can decide who plays Pooman in the next game.
Other Options: If you do not wish to play the chase part of the game, you can change the rules so if a player reveals Pooman or The Pooperman they lose all of their cards unless they have either Poodini, Power Flush or the Poocicle cards. These cards are discarded after one use.
Blank Cards: Why not create your very own characters? There are ten blank cards for you to draw on. You could draw a card of your own pet, or perhaps one of whoever makes the worst smells in the toilet.
You could even make up new rules for the game, such as ‘The Balancer’, if you stand on one leg the Pooman can’t catch you. Whatever you come up with, I hope you enjoy the game.