We (RipCityGamers) tried this game last weekend. It got a mixed review - I generally don't like auction games where the lots are eventually often worth a lot more to one player than the others (Pizarro, Ra). I will play it more before I pass final judgement, but I'm not sure it's compelling enough to get pulled out again with all the competition out there. Furthermore, the game is logistically awkward, even with the below tips, but it definitely needs some help, because while I'm not crazy about fidgety games or light & dry games, fidgety light & dry games drive me nuts!

Anywise, here are the RipCityGamers' tips for playing Zoosim:

1) We too thought of painted visitors, but someone came up with and tried a better idea - dice! Two differently sized dice in each of six colors (say, a large d20 and a small d10). If you don't have differently sized dice, you will need to use the meeples to show who owns the tiebreakers. When you "win" a color, you just put the corresponding die in front of your display with the number showing your strength of that color. This makes it really easy to see not just who the leaders are, but how large their strength is.

2) For blind-bidding games like this (where players bid a small amount, say 0 to 10 per item), I always use a deck of cards. Give each player a suit. Play a card instead of fisting the coins - use King to denote a bid of zero. This way, you don't have to worry about giving away the size of your bid, and the cards are easier to manage than coins. I've used this in Mush for years.

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