While the real soul of the game is the frenzied grabbing dice from the middle before anyone else does, there is a good deal of mindfulness and planning required. Only one die may be grabbed at a time, and the tents statistically outnumber the bears two-to-one. However, the tents are worth more points, meaning they will be a sought after commodity. Again, however, if there are bears left in the middle, any sleeping bag/tent pairs become detrimental rather than a big bonus.
All of this had to be considered while the swarm of hands is grabbing the dice away. A good strategist might grab remaining bears, giving a negative point for an invalid pair, but gaining five points from sleeping bag/tent pairs. More conservative players might go for matching guns and bears and running men to tents carefully. On top of it all, players are allowed to reroll their black dice for a preferable pair, but they would have to take time out of their opportunities for dice-grabbing to do so. When the Campsite has only bears or only tents remaining, the round is over, and players add up their haphazardly snatched points.
The rules recommend playing to one hundred points but also suggest a shorter game of 50 points. Bears! is a game for two to four players (the more the better… there are even rules for combining multiple sets of Bears!) ages seven and up. Keeping track of the points with so many combinations can be confusing, and the rules are tricky at times. Still, it makes for a fun and energetic game while still mentally challenging. Full games take about twenty minutes to play, creating a short, fast, fun game for those who like matching and grabbing alike.
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