Nimbali is set in the African bush. The game board shows four watering holes, each of which is assigned to a player. Each watering hole is filled with 9 blue wooden raindrops. Five animals (giraffe, cheetah, lion, zebra, and rhino) are placed on the board at the various watering holes. Players throw a single oversized die to determine the action of each move: five of the die faces depict the five animal hide patterns of the animal figures, and the sixth die face shows a blue raindrop. When the player's roll brings up one of the fur patterns, the player moves the corresponding animal clockwise around the board to the next watering hole. When the die roll shows the raindrop symbol, all players remove one raindrop from his watering hole for every animal that is standing at that player's watering hole at that time.
The winner is the player who feeds the most thirsty animals by being the first to run out of raindrops.