The rules for It's Alive! are reproduced here to allow you to evaluate the game before buying it. You can click on the images to see a larger version.

Aim of the Game

Basic:To be the first player to collect eight different body parts, thus completing their monster.
Advanced:To have the most valuable collection when somebody completes their monster.

60 Cards (six each of Arms, Brain, Coffin, Feet, Hands, Head, Heart, Legs, Torso and Villagers' Uprising, each with a numerical value)
5 Player screens
5 Player mats (slabs) with eight spaces for cards
5 Play guides to help you learn the game
80 Coin tokens (yellow discs)

Setup

Each player takes a slab, a screen and twelve coins, and hides their coins and slab behind their screen. Shuffle the cards into a single deck placed face down in the middle of the table. Leave enough space in front of each player's screen to place a discard pile (graveyard) of cards later in the game.

Play

Choose a starting player at random, each player takes it in turn, passing control to the person on their left (i.e. clockwise) when they have finished their turn.

As the current player you choose a current card, by either:
Accepting the body part offered by the dubious gentlemen by turning over the top card from the deck for free.
Or:
Pay the dubious gentlemen to source the body part of your choice by moving the top card from a player's graveyard in front of their screen (including your own) to the centre of the table and either discarding a card (including a Villagers' Uprising) of equal or higher value to your graveyard or paying the value of the moved card to the bank. This option is more expensive (as you will effectively pay for the card twice), but you get the card of your choice, and avoid the possibility of drawing a Villagers' Uprising. Note: If you discard a Villagers' Uprising to choose a card from a graveyard it is removed from the game rather than added to your graveyard.

Once you have chosen or revealed a current card you have three options providing the card is a coffin or body part:

Buy: You buy the body part from the dubious gentlemen.
Pay the cost of the card (the numerical value) to the bank to buy the card, the card goes on the corresponding square on your player mat, hidden from the other players. This option may cost more than auctioning the part but you're guaranteed to get it - an opponent can't outbid you for it.

Sell: You sell the body part on to an anatomist for a small profit.
Add the card to the top of your graveyard, and claim half the value of the card (rounded down) from the bank. This option will ensure that none of your opponents get their hands on the part cheaply, but may earn you less money than auctioning the part.

Auction: You auction the body part. This way you might get it cheap if no-one else is interested, or you might claim its auction price.
Start an auction for the card. You bid first (minimum bid 1), and then each player in turn going clockwise either bids a higher amount than the previous bid or passes. No-one can bid more coins than they own. Each player only gets one chance to bid or pass, with the player to your right getting the last bid. If you win the auction you pay the price to the bank and get the card, if any other player wins they pay the price to you and they get the card. Whoever wins the auction adds the card to the corresponding square on their slab. Auctioning a card might enable you to get a card cheaper than buying it, at the risk of an opponent getting it rather than you, or it might enable you to get rid of a card for more profit than selling it, at the risk of no-one else wanting it and having to pay yourself.

Villagers' Uprising

If you draw a Villagers' Uprising you must appease the villagers. You must either discard a card of the same or higher value to your graveyard, or pay the value of the Villagers' Uprising card to the bank - you may not pay them off using a mixture of cards and money. You take the Villagers' Uprising card - this can be used later to buy a card from a player's graveyard or to pay off another Villagers' Uprising. You then have another turn as normal.

Note, you can only draw one Villagers' Uprising during your turn, if others are drawn in the same turn they are put aside until a coffin or body part is drawn. Once you complete your turn any Villagers' Uprisings put aside are shuffled back into the deck. When discarding a Villagers' Uprising, remove it from the game rather than placing it in your graveyard. If you don't have any cards of sufficient value or enough tokens you can choose to either discard your most valuable card or discard all your tokens (minimum 1) - in this case you don't collect the Uprising, it is removed from the game. If you have no money and no cards, the Villagers' Uprising is removed from the game with no effect.

Slabs

When a player collects a body part or coffin card it is placed over the appropriate square on their slab. If a player collects two cards of the same body part only one may be placed on the slab, the other can be kept to use when a discard is required and does not count towards your score in the advanced game. You may replace a card on your slab with a higher (or lower) valued equivalent at any point during the game – the old card is then kept and may be discarded later.

Coffin cards

The coffin cards are wild cards, they may be used instead of any body part card, and you may have more than one coffin card on your slab. You may move the coffin cards around at any time.

Running out of cards

If the deck is used up during the game, take the cards from all players’ graveyards and shuffle them into a new deck. Leave the top cards behind – these can still be bought.

End of the game

The game ends when a player yells 'It's Alive!' as soon as they have completed their monster by collecting one of each different body part. Coffins can be used instead of one or more body parts.

Winning the Game

Basic Rules

The first player to bring their monster to life wins.

Advanced Rules

In the advanced game the game is played the same, but the scoring at the end is different. Each player calculates their score by adding the values of all of the cards on their slab (excluding duplicates and Villagers' Uprisings) together, and adding the value of their coins to the card scores. You can only claim up to half the value of your cards from coins (rounding down) - any excess is not counted towards your score. The player who completed their monster gets a five point bonus. Record the total score for each player, and play as many rounds as there are players, with the starting player moving one place to the left (clockwise) each round.