Diceland: Space
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Before the Game Core Definitions Building an Army: Before you play, you must construct an Enemies and Allies: All dice in the game are either Enemies army. Some sample armies are listed at the end of these rules, but or Allies. All the dice in your army are Allies, and all your oppo- you can construct your own quite easily. Ideally, neither player nent’s dice are Enemies. This is true no matter what “Team” they knows what will be in the other’s army until the game begins. belong to. For example, even if both players have a die from the To construct your army, first decide whether you are playing Terran army, those two dice are not considered allies. On the other with dice from a single team or with mixed teams. When you make hand, dice from multiple Teams are considered allies as long as an army of mixed teams you can include up to 30 points’ worth of they are in the same army. dice. If your army is made of dice from the same team, you can Every effect in this game, from a basic Weapon to the most spend as much as 30 + X, where X is the size of your smallest die. complex Special Effect, is defined in terms of Enemies and Allies. For example, if you wanted to include both Terran and Garthan ships in your army, you could spend no more than 30 In Play, In Reserve, and In Hand: There are three places points. But if your army is entirely Terran, you can spend 30 + X. a die can be: in play, in your hand, or in reserve. In the all-Terran army, if your smallest ship is a Scout (2 All dice start the game in your hand. Dice in your hand are off points) then your maximum army size is 32. If your smallest ship the table and ready to be thrown. Keep these dice someplace off the is a Destroyer (15 points) you can spend up to 45. Currently the table, though not necessarily in your hand! only way to do this is to build the army with 3 Destroyers! All dice on the table are in play. Game Overview If a single die is worth more than 30 points (in the Space set, A die that has just been killed is on hold, or in reserve. This it’s the Yellow Kawangi) then you can still play with that ship, but it’s die is out of play, but it’s not back in its owner’s hand. Dice stay on the only one you can use. (We honestly don’t know if the Yellow reserve for one round (one turn for each player), then they return Diceland® is a unique tabletop game that uses paper dice as the pieces. The game requires Kawangi are balanced or not; we threw them in just for fun.) to your hand. a perfect mix of strategy, luck, and skill. Uniqueness: You will not have to deal with uniqueness when Diceland: Space is a stand-alone expansion for Diceland, and contains six teams of you are playing Diceland: Space because there are no unique spaceships based on a quirky computer game called Strange Adventures in Infinite dice in this set. If a die were unique, you could put only one copy Throwing a Die Space. There are two different boxes in the Space set, each containing 25 ships. One box con- in your army, and there could be only one copy in play. Since the tains the Terran, Urluquai, and Zorg armies. The other box contains the Garthans, Muktians, dice in Space are not unique, you can include multiple copies of Because this game has the physical element of dice-throwing, and Tan Ru. All these dice are compatible with each other, and with all other Diceland sets. any of them. To learn more about uniqueness, read the complete there are specific rules for how to throw the dice. In Diceland, players take turns throwing and maneuvering their armies of paper dice. rules at www.diceland.com. Players score points by shooting each other’s dice, and the first player to score 50 points wins Your opponent throws from behind this line. the game. An average game lasts about 20 minutes. Who Goes First: The player whose army is the smallest, i.e., the Diceland contains concepts and game mechanics which are unique even to experienced one that has the smallest total point value, can always decide who top game players, so take your time in learning to understand it. Once you grasp the basics of this goes first. If the point values are the same, flip a coin to determine view Table game, you’re in for a fantastic experience. who will go first. This rule sheet contains the basic 2-player rules for Diceland: Space. More information Note that it may be advantageous to build a smaller army just You throw from behind this line. about Diceland is available at our Web site, www.diceland.com. You’ll find game variants, to have control over who goes first. Consider this aspect when you multiplayer rules, strategy hints, design articles, artwork, and much more! construct your army. When you throw a die, you must release it behind your The First Turn: Instead of taking a normal turn, the player who edge of the table (see top view, above), and at least a foot About the Paper Dice Choosing a Table goes first must place one of his dice in any orientation in the exact above or behind the edge (see side view, below). center of the table. This is his whole turn. Note in the figure above that even if the table is round, your “edge” of the table is still a straight line. The “dice” in Diceland are paper octahedrons, 8-sided dice. Each Your playing surface will dramatically affect the quality of the game. Going first is an advantage in one respect, since you get to die starts as two halves die-cut on a 5 x 7 card. The dice assemble The table should be large, level, and free of obstacles. The best sur- place the die however you like. The obvious disadvantage is that you can never score points on the first turn, since you don’t shoot and quickly without tape or glue. face is a cloth, vinyl, or felt-covered table. side To build a die, punch both halves out of the card and pre-fold Slick surfaces are not great for Diceland. They allow the dice there’s nothing to shoot at. When deciding which die to place, you might choose a die view all the scores. Press each fold completely flat, so that the die won’t to slide instead of gripping the table, which makes maneuvering You must release try to spring apart once it’s built. your dice much trickier. If you have a slick table, you might want to that’s worth very few points, to minimize your risk, or a large ship that your opponent will have trouble destroying. When you build the die outside Starting with Tab A, snap all the tabs into the corresponding put down a tablecloth before you begin. of this area. slots. Do not assemble both halves and then join them together, as your army, consider what ship you will use if you have to go first. this will result in some interior flaps interfering with each other. Using the Counters: One Foot Instead, put the tabs into the slots in alphabetical order. If you Winning: The first player to score 50 points wins the game. You Table Surface score points by “killing” enemy dice, which means attacking them do this properly, tabs E and F will close at the same time. We have printed 20 counters on the interior box flaps, which you Take care when building your dice. Although they are made of with enough power to take them out of play. Dice that are “killed” can cut out if you choose. These counters can be helpful in track- return after a pause to their owner’s hand, and most dice will be paper, these dice are durable enough for hundreds of hours of play. ing complex turns, and can also be useful for marking which ships If you release the die anywhere inside the blue area, the To protect your dice when they are not in use, you should store thrown many times in the course of a game. What matters is that are whose in a large or mixed-army game. each die that is killed scores points for its opponent. throw is a foul. Your opponent has the option to either allow them in a sturdy box. You can find a carrier box that holds 27 dice Flat counters are treated as part of the tabletop, so if a die the throw, prohibit the die from shooting, or to make you take www.cheapass.com at the Cheapass Games Web site, . You can moves onto one, it’s not considered “off the table.” We’ll talk more the die out of play. A die removed for this reason goes into also look for cardboard and plastic boxes at your favorite discount about using counters for timing later on. Just be sure you don’t dis- On Every Turn reserve. Unless your opponent allows the throw, this kind of foul office supply or trendy closet organizer chain store. card the box without cutting them out! immediately ends your turn.