BUILDZI Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Before You Start
  • What You Get
  • A Quick Note About Stacking
• Game #1: Tower Card BUILDZI
• Game #2: Block Card BUILDZI
• Game #3: Shuffle Card BUILDZI
• Party Game: Team BUILDZI
• More Party Games
  • Countdown BUILDZI
  • Together BUILDZI
  • BUILDZI Party of One
• 99 More BUILDZI Towers (Companion Rules)
  • How to Play
  • Five New Types of Tower Cards
  • Here's a Twist
  • Even More Ways to Play
  • Challenge Builds on Our Site

Before You Start

What You Get

• 32 BUILDZI Blocks (four sets of 8 different blocks)
• 32 Tower Cards
• 32 Block Cards

A Quick Note About Stacking

• No flat stacking. Yes, stack like this (blocks stacked on their edges/standing, not laid flat on each other)!
• NOTE: Tumbling blocks may cause small dings in wooden tables, so you might want to use placemats to build on.

Game #1: Tower Card BUILDZI

1. Put all the BUILDZI Blocks in a pile in the center and deal everyone one tower card (yellow/black side facing up).
2. Someone says, "Go" and everyone immediately flips over their tower card at the same time (so that the multi-color side is revealed).
3. Everyone quickly starts grabbing blocks from the center pile. The first player to build their tower and shout "BUILDZI" wins!

Note: For more challenging games, try building the towers on the yellow/black side. These towers are a bit trickier to build and don't have colors to help identify the blocks!

Game #2: Block Card BUILDZI

1. Put all the BUILDZI Blocks in a pile in the center. Each player gets one complete set of eight block cards. (There are four different sets of block cards: Green, Orange, Blue, Pink.)
2. Players shuffle their set of block cards and place them face down in front of them.
3. Someone says, "Go" and everyone immediately starts flipping over their cards one at a time. After each card is flipped, players quickly grab that block from the center pile and add it to their tower.
4. The first player to build their tower and shout "BUILDZI" wins!

NOTE: Only the first block may touch the table/surface. Blocks may NOT be placed flat on each other.

Game #3: Shuffle Card BUILDZI

1. Put all the BUILDZI Blocks in a pile in the center.
2. Shuffle all 32 block cards together, then deal eight cards face down to each player.
3. Someone says, "Go" and everyone immediately starts flipping over their cards one at a time. After each card is flipped, players quickly grab that block from the center pile and add it to their tower.
4. The first player to build their tower and shout "BUILDZI" wins!

NOTE: Only the first block may touch the table/surface. Blocks may NOT be placed flat on each other.

Party Game: Team BUILDZI

(This is a fun, loud game played in two-person teams. Up to four teams can play.)

1. Teammates sit on opposite sides of the table facing each other. One teammate is the Caller, the other is the Builder.
2. Every Builder should have eight blocks in front of them (one of each color). Deal one tower card face down to each Caller (yellow/black side facing up).
3. Someone says, "Go" and all of the Callers flip over their tower card (so that they can see the multi-colored side) and start calling out directions to their Builder teammates. First team to build their tower correctly and shout "BUILDZI" wins!

Example calls: "Start with the pink U!" "Now the F shape! But turn it the other way!" "Put the plus sign there!" "Put the W shape on the blue one!" "Now the red right angle!" "Purple T. Yeah, turn it that way!" "Green squiggly! Flip it up!" "And then the yellow L. BUILDZI!!!"

NOTE: Callers may NOT show the tower card to their Builder.

More Party Games

Countdown BUILDZI

1. All of the blocks are divided among the players and one player sets a smartphone countdown timer to 1 minute.
2. As soon as the timer is started, that player quickly places any block FLAT in the center. (Note: This is the ONLY block that can be placed flat.)
3. Then the player to their left quickly places one of their blocks on top of the first block, and so on and so on.
4. A player loses if either the timer goes off when it's their turn or if any block falls when they place a block on the tower.

Together BUILDZI

(This is a non-speed game and everyone is working together.)

1. One player goes first and places any block FLAT in the center. (Note: This is the ONLY block that can be placed flat.)
2. Then the player to their left places a block on top of that block and so on.
3. See how many blocks you can add to the tower without it falling down.

BUILDZI Party of One

(Yep, you can even play BUILDZI solo.)

1. Take a tower card and time yourself to see how fast you can build it. Now try to beat that time!
2. Make your own tower and see how high you can stack your blocks.
3. See how many blocks you can fit on one tower. Can you place all 32?
4. Or just lay them flat and make an interesting, colorful design.

99 More BUILDZI Towers (Companion Rules)

How to Play

You know how to play BUILDZI, right? Well, all that's still the same, but now there are five new types of Tower Cards.

So put all the BUILDZI blocks in a pile in the center, shuffle all the new Tower Cards, and deal one Tower Card to each player.

Someone says, "Go" then everyone flips over their Tower Card and quickly grabs blocks from the center.

First player to build their tower and shout "BUILDZI" wins!

Deal out new cards and play again and again and again.

Five New Types of Tower Cards

• Crazi-Colors: Look closely! The colors of the blocks on these cards have been changed so they don't match the actual blocks. So you have to grab and build by the shape, not the color!
• Flip-Flop: No colors to help you out, but you can build these towers either way! Right-side-up, or turn the card upside down and build it the other way. Whichever you think is faster!
• Build by Numbers: Easy as 1, 2, 3... Build these towers any way you want as long as 1 is the first block placed, then 2, then 3, all the way up to 8 as the last block placed on the tower! (Remember, no flat stacking.)
• 3D Builds: You don't need 3D glasses for these towers. But you do need to quickly build in a whole new dimension!
• One Hand: Real straight-forward here, except for one little twist. You can only use one hand! Left or right, doesn't matter, just not both.

NOTE 1: Yes, players will likely have different types of towers to build. But they're all simple and fast, and each has its own fun little wrinkle.

NOTE 2: Tumbling blocks may cause small dings in wooden tables, so you might want to use placemats to build on.

Here's a Twist

To occasionally change the game up, you can also go through the deck of Tower Cards and choose one type for all players to build.

Let's say, for example, you decide on 3D Builds. Hand out a 3D Build card to everyone, then say "Go!" No flipping over the card, just start building.

And when everyone is playing with a Flip-Flop card, here's a fun thing to do: Someone says "Go" and everyone races to build their tower. When they finish building the right-side-up tower, they have to quickly turn the card upside down and then build it the other way. First player to build both towers wins!

Even More Ways to Play

You don't need any Tower Cards to play these games.

1. Be the first to build an eight-block tower using any blocks you want.
2. Be the first to build an eight-block tower with gloves or mittens on.
3. Who can build an eight-block tower the fastest? Only one player builds at a time while another player times them using a smartphone.
4. Who can build four eight-block towers the fastest? Only one player builds at a time while another player times them using a smartphone.
5. Who can build a 16-block tower the fastest? One player at a time builds. Another player uses a smartphone to time them.
6. And here's a bit of a wild one where you'll need a few sets of chopsticks. Be the first to build an eight-block tower using chopsticks and not your hands.

Challenge Builds on Our Site

And for when you don't want to play a speed game, but just want a simple, fun challenge, go to tenzi.com/buildzi-challenge for some really crazy builds.

• All 32 Builds: We've used all 32 blocks in these towers. They do make a very loud noise when they all come crashing down!
• Skyscraper Builds: Every bit as challenging, but just a little bit taller.