C.O.G. Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Setup
• Object of the Game
• Playing the Game
  • Phase I: Prepare (simultaneous)
  • Phase II: Collect (in turn order)
  • Phase III: Activate (simultaneous)
    • Cabinet Cards: Two Main Types
    • Powers
    • Activation Cost
    • Timing of Activation
    • Important Rules for Power Cards
    • Item Cards
    • End of Phase III
  • Phase IV: Construct (simultaneous)
    • Spelling Words on Your Grid
    • Using Star Tokens and Wild Letters
    • Item Construction Examples
    • Earning a Grid Bonus
    • Placing Item Cubes
    • Completing Item Cards
    • Earning a Goal Card Bonus
    • End of Phase IV
  • Phase V: Conclude
• Additional Rules
• Game End
• Final Scoring
• 2 Player Variant
  • Setup
  • Phase II: Collect
  • Game End
• Power Cards Summary
  • Immediate Use, No Die Required
  • Once Per Round, Specific Colored Die Required
  • Once Per Round, Specific Pip Number Required
  • Always in Effect, No Die Required

Contents

• 1 Two-Sided Game Board (4 Players / 2-3 Players)
• 4 Player Mats (1 in each player color)
• 42 Cabinet Cards
• 120 Letter Tiles (+16 Spare Tiles)
• 4 Pawns (1 in each player color)
• 16 Cogs (4 in each player color)
• 4 Dice
• 4 Turn Order Cards
• 48 Item Cubes (12 in each player color)
• 24 Goal Cards (6 in each player color)
• 20 Wild Tokens (star tokens)
• 60 Victory Point Cards
• 1 Cloth Bag
• 1 Clock Token

Setup

1. Place the game board in the center of the playing area. Choose the side based on the number of players (see icon).
2. Each player chooses a color, takes the pawn of that color, and places it on the starting space.
3. Put the clock on space #1 on the clock track.
4. Place all the letter tiles, except the spare (darker) tiles, in the bag. Put the spares aside.
5. Draw letter tiles from the bag and place 1 letter face-up on each square in the board's center.
6. Place the star tokens and dice in a "supply." For 3 players, return the black die to the box. For 2 players, return the black die and the aqua die.
7. Stack the victory point cards by value and place in the supply.
8. Shuffle the 42 cabinet cards and place the deck face-down in the supply. For 3 players, remove the 3 cards with the black die icon in lower left. For 2 players, remove the 3 cards with a black die icon and the 3 cards with the aqua die icon.
9. Give each player 1 player mat, 4 cogs, 12 item cubes, and a set of 6 goal cards in their color.
10. Roll a die, then all players remove the goal card matching the die number (see Roman numeral in upper left of tile) from their sets.
11. Players place their remaining goal cards in numerical order in their player mat's top slots.
12. Determine a starting player by any method and give her turn order card #1. Pass out the other turn order cards in a clockwise order, i.e., the second player gets #2, and so on. Return unused turn order cards to the box.
13. Each player draws 2 random letter tiles and places them in the reserve on the right side of their player mats.
14. Give a starting bonus to each player depending upon turn order.
    • #1: No bonus
    • #2: A star token
    • #3: 3 VPs
    • #4: A random letter tile from the bag

(Steps 1-5 are Board Setup, steps 6-8 Supply Setup, steps 9-14 Player Setup.)

Object of the Game

The object is to score the most Victory Points (VPs). The main way to score VPs is to "construct items" by spelling the words listed on the goal cards. You may also score VPs by landing on certain board spaces, by earning bonuses, and by acquiring specific cabinet cards. At game end, the player with the most VPs wins.

Playing the Game

The game lasts 6 rounds (for 4 players) or 7 rounds (for 2-3 players). The rounds are tracked with the clock along the clock track. Each round has 5 phases.

• Phase I: Prepare
• Phase II: Collect
• Phase III: Activate
• Phase IV: Construct
• Phase V: Conclude

Phase I: Prepare (simultaneous)

In this phase, players prepare the board for the other phases. To speed up play, assign the tasks to different players and perform them simultaneously.

Task 1: Place Letters and Star Tokens. For each slot at the top of the board, draw the specified number of letters and/or star tokens, as depicted by the icons next to the cogs on the board, and place them face-up in the slots. For 4 players, flip the letter in the far right slot over to make "wild" (See Phase IV for using wild letters). For 2-3 players, do not use the leftmost slot. For 2 players, use only the 2 middle slots.

Task 2: Place Cabinet Cards. Draw and place a cabinet card face-up in each of the slots on the bottom of the board. For 3 players, use only 3 slots. For 2 players, use only 2 slots. If the deck of cabinet cards is exhausted, start a new deck using discarded cabinet cards.

Task 3: Place Dice. Roll the dice and place them in the slots on the appropriate edge of the board. For 3 players, the black die is not in the game. For 2 players, the aqua and black dice are removed.

Task 4: Place Turn Order Bonuses. Place the bonus, as indicated by the icons, in each slot on the edge of the board showing the pawns. No bonus for position #1. In the lowest slot place a random letter from the bag. For 3 players, do not use the lowest slot. For 2 players, do not use bottom two slots.

Phase II: Collect (in turn order)

In this phase, players take turns in turn order. The player with card #1 takes the first turn, the player with card #2 goes next, and so on. Each player takes 1 turn at a time until all players have taken 4 turns. When taking a turn:

• Place 1 of your cogs into an open "cog space" on the board.
• By the end of the phase, each of your cogs must be on a different board edge (i.e., top, bottom, left, and right). So, you may not place a second cog on the same edge.
• After placing a cog, take the corresponding action (see below).

Collect Letters/Star Token (Board Top). When you place a cog at one of the board's top slots, take the letters/star token from the slot and place them on your player mat. Place letters in the reserve area on the right side of your mat. Place star tokens in the designated space under the reserve.

Important: During the round, you may have any number of letters and star tokens in your reserve. However, you may not keep more than 7 letters and 3 star tokens at the end of a round (see Phase V: Conclude).

Collect a Cabinet Card (Board Bottom). When you place a cog at a slot at the board's bottom, take the corresponding cabinet card. Keep the card near your tableau for future use or use it immediately, depending on card type (see Card Powers, p. 12).

Special Star Token Power: After taking a cabinet card, you may spend a star token to discard the card and blindly take the top card from the deck instead. You may only do this once per turn.

Collect a Turn Order Bonus. When you place a cog at a slot on the turn order edge of the board, you are choosing turn order for the next round. After placing the cog, take the corresponding bonus, if any. Position #1 gets no bonus. Do not take the turn order card at this point (see Phase V: Conclude).

Special Star Token Powers: You may spend a star token to put your cog in a turn order position occupied by another cog. To do so, move the other cog down a slot (possibly moving other cogs down too). Moved cogs do not receive the new bonus. You may also spend a star token to protect your cog from being moved. To do so, when you place your cog, place the star token underneath the cog, indicating it cannot be moved. Return star token to supply at round's end.

Collect a Die and Move Pawn. When you place a cog on the edge of the board with dice icons, take the corresponding die and immediately move your pawn clockwise the number of spaces shown on the die. After moving your pawn, keep the die near your player mat. You may use it to activate cabinet cards in Phase III.

Movement Bonus: If you land on an empty space, you earn a movement bonus, as shown by the space's icon(s). For spaces with 2 icons, you get both. If you land on a space occupied by another pawn, you receive no bonus.

Special Star Token Power: After taking a die and before moving your pawn, you may spend a star token to re-roll the die and use the new result. You may only do this once per turn.

Note: If the movement bonus is to take 2 letters from the board's center spaces, take both before replacing with new ones.

End of Phase II. After players have placed all their cogs, Phase II ends.

Phase III: Activate (simultaneous)

In this phase, players may activate certain cabinet cards. Each card has specific requirements to activate. Players may perform this phase simultaneously to speed up play.

Cabinet Cards: Two Main Types

There are two main types of cabinet cards: (1) power cards and (2) item cards. Power cards provide special powers when activated. Item cards provide an alternative way to construct an item instead of spelling a word on your grid (see Phase IV).

Power card anatomy: a power icon showing the card's power; an activation cost showing the die requirement (lower left); a timing icon showing when and how often a card may be activated (lower right). Item card anatomy: an item icon; a bonus; the letter tiles required to complete the item.

Powers

Each power card has an icon indicating the card's power. For cards with multiple power icons, the player gains all. There are 5 different power icons:

• Question mark: draw a letter tile from the bag.
• Plus: take a letter tile from the center of the board.
• Star: take a star token.
• Hexagon with a number: take VPs from supply.
• Letters shown: flip over specified letters to make wild.

Activation Cost

A card's activation cost is shown in the lower left corner. The activation cost is (1) a specific colored die, (2) a die of a specific number, or (3) no die at all. In the first two cases, if a player takes the appropriate die in Phase II, the card(s) may be activated in this phase. Cards that require no die to activate are immediately used when acquired.

Activation cost icons:

• Colored die icon: to activate, you need the corresponding colored die.
• Die with pips icon: to activate, you need a die with either number of pips (e.g., 1 or 3 above).
• Crossed-out die icon: no die required to activate.

Timing of Activation

The timing of the activation is shown in the lower right corner. Some cards may be activated once per round; others are activated immediately and discarded; while others are always in effect.

Timing icons (as printed in the rulebook's legend):

• Circled 1 with arrow: activate once per round (phase IV).
• Lightning bolt: activate immediately and discard (in phase II).
• Looping symbol: activate whenever possible.

Important Rules for Power Cards

• You may use a die more than once to activate different cards in the same round. For example, you may use a black die with 2 pips to activate two cards that each require a black die and then use the die to activate a card requiring a die with 2 pips.
• For cards that activate once per round, turn them face-down after use. Turn them face-up again at the end of the phase.
• The card powers are explained in detail in the Card Summary (see p. 12).

Item Cards

Unlike power cards, item cards are not "activated" in phase III, but are "completed" in Phase IV, as will be explained later.

End of Phase III

When players are done activating power cards, players move to the next phase.

Phase IV: Construct (simultaneous)

In this phase, you "construct items" by using letters to spell words. Words may be spelled on your grid or by the use of item cards. Players perform the phase's actions simultaneously.

Spelling Words on Your Grid

When spelling words on your grid, you must follow these rules:

• You may only spell "permitted" words, i.e., words listed on a goal card in play.
• Your first word must have at least 1 letter in the four center squares.
• Future words must cross with a prior words.
• You may spell any given word only one time on your grid.
• You must spell words from left to right or from up to down as in a typical crossword.
• You must place all the letters of a word within the mat's grid.
• You may spell more than 1 word during Phase IV, but you must spell them individually, i.e. you cannot put down letter(s) to spell multiple words simultaneously.
• Two words may share a letter at the point at which they cross, as in a typical crossword.
• You may not extend any of the words. In other words, once a you spell a word on the grid, you may not add letters to either end of it.
• You are not required to spell words, even if you have the tiles in your reserve to do so.

Using Star Tokens and Wild Letters

You may use a star token to make a letter "wild," so it can count as any letter. Return the star token and turn the letter face-down to indicate it is wild.

• You may make any letters in your reserve and/or already on your grid wild.
• A wild letter may count as two different letters if it is the cross point for two words. For example, a wild letter may be an A in a horizontal word and it may also be an M in a vertical word.

Item Construction Examples

Allowed:

• This player started with CLAMP as his first word. Then he added OG, to make COG. Both of these words are on a goal card used in the game.
• After spelling CLAMP, the player made the A in CLAMP wild. It now can be used as an O to spell ROD.

Not Allowed:

• This player may not spell ROD here because LD is not a permitted word. Also, even if LD were a word, the player would be spelling 2 words simultaneously, which is not allowed.
• The player may not put a letter in the space marked with an X because it would spell two words simultaneously.

Earning a Grid Bonus

Each player's grid has 8 bonus spaces. If you cover a bonus space when spelling a word, you immediately gain the bonus, as shown by the icons. The icons are the same as those on the cards and board, except for the icon in the lower right corner, which means "draw a cabinet card," i.e., take the top cabinet card from the deck and use it accordingly.

Placing Item Cubes

After constructing an item, place an item cube into the space next to the word on the goal card to signify that you have spelled it.

Completing Item Cards

Item cards provide an alternate way to construct an item, instead of spelling it on your tableau. Each item card shows 1 or 2 missing letters. You complete the item card by putting the missing letters (or wild letters) on the card. If the card requires two letters, you must place both at the same time. After completing an item card, you must immediately:

(1) place an item cube on the appropriate space on the corresponding goal card

OR

(2) score the card bonus.

In either case, return the letter(s) to the bag, and turn the item card face-down and keep near your player mat for end game scoring.

Note: If you already have a word on the grid and complete the matching item card, you must take the item card bonus.

Earning a Goal Card Bonus

If you complete all the words on a goal card, you immediately earn a goal card bonus, as shown. After taking the bonus, return the item cubes to your supply and turn the tile face-down.

End of Phase IV

When players are done constructing items, move to the next phase.

Phase V: Conclude

In this phase, perform these tasks in this order:

Task 1: Move Clock. Advance the clock token one space on the clock track. If it is already on the last space, the game ends (skip remaining tasks).

Task 2: Establish Turn Order. Distribute the turn order cards based on the cogs' placement at the turn order side of the board. The player in the first position takes card #1, the second takes #2, and so on.

Task 3: Retrieve Cogs. Players retrieve their cogs from the board.

Task 4: Return Dice. Players return the dice to the supply.

Task 5: Take a Letter, if 3 or Fewer. All players who have 3 or fewer letters in their reserve draw a letter from the bag.

Task 6: Check Maximums. If you have more than 7 letters in the reserve, you must return the excess letters (of your choice) to the bag. A player with more than 3 star tokens must return the excess tokens to the supply.

If the game is not over, start a new round at Phase I.

Additional Rules

• Deconstruction: You may remove a word from your grid, provided the word is neither on a completed goal card nor covering 1 of the 4 corner spaces on the grid. When removing the word, return the letters to the bag and remove the completion cube from the corresponding goal card. Also, you must keep other words on the grid intact, i.e., you cannot remove letters that are parts of other words on your grid (unless removing those words too) or divide the crossword pattern into two or more parts.
• Conversions: At any time during the game, you may perform either of these actions:
  • Convert Star Tokens to Letters: You may return 2 star tokens to draw 1 letter from the bag.
  • Convert Letters to Star Tokens: You may return 2 letters from your reserve to the bag to take 1 star token.
• VP Secret Information: During the game, victory points are considered secret information. You may look at your own VP cards, but not those of others.
• Out of Letters: In the rare case that the bag has no letters, add the spare tiles to the bag and resume play. However, during Phase IV of that round, players should construct items in turn order (not simultaneously). If the bag runs out again, players receive 2 VPs in place of each letter. This scenario is very unlikely to happen. Important: The game ends at the end of the round in which this occurs, even if the game does not reach the number of rounds stated below.

Game End

After 6 rounds (4 players) or 7 rounds (2-3 players), the game ends and players tally their scores.

Final Scoring

To the VPs earned during the game, players add VPs for the following:

• Incomplete Goal cards: For each incomplete goal card, score 1 VP per completed word and score 1 VP for each letter in those completed word(s).
• Completed Item Cards: The player with the most completed item cards scores 3VPs + 3VPs per completed card. The player with the second most scores 2VPs + 2 VPs per completed card. All others score 1VP per completed card. In case of ties, the player with the turn order position closest to #1 wins the tie (as based on the final cog placement on the board).
• Letter Tiles: For every 2 letter tiles in your reserve, score 1 VP (round down).

The player with the most Victory Points wins. In case of ties, the player with the turn order position closest to #1 wins the tie (as based on the final cog placement on the board).

2 Player Variant

Play by the normal rules with the following changes.

Setup

• Place 1 of the unused pawns on the starting space and the other unused pawn on the space diagonally opposite the starting space. These pawns are "neutral."
• Remember that you do not use the aqua and black dice. Also remember to remove the cabinet cards activated by the aqua and black dice.

Phase II: Collect

• At the start of this phase, roll an unused die and move both neutral pawns the number shown on the die.
• For purposes of game play, the neutral pawns simply prevent a player from gaining the space's benefit. As usual, if a player lands on a space occupied by another pawn, the player does not get the benefit.

Game End

• Score as normal, except that the player with fewer completed item cards scores just 2 VPs per card (i.e., does not receive the additional 2 VPs for being second). If tied with number of cards, the player with the turn order position closest to #1 (as shown on the board's final cog placement) wins the tie, as usual.

Power Cards Summary

Immediate Use, No Die Required

Use these cards when acquired and then discard.

• Take 3 star tokens.
• Take a star token, 3 VPs, and draw a letter from the bag.
• Take 7 VPs.
• Draw 2 letters from the bag, and take 2 VPs.

Once Per Round, Specific Colored Die Required

Use these cards once per round in Phase III: Activate, if you chose the matching colored die in Phase II. The same die may be used to activate multiple cards.

• Take 3 VPs.
• Draw a letter from the bag.
• Take a star token and 1 VP.

Once Per Round, Specific Pip Number Required

You may use the cards below once per round in Phase III, provided you chose the a die with the correct number of pips. Either pip value is acceptable to activate. Furthermore, the same die may be used to activate multiple cards.

• Draw 1 letter from the bag and take 1 VP.
• Take 3 VPs.
• Take 2 star tokens.

Always in Effect, No Die Required

The letters depicted on these cards are wild for you. As soon as you acquire one of these cards, flip over the specified letters on your player mat, including those already used in constructing items on your grid. Also, if you get the specified letter tiles after acquiring the card, they immediately become wild.

The three cards show the letters H, P, K; T, W, Y; and B, C, G.