Cubo
Cubo Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
Your goal is to get the most points by arranging your nine dice. Arrange them into a square with the white wildcard die in the center, thus making rows and columns with as many trips and straights as possible.
The extraordinary challenge: All players are playing simultaneously! Try to be fast and keep an eye on your fellow players, and you will have the most points after six rounds and win the game!
Game Components
- 18 blue dice
- 18 red dice
- 4 white wildcard dice
- 4 cover tiles (frontside shows the cubo logo; the backside shows the 6 rows of a Cubo)
- 6 game round counters (frontside numbered 1 to 6; backside shows the cubo logo)
- 1 game round board
- 1 scoring board
- 91 scoring chips (values 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100)
- 1 bag (to store game components)
- 1 rulebook
Set-up
Sort the scoring chips according to value on the scoring board.
Place the game round counters with the number side up on the corresponding number of the game round board.
Place 2 blue and 2 red dice in the center of the playing area.
Give each player one cover tile, 4 red dice, 4 blue dice, and 1 white wildcard die.
Put any unused components back into the game box.
The oldest player is the start player.
Sequence of Play
Cubo is played over 6 game rounds.
Each game round proceeds as follows:
The start player flips the game round counter of this game round and then rolls all 4 dice lying in the center; the dice remain there in easy reach of all players.
Next, all players take their 9 dice into their hand and wait for the command of the start player. As soon as that player calls out "Cubo," all players start rolling their dice.
After rolling their dice, each player examines the results of his or her dice and must decide the following:
Either:
- Arrange dice to form a Cubo
or
- Reroll all of his or her dice
Arrange Dice to Form a Cubo
In order to form a Cubo, a player must arrange his blue and red dice as a square surrounding the wildcard die at the center. Six rows are created in that fashion.
Diagram: The 6 rows of a Cubo (three vertical rows numbered 1 to 3 and three horizontal rows numbered 4 to 6).
Note: A Cubo has 3 vertical and 3 horizontal rows.
The goal is to form as many trips and straights in the rows as possible.
Examples for straights and trips are shown in the rulebook.
Note: Straights could be done in ascending or descending order.
As soon as a player has arranged his 9 dice to his satisfaction, he puts his cover tile on top of the dice and calls out "Cubo." The player may not rearrange his dice anymore.
Every player who has called "Cubo" must now take a die from the center and place it on their cover tile. They may replace one of the colored dice of their Cubo with this die later before scoring.
Example: The player puts his cover tile on his Cubo and then takes the red 6 from the middle.
Hint: Don't ponder too long, because another player who had also called "Cubo" may snatch that die away from you, which you urgently wanted.
Reroll
If a player is not satisfied with the results of his roll or is not pleased with the arrangement of his Cubo, he may reroll all of his dice.
A player may reroll as many times as he wants until the first player has arranged his Cubo and called out "Cubo." From now on, players are not allowed to reroll but must settle for their current dice to form a Cubo.
In case a player is just holding his dice in his hand when another player calls "Cubo," he may roll his dice one last time.
End of a Game Round
After all players except one have taken a die from the center, the players who have completed their Cubo start a countdown aloud for 6 seconds: "6-5-4-3-2-1-Cubo." The last player has only this limited time to fully arrange his Cubo and put the cover tile on top. If he does it, he can take one of the remaining dice from the center. If not, he does not take a die and will not score any points this round.
Now on to scoring.
Scoring
At the end of each game round all players evaluate their points, beginning with the start player.
When it is his turn, the player removes the cover tile from his Cubo and may now exchange any colored die, except for the wildcard die, of his Cubo with the die they had taken from the center.
The exchanged/not exchanged die is placed back at the center.
Example: The player switches the red 6 for the blue 2, thus making a straight in the top horizontal row.
Hint: By exchanging dice in a way that you end up with more dice of one color, you set yourself up to have better chances of making single-colored rows.
Each player gains points for all rows of their Cubo containing Straights or Trips.
Straights
Each Straight is worth the highest number of pips of the Straight.
Example: The player gains 6 points for his straight.
Trips
Each Trips is worth as many points as pips are shown on one die of the trip.
Example: The player gains 3 points for his trip.
Straights and Trips in One Color
If all dice of a Trip or Straight have the same color (e.g. all dice are red), the points are doubled.
Example: The player gets 3 x 2 = 6 points for his trip of the same color.
The White Wildcard Die
The wildcard die may count both as a blue and a red die during the same scoring round.
Example: The player gains a total of 18 points.
Example: The player scores each of the 6 rows in his Cubo and gains 32 points in total. He used the wildcard die color functionality fully and did manage to get two rows of the same color with it.
Each player takes scoring chips worth the number of their points total from the supply.
After scoring, the next player in clockwise direction is the new start player and the next game round begins.
End of the Game and Winner
The game ends after scoring the sixth game round. The player with the most points is the winner.
Ties are possible.