Kakuzu
Kakuzu Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 board, pierced with 81 cells
- 81 stones
- 10 numbered stones, numbered 0 to 9, referred to below as the digits
- 1 bag
- 20 double-sided sheets (40 grids)
- These rules
Goal
Collect the maximum number of stones.
Setup
Place the digits in the bag.
Place 1 stone in each cell of the board (fig. 1). Choose a game grid at random, without looking at it, and slide it into the slot provided for this purpose (fig. 2). Players take turns removing one stone from each square of the grid (fig. 3). The 9 stones removed belong to no player and are set aside out of the game.
Course of the Game
Players take turns in clockwise order.
On his turn, a player draws a digit from the bag and removes a neutral stone of his choice from the board:
- If the digit he reveals is the same as the one he drew, the player keeps the stone (fig. 4). Without putting the first digit back, he draws another digit from the bag and plays again. Again, he keeps the stone he removed if the digit he reveals matches his draw. He continues in this way until the digit he reveals differs from the one he drew, or until there are no digits left in the bag.
- If the digit he reveals is different, the player gives the stone he has just removed from the board to the player on his left, and puts all the digits back into the bag (fig. 5). It is then the next player's turn.
- If a player reveals all the digits in the bag, he puts them all back into the bag and passes the turn to the next player.
- If a player draws a 0 from the bag, he immediately ends his turn.
When all nine occurrences of a digit have been fully revealed, the corresponding digit is removed from the bag. (Example: if the 9 stones hiding a three have been removed from the board, the digit 3 is removed from the bag; see fig. 6.)
End of the Game
When no stones remain on the board, the players count the stones they have collected. The player with the most stones wins the game.
Duration of a Game
About 20 minutes.
Variant
- When a player reveals on the board the digit matching the one he has just drawn from the bag, he keeps the stone and plays again without drawing; he must then try to find the same digit as before. When a player finds the ninth identical digit on the board, he passes the turn to the next player. That digit is no longer put back into the bag.
- It is possible to play without drawing a digit from the bag. The rules remain unchanged, but you must announce the digit you wish to reveal before taking a stone. You may not collect more than 3 stones per turn before passing the turn to the next player.
- In tournament play, a limited amount of time may be allotted to each player.