Kaleido Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Important Note
• Components
• Object of the Game
• Set-up
• Playing the Game
  • Turn Sequence
  • Details of a Turn
  • End of Game
• End-game Scoring
• Variant Rules for a 2-player Game
• Kaleido Summary

Important Note

The "hexagonal frames" are also needed for the game even after removing the triangular tiles from them, so please do NOT lose the frames. You cannot play the game without them!

Components

• 14 Hexagonal Frames (with holes). These are called "game boards". The black triangles in the manual's image indicate the holes.
• 3 Hexagonal Plates (without holes). These are score boards. Two of them are used for single digits and the other is used for double digits.
• 84 Triangular Tiles (14 x 6 colors). The colored side is the face side. These are called "tiles".
• 13 Glass Counters, used for the end-game scoring.
• 1 Printed Manual.

There are some extra game boards and white tiles, which are used as back-ups.

Note: Before removing from frames, the tiles are connected to the opposite side of the game boards. After removing the tiles, flip the game boards to the face side.

Object of the Game

The players put the tiles in the game boards. After some mid-game scorings and the end-game scoring, the player with the most points is the winner.

Earning points in each game board is important, but the final scoring is also crucial, so please make use of rotation and secure the best position in each game board.

Set-up

• Each player selects a unique color (from red, yellow, green, blue and purple) and takes 14 tiles of the color in a 3-player game, 13 tiles in a 4 or 5-player game.
• Connect the 2 score boards with single digits side by side each other and place them on the table along with the score board with double digits.
• Each player puts one tile in the "0" space of the score board and another tile beside the score board with double digits as score indicators.
• Put 2 game boards (not from the players' stocks) in the center of the table and connect them side by side each other.
• Each player takes 2 game boards.
• Each player takes 2 white tiles.
• Put the glass counters on the side of the playing area. They will be used later for the end-game scoring.
• Return the remaining components to the box, as they are not used in this game.

The manual shows a set-up image for a 4-player game.

Playing the Game

A player who looked into a kaleidoscope most recently is the starting player. You can also use any method, such as rock-scissors-paper, to determine the first player.

Each player, starting from the first player and going clockwise, takes a turn.

Turn Sequence

1. Placing a tile (necessary)
2. Additional action (this can be performed only once, just before or after placing a tile)
3. Scoring (if needed)
4. Rotating a game board (only after scoring)

After the above 4 steps, the game proceeds to the next player's turn.

Details of a Turn

1. Placing a tile

Each player must put 1 tile of their color in any hole of a game board. A hole that is occupied is called "occupied" in short.

There are the following 2 rules.

• They can put a tile in any empty hole they like.
• They cannot put a tile in any already occupied hole by another tile.

2. Additional action

The player can perform one of the following 2 actions just before or after placing a tile.

1. Placing a white tile

2. Placing an additional game board

   1. You can place one of your white tiles in any empty hole (the rules are the same as normal tile placement).
   2. You can place one of your game boards. At least one side of the board must be connected with one side of an existing game board.

Note: If all the holes of the existing game boards are occupied at the beginning of a player's turn, the player must place an additional game board before putting a tile.

In a very rare case, if the player does not have any game boards when the above situation occurs, the player's turn will be skipped. In this case, there would be a difference in the current number of the players' tiles, but the end-game condition (described later) does not change. A player who has run out of tiles must pass their turn until all the other players run out of tiles. A "pass" only occurs in this situation.

3. Scoring

All players should check whether a score tallying occurs at this timing of each turn.

Tally the score only when all the six holes in one of the game boards have been occupied. This may occur for two game boards simultaneously when a player uses an extra (white) tile. In that case, the active player can determine which game board to start scoring (the order does not make any difference).

When scoring, count the number of tiles of each color on the game board. Then, the players earn points based on their rank as follows.

• The player with the most tiles on the game board earns 8 points.
• The player with the second most tiles on the game board earns 4 points.
• If there is a tie for first place, 12 points (8+4) are divided between the players (round down). In this case, none of the other players can earn points.
• If there is a draw for second place, 4 points are divided between the players (round down).

In a very rare case, if all the six holes are occupied by a single player, the player earns 12 points.

Important: Any white tiles are NOT counted when scoring (i.e. the white tiles are not involved in ranking).

Players who earn points move their score indicator forward on the score boards. When your score reaches 10, use the score board with double digits also to indicate your current points. For example, when a purple tile is placed on "6" and "20", this means the purple player's current score is "26".

Example 1 (manual): The red player wins the first place, so he/she earns 8 points. White is the second most, but since white tiles are not involved in scoring, the green player earns 4 points.

Example 2 (manual): The purple player earns 8 points. Since the white tile is ignored, the second place goes to the yellow and green players. 4 points are divided between the players, so they earn 2 points each.

4. Rotating a game board

After scoring, the active player can rotate the game board(s) on which the scoring occurred just now as he/she likes. By rotating a game board, the players may be able to earn more points during the end-game scoring (described later).

The player does NOT have to rotate the game board. The game board can be rotated only in the same turn, and the active player cannot carry over the right to later turns.

If the game board is surrounded by other boards, please carefully move the surrounding boards a bit before rotating it, and move them back after that.

End of Game

The game ends if all the players run out of tiles (white tiles are NOT included). Even if some of the players still have one or two white tiles, no bonus is given to them.

End-game Scoring

After the game ends, the end-game scoring begins. Here, the players tally the score for any hexagons which meet the below two conditions, following the same scoring procedure as the mid-game scoring.

• 2 sides of 3 adjacent game boards are connected to one another.
• All the 6 holes of the hexagon (made by the 3 game boards mentioned above) are occupied.

Also, please note that scoring does not take place at the game board if any hole of the game board is NOT occupied.

The manual's first example: the hexagon (highlighted in red) is occupied by 2 red, blue and purple tiles, so the three players share 12 points and each of them earns 4 points.

The manual's further examples: in the left example, the black triangles indicate an empty hole. The hexagon consisting of game boards 1, 4 and 5 (highlighted in red) has 2 blank holes, so scoring does not take place for the hexagon. In the hexagon consisting of game boards 1, 2 and 4 (highlighted in blue), the purple player earns 8 points, then the red, green and yellow players earn 1 point each. In the hexagon consisting of game boards 2, 3 and 4 (highlighted in yellow), the red player earns 8 points and the blue player earns 4 points. Game board 5 (highlighted in green) has empty holes, so scoring never takes place for that board.

When you finish scoring for a hexagon, place a glass counter on the center of the hexagon to help you understand which hexagons have been tallied so far.

After the end-game scoring, the player with the highest points wins the game. In case of a tie, the tied players share the victory.

After finishing the game, return the game boards to the box without removing the tiles from the boards. You can return the components smoothly.

Variant Rules for a 2-player Game

In a 2-player game, each player uses 2 colors. Follow the same set-up procedure as the 4-player game. However, each player takes 4 white tiles and 4 game boards (instead of 2 each).

The players alternately take a turn. They cannot put 2 tiles of the same color successively.

• e.g. Player A takes red and yellow tiles, and Player B takes blue and purple tiles. The game proceeds as Red → Blue → Yellow → Purple → Red → …
• e.g. Player A puts a red tile. In his/her next turn, the player must put a yellow tile rather than red.

The other rules, such as scoring, are all the same as the 3-5 player game.

The manual's example: red, blue and yellow earn 4 points each. Score indicators of the three players move 4 spaces on the score board. As in the 3-5 player game, scoring is done by color instead of by player.

When the ending condition is met, the game proceeds to the end-game scoring. Each player counts the points for their 2 colors, and the player with the highest total points wins the game.

Kaleido Summary

Set-up (this table shows the number of components dealt to each player)

# of Players	Triangular Tiles of own color (two of them are used as score indicator)	Game Boards (Hexagonal Tiles)	White Triangular Tiles
3	14	2	2
4	13	2	2
5	13	2	2

Place 2 game boards, connect them side by side, and place them in the center of the table. These are the starting game boards. The players can put their tiles in them.

Turn Sequence

The active player puts one of his tiles in and occupies any empty holes on the game boards. If the player wishes, he can perform one of the following additional actions just before or after putting a tile.

1. Place one of his game boards so that at least one side of the board is connected to an existing game board.
2. Put one of his white tiles in any empty holes on the game boards.

Scoring

When all the 6 holes of a game board are occupied, a score tallying takes place for the board(s) after the active player has finished all of his moves for the turn. The player with the most tiles in the game board earns 8 points. The player with the second most tiles in the game board earns 4 points. If there is a tie for first place, 12 points (8+4) are divided between the players (round down); in that case, none of the other players can earn points. If there is a draw for second place, 4 points are divided between the players (round down). Any white tiles are NOT counted when scoring.

Rotation

After scoring, the active player can rotate the game board(s) on which the score tallying took place in this turn.

End-game Scoring

On all the hexagons which consist of 3 game boards and are occupied by 6 tiles, perform the same scoring procedure as the above mid-game scoring. After the end-game scoring, the player with the most points wins the game.