Kulami Rulebook

Table of Contents

Contents
Goal of the Game
Setup
Game Play
End of the Game
Scoring
Variants
- The Biggest Area
- The Lines
Credits

17 wooden tiles
28 red marbles
28 black marbles

Goal of the Game

Win the most points by the end of the game.

Setup

Each player chooses a color and collects the marbles of that color. The 17 wooden tiles are placed edge-to-edge to form the game board. For example, players can make either:

An 8x8 square
An irregular shape of 10x10 maximum

Game Play

In turns, players place their marbles in the empty holes on the board. The first marble can be placed anywhere on the board. From there on, players must respect the following three rules when placing their marbles:

The marble must be placed either horizontally or vertically in relation to the marble the opponent has just played.
The marble cannot be placed on the same tile on which the opponent has just played their marble.
The marble cannot be placed on the same tile where the player placed their previous marble.

Example of play:

Red's first move in the game: the first marble may be placed anywhere on the board.
Black's move: black must play along the axis (row or column) that intersects where red played her last marble (rule 1), but not on the same tile where red played her last move (rule 2).
Red's move: red must play along the axis that intersects where black played his last marble (rule 1), but not on the same tile (rule 2), and not on the tile last played by red herself (rule 3).

Note: A line of marbles may contain gaps.

End of the Game

The game ends when all marbles have been played or when a player cannot play their next marble (that is, both the horizontal and vertical spots where the player must play their marble are full, or the move is otherwise forbidden according to the game rules).

For example: if black cannot play, the game ends immediately.

Scoring

To facilitate the counting of the points, players can dismantle the board. Each player collects the wooden tiles where their color prevails. The tiles that have the same number of black and red marbles are put aside and do not count.

Each tile counts for as many points as the number of holes it has, regardless of how many holes have been filled with marbles. For example, a tile with six holes gives the player 6 points; a tile with four holes gives the player 4 points. The player with the most accumulated points wins the game.

For example: 27 points for the black player, 31 points for the red player. If both players have the same amount of marbles, it is a draw.

Variants

The game is played normally, but at the end of the game (before the scoring) the players may score bonus points as follows. When playing with the variant rules, players may choose to use one or both added rules.

The Biggest Area

Before dismantling the board, each player identifies the biggest area of their color. (Marbles placed diagonally are not considered connected.) The player who has the largest area of connected marbles scores bonus points equivalent to the difference between the number of marbles in the two players' largest areas.

For example: red zone has 12 marbles, black zone has 17 marbles. 17 - 12 = 5 bonus points. Black gets 5 bonus points.

The Lines

Before dismantling the board, players identify lines (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) consisting of at least 5 marbles. A line accounts for as many points as the marbles in the line. The player who has the most cumulative points with their lines will score bonus points equivalent to the difference between the two players' accumulated line points.

For example: total of red lines: (1 x 7) + (1 x 5) = 12 points. Total of black lines: (3 x 5) = 15 points. 15 - 12 = 3 points bonus. Black gets 3 bonus points.

Credits

Published by FoxMind BV, Stadhouderskade 125hs, 1074AV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Graphic design: Karl Malépart.