Kunst Stücke Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Aim of game
• Preparation
• Course of play
  • 1. Placing Shapes
  • 2. Sliding Shapes
  • 3. Drawing target tiles
• Game End
• Scoring

Contents

• 1 Game board (The canvas for the artists).
• 60 colored shapes; 12 in each of 5 colors.
• 5 Score boards (each marked 15/10/10/5/5.).
• 30 Target tiles, (marked from 1 - 6+ in each of the 5 colors).
• 1 tile board (marked A/B/C/D/E).
• 50 markers.
• 1 set of rules.

Aim of game

As an artist you naturally have your own idea of how the finished piece of art should look. This is represented by the target tiles. They give you your target in the game. The Red 3 for example, means that at the end of the game you want to see a block with exactly three connected red shapes in it somewhere on the board. If you manage to achieve this you will get points for it. The player that achieves the most points from these targets wins the game.

Preparation

Place the game board in the center of the table. Place the tile board next to it. The colored shapes are placed face down and shuffled, then each player, beginning with the youngest, takes some, according to the following table.

• 5 Players > 11 Shapes
• 4 Players > 13 Shapes
• 3 Players > 18 Shapes
• 2 Players > 26 Shapes

The remaining pieces are removed from the game. Players then turn their chosen shapes face up.

Each player takes one score board and 10 chips and places them in front of them.

The target tiles are shuffled and placed face down in five stacks, of six tiles each. One stack is placed on each of the five spaces (marked A - E) on the tile board. The youngest player starts play by taking the first turn. Play proceeds in a clockwise direction.

Course of play

A player may carry out up to three actions on his turn:

• MUST place or discard a colored shape.
• MAY slide one or more shapes around the board.
• MAY take a target tile.

Once a player has carried out these actions his turn is over and the next player takes a turn.

1. Placing Shapes

Placing shapes on the board is a major element of the game. The players gradually fill the board (canvas) with color, so that the work of art gradually develops. The player takes one of his own colored shapes and places it on the board. The broken lines on the board act as a guide so that all pieces lie in the same direction. The newly placed shape may be positioned so as to abut an already laid shape of the same color, or it may be laid in a "free" position, i.e., not abutting any other piece. Examples can be seen in the diagrams on page 4 of the rules.

A shape may only abut shapes of another color if it is also abutting a shape of its own color (see diagram on page 5). In this way, shapes are gradually laid on the board until it is full. A player must always play (or discard) a shape during his turn. If it is not possible to place a shape anywhere on the board, or if the player chooses to not lay it on the board, then he may discard a shape instead. This is returned to the box and is out of the game.

2. Sliding Shapes

Sliding the colored shapes around the board is the second major element of the game. The players attempt, by sliding pieces, to correct any minor "mistakes" that the other artists, or they themselves, may have made in building up the work of art. A player may, in any turn, slide one or more already positioned shapes around the board. Pieces may only be moved horizontally or vertically, i.e., they must follow the broken lines on the board. A shape may however be slid through several different right angles, i.e., horizontally then vertically then horizontally again, as the player wishes. However, rotation of the shape is not allowed, it must stay in the orientation in which it was laid. Shapes may be slid to touch shapes of other colors. There is however one very important rule when sliding a shape. If the shape starts the turn abutting another shape of its own color, then it must also end the turn in contact with a shape of its own color, although this need not be the original shape. Contact must be in a horizontal or vertical direction, not merely diagonal corner contact. The shape that the piece was originally in contact with may be left as a single piece following this maneuver, only the piece being slid need follow this rule.

Sliding shapes costs chips. For every individual shape that you slide, you must give up one chip. A player with no chips left cannot move any shape. Players may slide shapes at any point in their turn, before placement, afterwards, or before and after, if they so wish. Hint: When sliding, you should first think about it and plan the move in your head before moving the shape. Sliding a piece to and fro across the board not only breaks up the flow of the game, but it also makes it nearly impossible to remember exactly where the shape was when you started. It is also always a good idea to give up a chip before you move the shape to prevent arguments afterwards as to whether it has been paid or not. (The diagrams on page 6 give examples of legal sliding moves).

3. Drawing target tiles

These tiles set up each player's goals in the game. There is only one of each type of tile, so no two players may ever be working towards the same goal. Players may draw a tile before or after placing a colored shape. To draw a tile, the player first takes an entire stack of tiles from one of the spaces on the tile board (A, B, C, D or E). They look through this stack and must choose one tile from it. They may only look at one stack per turn. They then return the rest of the stack to the tile board, still face down. The player then places his chosen tile, face down, on one of the five spaces on his score board (5, 5, 10, 10, or 15). Players may look at the tiles on their score boards at any time but, once placed, it must stay on the same space on the score table. A player may choose a tile five times during the game. When all the spaces on a score table are full no more tiles may be chosen.

Game End

The game is over when all players have placed or discarded all their colored shapes. Once the game has finished the points are reckoned up.

Scoring

All players turn the tiles on their score boards face up. Players earn points for every tile that is correct, i.e., for every tile that matches a block of that many shapes in that color on the board. In addition, every correct tile scores a bonus. The bonus is the number of the space on the score table where the tile was placed. A simple example can be seen on page 8 of the rules. A player has placed the tile "RED-2" on the 15 space of their score table. There is in fact a block on the board consisting of exactly two red pieces alongside one another. (Only horizontal and vertical connections count, not diagonal). The player scores 2 points for the 2 on the tile, and a further 15 points as a bonus, 17 points in total. The 6+ tiles are correct when, at game end, there is a block of six or more shapes in that color, on the board. They score 6 points plus the bonus. Tiles only ever score once, even if a particular color and size of block occurs more than once on the board. Even if there are three red blocks, each containing two shapes, on the board, our player only scores 17 points. The player with the highest score wins the game.