Kurz vor Knapp
Kurz vor Knapp Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Materials
- 1 cord
- 24 bars
- 54 cylinders
Set-up of the Game
- Tie the ends of the cord together and form a circular playing area in the middle of the table.
- Spread out 10 cylinders within the entire playing area.
- Give cylinders to each player:
- 2 players: 16 cylinders
- 3 players: 14 cylinders
- 4 players: 11 cylinders
- Each player adds one of his cylinders to the cylinders in the playing area. Put surplus cylinders back into the box.
- Lay all bars in random order, forming a spiral around the outside of the cord. The bars can be arranged in any order; however, you have to end up with four particularly long bars at the outer end of the spiral.
Distance rule for the cylinders: All cylinders (at the same level) must have enough distance between each other so that another cylinder could fit between them. Never place cylinders closer than that to each other!
Object of the Game
You win if you get rid of all your own cylinders.
Course of the Game
The player who is sitting closest to the nearest door begins the game.
On each turn, you connect two cylinders, using a building bar.
In doing so, always observe these 3 building rules:
- Use only the outermost bar of the spiral. This is the building bar.
- Connect only those cylinders that are at the same height (i.e., the same level).
- No more than two bars may lie on any cylinder.
Before your turn
Check whether the building bar is still the same bar as it was on your previous turn. In this case, remove it from the game. Use the next bar of the spiral.
Visual judgment rule: Use only your eyes! Don't use any of your fingers or other auxiliary means for estimating lengths and distances.
On your turn
Estimate the length of the bar. Look at the building bar. Try to estimate its length.
Choose a pair of cylinders in the playing area. These are the two cylinders you want to connect using the building bar. If you don't find any cylinders that you are able or willing to connect, your game turn ends now.
Show the other players the cylinders you have chosen. In doing so, don't touch any bars or cylinders in the playing area.
It can now happen that somebody snatches your game turn away from you. In turn, one after another, the other players may claim that they are able to build at a higher level (see example). If, in doing so, somebody "bids" a level that isn't exceeded by any of the subsequent players, he snatches this game turn away from you. With immediate effect, it becomes his game turn. Now he shows the cylinders he has chosen.
Example: You announce that you are going to connect a pair of cylinders. Sven, your left neighbor, claims that he is able to connect two cylinders at a higher level. Jane, Sven's left neighbor, also would have been confident she could do that. But since she can't exceed Sven's bid, she can't make this claim. The last player of the round, Simone, can't build at a higher level than Sven either. Consequently, Sven snatches this game turn away from you. He now points out the cylinders he has chosen and then tries to connect them.
Place the building bar and thus connect the cylinders. Connect the afore-shown cylinders by placing the building bar. If somebody has snatched away your game turn from you, he carries out this action (connecting the cylinders he had shown). The connection is successful if both ends of the bar come to rest completely on the circular surfaces at the top of the cylinders. If this isn't the case, the connection fails, and your game turn ends. Put the building bar back to the outer end of the spiral.
- Successful: the ends of the bar are lying completely on the surface of the cylinders. The connection is successful.
- Fails: the bar is too short. It doesn't reach from one cylinder to the other. The connection fails.
- Fails: the bar is too long. It protrudes beyond one (or both) cylinder(s). The connection fails.
- Fails: the end of the bar is not completely lying on the cylinder.
When connecting two cylinders, you have to consider the following:
- You may move already-placed bars. However, don't touch them with your fingers but use only the building bar for that. Every bar that you touch or move while connecting two cylinders must completely lie in a correct position after your turn.
- Example: In order for Sven to lay the building bar (A) completely on this cylinder, he shoves bar B (the one that is already lying there) sideways (illustration 1). If, after that, both bars come to rest completely on the cylinder (illustration 2), the connection is successful. If the edge of any bar protrudes beyond the cylinder (illustration 3), the connection fails.
- You must leave all cylinders where they are. Don't let them shift out of place! If necessary, hold them in place. You may not move any cylinders! (Only exception: interfering cylinders, see below.)
Interfering Cylinders
When you are about to connect two cylinders and another cylinder that has not been built on at the same level is in the way, this is called an interfering cylinder. In order to establish a successful connection, you must relocate such a cylinder.
This is how you do it:
- Test whether your chosen connection will be successful. To this end, lay your building bar also over any interfering cylinders for the moment.
- If the connection is successful, lift the building bar, remove any interfering cylinder(s), and then reposition the building bar. Put any removed interfering cylinders elsewhere in the playing area; if the distance rule cannot be observed, take them out of the game.
- If the connection fails during the test, leave all interfering cylinders in place and put the building bar back to the end of the spiral. Your turn ends.
Covered cylinders are never interfering cylinders. If your connection goes over already-built cylinders, these cylinders are not interfering cylinders. They may not be relocated, since they are already used by bars for making connections. These cylinders may be overbuilt. But always observe that no more than two bars may lie on any cylinder (building rule #3).
Building In Your Own Cylinders
When you have successfully established a connection, build in your own cylinders:
- If your connection has been successful, place one of your own cylinders on top of the just-built bar. This applies also if you have snatched the game turn away from another player.
- If there already are bars one level down, you place a second cylinder there.
- If you have successfully established a connection at the fourth bar level (or above), you even place three cylinders: one on each of the top three levels.
If the distance rule can't be followed on the just-built-in bar, you must break the rule there, as an exception. Other than that, always observe the distance rule. If this is impossible, place this cylinder (or these cylinders) on the next lower level where you can abide by the distance rule. If this isn't possible anywhere, remove the cylinder(s) from the game.
Place your cylinders solidly. You have to place each cylinder in such a way that it rests solidly.
- The cylinder must not protrude beyond the end of the bar.
- A cylinder may not be placed in such a (lopsided) way that it might fall off the bar.
If players think that you have placed a cylinder that is not stable, they can (and should) ask you to correct this immediately.
Failed Connections Snatched Away From Another Player
If your connection fails in a game turn that you snatched away from another player, that player gives you as many columns (sic; cylinders) as he would have been allowed to install for his announced connection. You do not check whether his announced connection would have been successful.
Example: Jane announces she wants to connect a pair of cylinders at the third level. For this, she would have been allowed to then build in two cylinders. However, you snatch away the game turn from Jane, since you think that you could establish a connection at the fourth level. But you are wrong; so you fail. Consequently, Jane gives you the two cylinders that she would have built in. In this case, it doesn't matter whether her connection would actually have been successful or not.
Collapses of Any Kind
If bars or cylinders fall down during your game turn, your turn ends immediately.
- As a "penalty," take a free-standing cylinder from the playing area and add it to your cylinders. If there are none left there, take a cylinder from a level as low as possible.
- Leave all the other cylinders where they have fallen.
- Remove (cautiously) from the game all bars that have fallen down or are no longer lying horizontally.
- Remove from the game the building bar that you were just going to build in.
- Leave the remaining structure as it is. Use it for further play.
The Next Game Turn
It is always the left neighbor who has the next game turn. This means:
- If your game turn has not been snatched away from you, your left neighbor will have the next turn.
- If your game turn has been snatched away from you, the left neighbor of the player who snatched it away from you will have the next turn.
So, if your right neighbor snatches your game turn away from you, you will have your next turn right after his turn has ended.
Ending and Winning the Game
As soon as one player gets rid of his last cylinder, the game immediately ends and that player wins the game. This applies also if he had been allowed to build in additional cylinders.