Lino Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• The Standard Game
  • Definitions
  • Preparations
  • Building the game board
  • Filling the game board
  • The end of the game
• Bonus Game
• Examples (pages 5-6)

Contents

• 1 scoreboard
• 4 score tiles (50/100)
• 50 stones (in 2 different colours)
• 56 tiles

The Standard Game

Definitions

• Tile: a square where a stone can be placed upon.
• Unoccupied Tile: a tile without a stone.
• Row: multiple tiles that connect in a straight line horizontal, vertical or diagonal and end with an open space.
• Closed row: all the tiles in a row contain a stone.

Preparations

Place the tiles on the table as in Example 1 (page 5) with the numbers facing down. Place the scoreboard and the score tiles beside the playing field. Every player receives 25 stones of the same colour and they each place one stone on the scoreboard on the number 0. When a player reaches 0 during the game he must take a score tile and lay it down with 50 facing up. As soon as the player reaches 0 again he must turn the tile with 100 facing up.

Building the game board

The player who lost as last game begins. He moves a tile to another spot then the other player does the same. They do this in a total of three times. The following rules apply:

• All tiles must connect with another tile either with a side or a corner.
• You may not move a tile to a spot where a tile has already lain.
• A tile which has already been moved may not be moved again.

Filling the game board

Every player in turn places a stone on an unoccupied tile. As soon as a player closes a row they gain 1 point for every tile in that row. More rows can be closed in one turn, the placed stone can give multiple points as in Example 2 (page 5).

Note! The player must see in his turn that he closes a row to gain the points.

The end of the game

The game ends when the last stone has been placed. Unoccupied tiles will be left over.

Each player receives extra points for each row of 4 or more stones of their own colour, as in Example 3 (page 5). Each player must see his own row to gain the points.

• 4 in a row = 10 points
• 5 in a row = 20 points
• 6 in a row = 30 points
• 7 or more in a row = 40 points

To maintain an overview the players must count the horizontal rows first then the vertical rows and as last the diagonal rows.

The player with the most points wins. If you want a fair game, play 2 times on the same game board where each player in turn begins.

Bonus Game

Before building the game board, turn all the tiles over so that the numbers are facing up.

At the end of the game these numbers count as extra points. The visible numbers on the unoccupied tiles give points to the players with the same colour as in Example 4 (page 6).

A star is worth 10 points for the player who has the most occupied tiles connected to the star. When both players have the same amount of stones connected to the star then the stone on the star counts, Example 5 and 6 (page 6). (Only in a tie the stone on the star counts).

Tip: You can also combine the standard game with the bonus game for example by making only the stars visible.

Examples (pages 5-6)

• Example 1: the starting layout of the 56 tiles with their numbers facing down.
• Example 2: a stone placed closes several rows at once; the player scores the tiles of each closed row (8+3 points).
• Example 3: end-of-game rows for the blue player: 2 rows of 4 (2x10), 1 row of 5 (1x20) and 1 row of 6 (1x30).
• Example 4: bonus game, unoccupied numbered tiles scored for the colour adjacent: blue 2+2+2, white 1+5+2+1+2.
• Example 5: star scoring: blue has 4 stones connected to the star, white 3, so blue receives 10 points.
• Example 6: star scoring: blue and white tie with 2 stones each connected to the star, so the stone on the star decides and white receives 10 points.