Lunar Laser Frogs
Lunar Laser Frogs Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 40 player cards (8 sets). Each set: blue, pink, yellow, blank, gray.
- 70 point cards: 62 x 1 / 5 points; 8 x 10 / 20 points.
- 6 dice. On each die: blue, pink, yellow, blank, blank, and pink+blue / yellow+pink / blue+yellow.
- 1 box bottom.
Setup
Place the box bottom within easy reach for everybody. Put the point cards wherever they are not in the way of anyone. Take one set of five player cards with the same icon each. Decide on a starting player and give them the dice. Starting from this player, you will take turns in clockwise order.
One Turn
The small adjustments for fewer or more players than four and five will be explained a little later.
If it is your turn, roll exactly three times to cast all six dice. Roll at least one die each time that you roll and do not re-roll any dice. Otherwise, roll as many or few dice per roll as you like. Try not to re-roll any dice on the table by hitting them with a freshly rolled die.
Occasional, accidental re-rolls are fine! However, if this or any other rules violations happen a lot, you may want to apply a penalty of one point for each violation.
At any time during your turn, each other player tosses one of their cards face down into the box bottom, forming a shared stack. In other words, each other player chooses exactly one card from their set that they play during your turn, either while you are rolling the dice or right after.
Once you have cast all the dice and each other player has played a card, determine scores. First though, pick one other player whose points you want to copy (not steal). Call out that player's name or point at them. Then remove the cards from the box bottom without changing their order. Flip the whole stack over and go through the cards one by one, from the first card tossed into the box to the last one. Put the cards on display one by one to keep track of the scores more easily.
First come, first served!
The first blue, pink, or yellow card (and only the first one of its type) that has been tossed into the box will earn its player one point for each matching die. The first blank card (and only the first blank card) is worth two points for each matching die.
However, when determining how many dice of each color there are, first look whether any of the colors (blue, pink, and yellow) have not been rolled at all. All missing colors are added to all six dice. A die can either be blank (have no color) or have one, two, or three colors.
Any missing color is "lasered" onto all dice.
The first gray card (and only the first gray card) that has been tossed into the box will earn its player one point for each card tossed into the box bottom before it.
Each player, including you, takes the points they have earned. Everybody retrieves their played player cards. Then hand the dice to your left neighbor. It is their turn.
Examples
The dice and card illustrations of the examples are not reproduced here; the dice faces and the card values are given in the text below.
Example A: Blue is missing and gets "lasered" onto all dice.
The first blue card is worth 6 points. The first pink card is worth 3 points. The first yellow card is worth 2 points. No blank card is worth any points as the blank dice have been "lasered" blue. The first gray card is worth 1 point for each card tossed in before it.
Point values shown for Example A, in card order: blue 6 points; pink 3 points; yellow 2 points; blank 0 points; gray 1 point per earlier card.
Example B: No color is missing.
Point values shown for Example B, in card order: blue 1 point; pink 3 points; yellow 1 point; blank 4 points; gray 1 point per earlier card.
Remember: Whenever blank is not "lasered away," it is worth 2 points for each die that shows it!
Example C: No color is missing. Blank is not a color and is never "lasered" when it is not rolled.
Point values shown for Example C, in card order: blue 3 points; pink 3 points; yellow 2 points; blank 0 points; gray 1 point per earlier card.
3 or 6-8 Players
The four or five player game is the "basic game" described in detail above. These are the small adjustments for fewer or more players.
3 players: In a three player game, both other two players each toss two cards into the box bottom (instead of just one). Each of them can toss their two cards one by one or as a pair. If it is your turn, you still get to copy one other player's full points (from both their cards).
6-8 players: With six, seven, or eight players, the first two cards of each type that have been tossed into the box will earn their players points (instead of just the very first one of each type). The second gray card is worth one point for each card tossed into the box after the first gray card but before the second gray card itself.
Two gray cards tossed right on top of each other means that the slower player gets zero points!
The End
The game ends when everybody has had the same number of turns.
We recommend:
- 3 players: 3 turns each
- 4-5 players: 2 turns each
- 6-8 players: 1 turn each
If you have the most points at the end of the game, you win. In case of a tie, (all of you) keep on playing additional turns until there is a single clear winner.