Mattock
Mattock Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Materials
Materials: 1 board, 90 hexagonal tiles, 12 miners in 2 colors (6 each).
For a short game, use the inner board, 45 tiles, and 6 miners (3 each).
Setup
Fixed Setup: Place 1 tile and 1 miner on each of the indicated spaces.
Freestyle Setup: Take turns placing 1 tile and 1 miner of your color on a single board space. You may place anywhere, except next to already-placed tiles/miners. The player who places last takes the first turn.
Goal
Trap your opponent so they run out of space to mine.
On your turn, take these 3 steps in order:
① Mine
Place 1 tile on an open space connected to one of your miners by an unbroken series of tiles. Opponent miners block connections.
No tile on the board may touch more than 3 other tiles. So the tile you place must not touch:
- more than 3 other tiles; or
- a tile which already touches 3 other tiles.
If you have any miners which were removed on previous turns, place 1 of them on this tile.
Red's connections are highlighted in bold. Red's legal tile placements are shown with a *.
If you cannot Mine, you lose the game.
② Move
You may choose to move any 1 of your miners to a tile connected to it. You do not have to move.
You may move through your own miners, but opponent miners block your path.
③ Remove
Remove all opponent miners that are now both:
- Not connected to another opponent miner;
- Connected by empty tiles to 2 or more of your miners.
Your opponent takes the removed miner(s) and will place 1 back on the board on their turn.
Never remove your own miners on your turn.
Red places the highlighted tile, chooses to move 1 miner, and removes 2 blue miners. The final blue miner remains, as it connects to only 1 red miner.
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Basic Strategy
Block your opponent with the 3 basic structures
- Whenever a tile touches exactly 3 other tiles, it will form one of these 3 structures.
- No tile can touch more than 3 other tiles, so once a structure is complete it will block open spaces around it.
- Create structures that benefit you and block your opponent.
The 3 basic structures: T-REX, DIAMOND, WHIRLIGIG.
To make the board easier to read, you can place a marker (such as a small black cube) on the blocked spaces.
Protect open spaces around the edge of the board
- As you mine and remove, you will eventually link your miners together and split the board's territory with your opponent.
- The last player who can mine wins, so whoever has more open space to mine in their own territory will win.
- In the endgame, the open spaces will usually be around the edge of the board.
- Block your opponent's connections to open spaces by using the 3 basic structures above, and occupying chokepoints with your miners.
Red has 2 open spaces left. Blue is out of space to mine and loses the game.