No Dice
No Dice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
The set consists of a game board, 8 pieces (4 pieces in each of two colours), a storage case and the rules.
Goal
The goal is to remove all of your pieces from the board.
Setup
The board is placed horizontally between the players. Each player chooses a colour and places three pieces of that colour on their starting positions (see the setup diagram in the source). A player's fourth piece is a "reserve" piece; its role is explained below.
The players decide who moves first and begin the game.
Gameplay
Players take turns moving their pieces along the S-shaped track. A piece travels through the home row, turns, then travels through the middle row, turns again, then travels through the finish row and leaves the board.
A piece moves along the track counting only empty spaces. Occupied spaces are skipped, as if they did not exist.
Movement
The distance a piece can move in one turn is called its "move strength". A piece's move strength equals the number of lines passing through the column the piece occupies, multiplied by the total number of all pieces (regardless of colour) in that column.
For example:
- A piece standing in a column with three lines and no other pieces in that column moves exactly 3 spaces (3 lines × 1 piece = 3).
- A piece standing in a column with two lines, when there are three pieces in the same column, moves exactly 6 spaces (2 lines × 3 pieces).
Players move only one piece per turn. Each piece must move exactly the distance given by its move strength (no more and no less). When a piece is removed from the board, the exact number of spaces is not required.
Note that moving onto a space in the same column as your opponent's pieces changes their move strength. This can disrupt your opponent's strategy.
Movement Restrictions
At any time, no more than three pieces may be in the middle row. While the middle row is full, no player may move a piece into the middle row until at least one of the pieces leaves that row.
Pieces may not be moved backwards.
Bonus Move
If a player's move results in three of their pieces standing in the same column, that player may immediately make an additional move. This is called a "bonus move".
Traps
Two game squares, the traps, are located outside the columns, on the board's turns (the translation's word here is ambiguous; it may also mean the spreads of the folded board). A piece that lands in a trap is immediately sent back to the triangular square at the start of the player's home row. This triangular square is called the "revival square". If the revival square is occupied, the piece is placed on the first free space after it.
Reviving Pieces
A player may at any time choose to revive a piece that is currently removed from the board. Reviving a piece counts as one ordinary move and is carried out by placing the piece on the triangular "revival square" at the start of the player's home row. If that square is occupied, the player cannot use the piece and must wait until the square becomes free.
Players often need to use a piece to help other pieces that are stuck in front of traps. A player may revive their "reserve" piece, or any piece that has already been removed from the board. Players may use pieces as often as they wish, but each revived piece must travel the full length of the track like all the others.
Additional Rules
The source marks this section "in progress". The following text is from the translator's additional materials file, which continues the same section.
Strategy Hints
As the game goes on, you will find that coordinated movement of pieces is the key to playing well. Pieces must act together to get past the traps. For this, either there must be another piece between a piece and a trap, or an additional piece must be in the same column to increase the length of the move. Try to get around the board with a single piece: it is impossible!
Avoid letting pieces separate from the group, otherwise the group may get stuck in front of a trap, and you will lose time because you will have to bring an additional piece out to help the stuck piece.
At the same time, watch your opponent's pieces. If they have stragglers, or pieces that have run too far ahead, do everything you can to make sure they cannot support them.
No Dice is a race game, but speed is not always the decisive factor. In fact, there are often tactical reasons to move more slowly, or even to deliberately put a piece into a trap.
You can keep a piece on your opponent's revival square, which prevents them from bringing new pieces into the game.
Bringing the fourth piece into play can make it much easier to remove pieces from the board, even though removing the additional piece takes extra time.
Scoring
No Dice is a fast game, with an average game length of 10–16 minutes. For that reason many players play a series of several games and keep score. The simple scoring system below adds strategy to the game and is used both in tournaments and in private games.
The winner scores points for each opponent's piece left on the board. The number of points depends on the piece's position. Each piece scores a number of points equal to its move length (the number of lines passing through the space, multiplied by the number of pieces in the column), multiplied by the number of rows the piece still has to travel to the finish. For example:
- A piece with a move length of 3 that is still in the home row scores 9 points (3 × 3 rows to the end of the board).
- The same piece in the middle row scores 6 points (3 × 2 rows).
- In the finish row it scores 3 points.
Thus the final moves of a game are especially important when the game is played for points. A winning player must plan their moves so that the loser's pieces remain in the positions that are worth the most points.
Doubling
A bonus move (from lining up three of your own pieces in one column) may be replaced by doubling the stake, as in backgammon. If the stake is doubled, the winning player receives twice as many points. The stake may be doubled several times during a game.