OMEGA
OMEGA Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
In OMEGA, players try to create groups of their colors by placing stones in a hexagonal grid, in order to score the most points. The final score for each color is calculated by multiplying the sizes of the different groups of that color.
As a variant, other board shapes may be used.
Material
- OMEGA board (hexagonal grid of 10 hexes per side. 2 pads)
- 6 'corners'.
- 136 white stones (player A)
- 136 black stones (player B)
- 91 red stones (player C)
- 68 blue stones (player D)
Setup
Determine the number of players (2 to 4) and the grid size for the game (5-hexes side to 10-hexes side). Place the 6 'corners' on the board according to the desired size.
For a 2 player game, white and black stones are used. A 3rd player uses the red stones and a 4th player uses the blue ones.
Each player has an allocated color. Pick one stone and place it before you to indicate your color. This is your 'color marker' and it is not used during the game.
How to Play
Starting with White, players take turns according to the color order (white, black, red, blue).
Each turn, the current player must place one stone of each color in play on any free spaces on the board. This is, for a 2-player game, the player in turn places one white stone and one black stone; for a 3-player game, she places one white stone, one black stone and one red stone; and for a 4-player game, she places one white stone, one black stone, one red stone and one blue stone.
Example: White's first turn in a 4-player game.
Game End
The game ends when, just before white's turn, it is not possible to play a complete round (all players). For a 2-player game, at least 4 free spaces are needed to play a complete round; 9 for a 3-player game and 16 for a 4 player game. A few spaces will remain free at the end of the game.
Several groups of connected stones of the same color have been created. The 'value' of a group is the number of stones on that group. To calculate your score multiply the values of all the groups of your color. The player with the highest score wins. In case of a tie, the last of the tied players wins.
Example of an endgame (size=5, players=4). It's black's turn and there are no free spaces left to play a complete round (13 free, 16 needed), so the game ends.
- White scores 1x2x2x4x3=48.
- Black scores 1x4x7=28.
- Red scores 1x5x2x4=40.
- Blue scores 6x2x3x1=36.
White wins!
Pie Rule
Upon agreement, the pie rule may be applied.
This is how it works: The first player plays normally. Then every player in turn starting on the second one may either...
- PLAY normally by placing stones on the board or...
- SWAP colors with any one of the previous players by exchanging their 'color markers'.
...until the last player has either played or swapped.
Then the game continues normally starting on the player of the 'n-th' color, being 'n' the number of players that have PLAYED plus 1. If 'n+1' is larger than the number of players then the black player starts.
Example: 4 player game. Remember that the color order is 'white, black, red, blue'.
- Player A (white) places 4 stones (one of each color).
- Player B (black) swaps colors with A. Now A is black and B is white.
- Player C (red) places 4 stones (one of each color).
- Player D (blue) swaps colors with player B (white). Now D is white and B is blue.
The first round ends this way:
- A is black and has played.
- B is blue and has swapped.
- C is red and has played.
- D is white and has swapped.
N = 2 (played) +1. So it is red's turn (Player C).
2-Player Tournament Play
In a tournament, players must play twice, once with 'White' and once with 'Black'. Each player sums up its score playing 'White' and its score playing 'Black'. The player with the highest total score wins the tournament.
The pie rule can't be applied in tournaments.
Notes and Strategy
OMEGA was born as an experiment on complexity and intuitive arithmetic. Both concepts teamed up to create this little monster.
You will soon realize that you don't need to calculate your score during play (multiplying your group values), but to use an intuitive strategy instead. How? You must figure it out by yourself.
Notice that, when the game ends, there are a few empty spaces. These spaces are very important!
2-player games of size beyond 8 are only recommended for experienced players and scores are often gigantic.