Ploc
Ploc Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. Story and goal of the game
Every year, the two villages of Plockton and Broadford send their best athletes to compete in tug-of-war. Each village prepares well to win the duel. The athletes must be used at the right moment to show their strength when it counts. Taking risks is also necessary to leave the field as winners. The player who still has athletes on the field at the end of two matches wins the game.
Components needed
- 36 Athletes (18 pawns each in 2 colors)
- 9 Six-sided dice
2. Preparation
Each player takes 3 of the 9 dice. Place the remaining 3 dice to the side. Both players roll their 3 dice simultaneously and place them in a column in front of them without changing the values.
Each chooses one of the two colors and places all 18 athletes of that color in their reserve. Now, according to the sum of the 3 dice they rolled, each player places that number of their athletes in a column in front of them so that they meet in the center of the table. The game begins.
Example: Yellow has rolled a total of 9 and places the 9 athletes in a column. Red has rolled 7 and places 7 athletes in a column so that both columns meet in the center of the table.
3. Player turns
The game is played over 2 matches. The players decide who will start the first match (the other player will start the second match).
On a turn, roll the remaining 3 dice (those that are not in each player's column). For each "6" you have in your column, you may roll one die again. However, you must accept the second result.
You assign each of the 3 rolled dice to one of the 3 column dice. You have 1 of 4 possible actions with each of the 3 dice:
A) Eliminate opponent
If the die rolled is at least as high as the adjacent die in your column, remove an opponent's athlete and return it to their reserve.
You can also remove an opponent's athlete that has been weakened with a die roll of up to 2 lower than the column die (see C) - i.e. a "2" compared with the "4" in your column).
Example: For his rolled 4 (= 4 in his column) and the other rolled 4 (> the 3 of his column), Yellow eliminates 2 of the red athletes. The third die (value 1) is lower than the value 2 in his column. He can use this die to either modify your forces (B) or weaken your opponent (C).
B) Modify your forces
You exchange the newly rolled die with the adjacent die in your column. For the exchanged die, move one of your athletes from your reserve to your column.
You also get more athletes then, if the value of the new die is higher than the die replaced, move as many athletes as the difference of the two dice from your reserve to your column.
If the value of the new die is less, however, you must move as many athletes as the difference from your column to your reserve.
Example: Yellow eliminates a red athlete for the rolled 4 (= 4 of the column) and exchanges the 3 in his column with the other rolled 4. In return, yellow gains 2 athletes (1 athlete + 1 athlete because the new die is 1 higher than the original column die). Yellow also exchanges his third die (value 1) which is 1 lower than the value 2 of the original column die. This does not change the number of athletes (1 athlete minus 1 athlete).
C) Weaken opponent's athlete
You use a die of any number to weaken an enemy athlete: To show this, lay the athlete down on its side. You can eliminate the weakened athlete with a future action (see A) Eliminate opponent's athlete).
Example: You use the die with the "1" to weaken the opponent: Lay down one of your opponent's athletes. You can then eliminate this athlete later with another die action, using a value up to 2 lower than the column die.
D) Berserk
If you roll the same value with all 3 dice, and they are each greater or equal to your lowest column die (regardless of whether this is rolled on the first try or by re-rolling), you may eliminate 4 athletes from your opponent (move them from your opponent's column to his reserve). However, you must use all 3 dice actions to do so.
After you have performed an action with each of the 3 dice rolled—or you have performed one Berserk action—pass the 3 dice not in your column to your opponent for their turn.
Example: Yellow rolls a value 2 with all 3 dice, which is equal to the lowest die in his column: Yellow eliminates 4 opposing athletes and may take no further dice actions.
4. End of game and winner
If you lose your last Athlete, you lose one match.
After the first match, prepare for the second as described above under "Preparation", with one addition: the player who won the first match starts with one additional Athlete.
If the 18 Athletes are not enough, use something else to represent these athletes. The player who did not begin the first match is the starting player for the second. The player who loses their last athlete in the second match also loses the whole game.