Pyramidis
Pyramidis Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 32 pyramids in 4 colors
- 1 game board
- 1 rulebook
Object of the Game
Get five of your eight domes to the finish (the round space next to the start of the same color). In the harder duel variant, you must cover your opponents' domes with your own so that they are blocked. The game is built on the principle of zugzwang: you are forced to move, risking worsening your position.
Setup
Each player takes 8 domes of their color and places them as a stack on the start space marked with a square. The finish is the circle. Now you need to get five of your domes to the finish, following the path of 16 spaces with arrows. Red starts the game. Red and green players move clockwise, yellow and blue players counterclockwise.
Gameplay
On the start space, a player may freely choose how many domes to move forward 1 space in one turn: from 1 to 5. On all other spaces only the full stack of domes is moved. The direction of movement is at first only forward, until the player reaches the center of the board.
- A single dome moves 1 space forward along its arrow (in the example the player has almost reached the finish).
- A stack of fewer than 5 domes whose top color belongs to you is moved as follows: place the domes one after another, starting from the bottom one, onto the next several spaces along the arrows of your color, covering other domes. Only one dome may be left on each space (in the example the top red dome becomes the furthest one).
- The colors of the domes standing on the board do not matter. If a space is already occupied by an opponent, the new dome is simply placed on top of that stack.
- Opponents are forbidden from building a tower higher than 5 pieces, so if a five-story tower stands in your path, skip it and place your dome on the next space.
- If a tower of fewer than 5 pieces is topped by an opponent's dome, and your dome in the lower part of the stack is blocked, you can free it and take over the whole tower: you need to "roll" another tower up to the foot of this one and time it so that it is capped with a dome of your color!
- If all your domes are blocked inside other players' pyramids (the top dome is an opponent's color), you skip your turn and wait until an opponent starts moving their pyramid dome by dome.
Central spaces
The 4 central multicolored spaces are your opportunity to collide with the other players and change your trajectory. The 4 spaces in the center are available to every player. Thanks to such "gates", your dome can climb onto the field of other colors, and will then have to return to its course by the shortest path through the central spaces. However, you are free to choose when to take it back. You also choose which of the pyramids you control with your color on top that have strayed from the course you correct first.
Finish
If your dome reaches the finish, it stays on the finish space. Several domes can finish at the same time.
If you have finished and, among your domes, there is an opponent's dome that wandered onto a foreign field, it is moved to your start and continues in the game.
There are situations where an opponent may accidentally or by force bring your victory closer: when, as part of their move along the arrows, they place your dome from your start directly onto your finish!
End of the Game
The game ends when one of the players places 5 of their 8 domes on the finish space. That player becomes the winner.
Or you win when your opponent accidentally or by force places your 5th pyramid onto your finish.
Two-Player Game
In this case either only the red and yellow pyramids are used (the red player moves first), or only the green and blue (green moves first).
The winner is the player who brings 5 of their domes to the finish or completely blocks all of the opponent's pyramids.
The "win by blocking" variant suits a duel, not a four-player game.