Pyramidos
Pyramidos Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 4 quarry tiles
- 20 colored wooden balls
- 1 big wooden ball
- 1 game board consisting in various parts (upper level = river, 2 strips with poles, thick crossbar, net with rubber bands, 4 fixing balls)
- 1 set of game instructions
Aim of the Game
Who will be able to help construct the pyramid by skillfully transporting the building blocks (balls) thus collecting the most points?
The pyramid is to be constructed on the building site shown and should consist of five balls: four of them form the base and one ball on top.
Preparation
First assemble the game board:
Put the strips with the poles on the table and connect them by sticking the cross-bar into the holes of the strips. Pull each of the four elastic ribbons of the net over one pole. Place the upper level showing the river track onto the poles and screw tight the four fixing balls.
Each player gets a quarry tile, takes 5 balls of the corresponding color and places them in the dips of their quarry. Get the big ball ready.
Moving the Balls
The balls are to be moved from hole to hole. It is not so easy! Practice a little before starting to play.
Whoever's turn it is puts one hand underneath the track of the river and places their forefinger directly underneath the ball. Now the ball has to be nudged with some energy – so that it rolls or even jumps out of the dip and lands in another hole.
You may get up and walk around the table in order to have a good position from which to reach the ball.
Whoever wants can also try to move the ball by flicking it with their forefinger from underneath.
How to Play
Whoever has most recently seen a real crocodile may start. If you can not agree, the youngest player starts.
The big ball
The player decides if they want to move the big ball: it closes a big open crocodile's mouth. The player can move it before or during their turn once from one crocodile's mouth to another.
Then they take one of their colored balls and place it on the starting square and try to nudge or flick it as close as possible towards the construction site of the pyramid.
- Important: You can nudge the ball several times over and over again. The player decides if they want to nudge the ball vigorously risking long movements or flick it carefully to reach an adjacent hole.
- If the ball lands between two holes and does not roll in, you can blow at it to get it moving.
Your turn ends as soon as the ball ...
- ... jumps off the upper level or falls through the mouth of a crocodile and lands in the net. In this case the player has to return the ball to the quarry.
- ... comes to rest on an earth square (riverbank or nearby the pyramid). In the next round the player can go on playing with this ball or bring a new one into the game.
- ... lands on a target square. There are five target "squares". The base of the pyramid consists of four squares and the fifth "square" can be reached only afterwards: it is the spot on top of the four balls lying there.
Then it's the turn of the next player in a clockwise direction.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as the fifth ball lies on top of the pyramid.
Now comes the scoring:
The four balls at ground level score 1 point each.
The ball on top scores two points.
The player with most points wins the game and is named Superior master builder.
If there is a draw various players win together.
Variation
Skillful players don't use the big ball or if right-handed nudge with their left and vice-versa.