Simply Ingenious (Einfach Genial: Wer zu viel riskiert, verliert!) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Turn Order
  • Taking Tiles into Your Collection
  • Bonus Move
  • Collection Limit
  • Alternative Move
• Turn Examples
• End of the Game
• Reference Card

Components

• 126 tiles (21 tiles of each of the six colours)
• Rulebook

Setup

• Before the first game, push the tiles out of the cardboard blocks.
• Put all the tiles into the reserve face down and mix them thoroughly.
• Take 3 random tiles from the reserve, turn them face up, and place them in the centre.

Turn Order

The youngest player starts the game. Play passes clockwise.

On your turn, take a random tile from the reserve and turn it face up. Place it face up in the collection zone (the staging area between you and the tiles in the centre).

There are three possible outcomes:

• Match (success): if the centre already holds a tile of the same colour as the one you revealed, and the collection zone does not yet hold one of that colour, this is a success. After each success, decide whether to keep revealing tiles or to take tiles into your collection (see below).
• No match (failure): if the centre holds no tile of the same colour as the one you revealed, this is a failure. Your turn ends. You must move all tiles from the collection zone into the centre.
• Conflict in the collection zone (failure): if the collection zone already holds a tile of the same colour as the one you revealed, this is a failure. Your turn ends. You must move all tiles from the collection zone into the centre.

Taking Tiles into Your Collection

You may do this only after a success; after a failure it is not possible. If you decide to take tiles into your collection, take everything that is in the collection zone, plus all tiles from the centre that match the colours of the tiles in the collection zone.

Place the tiles you have collected in front of you, sorted by colour. They are safe and may not be taken away until the end of the game.

If you cannot make a bonus move (see below), your turn ends at this point.

Bonus Move

If the tiles in your collection form a line of 7 tiles of one colour (5 when playing with four players), you immediately make a bonus move: reveal a new tile from the reserve, and then continue by the normal rules.

You may make one and only one bonus move for each line of tiles of one colour in your collection. If in a single turn you form several lines of 7 tiles, you receive an additional move for each line completed.

Collection Limit

Your collection may not hold more than 7 tiles of one colour (5 when playing with four players). Any tiles over this limit that you received during the game must be returned to the reserve at the end of your turn: turn them face down and mix them with the other tiles of the reserve.

Alternative Move

You may make an alternative move instead of revealing a tile from the reserve. Look at the tiles in your collection. If there are fewer tiles of one colour than of the other colours, and that colour is among the tiles in the centre, you may make an alternative move. Instead of drawing a random tile from the reserve, simply take a tile of the "missing" colour from the centre into your collection. Your turn then ends.

Important: if your collection has two or more "missing" colours, you may not make an alternative move.

Examples:

1. You have 0 red tiles, which is fewer than your other colours. You may make an alternative move.
2. You have 2 green tiles, which is fewer than your other colours. You may make an alternative move.
3. You have 0 green and 0 blue tiles, which is equal. You may not make an alternative move.
4. You have 2 green and 2 yellow tiles, which is equal. You may not make an alternative move.

Check: at the start of your turn (normal, bonus or alternative), there must be at least 3 revealed tiles in the centre of the table. If there are fewer, take the missing tiles from the reserve, reveal them, and place them in the centre face up.

Turn Examples

1. At the start of the turn there are 3 tiles in the centre: red, blue, yellow. The player randomly takes a tile from the reserve (it is blue) and places it in the collection zone. Success! The player does not want to continue the turn and decides to take tiles into the collection. They take the blue tile from the collection zone and the matching blue tile from the centre. The turn is over.

2. At the start of the next player's turn there are only two tiles in the centre (red and yellow). A tile must be added to the centre to bring the number back to 3. The player reveals a random tile from the reserve (it is purple) and places it in the centre. Now the player's turn begins. They take a yellow tile from the reserve and place it in the collection zone. Success! The player decides to continue the turn and reveals a new tile from the reserve. The tile is green: no match, failure! The turn ends, and both tiles from the collection zone are moved to the centre.

3. Now there are 5 tiles in the centre: red, purple, green and 2 yellow. The "at least three tiles" rule is satisfied, so no tiles need to be added to the centre. The next player reveals a random tile from the reserve. It is red: success! The player decides to continue the turn. Next, they reveal a purple tile: a second success in a row! The player takes a risk again but reveals a red tile, which leads to a conflict in the collection zone: failure! The player ends the turn and moves all tiles from the collection zone into the centre.

4. There are 8 tiles in the centre: 3 red, 2 purple, 2 yellow and 1 green. The player randomly reveals a green tile and places it in the collection zone: success. They reveal another one, red. Again a success! The player does not want to risk any more and takes the tiles into the collection: 2 green and 4 red. The turn is over.

End of the Game

The game ends when one of the players completes a full collection: 7 tiles of each of the six colours (5 tiles of each colour when playing with four players). This player wins. The other players compare their collections to determine the placing of the remaining positions. The comparison is made by the missing colour. The player with the highest value becomes second, and so on. If the values are equal, the next colour by number of unfilled tiles is compared.

Example (game with four players):

• The four player layouts (labelled А, Б, В, Г in the source, shown here as A, B, C, D) are illustrations in the rulebook and are not reproduced here.

Player A wins by collecting 5 tiles of each colour. The other players compare their collections by the missing colour. Player B has the worst value in green (3 tiles), player C in blue and purple (3 tiles each), and player D in yellow (2 tiles). Player D takes last place, and players B and C are tied, so the next colour is compared. Player B's second-worst value is in blue, yellow and purple (4 tiles each), while player C's second-worst value is also 3 tiles (blue and purple). Player B takes second place in the game, and player C takes third.

If you play several games in a row (for example, as many games as there are players, so that everyone gets one turn as the first player), record the results of the comparisons by missing colour. These are the victory points. The player with the highest total of victory points after the series of games becomes the winner.

In our example the victory points would be recorded as follows: A = 5, B = 3, C = 3, D = 2.

Reference Card

• Centre: the tiles lying face up on the table.
• Match (success): a tile in the collection zone matches a tile in the centre.
• No match (failure): a tile in the collection zone does not match any tile in the centre.
• Conflict in the collection zone (failure): a tile in the collection zone matches another tile already in the collection zone.
• Bonus move: when you collect 7 tiles of one colour (5 when playing with four players), make an additional move.
• Alternative move: if your collection has fewer tiles of one colour than of other colours, and that colour is in the centre, you may take a tile of the missing colour from the centre into your collection instead of revealing a tile from the reserve.
• Check: if at the start of a turn there are fewer than 3 tiles in the centre, place the missing tiles from the reserve into the centre face up.

Note on translation: the rulebook's diagrams (the alternative-move examples and the scoring example) are illustrations, and are given above by their printed captions only. The examples are kept in the order of the source.