Take it Higher!
Take it Higher! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
- 6 different coloured game boards
- 6 matching sets of 32 octagonal tiles
- 6 sets of 10 spaceships (in ten different colours - 60 spaceships altogether)
- 6 black "Take It Higher" bonus rings
- 2 rulebooks (one English, one German)
- One pad of "Take It Higher" score-sheets
Playing "Take It Higher"
Preparation
Before playing for the first time, carefully push out the octagonal tiles from the punched boards.
Each player takes one game board and the set of octagonal tiles in the matching colour.
Decide which player will be 'caller'. This player turns his/her tiles face down and mixes them thoroughly.
All the other players then place their tiles face up and separate them into two groups according to the colour of the 'stud' at the centre of the tile (either gold or silver). Each of these two groups should then be arranged alphabetically from 'A' to 'P' to make it easy to locate the tiles quickly when they are called by the caller.
Please note that the gold and silver studs have no significance when playing the 'basic' game of "Take It Higher", and can be regarded as being for decoration only. However, they are used when you play to the more advanced rules described later in this rulebook.
Playing the 'Basic' Game
The caller selects one of his/her (face-down) tiles at random, turns it face up, and announces the letter printed on the centre of the tile. So, for example, on drawing either of the tiles containing the stripe combination White (1), Blue (7), Pink (4) and Purple (6), the caller just needs to say "Gold J" or "Silver J", depending on the colour of the stud at the centre of the tile (see above).
As was mentioned above, for the basic game, the gold and silver studs have no significance. However, it is recommended that 'gold' or 'silver' is included by the caller as part of the tile name, to avoid confusion, and also to make players get used to this method of calling, in preparation for the time when they wish to move on to playing the advanced versions of the game.
To ensure that there is no confusion regarding the letter being called out, the caller may also include the International Call Sign for this letter. So in the example above, the caller could say "Gold J for Juliet". This is particularly important for letters such as 'M' (Mike) and 'N' (November), where confusion may easily occur, due to the similar sounding names of the letters. Players wishing to call the tiles in this way will find the full list of International Call Signs from "A" to "P" on the back page of this rulebook. (After a few games, you will be able to impress your friends with your expert knowledge of the call signs!).
Once the caller has announced the tile, all the other players must locate the same tile from within their own set of tiles. Every player, including the caller, now places this tile on his/her own board.
After all players have placed this tile, the caller selects the next tile. Play continues in this way until the boards are all filled with tiles.
Placement Rules
The tiles must always be placed so that the letters and numbers are upright (as though you were reading them from a page).
Tiles may be placed on any empty space anywhere on your playing board. Only one tile may be placed on any one space.
Once a tile has been placed, it may not be moved. As the game progresses, you will find that you will not be able to match all the stripes on the tiles you are placing with those in existing rows. However, each tile drawn by the caller must be placed by every player.
End of the Game
After the 24th tile has been placed and all players' boards are full, players count their scores.
Scoring Rows
Players can score points for each row on their playing boards in each of the four directions: vertically, horizontally, diagonally from the bottom left to top right, and diagonally from the top left to bottom right.
Points are scored for rows containing stripes of continuous colour. The stripe within such a row must run from one edge of the board to the other without any change in colour. These rows are referred to as 'Scoring Rows'.
If there is even one tile in a row containing a stripe of a different colour, then that whole row will score no points (i.e. it will not be a Scoring Row).
Please note that all diagonal rows are considered to connect across the small square gaps between the tiles. The black interconnecting pipes indicate that they are connected to form continuous rows of colour from one side of the board to the other.
Calculating Your Score
Calculate the total value of all your Scoring Rows as follows:
For each Scoring Row on your completed playing board, multiply the number of tiles in the row by the value of the stripe's colour to get the score for that row.
Examples:
- Four white-striped tiles in a vertical row will score 4 (4 x 1).
- Six red-striped tiles in a vertical row will score 48 (6 x 8).
- Six orange-striped tiles in a horizontal row will score 12 (6 x 2).
- Six blue-striped tiles in a horizontal row will score 42 (6 x 7).
- Two orange-striped tiles in a horizontal row will score 4 (2 x 2).
- Three green-striped tiles in a diagonal row will score 15 (3 x 5).
- Four pink-striped tiles in a diagonal row will score 16 (4 x 4).
- Three yellow-striped tiles in a diagonal row will score 9 (3 x 3).
- Four purple-striped tiles in a diagonal row will score 24 (4 x 6).
To record and calculate your scores you should use the "Take It Higher" score-sheets provided with the game. If you run out of these, a copy is available for printing on the Burley Games website www.burleygames.com.
An Example Game
The following illustration shows the scoring in an example game: [Diagram: Freddie's completed board, with each scoring row labelled by its colour and score.]
These scores should be entered into the "Take It Higher" score-sheet, as shown below. When you put figures into the table alongside a particular colour, add together the number of tiles in all the stripes of that colour. For example, in the completed board shown above, the player (Freddie) has three scoring rows containing purple stripes (of lengths 4, 4 and 3). As the sum total of these three lengths is 11, Freddie will enter an '11' on his score-sheet next to "Purple". This will then be multiplied by 6 (the score for purple) to give a total of 66 points for purple tiles. Once this process has been completed for all the colours, the totals for the individual colours are added together to give Freddie's overall total. The completed score-sheet below calculates the score for the example game shown above:
| Player | Freddie | |
|---|---|---|
| "Take It Higher!" Bonus = | Not used in Basic Game | |
| Golds | Not used in Basic Game | x 10 = Not used in Basic Game |
| Silvers | Not used in Basic Game | x 9 = Not used in Basic Game |
| Reds | 8 | x 8 = 64 |
| Blues | 6 | x 7 = 42 |
| Purples | 11 | x 6 = 66 |
| Greens | 7 | x 5 = 35 |
| Pinks | 10 | x 4 = 40 |
So the final score for Freddie is 318.
The Winner
The player who has the highest overall total is the winner of the round!
Games can be played as a single round, or as a series of rounds where each player takes a turn as caller, and where the scores from each round are added together to make a cumulative running total.
Once you have read the rules to here you know enough to play the basic game. Read further to learn advanced methods of play.
Advanced Methods of Play
The games rules provided above relate to the basic game of "Take It Higher". There are also advanced features that you can add on after you have played the game a few times. The special advanced features are:
- Gold and silver bonuses
- The "Take It Higher" bonus (simple spaceships)
- The "Take It Higher" bonus (advanced spaceships)
These are described in the sections below and can either be added individually or together. It's up to you to choose the level of complexity you want to play to!
Gold and Silver Bonus Game
Preparation
If you wish to include gold and silver bonus scores, preparation is exactly the same as for the basic game. You can choose to play 'gold and silver bonuses' as a variant of the basic game, or at the same time as playing the "Take It Higher" version (using simple or advanced spaceships rules) as described later in this rulebook.
Method of Play
As mentioned above, all the octagonal playing tiles have either gold or silver 'studs' at their centres. You can score gold or silver bonus points by creating scoring rows (as for the basic game) that contain either all-gold or all-silver studs. Please note that the 'underlying' row MUST be a scoring row to allow a player to score the gold or silver bonus points (and the centres of all the tiles in the row must be either all silver or all gold). This kind of scoring row is called a gold bonus row or silver bonus row, as appropriate.
For each gold bonus row you create during the round, you will score ten extra points at the end of the round for each tile in that row. For each silver bonus row you create during the round, you will score nine extra points at the end of the round for each tile in that row.
In the example that follows, Jonathan has been playing the Basic Game, with gold and silver bonuses included, but without the "Take It Higher" bonus. The next diagram shows all Jonathan's gold bonus rows and silver bonus rows. Note that the short vertical row on the left-hand side (Silver 'O', Silver 'A') is not a silver bonus row, because the underlying row (part white, part red) is not a scoring row. Note that all the rows marked as either gold bonus rows or silver bonus rows are scoring rows in terms of the underlying stripe colours.
[Diagram: Jonathan's board with each gold and silver bonus row marked.]
This shows us that he has created five gold bonus rows containing a total of 14 tiles, and four silver rows containing a total of 13 tiles. The scores for these will be entered into his "Take it Higher" scoresheet as shown below:
| Player | Jonathan | |
|---|---|---|
| "Take It Higher!" Bonus = | Not used in this Example | |
| Golds | 14 | x 10 = 140 |
| Silvers | 13 | x 9 = 117 |
| Reds | x 8 = |
And the following illustration shows the points Jonathan has collected from all his scoring rows:
[Diagram: Jonathan's completed board, with each scoring row labelled by its colour and score.]
He can now enter the rest of his scores into the score-sheet to calculate his overall total from all scoring lines and gold and silver bonuses:
| Player | Jonathan | |
|---|---|---|
| "Take It Higher!" Bonus = | Not used in this Example | |
| Golds | 14 | x 10 = 140 |
| Silvers | 13 | x 9 = 117 |
| Reds | 8 | x 8 = 64 |
| Blues | 12 | x 7 = 84 |
| Purples | 10 | x 6 = 60 |
| Greens | 10 | x 5 = 50 |
| Pinks | 7 | x 4 = 28 |
| Yellows |
So Jonathan's total score for this round is 596.
The "Take It Higher" Bonus Game
[Diagram: a row of ten spaceships in the ten colours, launching from the left-hand launch-pad.]
Preparation
If you wish to play using the spaceships and the "Take It Higher" bonus rings, preparation is exactly the same as for the basic game (with or without gold and silver bonuses - your choice). But in addition, players must each take a set of ten spaceships (one in each of the colours available), and one black "Take It Higher" bonus ring. Each player must place these on his/her board so that the spaceships are each on their matching 'buttons' at the left-hand side of the board, with the black "Take It Higher" bonus ring placed on the '0' button at the bottom.
[Diagram: an empty playing board showing the launch-pad buttons down the left-hand side and the spaceships and bonus ring placed on them.]
There are two different ways that you can play the "Take it Higher" bonus game, either with 'simple spaceships' rules, or with 'advanced spaceships' rules, as described below:
Simple Spaceships
Method of Play
The method of play is exactly as for the basic game (or as for the gold and silver bonus game if that is what you choose) but additionally, players will have the opportunity to score a special "Take It Higher" bonus by launching their spaceships from the 'launch-pad' on the left-hand side of the board and relocating them into the grid formed by the tiles that have been placed onto the playing board.
Spaceships can only be launched from the launch-pad into the tile grid when scoring rows are completed. The rules governing relocation of the spaceships are as follows:
- A spaceship can only be moved into the tile grid when a player has just completed a row in a colour that matches that particular spaceship. So, for example, if a player has just placed a tile that completes a white scoring row, then that player has the option of moving his/her white spaceship from the launch-pad onto the grid of tiles.
- This spaceship must be moved onto the last tile that was placed by the player (on that turn) to complete the scoring row. The spaceship may not be placed on any other tile in this row.
- The spaceships must be launched in the order they are placed on the launch-pad, starting at the bottom. (i.e. the one nearest to the bonus ring is always the next one to be launched). So you must launch your white spaceship first, then the orange, then the yellow, and so on. If, for example, you complete an orange row and your white spaceship has not yet been launched, you are not permitted to launch your orange spaceship onto the tile that you placed to complete the orange row. Please note that this restriction does not apply when you are playing 'advanced spaceships' rules.
- If, by placing a tile, you simultaneously complete two or more scoring rows, and if the colours of the newly created scoring rows match two or more of the next spaceships to be launched, then these spaceships can all be launched onto the tile you have just placed. So, for example, if you had already launched (on previous turns) your white, orange, yellow and pink spaceships, and if you place a tile that simultaneously completes a green row and a purple row, then you can launch your green and purple spaceships and place them both on this new tile. Please note that you are not allowed to do this when using the 'advanced spaceships' rules.
- If you play a tile to complete a scoring row that is also a gold bonus row (all gold studs) or a silver bonus row (all silver studs), then you can either launch your spaceship that corresponds to the underlying scoring row, or your gold spaceship or silver spaceship (as appropriate) to the tile that has just been placed. Please note that this applies even if you are not playing the 'gold and silver bonus' rules.
- When the spaceships are moved from your launch-pad and relocated into the tile grid, you can move your "Take It Higher" bonus ring up onto the empty buttons left clear after the spaceships have been launched from them. At the end of the round, whatever score your bonus ring is placed over, this figure will be your "Take It Higher" bonus. It will be entered into your score-sheet and will count towards your final score.
- As the spaceships are moved from the launch-pad and relocated into the tile grid, it will become possible at some stage to move your "Take It Higher" bonus ring up across empty buttons that are left clear after the spaceships have been launched from them. The upward movement of the "Take It Higher" bonus ring will always stop before it reaches the lowest spaceship that is still standing on the launch-pad. So, if a player has launched his/her green spaceship and all spaceships below this, but if his/her purple spaceship is still on the launch-pad, then this player's "Take It Higher" bonus ring can be moved up to the '100' button, where it must stop. At the end of the round, whatever score your bonus ring is placed over, this figure will be your "Take It Higher" bonus. It will be entered into your score-sheet and will count towards your final score. Please note that if you fail to relocate your white spaceship during the course of the whole round, then your bonus ring will not be able to move at all, and you will not get any bonus points for this round. Similarly, if the white one is launched, but the orange one remains on the launch-pad, then you will not be able to score more than 20 points. Generally speaking, it is tactically better to launch the spaceships that are lower down on the grid before the ones that are higher up (when you can) to ensure you get a substantial "Take It Higher" bonus score.
The key moves in an example game are shown in the following diagrams:
Oliver has just placed his 7th tile, Silver 'P' for Papa. This tile completes a white scoring row, so he can move his white spaceship from the launch-pad onto Silver 'P'. Although he has also completed a pink scoring row by placing this tile, he is unable to launch his pink spaceship because his orange and yellow spaceships are still on the launch-pad, and they must be launched before the pink one. Oliver now moves his "Take It Higher" bonus ring onto the white '20' button, left clear by the launching of his white spaceship.
[Diagram: Oliver's board after tile 7, white spaceship on Silver 'P', bonus ring on '20'.]
In the next diagram, Oliver has just placed his 14th tile, Gold 'H' for Hotel. In doing so, he has simultaneously completed three scoring rows, orange, yellow and pink. Because these correspond to the next three spaceships on his launch-pad, he can launch all three onto the new tile, Gold 'H'. Oliver now moves his "Take It Higher" bonus ring up and over the buttons vacated by the departing spaceships, so that its movement finishes on the pink '80' button.
[Diagram: Oliver's board after tile 14, Gold 'H' with three spaceships, bonus ring on pink '80'.]
Oliver now places the following tiles: Silver 'K', Silver 'A' (launches green spaceship), Gold 'A', Gold 'N' (launches purple spaceship), Gold 'L' (launches blue spaceship), Gold 'M', Silver 'L', Gold 'E', Silver 'B'.....
Oliver is fortunate that the last tile drawn is Silver 'E' for Echo. By placing this tile he completes a red scoring row, so he can launch his red spaceship. But he also completes a silver bonus row (the one with an underlying purple scoring row), so he can also launch his silver spaceship onto Silver 'E'. This means that Oliver can now move his "Take It Higher" bonus marker from the blue '140' button up to the silver '180' button after the red and silver spaceships are launched.
[Diagram: Oliver's completed board after tile 'E', with red and silver spaceships on Silver 'E' and bonus ring on silver '180'.]
Scoring for Oliver's board is performed as follows:
| Player | Oliver | |
|---|---|---|
| "Take It Higher!" Bonus = | 180 | |
| Golds | Not used in this Example | x 10 = Not used in this Example |
| Silvers | Not used in this Example | x 9 = Not used in this Example |
| Reds | 4 | x 8 = 32 |
| Blues | 12 | x 7 = 84 |
| Purples | 10 | x 6 = 60 |
| Greens | 6 | x 5 = 30 |
| Pinks | 10 | x 4 = 40 |
So the final score for Oliver is 477.
Advanced Spaceships
Method of Play
The method of play for 'advanced spaceships' is similar to that for 'simple spaceships'. For 'advanced spaceships', the rules governing the relocation of spaceships when they are launched is as follows:
- A spaceship can only be moved into the tile grid when a player has just completed a scoring row in a colour that matches a particular spaceship. So, for example, if a player has just placed a tile that completes a blue scoring row, then that player has the option of moving his/her blue spaceship from the launch-pad onto the grid of tiles.
- This spaceship must be moved onto the last tile that was placed by the player (on that turn) to complete the scoring row. The spaceship may not be placed on any other tile in this row.
- If, by placing a tile, a player simultaneously creates two or more scoring rows running through this tile, then he/she may only place one spaceship on top of this tile, and must make the choice of spaceship immediately, and place this chosen spaceship before any further tiles are drawn. So, for example, if a player places a tile that completes a red scoring row, a blue scoring row and a purple scoring row simultaneously, then that player may choose between moving his/her red, blue or purple spaceship from the launch-pad onto this tile. Please note that the movement of spaceships is always optional. So this player may choose not to move any of his/her spaceships on this turn.
- If a player plays a tile to complete a scoring row that is also either a gold bonus row (all gold studs) or a silver bonus row (all silver studs), then that player can move his/her spaceship that corresponds to the colour of the underlying scoring row or his/her gold or silver (as appropriate) spaceship to the tile that has just been placed.
- The last, and possibly the most important rule to understand is that, for a spaceship to be placed on a row, that row must not already contain other spaceships on any of the other tiles in the row that is being completed by the new tile. So if, for example, you place a tile that completes a green scoring row, then you may place your green spaceship on this last tile, but only if there are no other spaceships already placed on any of the other tiles along this new green scoring row. Other spaceships along different coloured lines that radiate out from the last-placed tile do not matter. It's only the row of the same colour as the spaceship you are placing that has to be clear. The way that this works can be seen clearly in the illustrations (and descriptions) for the sample game that follow.
- As the spaceships are moved from the launch-pad and relocated into the tile grid, it will become possible at some stage to move your "Take It Higher" bonus ring up across empty buttons that are left clear after the spaceships have been launched from them. The upward movement of the "Take It Higher" bonus ring will always stop before it reaches the lowest spaceship that is still standing on the launch-pad. So, if a player has launched his/her green spaceship and all spaceships below this, but if his/her purple spaceship is still standing on the launch-pad, then this player's "Take It Higher" bonus ring can be moved up to the '100' button, where it must stop. At the end of the round, whatever score your bonus ring is placed over, this figure will be your "Take It Higher" bonus. It will be entered into your score-sheet and will count towards your final score. Please note that if you fail to relocate your white spaceship during the course of the whole round, then your bonus ring will not be able to move at all, and you will not get any bonus points for this round. Similarly, if the white one is launched, but the orange one remains on the launch-pad, then you will not be able to score more than 20 points. Generally speaking, it is tactically better to launch the spaceships that are lower down on the grid before the ones that are higher up (when you can) to ensure you get a substantial "Take It Higher" bonus score.
The key moves in an example game are shown in the following diagrams:
Hannah has just placed her 11th tile, Silver 'F' for Foxtrot. This tile completes a purple row and so she can move her purple spaceship from the launch-pad onto Silver 'F'.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 11, purple spaceship on Silver 'F'.]
Here, she has just placed her 12th tile, Silver 'I' for India. This has completed a blue row, and so she is able to relocate her blue spaceship from the launch-pad to Silver 'I'.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 12, blue spaceship on Silver 'I'.]
Hannah's 15th tile is Silver 'G' for Golf. This simultaneously completes three scoring rows, a yellow one, a green one and a red one. However, the green scoring row already has a spaceship placed on it (the blue one on Silver 'I') so this means that she cannot place her green spaceship on Silver 'G'. So she is only able to choose between her yellow and red spaceships. She chooses to relocate the yellow one.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 15, yellow spaceship on Silver 'G'.]
This diagram shows that her 17th tile was Gold 'P' for Papa, and that she chose to relocate her orange spaceship onto Gold 'P'.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 17, orange spaceship on Gold 'P'.]
Hannah's 18th tile is Silver 'E' for Echo. She has placed it in such way that green and red scoring rows and a silver bonus row have been completed, so she can choose between her green, red or silver spaceships for relocation. She chooses green.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 18, green spaceship on Silver 'E'.]
The next diagram shows that Hannah has now placed Silver 'N' for November. This completes white, orange and pink scoring rows and a silver bonus row. Her orange spaceship has already been launched, so her choice is restricted to white, pink or silver. Hannah chooses to launch her white spaceship into the grid. She must do this as it will be her last opportunity to launch the white spaceship. If the white spaceship does not leave the launch-pad during the round, Hannah will not score any bonus points at all, no matter how many other spaceships are launched. As soon as Hannah has launched her white spaceship, she can move her "Take It Higher" bonus marker up as far as it can go, which will be up to the '60' button. It can't go further than this, because it must stop before it reaches the pink spaceship, which is still standing (in its way) on the launch-pad.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 'N', white spaceship launched, bonus ring on '60'.]
Hannah's next tile is Silver 'B' for Bravo, and this allows her to relocate her pink spaceship to Silver 'B'. Now she can move her bonus ring again, this time up to the '140' button, at which point it must stop because her red spaceship is in the way.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 'B', pink spaceship on Silver 'B', bonus ring on '140'.]
Hannah must now place Gold 'N' for November. This completes a purple scoring row, and also a gold bonus row. Hannah has already relocated her purple spaceship, so she chooses to launch the gold one and places it on Gold 'N'.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 'N' (gold), gold spaceship on Gold 'N'.]
Next, she places Gold 'H' for Hotel, so that it creates a red scoring row. Hannah places her red spaceship on Gold 'H', and this will allow her "Take It Higher" bonus ring to move up one further level to score her 160 bonus points at the end of the round.
[Diagram: Hannah's board after tile 'H', red spaceship on Gold 'H', bonus ring on '160'.]
This shows her completed board.
[Diagram: Hannah's completed board.]
Scoring for Hannah's board is done as follows:
| Player | Hannah | |
|---|---|---|
| "Take It Higher!" Bonus = | 160 | |
| Golds | 10 | x 10 = 100 |
| Silvers | 21 | x 9 = 189 |
| Reds | 12 | x 8 = 96 |
| Blues | 12 | x 7 = 84 |
| Purples | 6 | x 6 = 36 |
| Greens | 6 | x 5 = 30 |
| Pinks | 10 | x 4 = 40 |
| Yellows | 10 |
So Hannah's final score is 795.
Call Signs
| Letter | International Call Sign | Letter | International Call Sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| 'A' | Alpha | 'G' | Golf |
| 'B' | Bravo | 'H' | Hotel |
| 'C' | Charlie | 'I' | India |
| 'D' | Delta | 'J' | Juliet |
| 'E' | Echo | 'K' | Kilo |
| 'F' | Foxtrot | 'L' | Lima |
| 'M' | Mike |