Verticality
Verticality Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Verticality is a dexterity game. Players use pyramids and playing cards to build towers. As players add pieces and cards to their towers, they will fall over until only the winner's is standing.
Goal
Build the tallest tower!
Setup
Place all the pyramids and cards in the center of the table for all to reach. Roll the pyramid die to determine the size of the first pieces used.
Equipment
- The Pyramid Die
- As many as all 90 Pyramids
- Zark City Cards
Wall Heights
As needed, someone will roll the die to determine the size of the three pyramids everyone will use in the next level of their towers. If the result is a pair of sizes, the third pyramid will be the result. To be specific, Small + Medium = Large, Small + Large = Medium, and Medium + Large = Small.
Rules for Building Towers
- One by one, you will add three pyramids of the required size to your tower.
- All pyramids must be placed upright.
- You must group your pyramids closely enough together such that each piece is touching another piece. If a piece is placed too far from others to be considered touching, you must reposition it.
- You can never use more than one hand at a time.
- You can never touch any part of your tower after you've let go of it.
- When adding the second and third pyramids to each story, it's acceptable to use the piece you are adding to nudge an existing piece (or pieces) into a better position. However, you can only nudge pieces on the current level.
- Players wait for each other to finish adding each pyramid before adding the next, and all players add their next cards at the same time.
- If any pyramids in your tower fall, your whole tower falls. However, if your top card slides off but nothing else in your tower is disturbed, you may replace it and keep building. But if it happens again, you're out. Only one mulligan per game!
- If you run out of pyramids of the size the die indicates, keep rolling until you get a size you have.
- If you run out of pyramids entirely, suspend the game until natural forces of some kind cause one of the towers to fall, freeing up pyramids for the others to use. While waiting, play another game, find a source for expansion pyramids, or increase the intensity of natural forces in the vicinity of the table.
How to Win
When everyone else's tower is down, you win! If two people build towers to the same height and neither succeeds in adding the next piece, the player who first completed the previous step is the winner.
Other Notes
Skyscraper Style
Younger/clumsier players may prefer to play this way, which simply removes the requirement that each pyramid be touching another. You can create much more stable towers this way, which will make for taller buildings!
Solo Style
This game is fun to play alone, plus every game of Verticality has the potential to become a solitaire game, if you challenge yourself to keep building after all other players are out. How tall can you build? What's your personal best?