Warp & Weft Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Components
• Game Setup
• Course of the Game
  • Phase I. Round Preparation
  • Phase II. String Selection
  • Phase III. Weaving
  • Phase IV. Pattern Selection
    • Adjacent Pattern
    • Interlaced Pattern
• End of the Game

Object of the Game

In Warp & Weft you must weave different colored strings on your Loom in order to form attractive patterns.

Round after round you collect the strings you need to carry out your design, and you also commit to the colored patterns you want to express on your loom.

You can earn Victory Points (VP) by fulfilling the Shared Objective and by weaving the patterns you have selected. But be careful! If you weave many strings of the same color on the same axis you can lose VP. After the fourth round ends, whoever has the most VP is the winner.

Components

• 100 strings (20 of each color)
• 5 Loom boards
• 10 Interlaced Pattern cards
• 20 Buttons (4 of each color)
• 10 Adjacent Pattern cards
• 1 Scorepad
• 10 Shared Objective cards
• 1 Cloth Bag
• 1 Rulebook

Game Setup

A. Each participant receives a personal Loom board and the 4 buttons of the color matching their board, which they place in their play area.

B. Mix the 100 strings well inside the Cloth Bag and set it aside at the side of the table.

C. Take 1 Shared Objective card at random and place it face up in the center of the table. Return the remaining cards to the box; they will not be used during the game.

D. Take 4 Adjacent Pattern cards at random and place them face up forming a column of cards next to the Shared Objective card. Return the remaining cards to the box; they will not be used during the game.

E. Take 4 Interlaced Pattern cards at random and place them face up forming a column of cards next to the Shared Objective card. Return the remaining cards to the box; they will not be used during the game.

(Diagram: setup for 3 participants. Each participant has a Loom and buttons; the Shared Objective card is in the center, with a column of Adjacent Pattern cards and a column of Interlaced Pattern cards beside it.)

Course of the Game

A game of Warp & Weft is played over 4 rounds. In each round the following phases are carried out, in order:

• Phase I. Round preparation
• Phase II. String selection
• Phase III. Weaving
• Phase IV. Pattern selection

Once the fourth round has ended, the game is over and Victory Points must be counted.

Phase I. Round Preparation

Each participant must take 5 strings at random from the Cloth Bag. Take the strings you drew into your hand, so that they remain visible to the other participants.

Phase II. String Selection

Each participant must, simultaneously, secretly select one string from their hand and place it on the table in front of them. When the whole group has chosen its string, everyone must simultaneously pass the remaining unselected strings to the person on their left. This process must be repeated until each person has collected 4 strings. The last string must be returned to the box, as it will not be used for the rest of the game.

Phase III. Weaving

At the same time, each participant weaves the 4 collected strings onto their Loom Board in the order they prefer. To do so they must follow these weaving rules:

A. A string can be woven in a straight vertical or horizontal line, from one end of the board to the other, hooking into its opposite holes. A string can never be woven diagonally.

B. A string can be woven passing over or under other strings placed previously.

C. There is no limit to how many strings of the same color can be present on one axis (horizontal or vertical). But if you weave more than 3 strings of the same color on the same axis, each extra string will subtract 1 VP at the end of the game.

Example: in this case, this Loom has 5 red strings on the vertical axis, and 3 on the horizontal axis. At the moment it is subtracting 2 VP for the 2 extra strings on the vertical axis.

D. Once a string has been woven, it cannot be moved or rearranged again.

Phase IV. Pattern Selection

After weaving the 4 strings on their Loom, each participant must place one of their buttons on a Pattern card in the center of the table. This process can be carried out simultaneously. The only restriction is that there cannot be 2 buttons of the same color on the same card.

If it is a round button, it must be placed on an Adjacent Pattern card.

If it is a square button, it must be placed on an Interlaced Pattern card.

This phase is very important, since it will determine which patterns will give you VP at the end of the game. Try to choose the patterns that you can form the most times on your Loom. Pattern cards that have no buttons of your color will not give you VP at the end of the game.

Adjacent Pattern

Each string of color A will give you 1 VP at the end of the game for each string of color B that is woven adjacent to it (and in the same orientation). It is possible for the same B string to score for 2 different A strings.

Example: in this case, there are 3 strings of color A (Pink) that have strings of color B (Light blue) adjacent. String A1 has 1 string of color B adjacent (1 VP). String A2 has 2 strings of color B adjacent (2 VP), and string A3 has 1 string of color B adjacent (1 VP). In total this Loom scores 4 VP for this pattern.

Interlaced Pattern

It will give you 1 VP at the end of the game for each time a string of color A interlaces with 2 strings of color B on your Loom. The pattern formed must be present in the exact way it appears on the card, respecting which strings are woven over and which under. It is possible for the same string of color A to be used to form the same pattern more than once.

Example: in this case, this Loom has the card's Pattern 6 times. String A1 fulfills it only once (1 VP), since in the lower part it passes under, and not over, the blue. String A2 correctly fulfills the pattern twice (2 VP). Strings A3, A4 and A5 fulfill the pattern only once each (1 VP); an extra blue string placed in the holes marked in red would be needed for them to score a second time. In total this Loom scores 6 VP for this pattern.

After completing this phase, a new round begins by repeating the 4 phases. At the end of the fourth round the game will have ended.

End of the Game

Once the fourth round has ended, after each participant's Loom is complete and each participant has selected 4 patterns, proceed to the final count of VP with the help of the Scorepad:

A. First the Shared Objective card is evaluated. If the 2 patterns are present at least once on the Loom, you obtain 5 Victory Points.

B. The Patterns of each participant's 4 buttons are evaluated. 1 Victory Point for each time the corresponding Pattern appears on the Loom (according to the rules described on the previous page).

Note: the same string can be part of the Shared Objective as well as of an Adjacent or Interlaced Pattern.

C. You lose 1 Victory Point for each string of the same color on the same axis (horizontal or vertical) from the fourth string onward.

The person who has obtained the most Victory Points is the winner of the game. In case of a tie, the tied persons share the victory.

Example: Fran fulfilled the Shared Objective, so she obtains 5 VP. For her first round button she obtains 3 VP, the same score she obtains for her second round button. For her first square button she obtains 6 VP, while she obtains no VP for her second square button. In addition, she loses 2 VP for the fourth and fifth purple strings on the vertical axis. In total Fran has obtained 15 VP.

(Scorepad column for Fran: 5, 3, 3, 6, 0, -2, total 15.)