Yali
Yali Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Base Rules
Preparation
Start by placing the YALi board on its base (see Illustration 1). Each player chooses a colour and places their 12 balls in the starting position (see Illustration 2).
Illustration 2 (starting position): Player A uses the solid balls and Player B uses the half-shaded balls.
Winning the Game
The aim of the game is to bring your 8 balls from one end of the balance board to the other as quickly as possible. The player who does so wins the game.
Whose Turn Is It?
YALi decides! YALi tilts to one side: the player on that side has the turn, and keeps it for as long as YALi keeps tilting to that same side.
If at the start of the game YALi is in perfect balance, the first player is chosen by drawing lots. If YALi reaches perfect balance during the game, the player who made the last move keeps the turn.
Which Moves Can Be Made?
A ball can be moved from one square to an adjacent square, or can jump over one square. When a ball is moved, it can only go forward, straight ahead or diagonally. It cannot be moved backwards or sideways.
Diagram: the three forward directions of a move.
Jumping Over a Ball
A ball may jump over its own balls, but also over the balls of its opponent. Several balls may be jumped in a single move, as long as there is an empty square between each one.
When a ball is jumped over, it can only be a ball lying directly in front of the ball being moved (straight ahead or diagonally forward).
Diagram: jumping over a ball.
Attention: Balls on the Starting and Arrival Squares
When a ball is on a starting square or an arrival square, it can be moved sideways, or made to jump over another ball lying next to it.
How to Play
A player presses with a finger on their side of the YALi board. With the other hand, they move a ball by making one of the permitted moves. Once this is done, the player releases YALi. If YALi still tilts to the player's own side, the player makes another move. If YALi tilts to the other side, the other player takes the turn.
Balls Placed on the Sides
As soon as a ball has been brought to the other end of YALi, one of the balls placed on the side can be moved: a ball of the same colour is moved back towards its own camp. Thus gravity makes YALi tilt back to the correct side. The same rules apply in this case: the ball can be moved like a normal ball, and can jump over as many balls as possible.
Two Exceptions
- when the ball is on a starting square or an arrival square;
- when two balls of the opponent are jumped in the same move, only one of the player's balls placed on the side can be moved.
All this means that the balls placed on the sides will play a major role. There is therefore a good chance of bringing the balls placed on the sides back to one's own camp before the game is over. If a player has brought their three balls into the first three squares of their camp, placed on the side, they can then bring back to their camp the balls of their opponent placed on the side. In this way, the YALi board tilts even further to the right side.
In playing the YALi Tournament version, you must not let yourself be walked over, nor let your opponent jump over your own balls! YALi is one challenge more.
Tournament Rules
When playing by the base rules, one can see that there is a strategy which allows a player to win every single move. We do not say more about it, because it is a challenge to discover it yourself. Once a player has discovered this strategy, nothing prevents them from playing by the Tournament rules. The Tournament is a version of YALi that is even more strategic and more exciting.
Ball Positions
There is one change in the position of the balls: each player places three balls, and not four, on the sides.
Diagram: the starting position under the Tournament rules. Player A uses the solid balls and Player B uses the half-shaded balls.
Tension Builds on the Sides
Otherwise, only the rules concerning the balls placed on the sides change. Under the base rules, a ball placed on the side can be moved once one of the player's other balls has reached the other end of the board. Under the Tournament rules, a player may also move one of their balls placed on the side as soon as one of their balls passes over one of the opponent's balls. Each time a player jumps over one of the opponent's balls, the player may move one of their balls placed on the side.
Storage
Inside the box: put the balls in a bag and place them back in the box together with YALi. Another storage place: divide the balls between the two spaces found under YALi, and use the base of the balance to close everything (see illustration).