Blox Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Idea and Goal of the Game
• Playing a Turn
• The Actions
  • Place a Figure on the Board (Example 1)
  • Move a Figure (Example 2)
  • Destroy a Tower (Example 3)
  • Build a Tower (Example 4)
  • Knock Off a Figure (Example 5)
  • Exchange Cards (no example)
• Joker
• Phases – Phase Track
• End of the Game
• Two-Player Rules
• Things Often Forgotten…
• Examples

Components

• 1 Game Board (4 pieces)
• 60 Cards
• 16 Figures
• 1 Phase Track with phase marker
• 60 Victory Point Tokens
• 40 Blocks
• 4 Jokers

Setup

You will find the 2-player setup instructions at the end of this rulebook.

1. Game board. The game board is made up of 81 colored spaces (9 x 9). Assemble the 4 board pieces together and place the board on the table.
2. Blocks. The 40 blocks are stacked into towers on the spaces that have small squares on them. The size of the tower is given by the number of squares. The color of the blocks does not matter — a tower may or may not have several blocks of the same color.
3. Victory point tokens. Sort the 60 point tokens by value and place them near the board. Place a point token of value equal to its height on top of each tower.
4. Figures. Each player chooses a color and places the 4 figures of that color in front of them.
5. Jokers. Each player takes their Joker and places it face up in front of them.
6. Cards. Shuffle the 60 cards. Each player secretly takes 5 cards and keeps them in hand. The remaining cards form a face-down draw pile. Set aside a space next to it for a discard pile.
7. Phase track. The 4 phases are described on the phase track. The first player places this track in front of them, visible to all players. They place the phase marker on space "1".

The game is ready: you can now read the rules.

Idea and Goal of the Game

Over the course of the 4 phases of a game, players build ever-taller towers, or destroy towers on the game board. They earn victory points for doing so. At the end of the game, the winner is the player with the most victory points.

Playing a Turn

See further on for 2-player games.

The player who most recently visited a tall tower goes first. Players then continue clockwise, taking turns one after another.

On their turn, a player:

• Chooses exactly one of the actions described below,
• Discards the cards required for that action, placing them face up on the discard pile,
• Carries out the action,
• Then finally completes their hand by drawing from the draw pile so as to always have 5 cards in hand (if the draw pile is empty, the discard pile is reshuffled to form a new draw pile).

Then the next player begins their turn.

The Actions

There are 6 different actions:

• Place a figure on the board
• Move a figure
• Destroy a tower
• Build a tower
• Knock off a figure
• Exchange cards

Important:

1. All figures and towers are impassable obstacles. You may never jump over them when moving a figure.
2. Each space may hold only one thing: either a tower or a figure.

(The numbers given for the various actions refer to the example in which that action is illustrated in detail.)

Place a Figure on the Board (Example 1)

To place one of their figures on the board, a player chooses a row or column and puts their figure at the entrance of that row or column. They then discard one of their cards and move their figure in a straight line (never diagonally) to the first space of the same color as the discarded card.

Reminder: if the path to the first space of the chosen color is blocked by a tower or a figure, that space cannot be reached. You must therefore choose an entry point and a card that are "compatible."

Move a Figure (Example 2)

To move one of their figures to another space on the board, a player discards one of their cards, then moves the figure of their choice in a straight line (still never diagonally) in the direction of their choice, to the first space of the same color as the discarded card.

Destroy a Tower (Example 3)

To destroy a tower, a player must be able to move one of their figures in a straight line along a row or column to reach the space occupied by that tower. This is only possible if there is no space along that path that is the same color as any of the blocks making up the tower. In addition, for each block in the tower, the player must discard a card of matching color.

The player then takes the point token and places it face up in front of them, along with all the blocks from the destroyed tower. They then move their figure onto the space where the tower stood.

Remark: depending on the phase of the game, only certain towers can be destroyed (see Phases, below). It does not matter who built the tower. A tower cannot be partially destroyed. It is not possible to destroy a tower while placing a figure on the board: the figure must already be on a space to do so.

Rule of 7 blocks: If a player has 7 or more blocks in front of them, they cannot destroy a tower until they have brought their block count back below 7 by building towers. This rule does not affect the other actions.

Example A: Anne has 6 blocks in front of her. She destroys a tower of 3 blocks, so she now has 9 blocks in front of her. She cannot destroy another tower until her block count has dropped back below 7.

Build a Tower (Example 4)

To build a tower, a player assembles a combination of blocks belonging to them along with cards of matching color. For each block chosen, a card of the same color is required. The player discards the cards and replaces one of their figures on the board with the newly built tower. The figure is removed from the board and returned to the player, who may place it back on the board later.

The player places a victory point token, taken from the supply, on top of the tower they built. The value of the token must equal the height of the tower. The player also takes a victory point token of the same value from the supply and places it face up in front of them, among their winnings.

Remark: the height a tower may be built to depends on the phase of the game (see Phases, below). When building a tower, you must make sure it remains reachable and that all other towers remain reachable as well.

Knock Off a Figure (Example 5)

To knock off an opponent's figure, a player must discard 3 or more cards of the same color as the space the opponent's figure occupies. They must also be able to reach the figure with one of their own figures, moving it in a straight line along a row or column. There must be no space along that path that is the same color as the space the targeted figure is on.

The player then replaces the opponent's figure with their own, and returns the opponent's figure to its owner. The owner may place it back on the board later.

The player who knocks off a figure receives one point from the supply for each card used — that is, 3 points for 3 cards, 4 points for 4 cards, or even 5 points for 5 cards.

Remark: it is not possible to knock off a figure while placing one of your own figures on the board.

Exchange Cards (no example)

To exchange cards, a player discards 1 to 5 of their cards and takes the same number of cards from the draw pile.

They may also reactivate their Joker by turning it face up: the Joker may then be used starting on the following turn.

Joker

The Joker replaces a card of any color. It can be used at any time during any action. When drawing cards, the Joker does not count.

Example B: Bea wants to knock off an opponent's figure standing on a gray space. Unfortunately, she has only 2 gray cards, so she uses her Joker to replace the missing gray card. She carries out the action, then draws 2 cards.

Example C: Chris wants to move one of his figures onto a white space, but he has no white card. He plays his Joker (as a white card) and carries out the "move a figure" action. Since he played no [regular] cards, he does not draw a new card.

Once a player has used their Joker, it is turned face down. To use it again, the player must first reactivate it, which is possible when taking the "Exchange cards" action.

Phases – Phase Track

A game is played over 4 phases. Depending on the phase, players may:

• In Phase 1: destroy towers of exactly 1 block, and build towers of exactly 2 blocks.
• In Phase 2: destroy towers of up to 2 blocks, and build towers of exactly 3 blocks.
• In Phase 3: destroy towers of up to 3 blocks, and build towers of exactly 4 blocks.
• In Phase 4: destroy towers of up to 4 blocks, and build towers of exactly 5 blocks.

Remark: when a tower of 5 blocks is built, no victory point token is placed on it, since it can no longer be destroyed. However, the player still receives 5 points for building it.

Phase change: When only one tower of the maximum destroyable height remains standing (in Phase 1, a single tower of size 1; in Phase 2, a single tower of size 2; and so on), the next phase begins immediately. Players should keep an eye on the phase track in front of them for phase changes; the phase marker is advanced accordingly to indicate the new phase of the game.

End of the Game

The end of the game is reached when only one tower of size 4 remains standing in Phase 4. The round is played out to its end so that all players have taken the same number of turns. (Reminder: the player holding the phase track in front of them is the first player.)

Each player totals their points. The winner is whoever has the most points. In case of a tie, the tied players are ranked by the number of blocks in front of them.

Two-Player Rules

In a 2-player game, put one block of each color back in the box. The remaining blocks are placed as usual, except that there is no tower of size 1: instead, 4 additional towers of size 2 are placed on the 2 gray spaces and the 2 white spaces marked with a square symbol.

The remaining 8 figures are placed as neutral figures on the other spaces marked with a square symbol. These neutral figures can be knocked off in the same way as an opponent's figure and earn the same number of points. Knocked-off neutral figures are removed from the game permanently.

Since there is no tower of size 1, the game begins in Phase 2. The phase marker is therefore placed directly on space 2.

Things Often Forgotten…

• Phase changes: it is the first player's responsibility to watch for phase changes.
• The rule of 7 blocks: a player with 7 or more blocks can no longer destroy a tower; they must first build to bring their block count below 7.
• Exchanging cards: don't forget to reactivate your Joker.
• Drawing cards: after each action, the player must fill their hand back up to 5 cards.

Examples

Anne, Bea, Chris and Dirk are playing Blox. We are in Phase 3 of a 4-player game. The illustration shows only the game pieces needed to understand each example. The legend distinguishes a "possible" path (solid line) from an "impossible" one (dotted line).

Example 1 — Place a figure

Anne plays a gray card. She chooses to place her figure on the board along the second row from the right edge and moves her figure to the first gray space in that direction. That same space cannot be reached from the top side because there is another gray space in the way. Anne draws a card, and it becomes Bea's turn.

Example 2 — Move a figure

Bea plays a black card. She can reach the black spaces to the right or to the left of her figure. She cannot reach the black space above her figure because the path to that space is blocked by another figure. She decides to move her figure to the space on the right, then draws a card.

Example 3 — Destroy a tower

Chris has the cards shown on the left in hand. He can destroy the tower of size 3 because he has the right cards (2 white and 1 purple) and there is no space along the path that is the same color as any piece of the tower. He discards his 3 cards and gains the blocks along with the point token worth 3 points. He then moves his figure onto the space where the tower stood. Finally, he draws 3 cards.

He could not have destroyed the tower of size 2, even though he has cards of the right color in hand, because there is a black space on the path from his figure to that tower.

Example 4 — Build a tower

Dirk chooses 4 of his blocks for which he has the matching cards in hand. He discards those 4 cards, removes one of his figures from the board, and places the tower on the space where it stood. He takes two tokens of value 4 from the supply; he places one on the newly built tower and places the other among his winnings in front of him. Finally, he draws 4 cards.

Example 5 — Knock off a figure

Anne plays 4 purple cards to knock off an opponent's figure. She cannot knock off the green figure because there is a tower on the path to it, but she can knock off the brown figure. She gains 4 points from the supply and returns the brown figure to its owner, Bea. She then places her figure on the purple space and draws 4 cards.