Casbah Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Parts
• The Tiles
• The Multi-Player Game
  • Setting Up the Game
  • Playing the Game
• Building Rules
• The End of the Game
• The Solo Game

Game Parts

• 48 tiles
• 60 chips:
  • 20 (yellow) worth 10 points
  • 20 (green) worth 5 points
  • 20 (blue) worth 1 point
• 1 rulebook

The Tiles

There are 3 kinds of tiles:

• 3 memo tiles to remember the different chips' worth.
• The 5 gardens.
• The 40 rooms of the casbah. Each room has doors and/or french windows.

Each garden or room tile has a face value ranging from 1 to 15.

• Rooms have doors (brown) and french windows (blue).
• One of the rooms has a double brown door: it is the front door.

With the rooms and gardens, you can build different size casbahs:

• 6 x 6 = 36 squares (2, 3 or 4 players)
• 4 x 9 = 36 squares (2, 3 or 4 players)
• 5 x 8 = 40 squares (2 or 4 players)
• 4 x 10 = 40 squares (2 or 4 players)
• 6 x 7 = 42 squares (2 or 3 players)
• 4 x 11 = 44 squares (2 or 4 players)
• 5 x 9 = 45 squares (3 players)

It is of course possible to build smaller casbahs, but the game gets easier. Anyway, those who want to try must remember that the shape of the casbah must be square or rectangular.

A square is the physical space in which you can fit a room or a garden.

The Multi-Player Game

Setting Up the Game

• Players decide together the size and shape of their future casbah, according to their number.
  • Examples:
  • 45 squares, i.e. a 9 by 5 squares rectangle (only for 3 players)
  • 36 squares, i.e. a 6 by 6 squares square (2, 3 or 4 players)
  • 36 squares, i.e. a 9 by 4 squares rectangle (2, 3 or 4 players)
• All the tiles are laid face up on the tabletop.
• Clockwise and beginning with the youngest, each player chooses a tile. The players keep choosing their tiles this way until the required number is reached. All players then have an identical number of tiles.
• If nobody chose the room including the front door, the last player has to choose it as his last tile.
• Each player lays his tiles face up in front of him.
• The remaining tiles (in the case of a less than 45 squares casbah) are put back in the box.
• The memo tiles and the chips are then placed near a player. This player will distribute the points earned during the play.

Playing the Game

• The player who possesses the front door begins. He places his room and gets its value in chips (in this particular case, 1 point).
• The next player, seated on his left, chooses one of his tiles, adds it to the casbah according to the building rules, and gets the corresponding points.
• Each player lays down a tile upon his turn and earns the corresponding points. Thus the casbah slowly grows...
• If a player cannot use any of his remaining tiles, he passes his playing turn. If on his next playing turn he can lay down a tile, he will have to do so.

Building Rules

• The front door must open on the outside.
• No door, except the front door, can open on the outside.
• A door must always touch another door.
• A door cannot open on the outside, on a french window or on a garden.

Diagram labels: "YES" and "FRONT DOOR" for a door opening on the outside; a red cross marks a door placed against a french window or a garden.

• A french window can open on:

  • the outside
  • a garden

  A french window cannot touch another french window or a door.

Diagram labels: "YES" for a french window opening on the outside or on a garden; a red cross marks a french window touching another french window.

• A garden can touch:

  • outside
  • a french window
  • another garden.

  A garden may never touch a door.

• Each segment of "outside wall" must have a french window. Thus the angular rooms must have two french windows at least.

• Each newly laid tile must touch by one side an already laid tile. The casbah grows from the first laid tile (the front door).

• The tiles cannot connect by an angle.

• It is forbidden to change the future of a square: if a french window is next to an empty square, this square can only be filled by a garden. If other tiles are laid next to this empty square, they must have a french window touching it.

Diagram labels: "YES" for a garden touching the outside, a french window or another garden; a red cross marks a garden touching a door.

Diagram captions (outside wall example): "YOU MUST PUT A FRENCH WINDOW HERE"; "YOU MUST PUT A GARDEN HERE"; "YOU MUST PUT A DOOR HERE"; "YOU MUST PUT A FRENCH WINDOW HERE"; a red cross marks a square that cannot be filled.

• It is possible to lay down a tile even if no other tile is available to connect to it. For example, you can lay down a french window even if all the gardens are already used. So it can happen that some squares cannot be "filled".
• If a player can play (i.e. lay down a tile) he has to play.

Look out! Only the way you lay down your tiles decides which sides of the casbah will be the length and the width. Beware!

Diagram captions (9 by 5 squares casbah example): "THIS SIDE IS MORE THAN 5 SQUARES LONG, SO IT BECOMES THE LENGTH"; "THIS SIDE AUTOMATICALLY BECOMES THE WIDTH"; "YOU MUST PUT A FRENCH WINDOW HERE (OUTSIDE WALL)".

The End of the Game

• When nobody can add any more tiles to the casbah, the game stops.
• Each player then computes his remaining points (the total value of his remaining tiles) and subtracts it from his chips.
• The player who has the most points wins the game.

Example: A player has 28 points in chips in front of him. He has 2 tiles left, their respective values being 5 and 2. He gives back 7 points in chips, and his final score is 21 points.

The Solo Game

• The player decides the size of his casbah.
• He spreads upon the table all the tiles face up, then discards the memo tiles and the chips.
• The building rules are the same as the multi-player game's.
• But his casbah must be complete, no square can be "empty".
• When his casbah is finished, he computes the remaining points (the total value of the remaining tiles) and... tries to better his score in the next game!