HILO
HILO Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
104 numbered cards, from -1 to 11, in 8 colors.
Object of the Game
In HILO, the score can rise quickly, even though players prefer to keep it low. The game is played over several rounds and ends when a player reaches at least 100 points. During the game, all players try to replace high-value cards in their grid with lower ones, or to remove entire rows, because at the end of the game, the player with the fewest points wins!
Setup
The oldest player shuffles all the cards well and deals 9 cards to each player, face down. Careful: players are not allowed to look at the front of their cards! Players place their cards in front of them, face down, forming a 3 x 3 grid of cards. This will be called their grid.
The remaining cards are stacked in the center of the table to form a face-down draw pile. The top card of the pile is turned over and placed face up next to the draw pile. This forms the base of the face-up discard pile.
Each player now turns over 2 cards of their choice in their grid. The player whose two face-up cards have the highest sum becomes the starting player. If several players have the same highest sum, the youngest of those players starts.
Playing the Game
Starting with the starting player, then taking turns clockwise, each player performs one action on their turn. The player chooses between the following 2 actions. Passing is not allowed:
A) either they take the top card of the discard pile (face up). B) or they take the top card of the draw pile (face down).
A) Card from the Discard Pile (Face Up)
If the player takes the top card of the discard pile, they must exchange it for a card from their grid. It does not matter whether the card chosen from their grid is face up or face down. They place the discard pile card face up in their grid. The card given in exchange is placed face up on the discard pile.
Example: Lukas takes the red 3 from the discard pile, exchanges it for the blue 9, and places the blue 9 on the discard pile.
Example: Nina takes the yellow 4 and exchanges it for the middle card of her top row, which is face down. She places this card on the discard pile, face up.
B) Card from the Draw Pile (Face Down)
If the player takes the top card of the draw pile, they look at the card and must choose one of the following 2 options:
- either they exchange the card for a card (face up or face down) from their grid (as described in point A), placing the card from their grid on the discard pile, face up, and putting the drawn card, face up, in the place of the one removed;
- or they place the drawn card directly on the discard pile, face up. Important! In this case, they must turn over a card of their choice that was face down in their grid.
Example: Marie takes a card from the draw pile. She does not want to place the orange 7 she drew in her grid, so she places the card on the discard pile, face up. She then turns over one of her face-down cards. She is pleased that it is a card of lower value than the one she just discarded.
HILO
Every time a player places or turns over, in their grid, a 3rd card of the same color on a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row, that player has made a HILO and may immediately place these cards on the discard pile. The player thus has 3 fewer cards in their grid. Important! The 3 cards must be discarded in such a way that the card with the lowest number ends up on top of the discard pile, face up.
Example: by removing the red row, Lukas must place the red 2 on top of the discard pile.
Example: Nina removes the three yellow cards from the left column. The yellow 1 must therefore end up on top of the discard pile at the end of her turn.
When a player removes a diagonal of 3 cards of the same color, they must then bring together the two separated parts of their grid by sliding their cards either vertically or horizontally, so as to re-form two columns or two rows of 3 cards each. If the result is again a HILO, those 3 cards are also eliminated.
Example: Marie has formed a diagonal of 3 yellow cards and places them on the discard pile. She can now move the blue 4, the red 2, and the face-down card either down or to the left. She must choose one of these two options.
Special case: If, after their action, a player has more than one row, column, or diagonal of 3 cards of the same color at the same time, they must decide which of these rows of 3 cards to remove. They can only remove one row, column, or diagonal at a time.
End of a Round
When a player, at the end of their turn, has all the cards of their grid turned face up (or no longer has any cards in their grid), all the other players take one last turn. Then, all players turn over the cards in their grid that were still face down. If there is a HILO, the cards are eliminated as described above.
Each player adds up the numbers on all the cards in their grid. Important! If the player who triggered the end of the round does not have the lowest sum for that round, they must multiply their score by 2 (unless the result is negative). Even in the case of a tie, they must double their score.
Players' results are recorded for each round. If no player exceeds 99 points, a new round begins. Shuffle all the cards and prepare the next round as described above.
Example: at the end of the third round, Marie has 48 points, Lukas 59, and Nina 32.
| Marie | Lukas | Nina | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 7 | 26 | 9 |
| Round 2 | 18 | 14 | 11 |
| Total | 25 | 40 | 20 |
| Round 3 | 23 | 19 | 12 |
| Total | 48 | 59 | 32 |
| Round 4 | |||
| Total |
Nina is currently in the best position, but since no player has exceeded 99 points, they begin a fourth round.
End of the Game
The game ends after the round in which a player exceeds 99 points with the sum of their points across all rounds played. The player with the lowest sum wins. In case of a tie, there are several winners.