Hop le j'ton
Hop le J'ton Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Contents
Hop le J'ton contains mostly j'tons (wooden tokens), lots of them:
- 9 green j'tons
- 9 red j'tons
- 9 yellow j'tons
- 7 blue j'tons
- 5 white j'tons
- 5 grey j'tons
- 5 black j'tons
The box also lists "+ the Trou Noir extension for Hop la Puce!" Trou Noir is a bonus card for a different game, Hop la Puce, and is not part of these rules.
Goal of the Game
Knock the white, grey and black j'tons off the box. The first player to score 7 points wins.
Setup
Empty the box and place it upside down in the middle of the table. Put the lid on top of it, straddling it, as in the example on the following page.
Depending on the number of players, each player receives at the start of the game:
- 2 players: 14 j'tons in 2 colours (for example 7 green and 7 red)
- 3 players: 9 j'tons of one colour
- 4 players: 7 j'tons of one colour
Build a reserve with all the black, grey and white j'tons. Place one of each in the white half-circle, as in the example, also on the following page.
Any unused coloured j'tons (green, yellow, blue and red) are set aside. Poor things.
Example setup for a 3-player game:
- Reserve
- 9 red j'tons for Jean
- 9 yellow j'tons for Zoé
- 9 green j'tons for Maël
(The diagram itself is not reproduced; the labels above are the printed ones.)
Playing the Game
The last person to have hung around a funfair starts the game. Then players take turns clockwise (the direction a screw turns; yes, we never told you that one, did we?).
On your turn, you place one, two or three of your j'tons in the brown zone, without overhanging the edges. The j'tons you play must be aligned, and they cannot be one behind another or on top of one another. Then you gently push the lid straight, until it reaches the thick black line. When you have finished pushing, the edges of the j'tons you played must touch the black line. If at least one of the j'tons you played no longer touches the black line at the end of the push, the player takes a penalty (explained further on).
One clarification: the lid slides on its own. There is no need to lift it or hold the box. Do it calmly; you can even push with just one finger, and it works very well.
Example of a game in progress: Maël starts the game. He has placed two of his green j'tons in the brown zone and pushed the lid up to the thick black line, without going past it!
At first, you will spend a few turns just filling the playing field, until... Boom, j'tons fall! In front or at the sides: that counts too! Then it becomes interesting:
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If coloured j'tons fall, the player of that colour takes them back. That gives them ammunition to play with later.
-
If white, grey or black j'tons fall, the active player takes them and keeps them in front of them. These are their score:
- White = 1 point
- Grey = 2 points
- Black = 3 points
The active player then takes the same j'tons they just won from the reserve and places them on the playing field, in the white half-circle, each straddling at least two other j'tons.
For example, if during my turn a black and a white j'ton fell, I keep them in front of me to score my 4 points, and I take a new black and a new white j'ton from the reserve and place them on the playing field, in the white half-circle, each straddling two j'tons already in place.
It is possible that you have no j'tons left when it is your turn. Tough luck: you pass your turn, and you will play on your next turn, provided you have recovered some fallen j'tons!
As soon as a player accumulates 7 points in total, they win. Congratulations, and the game ends immediately!
Penalties
A detail: the penalty
When a player has a penalty, they are sad, and once they have been consoled, they must put back into play one of the white, grey or black j'tons they had won. They place it in the white half-circle, straddling two other j'tons. If they had won nothing, they put back one of their coloured j'tons instead.
Also, if the active player, while playing, went past the thick black line and knocked off black, grey or white j'tons, these are automatically won by the next player! No, it is not unfair: you just had to be careful!
Tilt
Another detail: tilt!
And a small emphasis: if, ever, ever, j'tons fall from the box at any time other than when the active player is pushing the lid, the person responsible is penalised as explained above. Whatever the reason, whether the table moved or a gesture was unplanned:
- A fallen coloured j'ton is won by the player of that colour.
- If black, grey or white j'tons fell, the player who plays after the culprit automatically wins them. That will teach you to tilt the machine!
Shortage
One last detail: the shortage…
Have you knocked off the fifth white, grey or black j'ton? Then replace it with the one of your choice among those remaining!
Translator's note: the printed text for this rule does not spell out which j'tons are "those remaining" (presumably the j'tons still left in the reserve). The wording is kept as printed.