RED
RED Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
RED is a three-colored tile-laying game for three players. The three colors in the game are black, white, and red, and each player will be a different color. Each tile has a background color and a different-colored circle in the middle.
Players place tiles on the table trying to connect groups of their border color and groups of their circle color.
Components
- 30 small square tiles in 6 types (5 each)
- 6 large square tiles in 6 types (1 each)
- one counter for each color
Rules
Place all the tiles face-up in a pool, leaving room to play the game (Variant: place them face-down).
Each player is assigned one of the three colors by some agreeable method and takes the corresponding counter; the counters just show which player is which color. The order of play is White player, then Black, then Red. Players take turns placing any tile from the pool on the playing surface according to the following rules:
- Tiles must be placed so that they align with an imaginary grid of squares the size of the small tiles.
- White cannot play a large tile on the first turn.
- Except for the obvious exception of the first tile, each new tile must be orthogonally adjacent to at least one small tile (i.e. must touch a small tile; players seem to easily forget this rule). Just having the corners touch isn't good enough.
Example of an illegal placement: The new tile must be placed adjacent to at least one small tile.
- A large tile cannot be placed orthogonally adjacent to another large tile (that is, no two large tiles can touch each other, except at the corners).
Example of an illegal placement: The new large tile cannot be placed orthogonally adjacent to another large tile.
Note: If, at any moment during the game, a small tile is disconnected from the other small tiles, or two large tiles touch each other, some player has made an illegal move.
The game ends when there are no available moves.
Scoring
Small tiles count as 1 point, and large tiles count as 2 points.
Find the highest valued connected group of tiles with your border color, and then find the highest valued connected group of tiles with your circle color. Multiply these two numbers to determine your score.
Example: There are 5 connected tiles with a red border, but one counts double, because it's large, so that's 6. There are 4 connected tiles with a red circle. Red scores 6 × 4 = 24. (White scores 9 × 4 = 36; Black scores 6 × 8 = 48.)
The player with the most points wins. If two players tie, the third player wins! If all three tie, play again!
2-Player Variant
Play with all the tiles, but only two of the colors will be player colors. The third will be useful only for blocking. It is mandatory to play a different type of tile that your opponent just did if possible. Two tiles are different if they are of a different size or colour combination.