TacTile
TacTile Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 36 Wood Tiles
- 120 Action Cards
- 8 Wood Player Discs
- 8 Wood Basic Action Cubes
- 4 Reference Cards
- 64 Wood Resources
Accessibility
For color impaired players, flip the board tiles over for a shape-based layout. Cards and resources have matching shape designs: red = circle, yellow = triangle, green = diamond, blue = star.
Setup
- Each player selects a color, collecting their basic action cubes, player discs, and a reference card.
- Place the 4 black-edged 'home' tiles in the 4 corner positions of a 6x6 square grid closest to their matching player.
- Shuffle the 32 remaining tiles and place them randomly to complete the 6x6 grid.
- All players place both discs on their home tile. In a 2-player game, choose positions diagonal from each other.
- Shuffle the 120 action cards and deal 6 face up to create the card market. The rest become a draw pile.
- Separate the resources and create 4 piles in easy reach of all players.
Objective
Your goal is to be the first to score two discs. Once a disc moves onto a score tile it's scored and is out of the game. Once you score your last disc the game ends immediately and you win!
If a player scores both their discs but the game isn't over, they are eliminated and their turn is skipped.
2 Player: Showdown
Your score tile is the home tile diagonal to your home tile. Both discs must score. This is Showdown Victory.
3 Player: Brawl
Your score tiles are the home tiles to the right and left of your home tile. One disc must score on each tile. This is Brawl Victory.
4 Player: Team Battle
The player diagonal to you is your ally. Each player's score tile is their ally's home tile. Your team must score 3 of your 4 collective discs. This is Team Victory.
How to Play
First Player: In TacTile the player with the most colors on their shirt goes first!
Turn Order: Gameplay proceeds to the left.
On your turn, you may take up to 2 basic actions out of a possible 5, in any order. You cannot repeat the same basic action.
MOVE
Move one of your discs to an adjacent open tile.
- Moves can be up, down, left, or right (no diagonal moves).
- Discs cannot share tiles (except on home/score tiles).
- You cannot move onto home tiles that are not your home/score tile.
GAIN
Gain a resource matching the color of a tile currently occupied by one of your discs.
- You cannot gain a resource from home tiles.
BUY
Buy an action card from the card market and pay its resource cost.
- Draw and replace the purchased card immediately.
- Purchased action cards are public knowledge.
SWAP
Swap a resource you own for a stockpile resource of another color.
OR
4 Player Mode Only: Swap an action card you own with an ally's action card.
- You can swap cards with an eliminated ally.
- Swapped cards are refreshed.
RESET
Reset the card market by discarding the current cards for sale and replace them with six new cards from the deck.
- If you reach the end of the deck, reshuffle the discard pile to form a new deck.
Helpful Tip: Use the basic action cubes and your reference card to keep track of your basic actions.
Action Cards
Action cards are permanent upgrades that can give a free action when activated. Each card shows a color identifier and action type, an action symbol, and a card cost.
Moving onto a tile activates all action cards you own of the tile's color. For example, if the yellow player moves onto a blue tile, this activates their blue action cards for use.
Action cards can only be activated once per turn and refresh at the start of your next turn. Using any action is optional. All actions can be used in any order before the end of your turn.
There are 3 types of action cards.
MOVE (action card)
Move one of your discs to an adjacent open tile.
- An action card move can activate other action cards.
GAIN (action card)
Gain a resource matching the color of a tile currently occupied by one of your discs.
PUSH (action card)
Push another player's disc onto an adjacent open tile.
- You cannot push diagonally.
- You cannot push discs onto home/score tiles.
- Pushing does not activate action cards.
Helpful Tip: Keep track of your action cards by advancing them once they are activated and twisting them once their action has been used.
Example: Yellow player uses a basic move action to move onto the blue tile. This activates their blue move action card. Yellow player uses their activated blue move card to move onto the green tile, activating their green push.
Special Rules
Automatic Card Market Reset
The card market will reset immediately with no action cost if any of the following conditions are met:
- 5 or more action cards are the same activation color.
- 5 or more action cards are the same type (move, gain, push).
Trapped Disc
If at the beginning of your turn you have a disc with no legal moves available, you may activate all action cards matching the tile color of your trapped disc for free.
For example, in a position where the yellow player's disc is trapped on a blue tile, the yellow player can activate their blue push and blue move for free.
Credits
Designer/Publisher: Joseph Bugbee.
3D Renders: Alexei Menardo.
Accessibility & Design Consultants: Gary Bartos, Jean Alix.
Rulebook Reviewers: Greg Thompson, Alex Cheng, Stephanie Hebert, Martin van Rossum, Jeff Grisenthwaite.
Playtesting Core Team: Kristine Rezny, Aaron Bandler, Daniel Mangin, Nick Sadler, Scott Mangin, Pam Bugbee, Alex Moy, Felipe Chen, Joey Vigil, Brant Tucker, Tony Bowes, Paige Rodrigues, Fei Jiang, Raman Anurag, Connor Ritchey, Julia Eichenfield, Artūrs Bremanis, Joey Benz, Steven Mestrovic, Jason Holmquist, Michael Aponte, Nate Converse.