Tension Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• 4-Player Rules
• Penalties
• 3-Player Rules
• 2-Player Rules

Components

• 1 Game board with colour roulette (Figure 1)
• Red pieces, yellow pieces, green pieces and white pieces: 8 of each colour
• Blue pieces: 4 (these blue pieces are used only when playing with 3 players; they are not used when playing with 4 or 2 players)
• Total: 36 pieces

4-Player Rules

1. Each player takes 2 red, 2 yellow, 2 green and 2 white pieces, 8 pieces in total, and lines them up in front of themselves with the knob side facing up (Figure 2).
2. Decide the turn order. For each round, spin the colour roulette with a finger.
3. When the colour roulette stops, each player quickly puts a piece of the colour that came up on the roulette, from among their own pieces, into a hole of the same colour. With 4 players there are only 3 holes of each colour, so the slowest player cannot put a piece into a hole.
4. A player who cannot put a piece into a hole loses that round and must take all the pieces on the board.
5. Pieces may not be touched until the colour roulette has come to a complete stop.

(Note) If a player has no piece of the colour that came up on the roulette, they may use a piece of a different colour.

(Example) Suppose a player holds 2 yellow pieces, 1 white piece and 1 green piece, and has no red piece at all. If the colour roulette then shows red, that player may put any one of their 5 non-red pieces into a red hole.

Transcriber's note: the printed example says "5 non-red pieces", but the pieces it lists add up to 4 (2 yellow, 1 white, 1 green). The figure is transcribed as printed and has not been corrected.

Penalties

1. If, before the colour roulette has stopped, a player touches a piece, or a player ends up holding 2 or more pieces at the same time, that player must take 1 piece from each of the other players when that round ends.
2. If a player holds a piece of the colour that came up on the roulette but, by mistake, puts a piece of another colour into a hole, or puts a piece into a hole of another colour, that player loses that round and must take all the pieces on the board.

3-Player Rules

1. Place one blue piece into each of the 4 colour holes on the board, one per hole (Figure 3).
2. Put each blue piece in flat side up. The blue pieces stay where they are for the whole game.

All other rules are exactly the same as the 4-Player Rules.

2-Player Rules

1. Each player takes 4 red, 4 yellow, 4 green and 4 white pieces, 16 pieces in total.
2. Each round, the two players each hold 2 pieces of the colour that came up on the roulette, one in each hand, and put both into holes of that colour at the same time. There are only 3 holes of each colour, so the slower player can put in only 1 piece and keeps the other piece.
3. The player who was slower loses that round and must take all the pieces on the board.

All other rules are exactly the same as the 4-Player Rules.