That Old Wallpaper Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Card Layout
• Turn Overview
• Card Placement
• Round End
• Game End
• Scoring
• Two-Player Variant

Components

• 109 Wallpaper cards
• 21 Hazy Memory cards
• 5 Perfect Recall tokens
• 50 Player cards (10 cards each in 5 player colors)
• 3 Round cards
• Rulebook and Score Pad

Setup

1. Give each player a set of Player cards, numbered 1 to 10, of one player color.
2. Each player shuffles these cards, places them face-down in a draw pile in front of them, and draws an initial hand of 5 cards.
3. Place each player's Perfect Recall token (matching their player color) in a line near the center play area, arranged by age: youngest player first in line, oldest player last. (Or you can order them in random fashion.)
4. Shuffle the deck of Wallpaper cards to form a face-down draw pile.
5. Establish a number of columns of Wallpaper cards in the play area equal to the number of players (3 columns for 3 players, 4 columns for 4 players, etc.) by drawing and placing 1 card face-up at the top of each column. If a card with a red oval symbol in the center is placed, immediately draw another card and place it face-up in the same column below the previous card, so that both are clearly visible. The column closest to the draw pile is the "low end" and the column farthest from the draw pile is the "high end." (For 2 players, see the Two-Player Variant at the end of the rulebook.)
6. Place the Hazy Memory cards, which are all double-sided and identical, in a pile near the play area.
7. Place the Round cards in a deck to the side of the play area with the Round 1 card on top, the Round 2 card directly underneath, and the Final Round card on the bottom.

Card Layout

Each Wallpaper card features a combination of 4 halves of shapes, either big (along the length of the card) or little (along the width).

Match shapes to score points. (Each pair of completed big and little shapes of the SAME color is worth 2 points.) The colors are:

• Red: Flowery Things
• Yellow: Wonderful Yellow Sunshine
• Blue: Spacey Things
• Green: Leafy Stuff
• The "Wild" One

Some Wallpaper cards feature symbols in the center representing unique mementos. Collect unique mementos to score more points.

Some Wallpaper cards feature the red oval symbol in the center. Throughout the game, whenever a card with this symbol is drawn and placed in a column, immediately draw another card and place it face-up in the same column below the previous card. These symbols enable players to collect more cards from a single column, but watch out! The player who has the MOST of these symbols at the end of the game LOSES 2 POINTS. The player who has the FEWEST of these symbols at the end of the game GAINS 2 POINTS.

Each Hazy Memory card is double-sided with identical shapes that function as a "WILD" half of any shape. See how to gain Hazy Memory cards under Turn Overview, step 6.

Turn Overview

The game is played in a series of turns in which players play numbered cards from their hand to attempt to collect one of the columns of Wallpaper cards to add to their Wall.

1. Players simultaneously choose a numbered Player card from their hand and place it face-down on the table in front of them.
2. Once all players have placed a card, everyone reveals their cards.
3. Place the card with the highest numerical value above the column of Wallpaper cards at the "HIGH END," the card with the next highest numerical value above the next column, and so on until the column of cards at the "LOW END."
4. If 2 or more players have played the same number, those players have "bumped" one another. Place those cards sideways above the number of columns corresponding to the number of players who have "bumped" on that number, blocking those columns off, and then continue placing the rest of the cards.
5. Any player who played a number that no other player did takes the corresponding column of Wallpaper cards to place in their Wall immediately.
6. Players who played the same number and "bumped" one another use the order of the line of Perfect Recall tokens to resolve the bump:
   • The player whose token is closest to the front of the line breaks the bump, claims whichever of the bumped columns they choose, and places the Wallpaper card(s) in their Wall immediately. Move that player's Perfect Recall token to the end of the line.
   • Each other bumped player receives 1 Hazy Memory card to be played and placed at the end of the game, but does not receive a column of Wallpaper card(s) this round. The unclaimed Wallpaper card(s) remain for the following round ("Stays till next round").
   • In the case of multiple bumps, resolve them in numerical order of the Player cards played from highest to lowest.
7. All players retrieve the numbered Player card they played and place it face-up in front of them in their discard area, placed so that other players can easily see which numbers they have played.
8. Each player draws a single new Player card from their draw pile.
9. Draw and place a new Wallpaper card at the bottom of each column. Some columns will be empty and some may have leftover cards from the round. Remember to draw and place an additional card whenever a card with a red oval symbol is drawn and placed.

Card Placement

• (A) When placing Wallpaper cards in their Wall, players must place them adjacent to a card already placed.
• (B) Cards may be rotated, but they must align with the side of a card of similar length.
• (C) Cards may be placed next to mismatched patterns, although they will score fewer points.
• (D) When a "wild" pattern is placed next to a shape, it completes that shape.
• (E) "Wild" patterns, whether on a Wallpaper card or a Hazy Memory card, may be placed next to other "wild" patterns. However, those do NOT count as a completed shape for scoring!

Round End

At the end of the 6th turn, when players need to draw a new Player card, their draw pile will be empty. At that point, they should take the 6 played cards in their discard area, shuffle them, and create a new draw pile, from which they will draw a new card to bring their hand back to 5. Place the Round 1 card at the bottom of the deck, revealing the Round 2 card.

At the end of the 12th turn, players should again take the 6 played cards in their discard area, shuffle them, create a new draw pile, and draw a card. Place the Round 2 card at the bottom of the deck, revealing the Final Round card.

Game End

At the end of the 18th turn, when players are again unable to draw a new Player card, the game is over.

Now, players take any Hazy Memory cards they acquired during the game and add them to their Wall.

Scoring

1. Count your completed shapes. Players receive 2 POINTS for every PAIR of completed big and little shapes in the same color. To calculate this on the score pad, for each color, write the number of completed big shapes and little shapes in that color. Take the smaller of those numbers and multiply by 2. Do the same for each of the 4 colors. Remember, a "wild" placed next to another "wild" does not count as a completed shape in any color!

2. Count your unique mementos.

   • 4 different mementos: 10 POINTS
   • 3 different mementos: 6 POINTS
   • 2 different mementos: 3 POINTS
   • 1 memento: 1 POINT

   Duplicates of the same memento don't score any additional points. The maximum a player can score for mementos is 10 points.

3. Count your red oval symbols. The player with the most red oval symbols LOSES 2 POINTS. The player with the fewest red oval symbols GAINS 2 POINTS. If players tie for most or fewest, they all lose or gain the points, respectively. If all players in the game tie, no points are lost or gained.

4. Score Perfect Recall tokens. The player whose Perfect Recall token is currently first in line scores 2 POINTS. Other players do not score anything.

5. Add (and subtract) all your points. Whoever has the most points has created the most accurate and faithful recreation of that old wallpaper and is the WINNER! If there is a tie, the player with the fewest red oval symbols wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory!

Two-Player Variant

1. For a 2-player game, use the setup for 3 players. You'll play with an imaginary third player who is named Grandma.
2. Grandma doesn't make a Wall or score points, but she'll compete with you to take Wallpaper columns.
3. Designate one set of Player cards for Grandma. Shuffle the cards and place them in a face-down pile. Place Grandma's Perfect Recall token at the end of the line. (Let's assume she's oldest.)
4. In each round, draw the top card from Grandma's draw pile and reveal it when the players reveal their cards. Whenever Grandma wins a column, place these Wallpaper cards in a discard pile. When a player bumps with Grandma, resolve it using the order of the Perfect Recall tokens as normal, but Grandma doesn't take any Hazy Memory cards.
5. Whenever a card needs to be drawn from Grandma's draw pile and it is empty, reshuffle the cards from her discard area to form a new draw pile. (These reshuffles will take place at different times from the other players.)

Although Grandma doesn't score points or win or lose, she always wins because she's just happy to see you kids playing so nicely together.