Tiles
Tiles Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Getting Started
Before a game can be played the tiles need to be cut out. Copying the tiles onto firm paper makes them easier to play with. The game consists of 45 tiles. Each tile is subdivided into four triangular sections which may be colored with either white, grey, or black.
Randomly select who goes first, and what color each player will be playing. Play begins with the first player, then proceeds clockwise.
Shuffle the deck of tiles and deal five tiles (for a three player game) or seven tiles (for a two player game) face down to each player. Lay one tile face up in the center of play, then put the deck off to the side. The remaining tiles now become the draw deck. Tiles will be discarded into a discard pile; once a tile is discarded it is out of the game.
Rules
Each turn is played the following way, until there are no more tiles left in the draw deck. When all tiles have been played or discarded the game is over. The player with the highest number of points wins.
- Draw a tile from the draw deck if there are any tiles available.
- Place a tile on the board, if possible, keeping in mind the placement rules. If a player cannot place a tile then that player must discard a tile. See Placing Tiles below.
- Score the player's move, if any, and add it to that player's existing score. See Scoring below.
Placing Tiles
Tiles may only be placed in such a way as the colors on the tile's quadrants match the colors of the tile's quadrants adjacent to the placed tile.
Using this piece (a tile whose top quadrant is grey, left quadrant black, and right and bottom quadrants white), see the two examples in the left margin.
- Example A: Illegal Move. The tile matches the tile to the right, but not the tile below it.
- Example B: Legal Move. The tile matches the tile to the right and the tile below it.
Scoring
Players score points by forming closed areas of their own color. The larger the closed area the more points a player scores. Players may only score points on their own turn. The table below describes the scoring of a closed area of a given number of tiles:
| Number of Tiles | Points |
|---|---|
| 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 6 |
| 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 15 |
| 7 | 21 |
| 8 | 28 |
| 9 | 36 |
| 10 | 45 |
See the Scoring Example in the left margin. The player plays this tile (a tile whose top quadrant is grey, left quadrant black, and right and bottom quadrants white). If the player is playing the color grey then it would be a two tile closed area worth one point. If that player were playing black then it would be a three tile closed area worth three points. If that player were playing white then though areas would be closed, no player would get any points for it.