Würfelland
Würfelland Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
The contents
6 dice, 4 wipeable boards, 4 marker pens
The territories
Each board shows territories which have been compiled in various ways in 6 different colours (red, yellow, green, blue, orange, grey). In addition, each board has 12 treasure spaces plus some black obstacle spaces (which cannot be crossed off).
Note: Beneath the actual playing area, there is a status bar, which allows you to see how much treasure each player has already collected.
Diceland is a race. The first player to cross off any 9 treasure spaces plus all the spaces in one chosen colour is the winner.
Each player begins at their starting cross (white space). All subsequent spaces which a player would like to cross off, must be adjacent to at least one other cross of some kind - so all the crosses have to be linked.
Very important: You must always completely cross off one territory before you are permitted to start a new territory in the same colour. So you can only work on one territory at a time in any single colour. Each player is free to choose which direction to spread out in.
Example: Moving out from the starting cross, Maria has opened up five different coloured territories. The blue territory has already been completely filled, so now she is allowed to start on a new blue territory. The incomplete red, grey, green and orange territories, however, must be completed before she is allowed to start on a new territory in the relevant colour.
Since she has not yet crossed anything off in yellow, she can start on a yellow territory at any time, provided it is adjacent to at least one cross.
The boards are labelled A-H. The playing area shows treasure spaces (star spaces) and obstacle spaces (black spaces); the status bar runs beneath it, with one box on the left for the completed colour and nine star boxes for the treasure.
During the course of play, each die allows you to make exactly one cross - see "crossing off spaces".
Preparing the game
Each player receives a randomly allocated board plus a pen. Each player can choose for themselves whether they play using the front or back of their board. Lots are drawn to decide who will be the first active player. The active player is given all 6 dice.
Course of the game
The active player completes two phases in turn, first throwing the dice and then crossing off spaces (non-active players are also allowed to cross off spaces during this phase).
PHASE 1: Throwing the dice
The active player takes all 6 dice and throws them once. Next, they must select any one of the colours thrown on the dice to use for crossing off spaces in Phase 2 of their turn - they are not permitted to change their mind later and select a different colour. For clarity, the player should place all dice in the chosen colour slightly to one side.
Note: Dice in the chosen colour which have been placed to one side, cannot be thrown again as part of Phase 1 of the player's turn.
The active player must now decide whether they would like to end their turn (and immediately move into Phase 2) or whether they will continue and throw the dice again. There is no obligation to continue. It is permissible to stop after the first throw of the dice. If the active player decides to continue, they must throw all the dice which are in different colours once more.
Example: Billy is the active player. He throws 3x red, 2x green and 1x yellow. He chooses green and places both of the green dice slightly to one side. Billy would like to continue and throws the other 4 dice again.
After this new throw, there are two possibilities:
- If the active player has thrown no dice in their chosen colour, they must end Phase 1 of their turn.
- If the active player has thrown one or more dice in their chosen colour, they must place all these separately to one side along with the other dice which have already been set aside. Now the player must once again choose whether to end their turn (and move straight to Phase 2) or whether they would like to continue and throw the dice again. If they decide to continue, they must re-throw all the dice which are in different colours one more time.
Example: Billy throws 1x green and 3x blue. He sets the green die to one side (to join the other two greens) and opts to continue. He throws the remaining three dice once more.
The active player can continue in the manner described for as long as they like (provided they throw at least one die in the chosen colour each time). The player must always set aside all dice in the chosen colour. It is entirely up to the player to decide when to stop. As soon as the active player throws no dice in the chosen colour, Phase 1 is automatically concluded. In addition, Phase 1 ends immediately if all 6 dice show the chosen colour.
Example: This time Billy throws 2x yellow and 1x orange. Since Billy has no longer thrown any dice in the chosen colour (green), Phase 1 ends automatically. So Billy has obtained 3 green dice which he must use in Phase 2.
PHASE 2: Crossing off spaces
- The active player must use all the dice in the chosen colour to cross off spaces on the board. Provided the player can draw a cross, they must do so, and specifically: for each die they must cross off exactly one space in a territory in a corresponding colour. It is not permitted to cross off fewer spaces than are available given the dice thrown (see "excess throws").
Example: Billy must use all 3 green dice. Working out from his starting cross, he crosses off 3 green spaces.
- Each inactive player may select one of the other colours from Phase 1 and cross off any corresponding spaces on their own board. It is permissible for several inactive players to select the same colour and to use this for crossing off spaces. If a player does not want to cross anything off, they may choose to give this a miss.
Note: If an inactive player wants to cross off spaces, the same rule applies here, namely they must use all dice in the relevant colour. They are not allowed to miss out any dice (see "excess throws").
Example: In Billy's last throw of the dice, the colours left were 2x yellow and 1x orange. Each of the inactive players can select either of these two colours. Maria crosses off two yellow spaces on her board. Lucas also crosses off two yellow spaces on his board. Katie crosses off an orange space.
Excess throws
If a player (whether active or inactive) wishes to use a particular colour for crossing off spaces and there are more dice available in this colour than there are free spaces in the player's relevant territory, then the player cannot cross off any spaces in this colour.
Note: The excess throws rule also applies to treasure throws (see "treasure spaces & treasure throws").
Example: Maria's current red territory (right at the top) has two spaces still free. She can either use one or two red dice and thus cross off one or two of her red spaces. However, since there are three red dice available, she is unable to cross off anything in red.
Treasure spaces & treasure throws
During Phase 2, if a player crosses off a treasure space in a territory, they must declare this loudly and clearly. In addition, they must highlight a space in the same colour on the status bar (you can use the status bar to work out how much treasure a player has already obtained). Once all the players have finished crossing off spaces in Phase 2, the player who crossed off the treasure space is given a reward in the form of a treasure throw:
- The player throws once with 5 dice. Now they may select one of the colours thrown and use all the relevant dice for crossing off spaces as described (there are no additional dice throws here). It is permissible for the player to refrain from crossing off any spaces.
If the player crosses off another treasure space when using the treasure throw, they are immediately given an additional treasure throw which they take immediately. It is possible for multiple treasure throws to be triggered in a row. If several players crossed off a treasure field during Phase 2, the relevant treasure throws are taken in turn in a clockwise direction.
Note: One of the 6 dice remains permanently in front of the current active player, so that it is clear who the next active player should be once the treasure throws have been completed.
Ongoing course of play and end of the game
Once Phase 1 and Phase 2 have been completed (including any potential treasure throws), the next player in a clockwise direction becomes the new active player. The game continues in turn like this.
One colour complete
As the game progresses, there should be a general announcement every so often to declare who currently has how much treasure. In particular, each player should announce loudly and clearly when they have crossed off all spaces in a colour and they must mark this in the left box on their status bar.
The winner is the player who first crosses off (at least) 9 treasure spaces plus all spaces for any one colour. It is possible for several players to achieve this objective at the same time in Phase 2. In this case there are multiple winners.
Exception: If several players are granted a treasure throw in Phase 2, then these throws are taken in turn (as already described). If a player achieves the objective of the game during their treasure throw, the subsequent players no longer get their treasure throws; instead, the game is over immediately.
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