Tic-Tac-Stack
The Playing Area
The playing area for Tic-Tac-Stack is a standard Tic-Tac-Toe board. The center square is designated as a free square which represents any tile characteristic, as will be noted below.
The Tiles
The game has a total of 125 tiles that depict different combinations of three traits. These traits are shape (Square, Triangle, Circle, Diamond, Star), Background Color (Red, Blue, Yellow, Black, White), and a number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). There is one tile for every possible combination (ex. Red, Square, 1).
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Note - Color pallet chosen with color blind players in mind. Any distinguishable colors may be substituted.
A set of tiles, all with completely different characteristics
Setup
The tiles are shuffled and each player is dealt three tiles from the pile. These tiles are face-up for all players to view. One player is picked to go first and play goes clockwise. The remaining tiles are placed in a pile face-down next to the playing area.
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Game Play
The center square counts as every characteristic at once. Players may place any one of their tiles on the board with the goal of getting a three in a row of any tile trait (ex. three reds in a row, three triangles in a row, or three '4's in a row). Players may place their tile in any empty square (to include the center), or stack it on another tile. Only two restrictions exist - a player may not stack a tile on top of the one that was most recently placed by each opponent, and no stacks may occur until every space in the playing area has a tile.
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Once a tile is placed, they immediately draw another tile before the next player moves.
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The game is played until one player has seven or more total points. Players score a point when a tile they place makes a three-in-a-row. A move may score more than one point if more than one three-in-a-row is made by it (one point per three-in-a-row).
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Note that two three-in-a-rows can exist on the same line simultaneously. For example, if a three-in-a-row consists of all red tiles, all diamonds, and the numbers 1, 2, and 5, two points are scored (one point for the reds, and one for the diamonds).
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Also note that re-creating a three-in-a-row also counts for points. After the "red diamond" three-in-a-row in the previous example had been played, if the next layer stacked the red diamond 2 on the red diamond 3, they would be award two points that turn.
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In the un-likely event that all the tiles are gone through with no winner, the player with the most points wins. If the lead players have the same amount of points, the game is a draw.
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Copyright
The text of these rules is subject to applicable copyright laws. This does not protect against the usage of game mechanics or trademark the game name.
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Please feel free to publish these rules and to program Tic-Tac-Stack for online or offline play. No licensing fee or royalties will be asked for. My only request is that you don't change the game name or rules, and attribute the game to me, Nicholas Wolff
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Copyright (c) 2022 by Nicholas Wolff. All rights reserved.