OCTILES® • Stock #76020 • Suggested Retail Price $29.99 OFFICIAL RULES Download a pdf version of these rules This color pdf fits on 8.5x11" paper. It will print in shades of grey on a black and white printer. Updated 5/27/03 Note: The rules on this page reflect the most current version available, and may differ slightly from previously printed rules. An Amazing Race Plan your paths, place your tiles, and race to the finish. This fun, strategic adventure will keep everyone on the run! What's in the Box Wooden Game Board 18 Octagonal Tiles 20 "Runners," (wooden pegs: 5 each of 4 different colors) Rules Equipment Description   Runners: There are 20 pawn-like pieces called "runners," five of each color. The runners move along pathways created by the tiles.   Tiles: There are 18 different 8-sided tiles. Four path segments are printed on each tile. Each path segment forms a "roadway" from the center of one edge of the tile to the center of another edge. On tiles where paths cross each other, they should be thought of as going over and under each other, like bridges and tunnels. They don't create intersections or junctions.   Board: The board has 5 small colored circles near each edge. Runners are placed in these 20 "starting circles" at the beginning of the game. There are 16 raised squares in the central area of the board. These "stop squares" are where the runners rest between moves. Adjacent to the stop squares, there are 17 large octagonal spaces. Each of these spaces holds one tile. When the spaces are filled, one tile is left over. That tile is placed in the large circular pocket at one corner of the board.   Object of Octiles Move your runners across the board from their starting circles on your side, into your "finishing circles" on the side opposite you. (As in Chinese Checkers, your starting circles match the color of your own runners, and your finishing circles are the color opposite you.) You win if you are the first player to get all of your runners into your finishing circles.   Setting Up   1. Choose colors. Players should sit in front of the starting circles of the color they selected. For a 2-player game, the best arrangement is for the players to sit directly across from each other.   2. Decide whether everyone will start with 3, 4, or 5 runners. The fewer runners per player, the shorter the game will be. As a guideline, for two or three players, 5 runners for each player works well, or try 4 each for a shorter game. For four players, use 3 or 4 runners each.   3. Place the runners in their starting circles. Use runners of the same color as your starting circles. Put one runner in the leftmost starting circle of your group of 5 circles and another runner in the rightmost circle. Then place the rest of your runners in the starting circles in between. Other players do likewise with their runners. If you are playing with 5 runners, all your starting circles will be filled. If you are using less than 5 runners, decide which of your starting circles will be empty, making sure that the two end circles are filled. Once the runners are in place, you cannot relocate them to one of your vacant starting circles.   4. Scramble the tiles face down, that is, with the blank sides showing. Turn one tile face up and place it in the large circular pocket. Place the other 17 tiles (still face down) onto the large octagonal spaces in the central area of the board.   5. Choose who moves first.   3-Player Set Up     Complete the above steps and then turn the two tiles near the empty starting circles face up.   Playing the Game (Summary)   1. Place the "switch" tile. The tile must become part of a direct path between one of your runners and an unoccupied stop square or finishing circle.   2. Remove the tile from underneath the switch tile. The removed tile might have been either faceup or facedown.   3. Move one of your runners along a path that crosses the switched tile and leave it at the first resting place that it reaches, either a stop square, or a finishing circle.   4. Give the removed tile to the player on your left.   Your First Turn   Example of a first move. Note: It is a good strategy to leave open paths that can be extended. If you have the first turn, take the tile from the circular pocket. This is called the "switch" tile because you will exchange it with a tile already on the board to create new paths. Before you exchange the switch tile, you must first determine where you will place it. To do so, experiment with plac- ing it face up on top of each of the facedown tiles in the two octag- onal spaces closest to your runners. Try ro- tating the switch tile in each of the two spaces until you find an orientation that creates a path along which one of your runners can move from its starting circle onto one of the nearby stop squares.   Once you verify a path that works, replace the facedown tile originally in that space with the switch tile, placed face up, in the chosen orientation. Then move your runner from its starting circle along the path created by the newly placed tile to the nearby stop square. The tile originally in the space becomes the new "switch" tile and you hand it to the player on your left. Play proceeds clockwise around the table, with each player placing the tile passed to them, moving a runner, and then passing the new switch tile to the next player.     Subsequent Turns   Example of the same player's second move. After everyone takes a turn, each player will have one runner on a stop square. As play continues more options become available. Place the switch tile to create a new path (or to recreate an existing path) so that one of your runners can move to an empty stop square, or to one of your finishing circles. The path may be long or short, and may move across several tiles, but the runner must cross the just-placed tile somewhere along the new path before coming to a resting place.   You may use the switch tile to replace either a facedown tile or a tile that has previously been played face up. It can be used to make a new link directly between your runner and an adjacent resting place, to replace a segment of an existing path so that your runner can move along that path, or to alter or extend an existing path to lead your runner to a new stop square or finish circle. Before picking up the tile to be replaced, lay the switch tile on top of it so that everyone can verify that your new path is valid. Once you remove a tile to replace it, you may not change your mind and return it to the board. Tiles already resting on the board are never turned in place, and tiles resting in different spaces cannot be switched with one another.     Rules for Runners   1. You may move only one of your runners per turn. The runner can come from one of your starting circles or from a resting spot on one of the stop squares.   2. A runner's path may travel across many adjacent tiles and can also include the path segments already printed on the board. The path can even wrap around to cross the same tile from a new direction.   3. Your runner must move across the tile you just switched.   4. A runner may not stop in the middle of a path. A runner may not stop on a tile, nor cross over a blank (face-down) tile. Where paths cross on a tile, a runner continues along the current path, following it over or under any other paths it might cross. There are no junctions or intersections on the tiles.   5. Your runner's path must lead to an unoccupied stop square or to one of your own finishing circles. A runner may move from a stop square back onto the same stop square as long as the runner crosses the newly-placed tile during the move.   6. As soon as a runner reaches a stop square or a finishing circle, the turn ends and the runner must rest there.   7. Runners may not move to (or beyond) a stop square occupied by another runner. They may not land on, bump off, switch places with, or jump over any other runner.   8. The only circles your runners may move to are your own finishing circles. You may not move a runner back onto one of your own starting circles, nor into an opponent's finishing circles.   9. Once one of your runners reaches a finishing circle, it may not move again for the rest of the game, even to a different finishing circle.     Passing and Skipping a Turn   You must play if possible. You cannot choose to pass your turn. If you can't find a place to play, but other players do find a possible move for you, you must play. However, it can happen that you have no playable move. If everyone agrees that you have no move, your turn is skipped and you give the switch tile to the next player. Partial moves (such as placing the switch tile but not moving a runner) are not allowed. Remember that you cannot move a runner back onto one of your starting circles even if that is the only move you might otherwise be able to make.     No Blocking the Finish   There is a special rule to prevent players from blocking their opponents from finishing: If you have any runners on your starting circles and the rest of your starting circles are filled with your opponent's runners, you must give priority to opening up a starting circle. That is, if you can, you must use your turn to move a runner from a starting circle rather than move a runner from a stop square. However, if no one can discover a move that will enable you to vacate a starting circle, you take your normal turn using a runner of your choice.       Winning the Game   The winner is the first player to get all of his or her runners across the board into the finishing circles. The sequence in which the runners fill the finishing circles does not matter. It also does not matter which of the circles remain empty when playing with less than 5 runners. If there are more than 2 players, the remaining players can continue the game to determine who comes in second place, third place, and so on.   If no player can make a legal move, the last player who was able to move wins the game.