Gamehelppop

Goal of the game

You are a colour guardian of the Kingdom of Colours. ‎
There's a big party coming up and a lot of colours are expected!‎
There's likely to be an attendance record, and the wait to get in is sure to be explosive! ‎
You're part of the team stationed at the entrance. ‎
You'll need to be careful, because when two identical colours are next to each other, they explode and can cause a chain reaction! Arrange the colours skilfully so that the party doesn't turn into a fiasco before it even starts! ‎
When you're outnumbered, you can get help from the Multicolour chief. ‎
Only a gifted colour guard who can manage the colours while getting in the way of the others will be recognised!

Components

• 50 Pop cards: 5 colours x 10 cards
  

Among the 50 Pop cards, there are: ‎
20 cards with Arrow symbols - numbered 1 to 10 and 41 to 50 ‎
50 cards with Explosion symbols - 3 explosions from 1 to 5 and from 46 to 50, 2 explosions from 16 to 20 and from 31 to 35, 1 explosion for the remaining cards.

• 5 Queue cards

• 1 Multicolour Chief card

Rules

The game consists of 1 to 3 rounds. (The default on BGA is 1 round.) Each round includes several turns that proceed as follows.

1. Place Pop cards on the Multicolour Chief card

   Place a certain number of Pop cards (taken from the draw pile), according to the number of players, on the Multicolour Chief card (if using it).

   *In a game with [5 players], the Multicolour Chief card isn’t used.

   Number of players Number of cards to place‎

   [2 players] 1 face up, 2 face down‎

   [3 players] 1 face up, 1 face down‎

   [4 players] 1 face up‎
   

2. Select Pop cards

   Each player chooses 1 Pop card from their hand and places it face down in front of them.

   *In the 2-player game variant rules (the default on BGA), you choose 2 cards.

3. Reveal the Pop cards

   All players reveal their card simultaneously.

   *If there are one or more face-down Pop cards on the Multicolour Chief card, reveal these cards as well.

4. Place the Pop cards and check the explosions
   1. Place the Pop cards

      Place the 5 face-up Pop cards, one by one.

      If the number of cards with Arrow icons is 2 or less, place the Pop cards from the left to the right, in ascending order, moving the Queue cards one space down after each placement.

      If the number of cards with Arrow icons is 3 or more, place the Pop cards from the right to the left, in descending order, moving the Queue cards one space down after each placement.

   2. Each time you place a Pop card, check if it is adjacent vertically and horizontally to other Pop cards of the same colour.

      If no Pop card of the same colour is adjacent, move the next Queue card one space down and place your Pop card according to [1. Place the Pop cards].

      If Pop cards of the same colour are adjacent, all adjacent Pop cards of the same colour explode.

      The player who played the Pop card that triggered the explosion collects all the exploding Pop cards and places them in front of them.

      After an explosion, move down the Pop cards placed above the exploding Pop cards so that there is no empty space left. It can trigger new explosions.

      If it happens, the player who played the Pop card that triggered the initial explosion collects all the exploding Pop cards and places them in front of them.

      Repeat this process until no more Pop cards of the same colour are adjacent.

      Once no more Pop cards of the same colour are adjacent, move the next Queue card one space down and place your Pop card according to [1. Place the Pop cards].

      *Pop cards that exploded because of the Multicolour chief are treated in the same way.

      Place them next to the Multicolour chief. The next player to make an explosion will also collect the Pop cards that exploded because of the Multicolour chief.

      (The Multicolour chief passes on their mistakes to the guardians of the colours!)

      This concludes the turn.

      Repeat turns until you have only one card in your hand (after 8 turns).

End of the game

When you have only one card left in your hand, the round ends and the score is calculated.

Add up the number of explosion symbols on the pop cards.

The player with the least number of points is the winner.

In case of a tie, the player with the least number of Explosion icons on the card remaining in their hand at the end of the last round is the winner.

If there’s still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Variant in a 2-player game

At the beginning of each turn, the players draws 1 card and adds it to their hand. Then, they place 2 cards, face down, in the playing area (contrary to 1 when playing with the standard battle game).