Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

Tips formulad

2026-03-10T17:06:11Z

TensorosneT: Created page with "Formula D strategy hinges on mastering corner management by taking them in the highest possible gear, conserving car parts, and planning moves ahead to avoid, or strategically use, collisions. Focus on minimizing stops, managing wear points (tires/gearbox), and accelerating out of corners to maximize speed on straights."

Formula D strategy hinges on mastering corner management by taking them in the highest possible gear, conserving car parts, and planning moves ahead to avoid, or strategically use, collisions.

Focus on minimizing stops, managing wear points (tires/gearbox), and accelerating out of corners to maximize speed on straights.

Tips tranquilitytheascent

2025-06-05T17:00:20Z

TensorosneT: touching up the language and organization

= Guiding Principles when choosing plays ___NOTOC___ =

== Consider the implications for the team. ==
This is a co-op game, so you don’t get points for having a high card count at the end when one of your teammates runs out of cards. Keep in mind the effect your plays will have on your teammates. Specifically ...
===Keep good plays available on the board===
Ideally, you want to have a set of rows to play into such that any number could be played into some row with a cost of 2 or less. This doesn't really happen, but it is a useful concept to strive for. For example, if the rightmost cards of two playable rows are 3 and 9, then the numbers from 1~5 and 7~11 are playable. In that situation, if you have the opportunity to start a new row, starting it with a number outside those ranges (a 6 or 12) is preferable to starting with a number inside those ranges (although 1, 5, 7, and 11 are also good candidates). There will inevitably be bottlenecks during play; don't fret too much about it, just do what you can to minimize them.
===Keep an eye on your teammates ===
This is especially important when the number of cards remaining to each player is unbalanced. If you find that you have far more cards then your teammates, you may need to step up and make some more expensive plays in order to subsidize their plays--push yourself to make a wider variety of plays available on the board. Remember, if '''anyone''' on your team runs out of cards, its game over for the whole team.

Sometimes you can get useful information by watching your teammates' turns. E.g. if your teammate discards for several turns before playing, there is a good chance their cards are clustered so that, once they do play, they may be able to play a similar number on their next turn. So you might want to play to keep a play near that number available. Keeping on eye on teammate plays is more important with fewer players.
===When playing bridges and playing next to bridges===
Bridges can be particularly valuable for opening up the board for your teammates. But remember that they need to be covered eventually! The cost to cover a bridge is the greater of the two differences (between each anchor and the cover), so don’t play a right-hand anchor that’s too far from the left-hand anchor. A good rule of thumb is that the cost to cover a bridge is AT LEAST half of the difference between the two anchors (round up). Ideally, the right-hand anchor should be something that’s 0-2 away from the left-anchor, 3-4 is also usually OK, but it is pretty hard to justify 5+. Also, the cover can't be the same color as either anchor, so it is easier to cover the bridge if the anchors are the same color (when you can arrange it).
== Deciding Between Possible Plays ==
As a rule-of-thumb, a play costing 0-1 cards is good, 2 is OK, 3 is pushing it (but if you have a good reason...), and 4 is pretty outrageous. How do you pick the best play?
=== Teamwork is priority one ===
That's why I put that section first instead of this one. If any of your teammates can't make it to the finish line, you lose. So be mindful of what your moves may cost your teammates. At the beginning and near the end, there will naturally be fewer plays available, so moves that make more numbers playable are especially valuable! Making or keeping the board friendly to your team should always be on your mind--unless you are the one who may run out of cards before anyone else!
=== Make the cheapest plays possible ===
If you can play a matching number card, this is generally a good idea! Other zero-cost plays (bridges, anchors on bridges, & starting a new row) should be made with a bit more caution; keep in mind what your play implies for future plays. Especially when you play on the right-hand side of a bridge or the first tile of a new level, you want to consider how your play fits with the previous guiding principles, especially keeping good plays available on the board for your teammates.
If you are the one who may run out of cards and cause your team to fail, then being a team player almost certainly means making the absolute cheapest play possible. If you have a choice between cheapest plays, go with the one that will help you (and your teammates) make future plays.
=== Low numbers on low levels===
Ideally, low numbers get played on low levels and so on up the pyramid. But don't force it; there are 72 number tiles and 39 places for them in the structure--as many as half the numbered tiles won't be in the finished structure (if all three campfires are played)! So don't worry if you use all the 1s and 2s for discards. Also, generally, having a board with more playable numbers is more important than squeezing low values into the structure.
==Discards==
in general, you want to discard less useful cards over more useful ones. All else being equal, discarding low numbers is preferable to high ones and discarding 1s and 12s is preferable to numbers closer to the middle. But … what makes a useful card can be different depending on what the board looks like! So keep in mind which cards might become useful by the time your next turn rolls around.
==Peaks==
peaks can make good discards, but you’ll lose if all the peaks get discarded. To be absolutely safe, your team can adopt a strategy of only discarding a peak when you have a duplicate peak. If your team is 2-4 players, then each player can safely discard one peak before falling back to the only-when-holding-a-duplicate rule (with 2 players, each could safely discard 2 peaks).
==Campfires==
are particularly useful in the late game, when you’ve got lots of previously played cards to make use of. But you probably don’t want to discard 2 to hold a campfire for later if you have a good play you can make with it now.
==Tile distribution ==
There are two tiles with each number in each of the three colors, for a total of 72 numbered tiles. Also 3 campfire tiles, 5 bridge tiles and 5 peak tiles. Looking over the played tiles can give you an idea of what may be left in the deck (except for other players' hands and discards, which you don't see). This can be helpful when opening a new row late in the game, trying to cover a particularly troublesome bridge, or deciding whether to use a campfire.

Tips tranquilitytheascent

2025-06-01T20:30:49Z

TensorosneT: removed emphases on title line

= Guiding Principles when choosing plays ___NOTOC___ =

== Consider the implications for the team. ==
This is a co-op game, so you don’t get points for having a high card count at the end when one of your teammates runs out of cards. Keep in mind the effect your plays will have on your teammates. Specifically ...
===Keep good plays available on the board===
Ideally, you want to have a set of rows to play into such that any number could be played into some row with a cost of 2 or less. This doesn't really happen, but it is a useful concept to strive for. For example, if the rightmost cards of two playable rows are 3 and 9, then the numbers from 1~5 and 7~11 are playable. In that situation, if you have the opportunity to start a new row, starting it with a number outside those ranges (a 6 or 12) is preferable to starting with a number inside those ranges (although 1, 5, 7, and 11 are also good candidates). There will inevitably be bottlenecks during play; don't fret too much about it, just do what you can to minimize them.
===Watch what your teammates do on their turns===
Sometimes you can get some useful information out of this. E.g. if your teammate discards for several turns before playing, there is a good chance their cards are clustered so that they can play a similar number on their next turn. So you might want to play to keep a play near that number available. Keeping on eye on teammate plays is more important with fewer players.
===Playing bridges and playing next to bridges===
Bridges can be particularly valuable for opening up the board for your teammates. But remember that they need to be covered eventually! The cost to cover a bridge is the greater of the two differences (between each anchor and the cover), so don’t play a right-hand anchor that’s too far from the left-hand anchor. A good rule of thumb is that the cost to cover a bridge is AT LEAST half of the difference between the two anchors (round up). Ideally, the right-hand anchor should be something that’s 0-2 away from the left-anchor, 3-4 is also usually OK, but it is pretty hard to justify 5+. Also, the cover can't be the same color as either anchor, so it is easier to cover the bridge if the anchors are the same color.
==Make the cheapest plays possible ==
If you can play a matching number card, this is generally a good idea! Other zero-cost plays should be made with a bit more caution; keep in mind what your play implies for future plays. Especially when you play on the right-hand side of a bridge or the first tile of a new level, you want to consider how your play fits with the previous guiding principles, especially keeping good plays available on the board for your teammates.
=== Low numbers on low levels===
Ideally, low numbers get played on low levels and so on up the pyramid. But don't force it; there are 72 number tiles and 39 places for them in the structure--as many as half the numbered tiles won't be in the finished structure (if all three campfires are played)! So don't worry if you use all the 1s and 2s for discards. Also, generally, having a board with more playable numbers is more important than squeezing low values into the structure.
==Discards==
in general, you want to discard less useful cards over more useful ones. All else being equal, discarding low numbers is preferable to high ones and discarding 1s and 12s is preferable to numbers closer to the middle. But … what makes a useful card can be different depending on what the board looks like! So keep in mind which cards might become useful by the time your next turn rolls around.
==Peaks==
peaks can make good discards, but you’ll lose if all the peaks get discarded. To be absolutely safe, your team can adopt a strategy of only discarding a peak when you have a duplicate peak. If your team is 2-4 players, then each player can safely discard one peak before falling back to the only-when-holding-a-duplicate rule (with 2 players, each could safely discard 2 peaks).
==Campfires==
are particularly useful in the late game, when you’ve got lots of previously played cards to make use of. But you probably don’t want to discard 2 to hold a campfire for later if you have a good play you can make with it now.
==Tile distribution ==
There are two tiles with each number in each of the three colors, for a total of 72 numbered tiles. Also 3 campfire tiles, 5 bridge tiles and 5 peak tiles. Looking over the played tiles can give you an idea of what may be left in the deck (except for other players' hands and discards, which you don't see). This can be helpful when opening a new row late in the game, trying to cover a particularly troublesome bridge, or deciding whether to use a campfire.

Tips tranquilitytheascent

2025-06-01T20:29:46Z

TensorosneT: minor tweaks to verbiage and some formatting changes

= <big>Guiding Principles when choosing plays</big> ___NOTOC___ =

== Consider the implications for the team. ==
This is a co-op game, so you don’t get points for having a high card count at the end when one of your teammates runs out of cards. Keep in mind the effect your plays will have on your teammates. Specifically ...
===Keep good plays available on the board===
Ideally, you want to have a set of rows to play into such that any number could be played into some row with a cost of 2 or less. This doesn't really happen, but it is a useful concept to strive for. For example, if the rightmost cards of two playable rows are 3 and 9, then the numbers from 1~5 and 7~11 are playable. In that situation, if you have the opportunity to start a new row, starting it with a number outside those ranges (a 6 or 12) is preferable to starting with a number inside those ranges (although 1, 5, 7, and 11 are also good candidates). There will inevitably be bottlenecks during play; don't fret too much about it, just do what you can to minimize them.
===Watch what your teammates do on their turns===
Sometimes you can get some useful information out of this. E.g. if your teammate discards for several turns before playing, there is a good chance their cards are clustered so that they can play a similar number on their next turn. So you might want to play to keep a play near that number available. Keeping on eye on teammate plays is more important with fewer players.
===Playing bridges and playing next to bridges===
Bridges can be particularly valuable for opening up the board for your teammates. But remember that they need to be covered eventually! The cost to cover a bridge is the greater of the two differences (between each anchor and the cover), so don’t play a right-hand anchor that’s too far from the left-hand anchor. A good rule of thumb is that the cost to cover a bridge is AT LEAST half of the difference between the two anchors (round up). Ideally, the right-hand anchor should be something that’s 0-2 away from the left-anchor, 3-4 is also usually OK, but it is pretty hard to justify 5+. Also, the cover can't be the same color as either anchor, so it is easier to cover the bridge if the anchors are the same color.
==Make the cheapest plays possible ==
If you can play a matching number card, this is generally a good idea! Other zero-cost plays should be made with a bit more caution; keep in mind what your play implies for future plays. Especially when you play on the right-hand side of a bridge or the first tile of a new level, you want to consider how your play fits with the previous guiding principles, especially keeping good plays available on the board for your teammates.
=== Low numbers on low levels===
Ideally, low numbers get played on low levels and so on up the pyramid. But don't force it; there are 72 number tiles and 39 places for them in the structure--as many as half the numbered tiles won't be in the finished structure (if all three campfires are played)! So don't worry if you use all the 1s and 2s for discards. Also, generally, having a board with more playable numbers is more important than squeezing low values into the structure.
==Discards==
in general, you want to discard less useful cards over more useful ones. All else being equal, discarding low numbers is preferable to high ones and discarding 1s and 12s is preferable to numbers closer to the middle. But … what makes a useful card can be different depending on what the board looks like! So keep in mind which cards might become useful by the time your next turn rolls around.
==Peaks==
peaks can make good discards, but you’ll lose if all the peaks get discarded. To be absolutely safe, your team can adopt a strategy of only discarding a peak when you have a duplicate peak. If your team is 2-4 players, then each player can safely discard one peak before falling back to the only-when-holding-a-duplicate rule (with 2 players, each could safely discard 2 peaks).
==Campfires==
are particularly useful in the late game, when you’ve got lots of previously played cards to make use of. But you probably don’t want to discard 2 to hold a campfire for later if you have a good play you can make with it now.
==Tile distribution ==
There are two tiles with each number in each of the three colors, for a total of 72 numbered tiles. Also 3 campfire tiles, 5 bridge tiles and 5 peak tiles. Looking over the played tiles can give you an idea of what may be left in the deck (except for other players' hands and discards, which you don't see). This can be helpful when opening a new row late in the game, trying to cover a particularly troublesome bridge, or deciding whether to use a campfire.

Tips tranquilitytheascent

2025-05-30T16:56:24Z

TensorosneT: more formatting

'''<big>Guiding Principles when choosing plays</big>'''
___NOTOC___
== '''Consider the implications for the team.''' ==
This is a co-op game, so you don’t get points for having a high card count at the end when one of your teammates runs out of cards. Keep in mind the effect your plays will have on your teammates. Specifically ...
=== '''Keeping good plays available on the board''' ===
Ideally, you want to have a set of rows to play into such that any number could be played into some row with a cost of 2 or less. This doesn't really happen, but it is a useful concept to strive for. For example, if the rightmost cards of two playable rows are 3 and 9, then the numbers from 1~5 and 7~11 are playable. In that situation, if you have the opportunity to start a new row, starting it with a number outside those ranges (a 6 or 12) is preferable to starting with a number inside those ranges (although 1, 5, 7, and 11 are also good candidates). There will inevitably be bottlenecks during play; don't fret too much about it, just do what you can to minimize them.
=== '''What your teammates do on their turns''' ===
Sometimes you can get some useful information out of this. E.g. if your teammate discards for several turns before playing, there is a good chance their cards are clustered so that they can play a similar number on their next turn. So you might want to work so assure than row doesn't drift too far from their cluster. Keeping on eye on teammate plays is more important with fewer players.
=== '''Playing bridges and playing next to bridges''' ===
Bridges can be particularly valuable for opening up the board for your teammates. But remember that they need to be covered eventually and the cost will be the greater of the two differences, so don’t play a number that’s too far from the left-hand anchor. Ideally, the right-hand anchor should be something that’s 0-2 away from the left-anchor, 3-4 is also usually OK, but it is pretty hard to justify 5+. If the anchors are the same color, it is easier to cover the bridge.
== '''Make the cheapest plays possible''' ==
If you can play a matching number card, this is generally a good idea! Other zero-cost plays should be made with a bit more caution; keep in mind what your play implies for future plays. Especially when you play on the right-hand side of a bridge or the first tile of a new level, you want to consider how your play fits with the previous guiding principles, especially keeping good plays available for your teammates.
=== Low numbers on low levels ===
Ideally, low numbers get played on low levels and so on up the pyramid. But don't force it; there are 72 number tiles and 39 places for them in the structure. So as many as half the numbered tiles won't be in the finished structure (if all three campfires are played), so don't worry if you use all the 1s and 2s for discards. Also, generally, having more playable numbers is more important than squeezing low values into the structure.
== '''Discards''' ==
in general, you want to discard less useful cards over more useful ones. All else being equal, discarding low numbers is preferable to high ones and discarding 1s and 12s is preferable to numbers closer to the middle. But … what makes a useful card can be different depending on what the board looks like! So keep in mind cards that might become useful by the time your next turn rolls around.
== '''Peaks''' ==
peaks can make good discards, but you’ll lose if all the peaks get discarded. To be absolutely safe, your team can adopt a strategy of only discarding a peak when you have a duplicate peak. If your team is 2-4 players, then each player can safely discard one peak before falling back to the only-when-holding-a-duplicate rule (with 2 players, each could safely discard 2 peaks).
== '''Campfires''' ==
are particularly useful in the late game, when you’ve got lots of previously played cards to draw from. But you probably don’t want to discard 2 to hold a campfire for later if you have a good play you can make with it now.
== '''Tile distribution''' ==
There are two tiles with each number in each of the three colors, for a total of 72 numbered tiles. Also 3 campfire tiles, 5 bridge tiles and 5 peak tiles. Looking over the played tiles can give you an idea of what may be left in the deck (except for other players' hands and discards, which you don't see). This can be helpful when opening a new row late in the game, trying to cover a particularly troublesome bridge, or deciding whether to use a campfire.

Tips tranquilitytheascent

2025-05-30T16:35:09Z

TensorosneT: formatting

'''<big>Guiding Principles when choosing plays</big>'''

#'''Consider the implications for the team.''' This is a co-op game, so you don’t get points for having a high card count at the end when one of your teammates runs out of cards. Keep in mind the effect your plays will have on your teammates. '''Specifically think about ...'''
#*'''Keep good plays available on the board.''' Ideally, you want to have a set of rows to play into such that any number could be played into some row with a cost of 2 or less. This doesn't really happen, but it is a useful concept to strive for. For example, if the rightmost cards of two playable rows are 3 and 9, then the numbers from 1~5 and 7~11 are playable. In that situation, if you have the opportunity to start a new row, starting it with a number outside those ranges (a 6 or 12) is preferable to starting with a number inside those ranges (although 1, 5, 7, and 11 are also good candidates). There will inevitably be bottlenecks during play; don't fret too much about it, just do what you can to minimize them.
#*'''What your teammates do on their turns''' -- sometimes you can get some useful information out of this. E.g. if your teammate discards for several turns before playing, there is a good chance their cards are clustered so that they can play a similar number on their next turn. So you might want to work so assure than row doesn't drift too far from their cluster. Keeping on eye on teammate plays is more important with fewer players.
#*'''Playing bridges and playing next to bridges.''' Bridges can be particularly valuable for opening up the board for your teammates. But remember that they need to be covered eventually and the cost will be the greater of the two differences, so don’t play a number that’s too far from the left-hand anchor. Ideally, the right-hand anchor should be something that’s 0-2 away from the left-anchor, 3-4 is also usually OK, but it is pretty hard to justify 5+. If the anchors are the same color, it is easier to cover the bridge.
#'''Make the cheapest plays possible''' – if you can play a matching number card, this is generally a good idea! Other zero-cost plays should be made with a bit more caution; keep in mind what your play implies for future plays. Especially when you play on the right-hand side of a bridge or the first tile of a new level, you want to consider how your play fits with the previous guiding principles, especially keeping good plays available for your teammates.
#*Ideally, low numbers get played on low levels and so on up the pyramid. But don't force it; there are 72 number tiles and 39 places for them in the structure. 33-36 numbered tiles won't be in the finished structure (depending on the number of campfires played), so don't worry if you use all the 1s and 2s for discards. Also, generally, having more playable numbers is more important than squeezing low values into the structure.
#'''Discards''' – in general, you want to discard less useful cards over more useful ones. All else being equal, discarding low numbers is preferable to high ones and discarding 1s and 12s is preferable to numbers that have more close numbers. But … what makes a useful card can be different depending on what the board looks like! So keep in mind cards that might become useful by the time your next turn rolls around.
#'''Peaks''' – peaks can make good discards, but you’ll lose if all the peaks get discarded. To be absolutely safe, your team can adopt a strategy of only discarding a peak when you have a duplicate peak. If your team is 2-4 players, then each player can safely discard one peak before falling back to the only-when-holding-a-duplicate rule (with 2 players, each could safely discard 2 peaks).
#'''Campfires''' – are particularly useful in the late game, when you’ve got lots of previously played cards to draw from. But you probably don’t want to discard 2 to hold a campfire for later if you have a good play you can make with it now.
#'''Tile distribution''' -- There are two tiles with each number in each of the three colors, for a total of 72 numbered tiles. Also 3 campfire tiles, 5 bridge tiles and 5 peak tiles. Looking over the played tiles can give you an idea of what may be left in the deck (except for other players' hands and discards, which you don't see). This can be helpful when opening a new row late in the game, trying to cover a particularly troublesome bridge, or deciding whether to use a campfire.

Tips tranquilitytheascent

2025-05-30T06:54:31Z

TensorosneT:

Guiding Principles

# Consider the implications for the team. This is a co-op game, so you don’t get points for having a high card count at the end when one of your teammates runs out of cards. Keep in mind the effect your plays will have on your teammates.

#* Ideally, you want to have a set of rows to play into such that any number could be played into some row with a cost of 2 or less. This doesn't really happen, but it is a useful concept to strive for. For example, if the rightmost cards of two playable rows are 3 and 9, then the numbers from 1~5 and 7~11 are playable. In that situation, if you have the opportunity to start a new row, starting it with a number outside those ranges (a 6 or 12) is preferable to starting with a number inside those ranges (although 1, 5, 7, and 11 are also pretty good candidates). There will inevitably be bottlenecks during play; don't fret too much about it, just do what you can to minimize them.

#* Pay attention to teammate turns -- sometimes you can get some useful information out of this. E.g. if your teammate discards for several turns before playing, there is a good chance their cards are clustered so that they can play a similar number on their next turn. So you might want to work so assure than row doesn't drift too far from their cluster. Keeping on eye on teammate plays is more important with fewer players.

#* Bridges can be particularly valuable for opening up the board for your teammates. But remember that they need to be covered eventually and the cost will be the greater of the two differences, so don’t play a number that’s too far from the left-hand anchor. Ideally, the right-hand anchor should be something that’s 0-2 away from the left-anchor, 3-4 is also usually OK, but it is pretty hard to justify 5+. If the anchors are the same color, it is easier to cover the bridge.

# Make the cheapest plays possible – if you can play a zero cost card, this is generally a good idea! But if you’re going to play on the right-hand side of a bridge or the first tile into a new level, you want to consider how your play fits with the previous guiding principles.

#* Ideally, low numbers get played on low levels and so on up the pyramid. But you don't need to force it; there are 72 number tiles and 39 places for them in the structure, so don't fret too much if you use all the 1s and 2s for discards. Also, generally, having more playable numbers is more important than squeezing low values into the structure.

# Discards – in general, you want to discard less useful cards over more useful ones. All else being equal, discarding low numbers is preferable to high ones and discarding 1s and 12s is preferable to numbers that have more close numbers. But … what makes a useful card can be different depending on what the board looks like! So keep in mind cards that might become useful by the time your next turn rolls around.

# Peaks – peaks can make good discards, but you’ll lose if all the peaks get discarded. To be absolutely safe, your team can adopt a strategy of only discarding a peak when you have a duplicate peak. If your team is 2-4 players, then each player can safely discard one peak before falling back to the only-when-holding-a-duplicate rule (with two players, each could safely discard 2 peaks).

# Campfires – are particularly useful in the late game, when you’ve got lots of previously played cards to draw from. But you probably don’t want to discard 2 to hold a campfire for later if you have a good play you can make with it now.

# Tile distribution -- There are two tiles with each number in each of the three colors. Looking over the played tiles can give you an idea of what may be left in the deck (except for other players' discards, which you don't see). This can be helpful when trying to cover a particularly troublesome bridge or deciding whether to use a campfire.

Tips tranquilitytheascent

2025-05-30T03:47:35Z

TensorosneT: Incorporated existing tips into a more comprehensive framework with grammar and stuff.

Guiding Principles

# Consider the implications for the team. This is a co-op game, so you don’t get points for having a high card count at the end when one of your teammates runs out of cards. Keep in mind the effect your plays will have on your teammates.
#* Ideally, you want to have a set of rows to play into such that any number could be played into some row with a cost of 2 or less. This doesn't really happen, but it is a useful concept to strive for. For example, if the rightmost cards of two playable rows are 3 and 9, then the numbers from 1~5 and 7~11 are playable. In that situation, if you have the opportunity to start a new row, starting it with a number outside those ranges (a 6 or 12) is preferable to starting with a number inside those ranges (although 1, 5, 7, and 11 are also pretty good candidates). There will inevitably be bottlenecks during play; don't fret too much about it, just do what you can to minimize them.
#* Pay attention to teammate turns -- sometimes you can get some useful information out of this. E.g. if your teammate discards for several turns before playing, there is a good chance their cards are clustered so that they can play a similar number on their next turn. So you might want to work so assure than row doesn't drift too far from their cluster. Keeping on eye on teammate plays is more important with fewer players.
#* Bridges can be particularly valuable for opening up the board for your teammates. But remember that they need to be covered eventually and the cost will be the greater of the two differences, so don’t play a number that’s too far from the left-hand anchor. Ideally, the right-hand anchor should be something that’s 0-2 away from the left-anchor, 3-4 is also usually OK, but it is pretty hard to justify 5+. If the anchors are the same color, it is easier to cover the bridge.
# Make the cheapest plays possible – if you can play a zero cost card, this is generally a good idea! But if you’re going to play on the right-hand side of a bridge or the first tile into a new level, you want to consider how your play fits with the previous guiding principles.
#* Ideally, low numbers get played on low levels and so on up the pyramid. But you don't need to force it; there are 72 number tiles and 39 places for them in the structure, so don't fret too much if you use all the 1s and 2s for discards. Also, generally, having more playable numbers is more important than squeezing low values only the structure.
# Discards – in general, you want to discard less useful cards over more useful ones. All else being equal, discarding low numbers is preferable to high ones and discarding 1s and 12s is preferable to numbers that have more close numbers. But … what makes a useful card can be different depending on what the board looks like! So keep in mind cards that might become useful by the time your next turn rolls around.
# Peaks – peaks can make good discards, but you’ll lose if all the peaks get discarded. To be absolutely safe, your team can adopt a strategy of only discarding a peak when you have a duplicate peak. If your team is 2-4 players, then each player can safely discard one peak before falling back to the only-when-holding-a-duplicate rule (with two players, each could safely discard 2 peaks).
# Campfires – are particularly useful in the late game, when you’ve got lots of previously played cards to draw from. But you probably don’t want to discard 2 to hold a campfire for later if you have a good play you can make with it now.
# Tile distribution -- There are two tiles with each number in each of the three colors. Looking over the played tiles can give you an idea of what may be left in the deck (except for other players' discards, which you don't see). This can be particularly helpful when trying to cover a particularly troublesome bridge or deciding whether to use a campfire.

Tips forbiddenisland

2025-05-09T03:23:43Z

TensorosneT: Added some late-game advice to the "Trade cards" section

Success at Forbidden Island is about setting priorities so that you know which actions to take and when to use special cards. It isn't always clear-cut, but in general you want the following priorities:

1. Shore up critical locations in danger of sinking. 
2. Retrieve treasures for which you have four cards. 
3. Trade cards to get sets of 4 treasures. 
4. Shore up non-essential flooded tiles.

'''Shore up critical locations in danger of sinking.''' You lose the game if Fools' Landing sinks--or if both of the locations for any treasure sink before that treasure has been retrieved. These are critical locations and should be shored up, if possible. There are some situations in which flooded locations are not in immediate danger (when all three Waters Rise have been played and there are still at least two cards left in the treasure deck), but mostly any flooded locations are vulnerable to sinking.

'''Retrieve treasures for which you have four cards.''' You especially want to turn in sets of cards before the treasure deck gets reshuffled! The more cards you can return to the treasure deck, the more turns you will have at lower flood levels.

'''Trade cards to get sets of 4 treasures.''' Two pawns must be in the same location in order to transfer a card. If you want to receive a card from another player, it can be beneficial to position your pawn so that it is easy for them to reach you (or so that you're already co-located when their turn starts). Early in the game, when you hopefully have fewer critical threats, you'll likely want to have all the pawns clumped together to facilitate transfers. Sometimes the best player to give all the cards to is the one who could collect the treasure the soonest, rather than the player holding the most of them--especially later in the game! As it gets later in the game, you need to pull out all the stops and always be thinking about how to get that last set of cards (and retrieve the treasure) as quickly as possible.

'''Shore up non-essential flooded tiles.''' Not all non-essential tiles are created equal. When you have the option, prefer shoring up tiles that maintain movement--especially to/from Fools' Landing. In general, the more tiles you keep from sinking, the more of a buffer your critical tiles have in the deck.

Many turns will see you wanting to accomplish more things than you have actions for. Sometimes a clever use of a Helicopter Lift or Sandbags will help you stretch your actions so that you can accomplish all or most of what you want. Usually this is a good idea! But beware of using the last of them for marginal return--you may want one for a real emergency! Sometimes using your special cards right before the treasure deck is reshuffled is helpful--it may help you squeeze out an extra turn or two at a lower flood level.

Gamehelphouseofsuits

2025-04-10T16:40:58Z

TensorosneT: rules for House of Suits, from https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/441643/house-of-suits

House of Suits resembles an investment game, whereby players take turns placing one card into a common market and one card into their personal investment . The goal is to collect cards of those suits that will do well in the market.

THE DECK

Two players and a 60 card deck, with six suits each numbering from Ace(1) to 10. The game can be played with four, five or six suits.

THE DEAL

If playing with four suits distribute 10 cards face down to your opponent and yourself, beginning with the opponent. If five suits distribute 11 cards and six suits distribute 12 cards.

THE PLAY

Each player must set aside one card not to be revealed until the end of the game. Players then take turns laying down two cards and picking up two cards. One card must be placed face up into the market in the middle of the table, and the other face up in front of themselves. All of the cards on the table must be grouped according to suits, and once the pickup pile is gone players take a final turn from their hand.

THE POOL: WINNING AND LOSING SUITS

At the end of the game, turn up the two cards that were set aside and add them into the market. Then add up the total value of the cards in the market according to their suits. If any grouping of suits have totals that match each other, discard them. They are not to be included in the scoring.

If six suits are remaining (only possible with a six suit deck) the two highest are the winning suits, the two lowest are the bonus suits, the third is neutral and the fourth is the losing suit.

For five suits (only possible with a 5 suit deck) the two highest are the winners, the lowest is the bonus, the third is neutral and the fourth is the loser.

Four suits: The two highest are the winners, the lowest is the loser and the third is neutral. (no bonus suits from this point on)

Three suits: The two highest are the winners and the lowest is the loser.

Two suits: The highest is the winner and the other is the loser.

If only one suit remains, it is the winning suit.

SCORING

Add up the winning cards in your investment and subtract from that total the losing ones. You can incur a negative score.

Bonus points are calculated differently. To win a bonus suit a player must have a higher total invested in that suit than his opponent. He is then awarded the total value of the cards in the market of that suit.

After four games the player with the highest score wins, or players can play two games of four suits five suits and six suits. After six games the player with the highest score wins.

Gamehelppyramidoft

2025-02-26T08:46:06Z

TensorosneT: initial stab at play summary

Play consists of picking a tile to add to the current level of your pyramid and a token from its corresponding pool, then flipping over a new tile. Ideally, you find tiles that you want associated with tokens that you want, but sometimes you can only get one or the other.

Color-contiguous regions are scored at the end of each round (4x5,3x4,2x3,1x2) by turning in a token of that color (or two wild tokens). The score awarded is equal to the number of gems printed on the region's tiles. If you turn in 3 tokens (possibly replacing some with pairs of wild tokens) you score the region twice.

After the first round, subsequent rounds are nested inside the first--covering the inside, but leaving the outside available to score--all visible gems are available to score at the end of each round.

The most rewarded plays are making single-color regions with large numbers of gems around the outer edge.

You can only carry at most 5 tokens from one round to the next--definitely spend the tokens that are unlikely to be better in the next round.

Tips wizardextreme

2024-12-04T22:44:12Z

TensorosneT: Created page with "More than six black tokens cannot be assigned in a round. Later penalties are not accrued. Trumped tricks can use up a red token or the color of the suit led--if you have many trumps, you can bid your short suits instead of red. The Saboteur can be a good choice when you are short-suited with a few reds. (In a three player game the Saboteur can be very lucrative, so it costs 5 penalty points to take it in a 3-player game.)"

More than six black tokens cannot be assigned in a round. Later penalties are not accrued.

Trumped tricks can use up a red token or the color of the suit led--if you have many trumps, you can bid your short suits instead of red.

The Saboteur can be a good choice when you are short-suited with a few reds. (In a three player game the Saboteur can be very lucrative, so it costs 5 penalty points to take it in a 3-player game.)

Gamehelpwizardextreme

2024-12-04T22:40:35Z

TensorosneT: tightened

After the cards are dealt and sorted the player to the left of the dealer begins. Each must either make a trick prediction or take the Saboteur (the Saboteur can only be taken by at most one player). A prediction is made by taking a token in the color of each trick to be taken (the color of the suit led, or red for a trumped trick). White tokens (wild): If a player wants to take a token that is no longer available, they may take it from a previous bidder--and replace the previous bidder's token with a white one.

Saboteur: Instead of making a trick prediction, a player can choose the Saboteur. The task of the Saboteur is to make the game run poorly for as many players as possible so that they cannot get rid of their tokens or even have to take black penalty tokens. The Saboteur is rewarded for other players' penalties.

Red is always trump. After winning a trick, winner turns in a token of the trick's color (suit led, or may instead choose red if trick taken by trump). If winner doesn't have an appropriate token, they can either turn in a white token or receive a black penalty token (3 points).

The Saboteur plays the same as any other player, but never gets tokens.

End-of-round: Each player who has no tokens receives 0 points.

Each colored token (red, yellow, green, blue, violet) counts 2 penalty points while each black counts 3. Each white token counts 4.

The Saboteur gets 4 penalty points, less 1 point for each black token that another player took--but never less than zero.

Play one hand per player. Fewest points wins.

Gamehelpwizardextreme

2024-12-04T21:57:01Z

TensorosneT: Each player receives 15 cards as his hand at the beginning of a turn and must predict how many and what color tricks he will obtain. Penalty points for each trick predicted but not taken and taken but not predicted. The Saboteur seeks to disrupt the play of the others.

The Prediction
After the cards are dealt and sorted the player to the left of the dealer begins. Each must either make a trick prediction or take the Saboteur. (The Saboteur can only be taken by at most one player.)

Saboteur: Instead of making a trick prediction and taking seals, a player can choose the Saboteur. The task of the Saboteur is to make the game run poorly for as many players as possible so that they cannot get rid of their seals or even have to take black penalty seals. The Saboteur never gets any seals, no matter how he plays and what tricks he takes. The Saboteur gets 4 penalty points (maximum) and possibly less at the end of a round. More about this under "Course of Play" and "Scoring the Round".

White tokens (wild): If a player wants to take a token that is no longer available, they may take it from a previous bidder--replacing that token with a white one.

Course of Play
Red is always trump. After winning a trick, winner turns in a token of the trick's color (suit led, or may instead choose red if trick taken by trump). If winner doesn't have an appropriate token, they can either turn in a white token or receive a black penalty token (3 points).

The Saboteur plays the same as any other player, but he never gets tokens.

Scoring the Round
The first round ends as soon as all 15 cards are played. Each player who has no seals before himself receives 0 points. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Each colored token (red, yellow, green, blue, violet) counts 2 penalty points while each black counts 3. Each white token counts 4.

The Saboteur gets 4 penalty points, less 1 point for each black seal that another player took--but never less than zero.

Play one hand per player. Fewest points wins.

Notes
More than six black tokens cannot be assigned in a round. Later penalties are not accrued.

A player does not necessarily have to take many red seals if he possesses many trump.

A player should try to take the Saboteur whenever he possesses very few or no cards in one or more colors. Each time, if he does not have to lead, he can throw off or take a trick to miraculously thwart the plans of the other players. (In a three player game the Saboteur can be very lucrative, so it costs 5 penalty points to take it in a 3-player game.)

Gamehelpevolution

2024-01-03T17:56:14Z

TensorosneT: /* Playing cards */ added language to inform of maximum traits for w-player games and changed subsequent language to be compatible with both the 3-trait and 2-trait maximums.

In the game Evolution, players adapt their species with traits to survive in an ever-changing ecosystem. Food is scarce and carnivores run rampant. Your choices will determine the fate of the world's species: which will survive, which will thrive, and which will disappear from the planet forever.

The goal of Evolution is to gain the most points by feeding your species, increasing their population, and evolving them to best ensure their survival.

At the end of the game, players get points for the food their species have eaten during the game, the Population of their surviving species and the Trait Cards on their surviving species.

== Gameplay ==
A game of Evolution is played over a variable number of rounds. There are 4 phases in each round.

=== Receiving cards ===
Each player receives 3 cards, plus 1 card for each species they have in front of them. If the deck needs to be shuffled during this phase, this will be the last round of the game.

=== Selecting Food ===
You secretly choose 1 Trait Card from your hand, which is added facedown on the Watering Hole.

These are the "Food Cards" that will be revealed during the Feeding Phase to determine how much Plant Food will be available for the round. The number at the bottom right of each Trait Card represents an amount of Plant Food.

=== Playing cards ===
Starting with the First Player, you may play as many Trait Cards as you wants, or save them for the next round. There are three things you can do (in any order) with each Trait Card:

- Play a Trait : you may place a Trait Card facedown above one of your species. A species may not have any duplicate Trait Cards and may not have more than 3 Trait Cards (2 in a two-player game). If a species already has the maximum number of Trait Cards, a player may play a Trait Card on that species by first discarding a Trait Card that is already on that species.

- Create a new Species : you may discard a Trait Card face-up into the discard pile to get a new species. This Species starts with a Body Size "1" and Population "1". The new species must be placed to the left or the right of his existing species; they may not be placed between existing species.

- Increase Body Size or Population : you may discard a Trait Card face-up into the discard pile to increase the Body Size or Population of any one of their species by 1.

When everyone has played cards, all of the played Trait Cards are flipped face-up.

=== Feeding ===
The Food Cards on the Watering Hole are revealed, the food numbers on these cards are added, and that much Plant Food are added from the Food Bank onto the Watering Hole.

If the total on the Food Cards is a negative number, that much Plant Food are removed from the Watering Hole (if possible). The revealed Food Cards are discarded.

Beginning with the First Player and continuing clockwise, each player must feed one of their Hungry species, according to the Species Traits. A Species is Hungry if it has less food than its Population. A Species which is no longer Hungry can no longer receive extra food.

When a species takes food, it is placed in the space above the Population track starting with the "1" Population space. Any food eaten will be worth 1 point at the end of the game.

- non-carnivore : you add 1 Plant Food from the Watering Hole onto your Species board

- carnivore : carnivores can never take Plant Food. They feed by attacking other Species. You can attack another Species if your Body Size is larger than theirs and you have the necessary traits to overcome the defensive traits of the attacked Species. After an attack, you add Meat Food equal to the Body Size of the attacked Species from the reserve and the attacked Species population is reduced by 1.

If a Species population reaches 0, it goes extinct. The Food that had been eaten by this Species is put in the owner's bag, and that Species is discarded (board and traits).

Once every Species is no longer Hungry or can no longer feed, the feeding phase ends.

If a species did not eat food equal to its Population, its Population is reduced to the amount of food eaten. If a species did not eat any food, it goes Extinct.

All of the eaten Foods are put in the respective player's bags.

If you have no surviving Species, you receive a new one.

The First Player token passes to the next player.

== Ending and Scoring ==
Once the deck runs out, the game ends at the end of that round.

You receive 1 point per :

- food token in your bag

- population for your surviving Species

- Trait cards on your surviving Species

If there is a tie, the player with the most Trait Card points is the winner. If there is still a tie, the player with the most Population points is the winner.

== 2-Player rules ==
40Trait cards are removed at random from the deck at the beginning of the game.

Your Species can only have 2 Traits cards instead of 3.

== Quick variant and 6-player rules ==
The Playing card phase is played simultaneously by all players.

Tips forbiddenisland

2023-07-30T03:52:34Z

TensorosneT:

Success at Forbidden Island is about setting priorities so that you know which actions to take and when to use special cards. It isn't always clear-cut, but in general you want the following priorities:

# Shore up critical locations in danger of sinking.
# Retrieve treasures for which you have four cards.
# Trade cards to get sets of 4 treasures.
# Shore up non-essential flooded tiles.

'''Shore up critical locations in danger of sinking.''' You lose the game if Fools' Landing sinks--or if both of the locations for any treasure sink before that treasure has been retrieved. These are critical locations and should be shored up, if possible. There are some situations in which flooded locations are not in immediate danger (when all three Waters Rise have been played and there are still at least two cards left in the treasure deck), but mostly any flooded locations are vulnerable to sinking.

'''Retrieve treasures for which you have four cards.''' You especially want to turn in sets of cards before the treasure deck gets reshuffled! The more cards you can return to the treasure deck, the more turns you will have at lower flood levels.

'''Trade cards to get sets of 4 treasures.''' Two pawns must be in the same location in order to transfer a card. If you want to receive a card from another player, it can be beneficial to position your pawn so that it is easy for them to reach you (or so that you're already co-located when their turn starts). Early in the game, when you hopefully have fewer critical threats, you'll likely want to have all the pawns clumped together to facilitate transfers. Sometimes the best player to give all the cards to is the one who could collect the treasure the soonest, rather than the player holding the most of them.

'''Shore up non-essential flooded tiles.''' Not all non-essential tiles are created equal. When you have the option, prefer shoring up tiles that maintain movement--especially to/from Fools' Landing. In general, the more tiles you keep from sinking, the more of a buffer your critical tiles have in the deck.

Many turns will see you wanting to accomplish more things than you have actions for. Sometimes a clever use of a Helicopter Lift or Sandbags will help you stretch your actions so that you can accomplish all or most of what you want. Usually this is a good idea! But beware of using the last of them for marginal return--you may want one for a real emergency! Sometimes using your special cards right before the treasure deck is reshuffled is helpful--it may help you squeeze out an extra turn or two at a lower flood level.

Tips forbiddenisland

2023-07-30T03:50:27Z

TensorosneT: Comprehensive rewrite--similar ideas, but more fleshed out and from a somewhat different perspective.

This game is about setting priorities so that you know which actions to take and when to use special cards. It isn't always clear-cut, but in general you want the following priorities:

# Shore up critical locations in danger of sinking.
# Retrieve treasures for which you have four cards.
# Trade cards to get sets of 4 treasures.
# Shore up non-essential flooded tiles.

'''Shore up critical locations in danger of sinking.''' You lose the game if Fools' Landing sinks--or if both of the locations for any treasure sink before that treasure has been retrieved. These are critical locations and should be shored up, if possible. There are some situations in which flooded locations are not in immediate danger (when all three Waters Rise have been played and there are still at least two cards left in the treasure deck), but mostly any flooded locations are vulnerable to sinking.

'''Retrieve treasures for which you have four cards.''' You especially want to turn in sets of cards before the treasure deck gets reshuffled! The more cards you can return to the treasure deck, the more turns you will have at lower flood levels.

'''Trade cards to get sets of 4 treasures.''' Two pawns must be in the same location in order to transfer a card. If you want to receive a card from another player, it can be beneficial to position your pawn so that it is easy for them to reach you (or so that you're already co-located when their turn starts). Early in the game, when you hopefully have fewer critical threats, you'll likely want to have all the pawns clumped together to facilitate transfers. Sometimes the best player to give all the cards to is the one who could collect the treasure the soonest, rather than the player holding the most of them.

'''Shore up non-essential flooded tiles.''' Not all non-essential tiles are created equal. When you have the option, prefer shoring up tiles that maintain movement--especially to/from Fools' Landing. In general, the more tiles you keep from sinking, the more of a buffer your critical tiles have in the deck.

Many turns will see you wanting to accomplish more things than you have actions for. Sometimes a clever use of a Helicopter Lift or Sandbags will help you stretch your actions so that you can accomplish all or most of what you want. Usually this is a good idea! But beware of using the last of them for marginal return--you may want one for a real emergency! Sometimes using your special cards right before the treasure deck is reshuffled is helpful--it may help you squeeze out an extra turn or two at a lower flood level.

Tips thecrew

2021-10-30T15:45:35Z

TensorosneT: minor changes to improve clarity

These tips are a big summary. There are lots of exceptions.

# Usually don't take tasks of low values if you have that card.
# Usually don't communicate if you see no problems in achieving the task. Reserve communication for problems.
# On the other hand, don’t try to keep your communication for later. If the game could be lost in one trick, usually communicate immediately.
# Mentally calculate the tricks performed when choosing tasks. This is particularly helpful when there are multiple tasks of the same suit.
# If you have 2+ rockets OR at 5 players, it may be a good idea to take a task of a suit that you do not have any cards of (or have just 1 of it), especially in later missions. If you got only 1 rocket, try to avoid it (higher chance other players get high cards on that color).
# If you have rocket 3 and rocket 4, play rocket 3 first as a means of communicating your rockets. (commander always have the rocket 4)
# Draining rockets by playing them first is usually not a good idea.
# Take the lowest task you don't hold first when picking tasks: it's easier for someone to gain a task which is higher than his higher card of the color, than to win a low task he is holding.
# In variant specific missions, give more value to later calls. They got more information to make their choice.

About communications:
As a general rule, always assume the communication means the minimum amount of cards (so communicate y3 is the lowest yellow card tells he got only two yellows, potentially yellow 3 and yellow 9), then wonder if that makes sense to tell it or not:
# If yes, assume that until you get contradictory information (the first card discarded by that person is really important).
# If no, and it’s in a color he holds a task, and winning it with it is difficult/impossible, that means he got a rocket, and wants to win the task of that color with it.
# If no, and it’s highest on a color he holds no tasks, that seems to say he wants to win his other task(s) using that color.
# If no, and it’s lowest while he holds a task of that color, that seems to say he got his own task.

For a detailed guide, go here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w4rU2aaTluTH91sfSKyxd0shhHKpnPCaZCTxkl4PHOQ/edit (skip to part c) if you already read this).