Gamehelpmicrochip

Goal

Microchip is a spatial abstract strategy game for 2–5 players designed by Néstor Romeral Andrés. Draft circuit tiles from a shared pool and arrange them on your personal 5×5 circuit board. Build the highest-scoring closed microchip: each connection in your microchip scores 1 point, while every tile outside your microchip costs 2 penalty points.

Components

Component	Icon	Connections	Description
Cross		4 connections	1 copy per colour (5 total). Connects in all 4 cardinal directions.
T-Junction		3 connections	3 copies per colour (15 total). Branches into 3 directions.
Corner		2 connections	2 copies per colour (10 total). Turns 90°.
Straight		2 connections	2 copies per colour (10 total). Runs straight through.
Terminal End		1 connection	4 copies per colour (20 total). Caps and closes a path.
Circuit Board	—	—	Personal 5×5 grid per player (25 spaces: 5 each of blue, red, green, yellow, pink).

Setup

• Shared Pool: 60 tiles (12 of each of the 5 colours: blue, red, green, yellow, pink) arranged in a grid:
  • 2 players: 50 tiles (5 rows × 10 columns; 10 tiles removed at random).
  • 3–4 players: 60 tiles (5 rows × 12 columns).
  • 5 players: 60 tiles (6 rows × 10 columns).
• The rightmost column with remaining tiles forms the active draw column.
• Each player receives a unique 5×5 circuit board (5 spaces of each colour) and a tray.

Your turn

1. Draft a tile (mandatory): On your turn, take one tile of your choice from the active draw column into your tray. When a column is exhausted, the next column to the left becomes the new draw column.
2. Arrange your board (free action): You may place, rotate, move, swap, or return tiles from your tray to your board at any time, even during other players' turns.

Placing circuit tiles

A tile may be placed on your board only when all conditions are met:

• The space is empty.
• The colour of the tile matches the colour of the space.
• No connection may point off the edge of the board.
• Where two tiles touch, their paths must match (wire meets wire, or blank edge meets blank edge). Mismatched paths or paths pointing off-board show a red `!` error badge. A path pointing to an empty space shows a yellow warning triangle until closed.

End of the game and scoring

• When the shared pool is completely empty, all players finalize their circuit boards and press Finish.
• Closed Microchip: Your scored microchip is your single most valuable connected group of tiles that has zero open connections (no wire pointing to an empty space, off-board, or to a mismatched edge). Any group with an open wire is invalid and scores 0 points.
• Scoring:
  • +1 point for each connection point on tiles within your closed microchip.
  • -2 points for each tile remaining in your tray or placed outside your closed microchip.
• The player with the highest score wins!
• Tie-breaker: Most tiles in the winning microchip. If still tied, victory is shared.

Table options

• Improve after others finish (default: On):
  • On: When the draft is over and players finish their microchips, a player who presses Finish while another player's posted (finished) score is higher gets their Finish button back and may keep changing their board (as long as they have time) and press Finish again, or press Concede to stay at their score. The building phase ends when every player has finished and nobody is still below a higher posted score without having conceded.
  • Off: Standard rules: each player finishes once when the draft ends; pressing Finish locks in your score.

Controls on BGA

• Drafting: Click any tile in the active rightmost draw column to take it.
• Placing: Click a tile in your tray, then click an empty matching-colour space on your board.
• Rotating: Click a tile already on your board to rotate it 90° clockwise, or select it and press Rotate.
• Moving & Removing: Click a placed tile to select it, then click another cell to move or swap, or press Remove to return it to your tray. Press Deselect to clear your selection.
• Clear board: with no tile selected and at least 2 tiles on your board, press Clear board and confirm to take all your tiles back to your tray at once.
• Finish: Once all pool tiles are drafted, click blue Finish. If you need to make changes before everyone finishes, click Resume building.
• Concede: When an opponent has posted a higher finished score (with Improve after others finish enabled), click red Concede to accept your current score and lock it in.
• Badges: A red `!` badge indicates an invalid placement (path running off-board or mismatched edges). A yellow warning triangle indicates an unclosed path.
• Preferences: Colourblind support (Preference 100, default: Off): displays geometric symbols on board spaces and tiles.