Gamehelppentup

Goal

Place your pentomino tiles so that, when all tiles are placed, you have more tiles on the highest level than your opponent. If the number is equal, compare the next level down, and so on.

Setup

With 2 or 3 players. Each player has the 12 different pentominoes (F, I, L, N, P, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z) in their colour. White starts; with 3 players the order is white, black, red (clockwise). Tiles can be rotated and flipped freely.

Your turn

Place one of your unplayed tiles. It must be aligned to the grid and lie flat, with every square supported (no overhang). It goes either:

• On the table (level 1), touching at least one tile that is already on the table along an edge; or
• On top of other tiles, where its five squares all rest on the level directly below, and those squares belong to at least 2 different tiles (of any colour).

The very first tile of the game can be placed anywhere.

The key rule

A tile must be placed on the highest level on which that tile can legally be placed. The game highlights only the legal squares, and different tiles may be legal on different levels in the same turn.

End of the game

The game ends when all tiles (24 with 2 players, 36 with 3) have been placed. Look at the highest level reached: the player with more tiles there wins. If equal, compare the next level down, and so on.

Misère variant

Play as usual, but the player with the most tiles on the lowest level (the table) wins. Ties are broken on the next level up.

Three players

With 3 players the red set joins in and everyone plays as usual. The winning condition is the same as with 2 players. The game option Scoring (shown only for 3 players) offers:

• Standard: most tiles on the highest level, ties broken on the next level down.
• Advanced: every tile scores its level number (a tile on the table is worth 1 point, on the second level 2 points, and so on). The highest total wins; if equal, the player with more tiles on the top level wins.

The Misère variant is ignored when Advanced scoring is chosen.

Credits

Pent-Up was designed by Néstor Romeral Andrés (nestorgames), 2003, with revisions by Nathan Morse.