Gamehelppentup

Goal

Pent-Up is a 3D stacking abstract strategy game for 2–3 players designed by Néstor Romeral Andrés. Place pentomino tiles flat onto the table or stack them on top of lower tiles to build multi-level structures. When all tiles have been played, the player who controls more tiles on the highest level reached wins!

Components

Component	Icon	Description
Pentominoes		12 unique pentomino shapes (F, I, L, N, P, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z) per player in White, Black, or Red. Each pentomino consists of 5 squares.
Game Arena		Open table surface where pieces are played flat on a square grid.

Setup

• Played with 2 or 3 players:
  • 2 Players: White vs. Black (12 tiles each, 24 total).
  • 3 Players: White , Black , and Red (12 tiles each, 36 total).
• White plays first; turn order proceeds in table order.
• Tiles may be rotated in 90° increments and flipped freely before placement.

Your turn

On your turn, choose one of your unplayed pentominoes and place it on the board:

• Level 1 (The Table):
  • The first tile of the game may be placed anywhere.
  • Subsequent tiles on Level 1 must touch at least one already placed tile along an edge (corner-only contact is not permitted).
• Level 2+ (Stacking on Top):
  • Every unit square of the tile must be completely supported by the level directly beneath (no overhangs).
  • The supporting squares directly underneath must belong to at least 2 different tiles (of any player's colour). You cannot stack directly on top of a single tile!

The Key Rule: Mandatory Highest Level

A tile must be placed on the highest level on which that specific tile can legally fit. You cannot place a tile on the table if a legal stacking position exists for it on Level 2 or higher! The interface automatically enforces this by calculating and displaying only legal positions at each tile's mandatory level.

End of the game and scoring

The game ends when all tiles (24 in 2P, 36 in 3P) have been placed:

• Standard Scoring: Inspect the highest level reached. The player with the most tiles on that top level wins!
• Tie-breaker: If tied on the top level, compare tile counts on the next level down, and so on.
• Misère Variant: The player with the most tiles on the lowest level (Level 1) wins! Ties are broken level by level upwards.
• Advanced 3-Player Scoring: Each tile scores its level number (Level 1 = 1 pt, Level 2 = 2 pts, Level 3 = 3 pts...). The highest point total wins; ties broken by most tiles on the top level.

Variants (table options)

• Variant (Option 100):
  • Standard (default): most tiles on the highest level wins.
  • Misère: most tiles on the lowest level wins (ignored if Advanced 3-player scoring is selected).
• Scoring (3 players only) (Option 101):
  • Standard (default): most tiles on the top level wins.
  • Advanced: each tile scores its level number; highest total points wins.

Controls on BGA

• Selecting a tile: click any unplayed tile in your tray (or press keys 1–9, 0, -, =).
• Rotating & Flipping: click the on-screen buttons beside the board, or use keyboard shortcuts:
  • Rotate clockwise: click button or press R.
  • Rotate counter-clockwise: click button or press Shift+R.
  • Flip: click button or press F.
• Placing: click any highlighted position on the board to stage your tile, then click blue Confirm (or red Cancel).
• Camera & View Controls: drag to orbit in 3D, scroll to zoom, click Reset camera (C), toggle 2D / 3D (D), toggle Show levels (L), or use the X-ray slider to hide upper levels.
• Tooltips: hover over remaining tile counters in player panels.
• Preferences:
  • Colorblind support (Preference 100, default: Off): adds distinctive symbols to pentomino tiles.
  • Sound effects (Preference 101, default: On).