CHAOS
TILES(TM)
RULES (The
Chaotile Art gallery) (Photos here.
$500 Contest)
You may purchase
Chaos Tiles now. Order
Chaos . See
rules in Spanish.
Note: The front of the box lists Mike Hirschhorn
as the discoverer of the Kay tile. He actually discovered the Vek
tile. Mike Hirschhorn discovered the Medalion of 18 veks in 1976.
GENERAL RULES
1. The larger tile is called a VEK
(it's convex). The smaller tile is called a KAY
(it's concave). There are 50 Veks and 40 Kays in the set of 90 Chaos
Tiles. At the start of a game, all of these tiles are face down (no
color pips showing) in the BONEYARD.
For a smaller game, eliminate one or two colors.
2. Each person starts a game drawing 'five' tiles from the boneyard.
This is the player's HAND. The
pieces are kept secret from the other players. In terms of
hand size only, a vek is considered one tile and a kay is considered
half
a tile. A player could start with five veks, or ten kays, or four
veks + two kays. When a player finishes a turn, they redraw to 'five'
tiles. Less experienced players can hold more than five tiles in
their hand, as a handicap.
3. The youngest starts the game by first playing a random single
piece from the boneyard (Move Zero), then taking a normal turn. This
is the start of the BLOB, which will
grow each move. Play passes counterclockwise.
4. A normal move consists of applicable free moves, then playing
a single piece anywhere, then making more applicable free moves.
Pieces must be played with full side to side contact with another piece
in the Blob. They do not need to match color. Holes
in the blob are legal. Unfillable regions (such as two adjacent 120
degree angles) are legal. A play which makes a 20 degree angle is
illegal.
5. A player may forfeit their turn in order to exchange any number of tiles
from the boneyard. When finished, they should have 'five' tiles in
their hand (see rule 2).
7. A CLUMP is a connected
group of pips having the same color.
8. The game ends when the Boneyard runs out of either Kays or
Veks.
9. FREE MOVE. Three Sides Rule. During their
turn, a player may make an AUXILIARY move
by playing a piece from their hand that will touch on three sides.
In the sample game below, all of the moves with an 'a' are auxiliary moves.
If the setup allows, a player may keep making auxilliary moves until their
hand is empty.
10. FREE MOVE. Better Match Rule. Some games
allow a TRANSFER. To do this, a single
tile may be moved to a position where it matches more colors. Above,
the move with the T is a transfer move. In the following example,
three transfers are done in a row. In each transfer, the grey tile
only matches one color -- it is moved to a position where it matches two
colors.
GAME ONE -- CHAOS OMELET
On their turn, a player may add a single piece anywhere that touches the
Blob. A player may also make any number of Auxilliary Moves (see
rule 9). If any Clumps grow in size, the player gains a score equal
to the size of product of those Clumps. Thus, if player grows
clumps of size 2, 3, and 5 during their turn, they would score 30 points.
Whoever has the highest total score at the end of the game, wins.
GAME TWO -- TILES TRANSFER
On their turn, a player may add a single piece anywhere that touches the
Blob. A player may also make any number of Auxilliary moves (see
Rule 9) or Transfer Moves (see rule 10), if available. During their
turn, a player may also claim a color for the rest of the game.
No-one else may claim that color thereafter. If only two people are
playing, then each player may claim two colors. Whoever has the biggest
Clump of their color at the end of the game wins. In the sample game
above, the second player claims Yellow on turn 4.
Your opponent has just claimed the color
red.
It is now your turn. What is your best move? Click on image for answer.
GAME THREE -- SCORER'S SOLITAIRE
Play the game Tiles Transfer alone. To win, every color must have
a clump of size twelve or larger.
GAME FOUR -- GO ASUNDER
Make a figure with some number of the tiles, then play the game of Go on
the tiles.
GAME FIVE -- CRUEL DUOS
If you ignore the dots and sides, there are 97
ways to put two tiles together (if you don't ignore them, there are
186 ways to put two tiles together). Print
out the list. Play a Kay or Vek each turn, ignoring dots.
As you play any duos on the list, in any orientation, claim it with your
initials. When the tiles are exhausted, whoever has claimed the most
duos wins.
GAME SIX -- MICROPENTAGONS
In this game, you receive a point each time you make a clump of five
spots of any color. Use the standard rules, with transfers and auxiliary
moves. Once a clump of five is made, no more points can be made from
that particular clump.
Many puzzles can be made and solved with Chaos Tiles. How many
different convex shapes are possible? How many of the 97
two tile combinations can be made simultaneously with the 90 tile set?
In the game Tiles Transfer, what is the maximum possible total score for
all five players? Can the pieces be put in the holding tray so that
no colors match? What is the hidden puzzle on this page? What
puzzles and games can you come up with?
If you've pondered making your own game, some of the gorier details
of my experience are here.
