Towers

A tower constructing, bridge building game of demolition for two or more players.

Object of the game

To destroy the most tower/bridge sections.

Deal

Five cards should be dealt one at a time to each player.

Player Turns

There are 4 towers, each of which is an empty pile in the playing area at the start of the game. Each player takes it in turns to play 1 card from his hand onto a tower, and then draw 1 card from the source pile.

You can arrange the towers in either a line (with three places you can create bridges), or a square (with four places for bridges). We recommend you use a line to start with, as you can stagger the cards out to compare tower heights more readily.

Playing a card

Each player can either:
  1. Play any card face up on an empty tower.

  2. Play a card, of face value equal to or lower than the top card, on the top of any one of the towers.

  3. Play a card of any face value across two adjacent towers of equal height (except where both ends of a bridge would rest on the same bridge below it, or the ground). This card is a bridge section.
The height of a tower is determined by the number of cards on that pile and includes both tower and bridge sections.

Ace cards

These are structually sound sections, being both lighter than twos but also strong enough to support kings.

Tower Destruction

If a card is played in one tower at the same height level as a card of equal face value in any other tower then both cards are removed from the game. The removal of these cards may mean that a bridge becomes uneven because it rests on towers of unequal heights. In this case one of two things may happen :-
  1. If the uneven bridge has a face value greater than or equal to the card directly beneath it on the tower at the higher end of the bridge, that card is destroyed allowing the bridge to fall down to an even level.

    This may mean that the bridge itself falls directly onto another bridge or the ground. In this case it is also destroyed.

  2. If the uneven bridge has a face value lower than the card directly beneath it on the higher of the towers, it remains uneven.
If a bridge becomes uneven by more than one height level (i.e. one end is two or more levels higher than the other) it becomes too unstable and is itself destroyed. This may mean that cards that were resting on the bridge may now be resting on cards which are unable to support them (because they have a lower face value). In this case each card directly below is destroyed too, until a card with a higher face value is reached.

The player who played the card which caused the destruction collects all destroyed cards except the initial pair which are removed from the game. The destroyed cards play no further part in the game but are used at the end to count up how many sections each player destroyed.

If there is any ambiguity as to which or how many cards are destroyed :

Example 1

Suppose we have the following cards in the towers:

Tower1Tower2Tower3Tower4
KHeart
KSpade
QHeart 7Spade
JSpadeKDiamond9Diamond

When a JDiamond is played in the empty tower.

Example 1a
The two Jacks destroy each other and are removed from the game. This means that the QHeart bridge lands on the ground and is destroyed. This makes the KSpade bridge uneven and because the KSpade is "heavier" than the 7Spade, the 7Spade is also destroyed.

This means we are left with the following towers:

Tower1Tower2Tower3Tower4
KHeart
KSpade
KDiamond9Diamond

Example 1b
The player who played the JDiamond collects the QHeart & 7Spade only.

Razing a Tower

If on a players turn he/she is unable to make a legal play (because all his/her cards are greater than the ones on the tops of the towers and there are no adjacent towers of equal height across which to play a bridge) he must choose one tower and raze it to the ground.

Before the player does this he/she must show their hand to all other players, thus proving that they are unable to play. All the cards from that tower are removed from the game including any bridge sections which spanned from the tower.

Removal of these bridges may cause other towers to become uneven and hence destroy sections of other towers. Only cards destroyed in this manner are collected by the player who razed the tower.

When the tower has been razed and all consequences dealt with, that players turn ends without him/her drawing a card.

Winning the game

The game ends when all players run out of cards and all cards in the deck have been used (for the last few turns no player is able to pick up and some players may end up having multiple turns). The winner is the player who has destroyed the most tower/bridge sections.

Keeping Score

Each player scores a point for each section he destroyed.

Credits

Devised by Andy B, Alan and Francis.

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