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:
- Play any card face up on an empty tower.
- Play a card, of face value equal to or lower than the top card, on the
top of any one of the towers.
- 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 :-
- 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.
- 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 :
- First check to see if any bridges are destroyed because they land on the
ground or directly on another bridge.
- Then check cards from the ground upwards to see if they are crushed
by uneven bridges.
- Next check for any doubly uneven bridges.
- Finally check to see if any equal cards have now become level. These
destroy each other as normal and may start off another series of
destructions.
Example 1
Suppose we have the following cards in the towers:
Tower1 | Tower2 | Tower3 | Tower4 |
| | K | |
| K | |
Q | 7 | |
J | K | 9 |
When a J
is played in the empty tower.
The two Jacks destroy each other and are removed from the game. This means that the Q
bridge lands on the ground and is destroyed. This makes the K
bridge uneven and because the K
is "heavier" than the 7
, the 7
is also destroyed.
This means we are left with the following towers:
Tower1 | Tower2 | Tower3 | Tower4 |
| | K |
| K |
| K | 9 |
The player who played the J
collects the Q
& 7
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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