A piece-pack consists of four suits – the suit above is the arm suit. A suit comes with coins (the bottom row of circular objects), a pawn (the rectangular shape to the right) and a die. (The diagram above is supposed to be double-sided – that is, printed and fold into half)

These generic pieces allow one to come up with rules revolving around them without having to design their own pieces or pay a high price for customised game components. Do check out some of the 138 games based on Piece Pack and perhaps you would get inspired too!

Play-Time: 30mins to 1 hour
Number of Players: 2 to 4
Special Equipment Needed: No? Just what you can find easily

What you’ll need

• 4 pawns of different colours, one for each player
• A chessboard, or a piece of paper with 9 squares by 9 squares
• A handful of coins in 5 denominations, all varying sizes (and preferably all from the same person!)
  • 5 large coins (or $1 in Singapore)
  • 10 medium coins (50c in Singapore)
  • 12 small coins (20c in Singapore)
  • 15 puny coins (10c in Singapore)
• 2 to 4 willing players
• A cloth bag, or box, where you can put all the coins and not see them

Setup

1. Each player places his pawn at the starting position as indicated below
   
2. Put all the coins into a cloth bag and shake well
3. Take out 5 coins from the bag and places it on the table
4. Choose a starting player with the favourite method of your choice. The owner of the coins should go first if violent arguments broke out.

Objective

To get the other side of the board. The “other side” is respective to the starting player’s position. So, for example, player one is trying to get to player two’s starting row; player 3 is trying to get to player 4′s starting column and so on. To win, you don’t want to land on the exact starting position – just anywhere on the last row/column.

How to Play

1. Players have two actions per turn. He may choose to use one, both or none.
2. A player can take a coin from the table and place it on the board. See “Placing Coins” below. He must then draw one coin at random and place it back on the table. The table must always has 5 coins. This is one action.
3. A player can move a coin on the board to any squares. See the rules for “Placing Coins” again. This counts as an action
4. A player can move his pawn one direction in the forward, left, right or backward direction as long as there is a coin at the destination. It is possible, if you are on a stack of coins, to make multiple movements. You can only move onto a stack of coins if you are on the a stack of the same height or one level lower (see “Moving Pawns” below).
5. Once a player has taken two of those actions, the next player in the clockwise direction will take his turn
6. The game ends when a player’s pawn reaches his winning row/column.

Placing Coins

Coins can be stack on a same square like a pryamid. And of course the top of a pryamid cannot be larger than its base! To stack coins, the following rules apply:

• You cannot place a coin of a larger denomation on top of a smaller one
• You cannot “insert” a coin between a stack of coins. You have to place on the top

You can also move coins around as an action. Likewise, you can always move a coin to an empty square. If you wish to move the coin to a stack, the above rules for stacking applies. You can only move the top coin of a stack. Same principle as building a stack above.

Moving your Pawn

You can only move your pawn to squares where there are coins. You cannot move diagionally unless you are on a stack of 2 coins or move. Also, you can only climb up one level per action. If you on a square with 1 coin, and going to square which has 2 coins, you may do so. However, you cannot go to a square with three coins.

Going down is easier than going up! So when you on a stack of coins, you may keep on moving as long as your destination is one or more level lower. You can even more diagionally! For example, you start on the stack with is 4 coins high. Then you move to one which is 2 coins high, then finally to 1 coin high (the minimal level possible). That 3 squares for one action!

You can also jump from a 4 coins stack to a 1 coin stack – that’s your loss.

EFAQ (Expected Frequently Asked Questions)

1. May I move a coin under an opponent’s pawn?
   No.
2. May I add a coin under my own pawn, or even an opponent?
   Yes, if the coin satisfy the stacking condition
3. What happens if the game has no possible moves?
   The player whose pawn has a Manhattan distance closest to winning wins. In case of ties for that condition, then it is the pawn on the highest stack of coin.

That’s all folks! Please post comments and feedback!