Puzzle #18
It is Player Two's turn in this game of Twin Win. Although we can see that Player One is trying for a cyan tree, this information is hidden to Player Two, so they are not sure if Player One is about to win with a cyan tree or a green tree. How can the stop Player One from winning on the next turn? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/v758n22
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Puzzle #17
For intermediate players, in this game of Homeworlds, Player Two is in danger. What is the danger? For advanced players, should Player One take the move implied above or not? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/Homeworlds
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Puzzle #16
Another easy one... there will be another later today! In this game of Nomids, Player One has just rolled. What do you suggest they do now? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/w.3by3ws
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Puzzle #15
Here's a fairly simple one... in this game of Twin Win, has Player One won this game or not? (In other words, does the current configuration count as a cyan tree?) Rules: https://tinyurl.com/v758n22
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Puzzle #14
In this game of Martian Chess, in the top photo, Player Two (on the right) is about to take Player One's queen. In the bottom photo, this has happened. Should Player One now take that queen in row two (from the top) with their drone at the far left of row two? Why or why not? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/tp8yz2r
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Puzzle #13
In honor of meeting our Zendo stretch goal today, we're throwing in a Zendo puzzle! The back two structures fit the secret Zendo rule and the front two do not (indicated by the white and black stones, which are not part of the structure themselves). What might the secret rule be? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/ru9d8zl
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Puzzle #12
In this game of Homeworlds, Player One is thinking about using their green power to build a new ship. What color ships can they build? Which one would be the best choice and why? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/Homeworlds
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Puzzle #11
In this game of Ice Dice, Player One has rolled a wild for color and a choice of a small or medium for size. Should they choose a medium cyan to complete their second tree or do something else? Should they roll again after that or stop? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/v758n22
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Puzzle #10
In this game of Homeworlds, Player Two has made some difficult choices for their initial homeworld and ship. What challenges with Player Two face will this setup? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/Homeworlds
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Puzzle #9
Here's a fairly easy one... in this game of Nomids, Player One has just rolled a Wild. How can they win the game? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/w3by3ws
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Puzzle #8
Here's that same Ice Dice game we saw in Puzzle #1, but this time it is Player Two's turn. Should they roll again? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/v758n22
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Puzzle #7
It is Player Two's turn in this game of Twin Win. We are showing the hidden missions, but the players do not know what the others' missions are. What two moves would you make as Player Two and why? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/v758n22
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Puzzle #6
For beginners--In this game of Homeworlds, what size star can Player Two move to? For advanced players--Why might it be a better move for Player Two to build a third yellow ship in their Homeworld? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/Homeworlds
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Highlight here for our hidden solution → For beginners, Player Two can move to a large star (and Player One to a small star). These set-ups are known as "Banker" and "Fortress," respectively. For advanced players, the key words here are "yellow freeze out." By building the last remaining small yellow, Player Two is well on their way to freezing Player One out of the yellow economy. It now becomes much harder for Player One to get a yellow ship. It will take 4-5 turns before they can build up their green or red to a medium for trading. So their best bet is to trade their large green for a large yellow. This is a costly move because the large green could have been sacrificed to build three ships later in the game. Meanwhile, Player Two can use their turn to build another ship and gain a small advantage in pip count. Small gains such as this, occurring repeatedly throughout the game, are how advanced players win in the end.
Puzzle #5
How many possible moves does Player One have in this game of Martian Chess? Which would you take if you were them, and why? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/tp8yz2r
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Highlight here for our hidden solution → Remembering that pieces can move forward or backward, the pieces, from top left to bottom right, have the following number of moves: 3, 2, 2, 9 (one being a capture), 3, 3, 2, 3, and 2. This brings us to a total of 29 possible moves. We tend to agree that taking that one capture move is probably the best bet. Yes, you might lose a drone next turn, but the score will be 3 to 2 in your favor and you'll have your queen back. Other potentially good moves: (1) Move the second piece (the pawn) in front of your queen so that Player Two can only take 1 point instead of 3 and you have an extra queen to work with, or (2) Move the seventh piece (another pawn) diagonally right onto the other side. Player Two will not be able to immediately return it to you per the rules, so next turn you can capture it with your drone. Similarly, that drone will have nowhere to go except back to you, so either you get it back or you can capture it with your queen the turn after that.
Puzzle #4
It's Player Four's turn to set up their starting trio in a game of Nomids. What colors should they choose for their trio and why? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/w3by3ws
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Highlight here for our hidden solution → It is a good idea to take the third white because you then have the chance of exchanging with Players One and Two to create a "monochrome liquidation." But because you'll be exchanging with those two players, you wouldn't want to choose green, black, blue, or purple for your other colors because then that exchange would be helping Players One and Two as well. Better to take colors in Player Three's tree, but even better to take the two remaining unused colors--orange and cyan--so that exchanges will not help any of the other players. Why not count on exchanging with Player Three for their colors? Because the odds are 50/50 that you will be interacting with another player vs. with the bank. Counting on all your plays requiring interacting with players means you will be stuck without a strategy if you roll a bank interaction.
Puzzle #3
We're in the very early stages of Homeworlds where choices of moves are still pretty slim (that will change soon!). Which player has more potential actions? What are they? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/Homeworlds
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Highlight here for our hidden solution → This one was a bit of a trick question. Both players have the power of blue, so could choose to change the color of their ship. Both players have the power of green, so could choose to build another green ship. It's true that Player Two doesn't have anything to use their red attack power on yet, so it would seem that Player One has three options to Player Two's two options, since Player One can use the power of yellow to move. However, if Player One were to move their ship away from their homeworld, they would immediately lose the game since their homeworld would be without a ship. So in reality, both players have an equal number of viable options—two.
Puzzle #2
Whoops! There was a slight error in "shuffling" the pyramids for this Twin Win setup. Can you see the problem? How would you fix it? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/v758n22
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Highlight here for our hidden solution → The problem is that there are two cyan pyramids in the fourth tree. To be properly “shuffled,” all trees should contain three different colors. This problem can be solved by trading the small cyan with any of the small yellow, small purple, or small red, but trading with the small yellow also creates a pretty progression of colors!
Puzzle #1
In this Ice Dice game, Player One has 4 pieces on the Counter. Should they roll again or stop? Why? Rules: https://tinyurl.com/v758n22
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Highlight here for our hidden solution → The safest move is to stop now. There are only 2 chances in 6 of rolling the coveted rainbow bonus. If they stop now, they have a completed cyan tree and only need a small yellow and large green to win the game (which could happen in the next turn or two!). Since Player Two is at least two turns away from completing any monochrome (single-color) trees, Player One has a decided lead if they stop now. On the other hand, part of the fun of press your luck games is to do just that, and there is that chance that Player One will get the rainbow bonus, start a new turn immediately, and get the two remaining pieces needed to win the game on this very turn. That would certainly be exciting!
Thank you for playing with our puzzles and backing our Pyramid Quartet Kickstarter project!