Take It Or Leave It

Take It Or Leave It
Travis Larchuk
A "Press Your Luck" style Treehouse game
:Players	Players:	2 - 6
:Time	Length:	unknown
:Complexity	Complexity:	not very
Trios per color:		1
Number of colors:		5
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes:		5
Five-color sets:		1
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
opaque bag, dealer chip, pencil and paper
Setup time:		1 minute
Playing time:
Strategy depth:		a bit strategic
Random chance:		much
Game mechanics:
Theme:		Press Your Luck
BGG Link:
Status: Not Specified (v1.0), Year released: 2006

Note: These rules refer to the colors in the rainbow set. If using the Xeno set, simply swap black for white.

Object

Have the most points at the end of the game

Setup

1. Designate areas on the table for "drawn pyramids" and "discarded pyramids."

2. Whoever's birthday occurred most recently takes the dealer chip and starts the first round.

Round setup

Toss all 15 of the pyramids into the opaque bag, mix em up, and give the bag to the person with the dealer chip.

On Your Turn

The person with the bag performs the following actions in the following order:

1. Draw a pyramid from the bag.

You aren't allowed to look while you dig around in the bag, but because the pyramids are different sizes, you are allowed to feel around for which size pyramid you wish to draw. Place the pyramid you've drawn onto the table.

IF... The pyramid is black, your turn is over. Place the black pyramid, along with any other pyramids in the bag of the black pyramid's size, in the discarded pyramids area and pass the bag to the next player (clockwise) unless this is the third black pyramid drawn this round (see below). If you are the only player still remaining in the round, then you just get to keep the bag and must take another turn.

IF... The pyramid is one of the other four colors, place it in the drawn pyramids area.

ALL FOUR OF SAME SIZE DRAWN... if four pyramids of the same size are in the drawn pyramids area, take the black pyramid of the same size out of the bag and put it in the drawn pyramids area as well. This pyramid counts as a regular pyramid for scoring.

How to determine how many points the drawn pyramids are worth

1 point for each pyramid

+ 3 bonus points for every 3 pyramids of the same color

+ 5 bonus points for every 5 pyramids of the same size

"Discarded pyramids" are worth nothing.

Example: 8 pyramids are in the drawn pyramids area: small red, small yellow, small green, small blue, small black, medium red, medium blue and large red. You get 8 points (one for each pyramid drawn) PLUS a 3 point bonus for having 3 reds, PLUS a 5 point bonus for having all 5 smalls. This totals to 16 points.

If all pyramids make it into the drawn pyramids area, that equals 45 points (15 single pyramids, 5 3-of-the-same-color, 3 5-of-the-same-size).

**Note: If at any point the bag is empty, throw all 15 pyramids back in the bag. The round continues with the amount of points from the new "drawn pyramids" being added to the amount of points from before.

2. Ask the other players whether they want to "take it" or "leave it."

Ask the person immediately to your left if he/she wants to "take it" or "leave it."

If he/she chooses to take it, add 1/2 the value of the "drawn pyramids" to that person's score (round up if not a whole number). That person is now out of the round (the bag is no longer passed to him/her), and you MUST draw another pyramid (back to #1).

If he/she chooses to leave it, the player to his/her left gets the chance to make the same decision, and so on clockwise until either someone takes it or all the other players have chosen to leave it.

If everyone decides to leave it, proceed to step 3...

3. Decide for yourself whether to "take it or leave it."

If you "take it," add the full value of the "drawn pyramids" to your score and pass the bag to the next player (clockwise). You are now out of the round. If you decide to "leave it," draw another pyramid (back to #1).

Round Ends Immediately If

-Everyone has "taken it" and is out of the round... in this event, the dealer chip is passed to the next player (clockwise) and a new round begins (back to "round setup").

or...

-3 black pyramids are in the "discarded pyramids" area... in this event, any players still in the round receive 0 points added to their scores. The dealer chip is passed to the next player (clockwise) and a new round begins (back to "round setup").

End of game

The game ends after the target number of "cycles" is completed. A cycle is completed when every player has had a chance to start a round with the dealer chip. (You may want to mark how many cycles have been completed on the score sheet.)

2 players: 3 cycles

3-4 players: 2 cycles

5-6 player: 1 cycle

The winner is the player with the most points. If two or more players are tied, the tied players play one additional cycle, and so on until the tie is broken.