Folio

From Looney Pyramid Games Wiki
Folio
David Morgan-Mar
An abstract strategy game for two players inspired by Quarto
:Players Players: 2
:Time Length: Fast?
:Complexity Complexity: Easy
Trios per color: 2
Number of colors: 4
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes: 4
Five-color sets: 2
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
Chessboard
Setup time: 2 minutes
Playing time: 5 - 10 minutes
Strategy depth:
Random chance:
Game mechanics:
Theme: The wikipage input value is empty (e.g. <code>SomeProperty::, [[]]</code>) and therefore it cannot be used as a name or as part of a query condition.
BGG Link: Folio
Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2003


Created in 2003, this is an abstract two-player game game of placement, enacted on a chess board.


Requirements[edit | edit source]

  • Two Treehouse sets (remove the black pieces) or a complete Icehouse set of four colors
  • A chessboard

Setup[edit | edit source]

You will need sixteen pyramids to play. The first twelve are one trio of each of the four colors. The remaining four need to be made up of one of each color, with at least one of each size.

::SML::SML::SML::SML
::L::M::S::L
Potential set of pieces

Gameplay[edit | edit source]

On your go, your opponent chooses a piece for you to play, and you choose where to play it. So if Alice were first, Bob would choose a piece, hand it to Alice, and she would have to put it on the board. Then Alice would pick a piece for Bob, and he would have to put it on the board.

The first piece must be placed on one of the four central squares of the board. All other pieces must be placed on an empty square no more than three squares away from all other pieces already on the board, measured in any direction including diagonally.

Effectively, this means all pieces must be within a four-by-four square, but the exact location isn't set until enough pieces have been placed to make its location unique.

Winning[edit | edit source]

You win if on your turn you place a piece which completes a line of four (orthogonally or diagonally) containing either:

  • One piece of each color, or
  • One piece of each size (the fourth piece's size doesn't matter)

Variations[edit | edit source]

Fixed Grid[edit | edit source]

Play on a fixed four-by-four grid. This makes the game simpler.

No Grid[edit | edit source]

Play without a grid. The first piece is placed at the center of the table, and all subsequent pieces must be adjacent (diagonal counts) to an already placed piece, so long as all pieces stay in a four-by-four square. This actually restricts the moves available, due to the adjacency requirement.

Freeform No Grid[edit | edit source]

Like before, the first piece is placed at the center of the table. All subsequent pieces can be placed effectively anywhere (though it's recommended to keep pieces within about 6 inches of each other), as long as all the pieces played can fit into a four-by-four grid of some size and orientation (it doesn't need to be parallel to the sides of the pieces). The size and orientation of the grid may stay undefined until several pieces have been played. Pieces are always assumed to be at or very near the center of their notional grid squares

If a player doesn't believe a play fits into any possible four-by-four grid, he may challenge his opponent to demonstrate where the grid is. If the opponent is unable to do so, he loses. However, if he is able to do so, the challenger loses instead.

External Links[edit | edit source]

  • The rules can be found here.