Latent Binaries

From Looney Pyramid Games Wiki
Latent Binaries
Gregory Lattanzio
Abide by the rules of binaries... Rely on deductive reasoning and luck to create weaknesses in your opponent's defenses in order to have a clear shot at taking control of their base.
:Players Players: 2
:Time Length: Medium?
:Complexity Complexity: Medium
Trios per color: 5
Number of colors: 10
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes: 10
Five-color sets: 10
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
four gaming stones or markers and a 7X5 or 5X5 board
Setup time: 4 minutes
Playing time: 10 minutes - 20 minutes
Strategy depth: Low
Random chance: Low
Game mechanics: Movement
Theme: Abstract
BGG Link:
Status: complete? (v1.0), Year released: 2012


Most games are about binaries, but, in this game, your every move is dictated by the law of binaries. This game combines a fair amount of luck, deduction, and strategy. It features nests with hidden information and moveable goal areas.

Game setup

Setup Phase:[edit | edit source]

One player plays with Xeno colors and the other with Rainbow ones.

The goal rows are indicated by tokens or stones that can be put on their own rows or at the board's edges (these are the “O” spaces on the diagram).

Unseen by your opponent, place two transparent-colored pawns of different colors under each of your opaque queens. After you are done placing the hidden pawns, there must be at least two pawns of each of your transparent pieces left over.

Place your nests on the row indicated, facing your opponent.

Place any of your remaining transparent pawns off to the side, across from your opponent, where they can be seen by the other player and used in the challenge phase. The drone pieces are not used.

Rules:[edit | edit source]

On your turn you must do the following in order.

1. Move any one piece one space orthogonally.
2. Challenge any opponent's nest.
3. Move a goal piece.

Movement limitations
1. You cannot move onto a square that another nest occupies.
2. You cannot move onto the goal rows.

Challenges:

1. You can challenge any nest that is orthogonally or diagonally within the line of sight of any of your nests. This means that you must be able to trace a line uninterrupted from one of your nests. You do not move toward or enter the square that the challenged nest occupies.

a. If a challenged nest does not have two pawns on top, you must guess a color that you believe may be under the opaque piece.
i. If that color pawn is under the opaque queen, the player owning that piece puts a pawn of that color on top of their queen. Capped pawns are placed in the order that they are correctly guessed.

b. If a challenged nest has two pawns on top of it already, the player may guess their hidden order. (i.e., "green on top of yellow").
i. The opaque piece is lifted to show the order of the pieces.
ii. If the order guessed is correct, the nest is removed from the game (the pawns are put back into the stash to be used for guesses).
iii. If the order guessed is incorrect, the opaque queen is returned to cover the pieces, and the player is free to offer the correct guess on a following turn if the nest can be challenged again.

c. During their initial turn, players can guess one color only, right or wrong. On subsequent turns, the players may guess until they get a guess wrong. This means that they may continue guessing at a second color after guessing one correctly and/or guess the sequence of the revealed colors after guessing the colors correctly. They may only do this for one nest of their choosing, as only one nest may be challenged or removed per turn.

Challenge Limitation:

1. You may not ask if a given color is hidden if a colored pawn of that type is not available in the stash.

Moving Goal Pieces

1. The two markers behind your original row of nests constitute your opponent's goal (otherwise known as your base).

a. Players must move either theirs or their opponent's marker at the end of each of their turns.
i. They are moved by jumping one piece over the other, along the goal row. The goal pieces can be hopped to the left or to the right, but they must always be adjacent and within the five designated spaces.

Winning:[edit | edit source]

If, after moving a nest, but before challenging a nest, you can draw a straight orthogonal or diagonal line from a one of your nests to your opponent's base, you win the game.

Tips:[edit | edit source]

You can check the colors of hidden pawns at any time by putting one hand in front of a nest and lifting it so that only you can see. To better protect against any mistakes, you might agree to avert your eyes when necessary.

Keep in mind that the most vulnerable space for a goal piece is the center space on the board. Also, the middle square of your home row is the only indefensible space, so don't ever give that up to an opponent.

PDF Copy:[edit | edit source]

Here is a two-page pdf copy of the game.