YJ Tick Cage

Content

Your YJ Tick Cage comes with the cube itself, which acts as a playing field, and four cubes (game pieces) in each of the six different colors.

Number of players

YJ Tick Cage is designed for 2-4 players. With two players, each participant gets three colors of their own (and all its cubes) to play with. With three players, each player has two own colors, and with four players, each participant has only one own color, the remaining two colors are then not used. Technically speaking, it is fine to play with five or six players as well, but in testing it has not proven to work as well in terms of gameplay. In cases where a single player has several colors to play with, then three in a row must be created with a contiguous color, not for example red-orange-red.

One game round

The youngest player starts by making a move. In each move, a single player may perform only one of the following three moves:

• Place a cube: The player places a cube from their own colors into one of the eight slots on the top of the game cube so that it falls to the bottom. The top and bottom of the game cube are initially locked by a plastic lid, which needs to be lifted off before someone can place pieces into the game cube.
• Turning the game cube: A player can also choose to turn the playing cube itself if it is believed to benefit oneself strategically. In such cases, exactly one move of 90 degrees is made, moves of 180 degrees (eg U2) are not allowed. Examples of permitted moves are U, D’, E, Uw’, etc. If one player has just made a move on the game cube, the next participant in the playing order may not directly restore this move.
• Flip the cube upside-down: Finally, a player can choose to flip the cube upside-down. Then don’t forget to first put the black plastic cover back on the top side, so that all game pieces don’t fall out of the game cube after the flip. After that, the plastic lid can be opened on the opposite side to allow the placement of new game pieces. Also with this tactical move, the next player in the order may not directly reverse it and must then make another tactical move.
• If a player runs out of game pieces: In this case, the player may only either twist or flip the game cube when it is their turn. However, it may still be the case that other players have game pieces left, so the game is far from over just because this has occurred.

Winning the game

The first player to get three pieces in a row of the same color (vertically, horizontally or diagonally) on the same side of the cube wins! If, on the other hand, all players have run out of game pieces, the match ends in a draw.