Temple games quick start guide
From Polarity
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Contents |
PolarityTM Quick-Start Guide
By Temple Games, Inc.
Includes:
- Canvas Play Mat
- 52 Black and White Player Discs
- Red Center Disc
- Durable Carry Bag
- These Instructions
Notice: Polarity contains magnets. Please be aware of this when playing, and do not allow the magnets to come in contact with anything that could be damaged by magnetic fields.
Object of Polarity:
Play all of your discs to the play mat and gain as many points as you can. Place your discs in places that will make it difficult for your opponent to place his, causing him to mess up and letting you capture pieces & form Towers.
Set Up:
- Remove all of the game contents from the carry bag.
- Lay the canvas play mat out on a flat, level surface. Avoid surfaces that have metal in or around them.
- Set aside the red Center Disc. Take the 52 Player Discs and divide them evenly into two stacks of 26 Player Discs each. Give one stack to each player.
- One player should take the Center Disc and flip it in the air like you would flip a coin. The other player will call North (bar) or South (dot) while it is in the air. Whoever wins the flip chooses whether they will be White (plays first) or Black (plays second).
- Place the Center Disc on the dot in the middle of the play mat with the result of the flip showing (if the flip ended up with the dot – South – showing, place it in the middle of the mat with the dot showing, etc.).
- Starting with White, each player places their Foundation Discs. See below for more information.
Foundation Discs:
Foundation Discs are one of the most basic aspects of Polarity. Each time you play a disc to the board in Polarity you will be playing it against a Foundation Disc. When you begin the game, after colors have been determined and the Center Disc is on the board, White takes five discs from their stack and places them on the board with the white side showing. These discs can be placed anywhere inside the circle, providing that they do not touch another disc (including the Center Disc). Once White is done, then Black takes five discs and places them, using the same guidelines but with the black side showing. Once all 10 Foundation Discs are on the board, the game begins.
Game Play:
Starting with White and alternating, each player places one disc from their stack onto the Polarity play mat. However, unlike the way that the players placed Foundation Discs while setting up, a player may not merely lay a disc down on the play mat. Instead, players need to use the forces of magnetism to make the discs that they play float in the air, resting on a magnetic cushion provided by a Foundation Disc. When they do this, they are called Standing Discs (see the section below for more information).
A player may take as much time as they need to place a disc – it may take a couple of tries to get a disc to rest on the magnetic field of the Foundation Disc. If the disc that you are placing falls to the ground, you can try again. However, if while trying to place a disc you cause other discs to react in some way, such as two discs snapping together or another disc falling, that player’s turn immediately ends (see the Faults section if this happens).
Standing Discs (also known as “Floating” Discs)
Standing Discs use the magnetic fields of the existing Foundation Discs (and later in the game, Towers) to “float” in the air. To place a Standing Disc, hold a single disc in your hand, your color facing upward. Holding the disc at about a 45-degree angle, slowly move the disc toward one of your Foundation Discs. FEEL your way toward the magnetic force that your disc in hand and the Foundation Disc will naturally create as the discs get close to each other. There is an area between the discs that acts like a magnetic cushion, upon which Standing Discs will hover. Once the Standing Disc has been placed, it will have just a small part of one edge touching the play mat; the rest will be hovering in the air, making the disc look like it is floating.
Once there are Towers of two or more discs on top of each other in play, you can play Standing Discs off of them just as you’d play them off a single-disc Foundation Disc.
Faults (also known as Creating a Reaction):
If you’re trying to place a disc and you cause other discs to react, then you’ve created a Fault, and your turn ends. These reactions include:
- Causing two or more discs that weren’t touching to touch each other - Making an already-placed Standing Disc fall and lay flat on the play mat - Having a disc on the play mat snap up onto the one in your hand - Making a disc in play move entirely outside the line (out-of-bounds)
Note that if you merely cause a disc to wobble or move slightly your turn continues; likewise, you continue playing if you cause a disc to roll but not fall. Also, if the disc you are trying to place falls and lays flat on the mat, your turn continues (unless this caused another reaction or fault to happen elsewhere).
When a player creates a Fault, that player’s turn immediately ends.
After a Fault Has Been Created:
Once a player creates a Fault, that player’s turn immediately ends. Then, one (or both) of a few things can happen.
- If the Fault caused Standing Discs to fall to the play mat, and those discs are not touching other discs, those discs are left where they landed.
- If the Fault caused discs to snap together onto the disc that was still in the faulting player’s hand, then that player adds those all discs to his stack.
- If the fault caused discs to snap together on the play mat, those discs form a Tower. The opponent then gets to Capture these discs, picking them up and placing them, his color showing, anywhere on the play mat (note that this does not count as his turn – he may still place a Standing Disc after placing a captured Tower). Note: This must be done without causing another Fault. If another Fault is created, that player’s turn ends and the normal Fault rules apply.
Towers:
Towers form when two discs touch, and consist of two or more discs stacked on top of each other. Sometimes the pieces will snap together and make a tower on their own, other times you may have to pick up the discs before they snap together.
You never place Towers that you create; you will only get to place Towers that your opponent creates when he messes up and creates a Fault.
Conversions:
Sometimes it can be to your advantage to create faults. A player can use a disc in hand to force a Standing Disc down to the table, creating another Foundation Disc. This is called a Conversion. To create a Conversion, carefully approach your Standing Disc from above with a disc of your color in hand. Once the Standing Disc falls flat, quickly remove your hand so that you do not create any additional Faults. Your turn immediately ends (as you have caused a disc to fall, which is a Fault), but you now have another Foundation Disc to work off of.
Ending the Game:
The game ends when one player is out of discs in their stack. To determine the winner, count the number of discs that each player has in their Towers. From this number, subtract any discs that a player has left in their hand. The player with the most points wins!
The game also ends when a player causes any disc to touch the red Center Disc – the player who touched the Center Disc immediately loses!
Visit Polarity on the Web:
Want play tips, a downloadable strategy guide, an active player community and more? Visit
http://www.polaritygame.com
Credits:
Game Design by Douglas Seaton
Rulebook by J.T. Kauffman
Graphic Design by Bob O’Sullivan
Polarity is published by Temple Games, Inc.
© 2005 Temple Games, Inc.
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