Setting Up the Game
1. **Setting Up the Game:**
- Each player chooses one of the four colors (red, green, yellow, blue) and gets 4 tokens of that color.
- The game board is a cross-shaped with a square in the middle and four arms, each arm colored with one of the player's colors which corresponds to the starting area.
- Each arm has three columns of squares— the starting column (with the player's color), the finishing column (leading to the center), and the middle column shared by all players.
Players place their four tokens in the starting square of their respective colored areas.
2. **Starting the Game:**
- Players decide the order of play, which can be determined by rolling a single die; the highest roller typically goes first, followed by the next highest, and so on.
- To start moving a token out of the starting area, a player must roll a six. If a player rolls a six, they get another turn to roll the die.
3. **Gameplay:**
- On a roll of the die, a player moves one of their tokens forward on the track by the number of squares indicated by the die.
- A token can only move out of the starting area with a roll of six.
- If the die roll is again a six, the player earns an additional roll. If a player rolls three sixes in a row, however, the third six is ignored, and they must wait until their next turn to roll again.
- If a player's token lands on a square occupied by an opponent's token, the opponent's token is sent back to their starting area. The attacking player's token can then occupy that square.
- A square with a star is a "safe" square where opponent's tokens cannot attack.
4. **Home Stretch:**
- Once a token has made a complete lap of the board, it enters the home stretch, the colored row of squares leading to the center of the board.
- A token can only enter the home stretch with an exact roll.
5. **Winning the Game:**
- The goal of the game is to get all four tokens from the starting area, around the board, and into the "home" triangle of the same color in the center of the board.
- The first player to get all four tokens into the home triangle wins.
- The game continues to determine the second, third, and fourth places.
6. **Additional Rules:**
- To avoid blocking, many rules state that you cannot have more than one of your own tokens on a square (except in the starting or home areas).
- In some variations, if a player has no tokens that can move (because they don't have any out or they can't legally move a token), they must pass their turn.
- Each player chooses one of the four colors (red, green, yellow, blue) and gets 4 tokens of that color.
- The game board is a cross-shaped with a square in the middle and four arms, each arm colored with one of the player's colors which corresponds to the starting area.
- Each arm has three columns of squares— the starting column (with the player's color), the finishing column (leading to the center), and the middle column shared by all players.
Players place their four tokens in the starting square of their respective colored areas.
2. **Starting the Game:**
- Players decide the order of play, which can be determined by rolling a single die; the highest roller typically goes first, followed by the next highest, and so on.
- To start moving a token out of the starting area, a player must roll a six. If a player rolls a six, they get another turn to roll the die.
3. **Gameplay:**
- On a roll of the die, a player moves one of their tokens forward on the track by the number of squares indicated by the die.
- A token can only move out of the starting area with a roll of six.
- If the die roll is again a six, the player earns an additional roll. If a player rolls three sixes in a row, however, the third six is ignored, and they must wait until their next turn to roll again.
- If a player's token lands on a square occupied by an opponent's token, the opponent's token is sent back to their starting area. The attacking player's token can then occupy that square.
- A square with a star is a "safe" square where opponent's tokens cannot attack.
4. **Home Stretch:**
- Once a token has made a complete lap of the board, it enters the home stretch, the colored row of squares leading to the center of the board.
- A token can only enter the home stretch with an exact roll.
5. **Winning the Game:**
- The goal of the game is to get all four tokens from the starting area, around the board, and into the "home" triangle of the same color in the center of the board.
- The first player to get all four tokens into the home triangle wins.
- The game continues to determine the second, third, and fourth places.
6. **Additional Rules:**
- To avoid blocking, many rules state that you cannot have more than one of your own tokens on a square (except in the starting or home areas).
- In some variations, if a player has no tokens that can move (because they don't have any out or they can't legally move a token), they must pass their turn.