DEBLOCKLE

OBJECTIVE OF DEBLOCKLE:  Win the game by removing all four of your blocks from the board before your opponent. 

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 Players 

MATERIALS:  1 wooden game board, 4 gold blocks, 4 blue blocks 

TYPE OF GAME:  Strategy Board Game 

AUDIENCE:  Ages 8 and Up 

OVERVIEW OF DEBLOCKLE

Players take turns Tipping and Hopping their blocks in accordance with the symbol on the block.  Once a block is Tipped onto a Star Space, it is removed from the board.  The first player to remove their four blocks wins the game. 

SETUP

Begin the game by rolling your opponent’s blocks on a flat surface (like dice) to determine which symbols will start face-up. (If a block lands on its edge, roll it again.) Place your opponent’s blocks in the spaces diagonal from their home star (see diagram). You may place the blocks in any space and orientation that you wish as long as the symbols you tipped remain face-up.  

The youngest player goes first. If you and your opponent have recently played Deblockle, the player who won the previous game may go first, even if they aren’t the youngest. 

BLOCK SYMBOLS   

STAR: The Star cannot be tipped face up on any spaces of the board, except the star space of the opposite side.  The star block is removed from the board when it is tipped onto the star space on the opposite side of the board. 

STOP:  The Stop symbol means your turn is over.  You are not permitted to move the block to any other spaces during that turn. 

CROSS:  The Cross symbol allows for one hop in any direction – vertical or horizontal. 

X:  The X symbol allows for one hop in any diagonal direction. 

SLIDER:  The Slider symbol allows for vertical or horizontal movement, of one space or more, until stopped by the edge of the board or another block. If the block is tipped against the edge of the board, it must still move at least one space.  You may stop the slider next to a star space- but not on the star space. 

HOOPS: 

The Hoops symbol allows for any combination of 3 vertical or horizontal movements.  You are permitted to return to a space that was previously occupied by the Hoop block. 

GAMEPLAY

Players move on each turn, using two steps: 

STEP ONE: TIP a block 

At the beginning of each turn, choose a block and tip it into an adjacent open space.  You are not allowed to tip the block diagonally and you may not tip the block into any star spaces. 

STEP TWO: HOP a block 

After you tip your block, you must then hop that block in accordance with the symbol displaying face up (after you have tipped the block).  When you hop the block, you may only move it to open spaces.  You are not allowed to rotate the block when you hop. 

STAR SPACES:  There are two star spaces on the board marked by a golden star. Each player starts with their blocks in the 4 spaces diagonal from their home star. Players must move their blocks across the board and into their opponent’s home star space. 

No block may be tipped into any star space unless it is being tipped star-side-up onto the opponent’s home star space (at which point it is removed from the board). No block can end its turn in either star space. Using the Slider or Hoops symbols, a player MAY hop/slide across the star space during the “hop” step of their turn (as long as the block was not tipped into the star space and does not end there). 

DEBLOCKLE’D: It is possible to prevent a player from moving by using your blocks and the edges of the board in such a way that they are trapped. When this happens, the player who is not blocked (Deblockle’d) may continue taking turns (and removing blocks from the board) until their opponent has been freed. 

GAME VARIATIONS

USING FEWER BLOCKS 

Deblockle can be played with 1, 2, 3, or 4 blocks without changing the rules. If two opponents are un-evenly matched, one player might start with fewer blocks to balance the game. You may use the suggested starting positions below when using less than 4 blocks or you may experiment with your own starting configurations. 

Set-up rules are the same as they would be for a regular game. 

NO SIDE-BY-SIDE BLOCKS 

To add an extra challenge to the game, another rule may be added that prohibits blocks from ending a turn in a space adjacent to an opponent’s block. A player may have their own blocks sitting side-by-side, but players cannot end their turn with any of their blocks touching an opponent’s block. Sitting diagonally from an opponent is allowed. 

Want to check out the creators of Deblockle? You can find them here.

Nakoa Davis
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