Babel On!

Oh, the vanity and foolishness of mankind! The Tower of Babel has just been destroyed. Language has been confounded. Humanity has been scattered. But... we never seem to learn, do we? You are now a part of a new nation, trying to build a new tower to the skies. And your King has appointed you as Chief Architect.

In Babel On!, you compete against other players, pulling blocks from the rubble that was once the Tower of Babel to become the first nation to build a new tower high enough to reach the heavens (6 floors high will do the trick).

Your new nation, with its new people and new language, also has a new color – and blocks of that color will play a prominent role in your tower. Place blocks on your tower. Take blocks off your opponents’ towers. Win the game. Now, Babel On!

OVERVIEW • SETUP • GAMEPLAY • Adding blocks • Moving blocks • Protected Floors • Knocking over towers • Bonus Blocks • Perfect Tower • Winning the Game

OVERVIEW

Starting with the first player, and moving clockwise, players take turns trying to build their towers, and trying to prevent their opponents from doing the same. The first person to complete their tower wins!

You collect blocks for your tower by predicting whether you will roll an even or an odd number. For even numbers, pull blocks from the construction bag. For odd numbers, take blocks from your opponents' towers.

Make sure you build your tower correctly, or you may have to waste a turn taking blocks back off of your own tower.

And make sure you don't knock over an opponent's tower, or you're out of the game! (This should be a very rare occurance.)

SETUP

Each player:

• Take an architect meeple and put it on the table in front of you. The architect's color is your nation's color.

• Take 2 building blocks of your color and put them behind your architect. These are your Bonus Blocks.

• Put the remaining 22 blocks of your color in the construction bag.

For a 2- or 3-player game, also put 24 blocks of another color in the bag. Shake the bag to mix the blocks.

Set all other meeples and blocks aside. They will not be used for this game.

All players roll the die to see who goes first (highest goes first; re-roll to break ties).

GAMEPLAY

On your turn, call "even" or "odd" and roll the die.

• If you called "even" and rolled even, look at the number you rolled. You MUST randomly draw that many blocks from the bag and add them to your tower.

• If you called "odd" and rolled odd, look at the number you rolled. You MUST move that many blocks between existing towers (yours and/or your opponents').

• If you guessed wrong, you may either

• end your turn now, or
• randomly draw 1 block from the bag and add it to your tower.

Your turn is over. Hand the die to the player to your left.

When adding blocks:

• Structure: All floors must stay within a 2x2 area. (Think of an imaginary 2x2 grid, and don’t build outside of that grid.)

• Safety: You cannot have more than 2 partially built floors at any time. For example, if Floor 1 isn't complete, you may only add blocks to Floors 1 & 2 for now. If Floor 1 is complete but not Floor 2, you may only add blocks to Floors 2 & 3. If Floor 2 is complete but not Floor 3, you may only add blocks to Floors 3 & 4. And so on...

When moving blocks:

• Structure: All floors must stay within a 2x2 area.

• Safety: All towers can have a maximum of 2 partially-built floors at any time.

• Order: Remove blocks first, add blocks second. You must take the designated number of blocks off the tower(s) first, and then then add those blocks to any tower(s).

• National Color - Last Resort: When taking blocks off an opponent’s tower, you can only take a block of his color if it is on the top floor and no blocks of any other color are on the floor.

Protected Floors

National Color - Protected Floor: If you build an entire floor using 4 blocks of your color, nobody (including you) may remove blocks from that floor, or from any floor below it.

Do NOT touch other players’ towers! To add blocks to, or remove blocks from, an opponent’s tower, tell the opponent what you want done and let them do it.

Knocking Over Your Own Tower

If you knock 1 or more blocks off your own tower, you must destroy your tower and start over. Put all the blocks from your tower – and any others you haven’t played yet – back into the construction bag. If this happens on your turn, your turn ends immediately.

Knocking Over an Opponent’s Tower

Never touch an opponent’s tower! If you knock 1 or more blocks off an opponent’s tower, you are immediately eliminated from the game. Put all the blocks from your tower – and any others you haven’t played yet – back into the construction bag.

If an opponent knocks 1 or more blocks off your tower, add the fallen blocks back onto your tower however you wish.

Bonus Blocks

Bonus Blocks are the 2 blocks you put behind your meeple during SETUP. You may use 1 or both blocks on the same turn, as follows:

1. Guaranteed Roll: On your turn, before you roll, put 1 Bonus Block in the bag. For this turn only, you may keep rolling the die until you roll your prediction (“even” or “odd”).
2. Re-roll: After you roll, put 1 Bonus Block in the bag. You may now immediately re-roll the die one time.
3. Regular Building Block: At any time during your turn, add 1 or both Bonus Blocks onto your tower, or onto an opponent's tower, just like a regular block.

Once you use a Bonus Block, it becomes a normal block for the remainder of the game.

PERFECT TOWER

For your tower to be complete, it must abide by all of these guidelines:

1. Height: The tower MUST be at least 6 floors tall.
2. Style: The first 5 floors MUST have 4 blocks each (2x2).

3. National Color - Use 'em: Blocks of your color must be on each floor.

   a. For 5-6 players, Floors 1-6 MUST each have at least 1 block of your color.

   b. For 2-4 players, Floors 1-6 MUST each have at least 2 blocks of your color NEXT TO (not diagonal to) one another.

4. National Color - Line 'em up: Floors 2-6 MUST have at least one block of your nation’s color directly above another block of the same color on the floor below it.

WINNING THE GAME

At the end of any round (everyone gets a fair turn), if any player's tower is complete and meets all of the PERFECT TOWER guidelines, that player wins!

Tie-breaker: If more than one player has a tower that meets the guidelines, whosever tower was finished first wins.

Oh! You can also win the game if every other player is eliminated (for knocking over someone else's tower).