5 vor 12

Description

5 vor 12 could be read as "five minutes to 12:00" (or more literally, "5 before 12") but in game terms the name is shorthand for the rules: The 5 must come before the 12 when those tiles lie in the grid. In more detail, each player starts the game with a player board bearing a 4x4 grid and twenty tiles (numbered 1-20) for each player are mixed face down in a common pile. To start the game, each player simultaneously draws one tile, then places it on one of the four spaces on the diagonal line running from upper-left to lower-right on her player board. Then each player draws a second tile and places it, then a third and fourth. Players then alternate turns. On a turn, a player must: Reveal a face-down tile, then either place it legally on that player's grid or return it face-up to the center of the table, or Take a face-up tile and place it legally on her grid. Tiles in each row must increase in value from left to right; in each column, tiles must increase from top to bottom. When a player places a tile, she can place it in an empty space or replace a tile already in play, placing the removed tile face-up in the center of the table. The first player to fill her grid legally wins. (In rare cases, no one will be able to fill her grid; in this case, the player with the fewest empty spaces wins.)