Torres Rule Summary

These rules cover the "Master Version" variant of Torres, which is the rule set used in Torres 3D.  Just re-printing this summary is probably infringing on several copyrights.

Terminology & Basic Facts

• The knight piece is usually referred to as "Kn".
• A level is counted as the number of blocks above the board height.  Therefore, a knight on the board is at Level 0.  A knight on a stack of blocks that is two high is at Level 2.
• A castle's area is defined as the number of tiles it takes up on the game board.
• A door is the black hole on each side of a castle block.
• A knight's score is equal to its Level times the area of the castle its in.  NOTE:  Only one of your knights score in a castle this way.
• Scores can never be tied.  Therefore, if you score and it is tied with another player, add another point.

Initial Placement of the Castles

Starting with the first player, each player places a block on the board.  The blocks must be more than 2 spaces away from another block.  (All spacing in Torres is orthogonal, not diagonal.)  After 8 blocks have been placed, each player places a Kn piece.  Finally, the King piece is played.

Playing the Game

Torres is played over three phases.  At the end of each phase the players' positions are scored.  The first phase lasts four rounds.  Each of the second and third phases lasts for three rounds (except in a two player game when all three phases are four rounds).  Play order starts clockwise, but generally proceeds from the highest scorer to the lowest scorer.

At the start of the first phase, each player gets 10 Action Cards which will be described in more detail later.

At this time, a random Master Card is drawn.  This will affect the scoring portion of the game.

Tower Block Distribution

Before each phase, each player gets a stack of cards from the common supply.  These are shown in the upper middle portion of the screen in the Torres 3D interface.

A Player's Turn

On a player's turn, he has 5 action points (APs) to spend.  Following is the options, costs, and frequency of use per turn.

• Add A Knight, Costs 2 APs, No Limit
  • New knights must be adjacent to existing knights.
  • New knights must be at the same level or lower than the existing knight.
• Move A Knight, Costs 1 AP, No Limit
  • A knight may only move orthogonally.
  • A knight may only move up one level, or down any number of levels.
  • A knight can cannot move into an occupied square.
  • SPECIAL CASTLE MOVE
    • The blocks have doors on all four sides.  The knights may use these doors to travel through castles!  A knight can enter any door and exit from any other door.  This only costs 1AP.  When moving through a castle, a knight cannot go up levels, but may descend as far as he chooses.
• Place A Tower Block, 1 AP, Limited to One Stack of Blocks
  • Must add to an existing castle.
  • Cannot merge castles.
  • A castle may never be taller than its surface area.
  • If a player has unused blocks at the end of his turn, the extra blocks can move to stacks with fewer than three blocks.  Any remaining will explode!
• Move Along The Scoring Track, 1 AP, No Limit
  • Adds 1 point to your score
  • Because there are no ties this can get you more points.
  • Because turn order is based upon score, this can change your playing position, too.
• Play One Action Card, 0 APs, 1 Card Per Round

Scoring

When all stacks (Rounds) are played, the phase ends. 

At the end of each phase, the players score their knights positions (as described in the Terminology & Basic Facts section).

After all castle positions are scored, the King's Bonus is scored.  This can only be scored once.

• In Phase 1, 5 bonus points are awarded if a player has a knight on Level 1 of the King's castle.
• In Phase 2, 10 bonus points are awarded if a player has a knight on Level 2 of the King's castle.
• In Phase 3, 15 bonus points are awarded if a player has a knight on Level 3 of the King's castle.

If appropriate, the Master Card is scored.  Read the bottom right corner of the screen to determine the current Master Card scoring rules.

After scoring, the player who has the lowest score moves the king.  The king may be replaced in the same spot or moved to the convenience of the lowest scoring player.

Action Card Descriptions

Following are the 10 Action Cards and the rules of using them.

• +1 AP
  • This gives you 6 APs to spend on your turn.
• +2 AP
  • This gives you 7 APs to spend on your turn.
• Move Knight Diagonally
  • Move one of your knights 1 space diagonally.  The knight may also move upward 1 level.
• Move Knight Up Two
  • Jump one of your knights two levels up to an empty adjacent space, e.g. from Level 1 to Level 3.
• Jump Knight
  • Move one of your knights past one other knight or the King by jumping over it.  The knight must move in a straight line orthogonally.  In moving, the knight may move up 1 level or down any number of levels.  The knight you jump over may be on any level.
• Castle Move Knight
  • Move one of your knights into an adjacent door and exit from any door in this castle to an empty space.  The knight can climb as many levels in the castle as you want, as long as the knight exists from a door onto an empty space.  The space must be orthogonally adjacent to a door.
• Move Knight as Aded
  • Move one of your knights from any space on the board to an empty space on the board as though you were adding a knight.
• Add Block Under Knight
  • Place a tower block from YOUR SUPPLY (taken from the last stack) under one of your knights.  You may not use this action to make the castle taller than its surface area.  The knight can be on any level, even 0.  If the knight is on Level 0, you can use this action to create a new castle (as long as there will not be more than 8 castles).
• Add Block from General Supply
  • Place an additional tower block from the general supply.  You must follow the rules for placing a new block.
• Move Block on Board
  • Move any empty tower block on the board to another empty space on the board.  You may not break the height/area rule on either the removing of the block or the placing of the block.  You can use this action to begin a new castle if there are fewer than 8 castles.  You can use this on a single block castle as long as the number of castles is not reduced below 6.