The objective to the game of TAOEX is to capture a tower of 6 single opposing player’s tiles.
Naturally, players can win by eliminating all the other players or, by capturing an opponents tower that contains enough of their own tiles to liberate 6 or more.
Players control the board and the game with a mouse. Both left and right clicking, along with the scroll wheel, are required to play this game.
Also, within the board screen there is a game compass in the upper left corner of the screen. Clicking on any of the compass points will automatically change the view to that section of the board and the camera angle.
- Left click & hold to drag the perspective forward and back as well as left to right.
- Right click & hold to drag the perspective diagonally and change the camera angle from top view to board level.
- Center scroll wheel controls some pre-set camera angles by scrolling forward and back.
The tabbed help section does not represent all the game rules. What it does offer is some basic rules as they pertain to playing the game online. While it is always helpful to know all the rules before playing a game but, the rules to the game are incorporated into the building of the online version of TAOEX. The tabbed information is all you need to know before playing the game.
Enjoy.
To start a new online game simply click on the Online Game button. (To maximize the game window, click on the double arrow icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.)
Enter a player name in the text field (no spaces or special character). Click the Connect button to login or the Back button to leave.
From this screen the connected player can create either a Public or Private Room to host a game or, Join a Random or Private Room to play against online opponents. To Join a private Game a player would need to Enter a Room Code that they had received from the room host.
The host of a room sets up the table for players, human or AI. The host can also copy the room code to send to invited players. Toggle on and off the public room, set the Hovers (highlight the paths all tiles & towers move) which can be very helpful for new players. There is also a chat section and a back button to leave the room. Once all players have been set the host then hits Start Game.
The game is played on a 3D board that is governed by mouse or keyboard. The left and right buttons of the mouse control axis movements when clicked and held while moving the mouse. The scroll wheel controls the camera angle. The WSAD keys also control the screen. There is also a hovering compass in teh upper left, click on that to quickly move the screen around the board.
Once the game starts players must now take turns placing their tiles. Notice the arrows above each Brown tile in the image. Whenever a player must place a tile rather than move, an arrow will appear above each tile that may be placed that turn.
When a player selects a tile (by clicking on it) to place it on the board the open spots it can be placed rise up slightly and receive a red border. In the above image the Brown N3 was clicked and the eligible spaces activated.
Every tile contains information that is used in playing Taoex. There is the labeled, color band and top of the tile that show who has control of a tile. On 3 of the 6 faces of the tiles there are letters & numbers that are of the same color as the control color band. There are also 3 of 6 faces that display inverted letters & numbers in yellow.
When the tile has the color band displayed at the top then the tile is owned and controlled by the player of that color. When the color band is at the bottom of the tile the tile is captured and controlled by a different player. The yellow information is now right side up and is used in play.
In the image above you can see how the towers are made up with captured tiles. You should also notice that for each tower of tiles, the towers are owned and controlled by the tile resting on the top.
There is 1 more tile in play, a neutral tile that can be captured and used by any player. This tile is called a Hook Tile and it is yellow with black text. The hook tiles are randomly placed in the intersection spaces on the way at the beginning of the game and can be captured by a player who lands on it. All hook tiles have a special, extra move that can be played under certain conditions.
In the image above the brown player captured the south hook tile with their south east 3 tile. The brown player, on their turn could elect to use the captured hook tile's extra movement by first moving south east either 1, 2 or 3 spaces first followed by a south 1 (remember to always refer to the central board compass to determine directions). The brown player could choose to move SE1 + S1, SE2 + S1, or SE3 + S1 on their turn. They could also choose to go south east up to 3 spaces without using the hook tile at all.
Hook tiles can also be used by themselves in a tower for movement except when the direction of the hook tile matches the path of the way (the yellow 6 pointed star centering the board) See the Way tab for more information regarding the way. In the image above the hook tile matches the south moving path of the way so the hook tile cannot be used to move the tower south 1 space along the way. Movement along the path of any way can only be done by rolling the dice and taking that move.
Each player controls 12 tiles, 2 for each of the 6 game directions as controlled by the central game compass. Each tile has 2 sets of directions and numbers; one in the ownership color (red for instance) and an inverted set of yellow numbers and directions that are played when a tile is captured, more on that later.
After all of the starting placement is finished players can now start moving their tiles into play by clicking on one. Once clicked the path that tile can move highlights and the player can then click on any space along that path to move to. In the image above the brown player could elect to move 1, 2 or 3 spaces in the north eastern direction. Once clicked, the tile slides into the space and their turn is over.
As tiles move about the board they will capture enemy tiles (by landing on top of them). In the image above we can see that the 2 tile tower belonging to the red player, can move in 2 different directions; north 2 or, south west 3 (remember to reference the compass in the center of the board).
The higher the tower the more directions the tower might be able to move. In the image above the once red tower of 2 has been captured by the brown player and is now a tower of 3 giving it movement options of; north 2, south west 3 or, south east 2 (remember to reference the compass in the center of the board).
On the lower left of the screen players can call up a short movement history by hovering the mouse over the tabs. Hovering over a tab will also highlight on the map what the tile, tower previously did.
A tower is created any time a player captures an opponent's tile. The captured tile gets turned upside down, the yellow faced information is now in play and is lined up with the controlling color. Ideally, the captured tile would now give the tower 2 directions of travel. As you can imagine, the more tiles captured in a tower, the greater potential for a more powerful tower. As powerful as a tower could be they do have some limitations; they can not exceed 6 tiles per tower, they can not contain more than 1 hook tile, the hook tile can be used on its own or as a hook move.
Whenever a tower exceeds 6 tiles in height the player will be taken to the tower build screen. Here players can choose which tiles to keep in the tower and which ones to liberate (return to play on the board) or eliminate from the game. The tower build screen also opens when there is more than 1 hook tiles in a tower. Hook tiles removed from a tower are returned to play on the board by returning to a vacant intersection space along the way.
To build a tower players select the tiles they would like to use in the tower by clicking on the tiles on the left. Selected tiles moves to the center of the screen until you have a full tower of 6. At any time prior to clicking on the confirm button tiles can be moved back and forth from either column until you are satisfied with your choices. One more thing, right clicking on the screen will pause rotation on towers. Clicking "Confirm" returns your tower back to the board, tallies any points and play resumes.
There is a 6 sided star centering the playing surface, this is known as The Way. The Way is a special section of the board where tiles and towers can change their trajectory by stopping movement and rolling the dice to possibly change their trajectory. If possible, the player rolling the dice MUST move along the Way the number that was rolled, good or bad.
The Way can not be jumped over. If a player has movement that could carry the tile or tower past the Way, the player would have to stop on the Way and roll the dice.
After landing on the Way the player rolls the dice (1, 2, 3, 4, 0, or C) to generate a new location to move the tile or tower that landed on the Way. In the image above the brown player landed on the Way and rolled a C, ( C = choice of a move of 0 thru 5 spaces along the Way) and 5 Way spaces on either side of the brown tile are highlighted indicating that the brown tile could move to any of them.
The Way has 6 intersections that are the starting spaces for the neutral, hook tiles (more on those later). When a player enters the Way via an intersection the player must select the arrow icon indicating the plane that they intend to roll on.
Even though a tile or a tower can only move along the Way by rolling (and never by using tile directions) they can step off of the Way and back onto the Way in one turn. Naturally, when a player elects to do this they MUST roll the die and accept the roll they get, good or bad.
When a tile or tower enters the way through an intersection space the player is presented with 4 arrows, 1 for each direction along the way. In the image above the arrows are highlighted along the south west, north east path, Clicking on either of the highlighted arrows indicates the path you will be rolling on.
In the image above the arrows are highlighted along the north, south path and clicking on either of these arrows will select this path to roll the dice on for movement.
Once an arrow has been clicked the dice will roll and present the player with the roll options, if any. In the image above the player elected to roll along the south west, north east path and rolled a 2. The player can choose to move the tower 2 spaces along the way in either direction of the tower's current location.
Tiles & Towers can wrap to other sides of the board if they have the directions available and providing that they can reach a starting space along the edges. In the image above the Brown tower of 4 in the south end of the board (remember to always reference the compass in the center of the board) can wrap in 3 different directions. By wrapping south east 1 the tower captures the red tile in the south west. By wrapping south 1 the tower can capture the blue tile in the north. By wrapping south west the tower can move you to 3 spaces in that direction.
Wrapping can be powerful and dangerous to the unwary. In the image above the brown tower of 6 on the north west edge of the board can wrap to capture 1 of 2 blue tiles in the north or south west or, could wrap north west 3 to come up behind the red tile in the south east for a chance to win the game.
The brown tower of 6 moved into position to win the game by coming up behind the red tile in the south east. Although the brown tower has many options for profitable movement, by moving the tower north west 1, the brown tower completes the victory condition of collecting 6 of 1 enemy's tiles by taking the red.
Right after the brown tower of 6 captures its 6 tile of one color the game ends and the players are taken to the victory screen. Here each player can review their scores and by clicking on the various tabs, review the break down of their scores.
