Lucky Squares

Lucky Squares is a game for 3 to 6 players (best with 5 or 6). You'll need to print up a copy of the board and these cards. You'll also need a regular, numbered, 6-sided die and a die with colored faces that correspond to a square on the mat (red, yellow, blue, magenta, green, black -- see image right). Lastly, you'll need a pile of coins (pennies, nickels, dimes).

Setup

• Give each player 10 cents from the bank.
• Give each player a set of colored cards.
• Pick a starting (or "leading") player. Use a token or figurine to indicate the lead player.
• Decide if you're going to go once or twice around the table (each player gets to be the lead player once or twice).

Each Round

1. Populate Squares: Roll the color-sided die and the numbered die together. Put that many cents on that colored square. Do this 5 times.
2. Secretly Pick: Everyone secretly picks one of their colored cards and places it face down in front of them. Everyone does this at the same time.
3. Take Actions: Each player gets a chance to take an action (see below), starting with the lead player, going around clockwise, and ending with the lead player. (The lead player therefore gets a chance to take two actions, one at the beginning of the round and one at the end.)
4. Reveal! Each player reveals the color they picked:
   • If only one player picked a given color, they collect all the coins from the square of that color.
   • If two ore more players picked the same color (a "push"), they get nothing AND the coins on that square are removed and put back in the bank.
   • Variant rule: If there are only 3 or 4 players, you might want to roll the colored die at the end and say that is the "ghost player's" pick. This can deny another player that picked the same color, and possibly remove coins from that square.
5. Pass the Token The lead player passes the token / figurine to the player at his left, who becomes the lead player for the next round.

Game End: The game is over after each player has had a chance to be the lead player once or twice, per the decision made at game start.

Variant Game End: If, at the end of a round, one or more players has attained or exceeded a previously agreed-upon limit (e.g. 20 or 30 cents), the player with the most cents wins! Play continues until someone hits the limit.