Instructions



		PLAYERS Recommended for 2 to 6 players, ages 8 to Adult. Accommodates individual players or teams of two or three. CONTENTS Game Board 138 Playing Cards 145 Color Crowns for game play (35 blue, 35 red, 25 yellow, 20 green, 15 orange, 15 purple) 25 Black Crowns (For Claiming Cromlets) Game Instructions & Illustrations Score Pad CROMLETS / CROMLET DECK OF CARDS There are 24 Cromlets on the game board – each one is a unique color with an alphabetical letter label. Each Cromlet consists of a unique series of increasing numeric point values. There are a total of 132 point value circles within the 24 Cromlets on the game board. There are 138 playing cards within the Cromlet Deck of Cards, consisting of: 132 playing cards that are color coded and match up with the 132 Cromlet point value circles on the game board. (Each card states the name of their Cromlet color. In addition, each card displays a statement of interest related to the color name. This is simply trivia for your entertainment and is not tied to the play or strategy of the game). Six “Wild” Cards OBJECT Players compete for high score by claiming Cromlets at strategic times during the game. Each Cromlet contains from three to eight different numeric point values, and players collect points by claiming Cromlets based on the cards they play. Players can only claim those Cromlet points for which they have a matching playing card (See “Claiming Cromlets” section). The first player to state that they are “claiming” a specific Cromlet scores the point value of the card they play during their turn. PREPARATION Each player selects their individual color of Crown based on the number of players, as follows: 2 Players – use blue and red Crowns 3 Players – use blue, red and yellow Crowns 4 Players – use blue, red, yellow and green Crowns 5 - 6 Players – use any Crown color except black. Note: Do not select Black Crowns as they are for identifying “Claimed Cromlets” during play. Each player selects a card from the deck of cards. The player selecting the highest number value card is the dealer. Play begins to the left of the dealer and rotates clockwise. Shuffle the 138 playing cards and deal seven cards, one at a time to each player. Place the remaining deck of cards face down on the “Cromlet Deck” square on the game board. CLAIMING CROMLETS The game board consists of twenty-four “Cromlets”. Each Cromlet may only be claimed once during the game. Cromlets may be claimed by a player when they play the matching card corresponding to the point value they are claiming. If a player plays a “Wild” card to claim a Cromlet, the player collects the points equal to the point value circle where the “Wild” card is played. Important Note: A point value for a Cromlet may only be claimed when all LOWER point values within the Cromlet have been closed (covered) by Crowns from previous play. For example: If the Q Cromlet has Q2 and Q6 closed (covered) with Crowns from previous turns and a player now plays Q8, they cannot claim the Q Cromlet for 8 points because all lower point values have not yet been closed with Crowns – Q4 is still open. Another example: If Q2, Q4 and Q6 were all closed (covered) with Crowns, then the player who plays the Q8 card may claim the Q Cromlet for 8 points because all lower point values have been closed with Crowns. Players are limited to the number of Cromlets they may claim during the game, as follows: 2 Players = maximum of 12 Cromlets per player 3 Players = maximum of 8 Cromlets per player 4 Players = maximum of 6 Cromlets per player 5 Players = maximum of 5 Cromlets per player - the last player to claim their Cromlets may only claim four. 6 Players = maximum of 4 Cromlets per player. The timing of a player’s decision as to when to claim a Cromlet is a key strategy of the game, since there is a maximum number of Cromlets that may be claimed by each player. If players claim a Cromlet too soon, they may score lower points than if they wait until later in the game. If players wait too long, another player may claim the Cromlet they had intended to claim. In addition, there are six “Wild” cards in the deck that may be played on any open point value circle during a player’s turn. These “Wild” cards are often used to claim Cromlets. Once a Cromlet is claimed, any remaining open point value circles for that specific Cromlet are “closed” and the corresponding playing cards which have not yet been played are “dead” cards. These “dead” cards may be traded in for new cards by the players holding them. See ““DEAD” CARD(S) TRADE-IN OPTION” section. When a player lays a Crown on the last remaining open point value circle within an unclaimed Cromlet, they must claim the Cromlet and score the amount of the last remaining open point value circle. If the player has already claimed their maximum number of Cromlets for the game, they may not claim this additional Cromlet, and no points will be scored for this Cromlet during the game. Once a player reaches their maximum number of claimed Cromlets for the game, they may not claim additional Cromlets, but must continue to play the game, playing cards to close the remaining open point value circles in Cromlets. In this situation, a player can strategically block other players from claiming certain remaining Cromlet points by playing “Wild” cards on high value point circles or by playing higher value cards to prevent other players from playing a “Wild” card on the higher point value circles. GAME RULES During each turn a player will play a card by laying it down in front of them on a discard pile, face up. Each player maintains their own discard pile. They will then place a Crown on the corresponding point value circle of a Cromlet, as identified by the playing card. At this time, the player will decide whether or not to claim the Cromlet. Remember, a point value for a Cromlet may only be claimed when all LOWER point values within the Cromlet have been closed (covered) by Crowns from previous play. (Players generally do not claim Cromlets until later in the game when they can score higher points.) The player will then pick up a replacement card from the Deck of Cards. Players should maintain seven cards in their hands at all times throughout the game until the “deck of cards” has been depleted. If a player forgets to draw a card during their turn, they may draw a replacement card immediately upon realizing they are missing a card. The order that players must play their cards is as follows: First, if a player holds the card representing the lowest open point value circle (those without a Crown covering them) of any of the twenty-four Cromlets, they must play that card. If they have two or more cards representing the lowest open point value circle of several Cromlets, they may play any one of those cards, but they must play one of them. If a player does not hold any cards representing the lowest open point value circle of any of the twenty-four Cromlets, they must play a card from their hand on any open point value circle of any unclaimed Cromlet. There are six “Wild” cards. They may be played by a player during their turn at any time during the game. A “Wild” card may be played on any “open” point value circle within any unclaimed Cromlet. A player may claim a Cromlet at any time immediately after playing a card, as long as all lower point value circles within the Cromlet they are claiming have Crowns covering them from previous play. For example, if F1, F2, F3 and F4 have all been closed (a Crown covers the point value circles) by previous players, and the next player plays F5, they may claim the Cromlet, and collect the 5 points for that Cromlet, which matches the card they played. This player may also elect not to claim the Cromlet points and wait to claim a higher point value within a Cromlet later in the game. Remember, a player is limited to the number of Cromlets they may claim during the game (See “CLAIMING CROMLETS” section). Another example: If F1, F3 and F4 were all played previously and the next player played F5, that player may not claim the Cromlet and collect the 5 points, because all lower point values have not yet been closed with Crowns – F2 is still not played. Another example: If F1 through F5 were all closed with Crowns from previous play and a player held the F6 card in their hand, and if F6 were the only card in their hand that represented the lowest open point value circle for all unclaimed Cromlets, they must play the F6 card. Further, since it is the last open point value circle in the F Cromlet, they must claim the Cromlet and would score 6 points. A final example, assume the F2 through F6 point value circles for the “F” Cromlet were all covered with Crowns, and a player drew the F1 card. If this player had no other cards representing the lowest open point value circle of any unclaimed Cromlets, they must play the F1 card, claim the Cromlet and score the 1 point for that point value circle since it represents the last open point value circle for the F Cromlet. When a player claims a Cromlet, they will place a black Crown on the “Claim” circle of that Cromlet and score the point value of the card they played onto the score sheet. They will also leave their Crown on the point value circle of the Cromlet they claimed so all players realize which player claimed each Cromlet, but will return all other Crowns on the claimed Cromlet to the appropriate players. Once claimed, a Cromlet should only contain the black Crown on the “Claim” circle and only the Crown of the player who claimed the Cromlet, placed on the point value circle that the player claimed. This provides a quick view for players to scan the game board to keep track of how many Cromlets they have claimed at any point in time. Once a player has claimed their limit of Cromlets, they must still play the game as normal, but they may not claim additional Cromlets during the remainder of the game. They may continue to play strategically to minimize the points other players may score on remaining unclaimed Cromlets. If this player does happen to play a Crown on the last open point value circle of a Cromlet, no points will be scored for that Cromlet during the game. “Dead” Card(s) trade-in option Players will encounter “dead” cards during the game. This occurs when a player claims a Cromlet that has higher open point value circles remaining than the claimed point value circle. This situation will occur frequently during play. In other words, a player has claimed a Cromlet at a point value lower than the highest available for that specific Cromlet. When this occurs, all un-played cards for higher open point values on that specific Cromlet are “dead” cards since the Cromlet has been “Claimed”. These “dead” cards may no longer be played. When a player has one or more “dead” cards in their hand, they may forfeit one of their turns in order to replace up to two “dead” cards from the “Deck of Cards”. They will then place the “dead” card(s) they replaced on their discard pile, face up. If a player holds a card(s) representing the lowest open point value of any unclaimed Cromlet, they must play this card before exercising this “dead” card trade-in option. They may, however, exercise this trade-in option even if they hold a “Wild” card. When using a turn to draw replacement cards, no other action is taken by this player. Play moves on to the next player. A player may exercise this option as often as they wish. END OF GAME The game ends when a player cannot play a card following the rules above. This will occur only after all cards in the “Deck of Cards” have been drawn by the players. A player can no longer play a card when they either run out of cards, or their remaining cards consist of all “dead” cards. When a player reaches this situation, and can no longer play a card, the game ends immediately. There are no additional turns by other players. The game ends even though other players still have playable cards in their hand. One of the strategies of the game is to claim your Cromlets before a player ends the game abruptly. The player with the most points WINS! GAME STRATEGIES Several strategies to consider during the game are as follows: Strategy #1: Don’t claim a Cromlet too soon and collect fewer points than if you waited to claim a higher point value later in the game. Remember, you are limited to the total number of Cromlets you can claim during the game, so be patient and selective (See “CLAIMING CROMLETS” section). Strategy #2: Don’t wait too long to claim a Cromlet. If you wait too long, another player may claim the Cromlet during their turn by playing a different point value card for that Cromlet or by playing a “Wild” card. Also, when it gets near to the end of the game and the deck of cards is nearly gone, players will want to start claiming the remaining unclaimed Cromlets before the game is ended by a player who can no longer play any cards (See “END OF GAME” section). Strategy #3: When a player does not hold any cards representing the lowest open point value circle for any remaining unclaimed Cromlets, they may play anywhere on the game board. There is some strategy as to which cards to play in this situation. Players may elect to play their lower point value cards and save the higher point value cards for later in the game in order to claim a Cromlet for higher points. Or players may elect to play cards containing the highest point values for a Cromlet, believing that the Cromlet will be claimed by other players before the player can play their “highest” point value cards. TEAM PLAY Cromlet is a great game to play with teams. Either play with two or three teams of two players, or with two teams of three players. Divide the total of twenty-four Cromlets by the number of teams, and this is the maximum number of Cromlets each team may claim during the game. Team members alternate turns with opponents. Players may try to execute some great strategical moves with team members, provided another team doesn’t ruin their strategy along the way. There should be no discussion about strategy between team members during play.