Synopsis:

In this tile-laying game, players are companies developing source code in the form of tiles, and deploying them either in their closed-source Labs, or in the Commons as open-source. Tile arrangements reward the companies with Infrastructure cards that allow them to assemble more interesting tile arrangements, which grant yet more powerful Infrastructures. Companies make a profit by producing specific tile arrangements depicted on Market Demand cards.

Equipment:

• 11 different types of large triangular cardboard tiles, 20 of each type
• Yellow areas represent Applications
• Blue areas represent Platforms
• Red lines represent Formats
• 9 sets of Infrastructure cards, each set containing 4 cards
• 3 color dice
• 4 white tokens numbered 1 through 4
• 4 Labs, which are hexagons divided into triangles
• 4 Quick Reference Sheets
• 1 deck of Market Demand cards
• 1 placemat to store the tiles during the game
• 1 complete guide to the game

The 3 color dice can result in 11 different combinations, shown here. Each dice result corresponds to one of the 11 types of tiles, as shown.

Setup:

Clear the center of the table for use as the Commons area. Place one randomly-selected Source Code tile in the center.

Give each player a Lab and a Quick Reference Sheet to keep in front of them on the table.

Sort the Source Code tiles into the 11 different types and stack them on the placemat.

Shuffle the Market Demand cards and place the deck face-up on the placemat.

Sort the Infrastructure cards into the 9 different stacks labeled set A through set I. The letter is in the upper right-hand corner of the card. The Condition side of the cards should be face-up, and the Reward side of the cards should be face-down. Put stacks A, B, and C onto the placemat. Set the other stacks aside, within reach. They will come into play later as stacks A, B, and C are completed.

Decide who will go first and give that person three color dice. Set aside the other three color dice within reach.

Turn Sequence:

At any time during the turn sequence, before taking a new Infrastructure card, you may use Infrastructure cards that you already have.

1. Roll three color dice and take a source-code tile from the supply with edges matching the three colors you rolled.

2. Play the tile EITHER:

A. into an empty space in the commons. OR:

B. into your private lab (in which case it may replace an existing tile or fill an empty space).

4. Take a new Infrastructure card.

Play then passes to the next player clockwise by handing off the color dice.

Step 1. Roll Color Dice To Get A Tile

After rolling three color dice, take a tile with edges matching the three colors you rolled. Red represents an edge of a tile which, although it has a blue surface, has a red line emerging from it.

If you roll one of each color (blue, red, and yellow) there are two tiles which match that description.

If the supply has run out of the type of tile you rolled, take it from the Commons. That must be a natural roll, before you influence the roll with Infrastructures.

Step 2. Play the Tile

The Commons is a common area into which all players may play their tiles. The game begins with a randomly-selected Source Code tile already in the center of the Commons. The Commons grows onto the surface of the table, limited only by your table space.

Your Lab is a hexagon of six triangular spaces into which you may fit your tile if you choose not to play it into the Commons. Only you may play on your Lab. It is a place for you to store Source Code tiles and control them exclusively. You may not play into the Labs of other players. When you play on your Lab, you may play onto a triangular space that is already occupied, returning the previous tile to the supply.

The game consists of manipulating three types of tile features: Yellow regions (representing Applications), Blue regions (representing Platforms), and Red lines (representing Formats).

When you fit a Source Code tile on the Commons or your Lab, it must be adjacent along one of its edges with a tile that was already placed. However, and this is important, all edges must match up with tiles previously placed. Yellow must match to yellow. Blue without a Red line must match to Blue without a Red line. Blue with a Red line must match to Blue with a Red line.

If you wish to play your tile into the Commons, but cannot find any place on the Commons to fit your tile, and all players agree that there is not a match, you must place it in your Lab.

Step 3. Find A Fulfilled Condition To Get A Reward Card

There are two rewards: Infrastructure cards, and Market Demand cards. To take a new Reward card at the end of your turn, look at the Condition depicted on each stack of cards, and see if any tile arrangement in the Commons or in your Lab fulfills that Condition. You did not have to be the one responsible for that tile arrangement; it does not have to be new, either. It just has to exist at the end of the turn when you take the reward for it. You may not take a card for an arrangement of tiles that only exists in the Labs of other companies. If multiple Conditions are fulfilled, select only one. Put it on the table in front of you with the Reward side up.

A. Market Demand Cards

The Condition side of a Market Demand card depicts a very specific tile arrangement, rather than more general Conditions found on Infrastructures. There must exist that exact formation for you to receive that Market Demand card.

The Reward side of a Market Demand card has extra triangular spaces for your Lab. Slide it under the edge of your Lab, and you may play tiles on the card spaces.

B. Infrastructure Cards

You start the game with no Infrastructures. Infrastructures give you new abilities during your turn. You may play each of your Infrastructure cards once per turn, at any time before taking a new Infrastructure card.

The Reward side of an Infrastructure card tells you what it allows you to do. You may not use this function immediately on taking the card, because in order to take a new Infrastructure, you are finished using Infrastructures on this turn.

Unlike Market Demands, Infrastructures do not require you to duplicate the picture– the picture on the Condition side of an Infrastructure card is just one example of the Condition the card describes.

What is a “finished” tile feature?

Some Conditions require tile features to be finished.

A finished Format is a red line that comes to two endpoints in the middle of tiles (not ending at the edges of tiles), or a red line that loops onto itself.

A finished Application is a yellow region bordered completely by a blue region.

A finished Platform is a blue region bordered completely by red lines and yellow regions.

Blank spaces where there are no tiles do not finish off the perimeter of tile features.

The edges of your Lab do not finish off the perimeter of tile features.

If they’re the same color, how do I tell if they’re separate regions or connected regions?

Some conditions will require multiple unconnected regions which are the same color. Other conditions require at least one tile feature to be of a certain size.

A blue region, a Platform, can be separated from other blue regions by yellow Applications or red Formats.

A yellow region, an Application, can be separated from other Applications by blue Platforms.

If two regions of the same color are only touching by their tips at a corner of a tile, they are still separate.

End of the Game

The game ends when the supply placemat no longer has EITHER Infrastructure cards, OR Market Demand cards, OR Source Code tiles.

If all Source Code tiles run out first, all players lose.

If all Infrastructure cards run out first, all players win.

If all Market Demand cards run out first, whichever player holds the most Market Demand cards wins.