Reducto is a card game. Reduce your points by tactical combining cards to remove them. Because less is more!
Let's start
All cards are mixed and every player gets a field of 16 covered cards.
Objective
Your main objective is to have the lowest amount of points. You have two ways of achieving this. First you can try to gather low numbers and keep your points low. And second you can collect groups and sequences to get rid of cards and reduce your playing field size. The best strategy uses a combination of both!
Gameplay
You play in turns. The order of players is shown above your playing field.
At first you have to draw a card. You can choose the open one on the discard pile or the covered one on the draw pile. You have to swap one of your cards (open or covered) with the new card. You can drag the new card to the place, or you can tapclick on the card you want to swap it with.
If you chose the discarded card, you have an additional option: You can discard it again and uncover one of your field cards.
Your playing field is slowly uncovered during the game. You have to take care that it happens in your favor. You want to build groups and sequences to get rid of cards. Because in the end all your cards count as your score, no matter if open or covered. And the winner is the one with the lowest points!
A group is a row or column across your field with the same number.
A sequence is an increasing or decreasing line or numbers. It can be horizontal or vertical across your field. The numbers have to be in order and without gaps.
For example -1 0 1 2 and 10 9 8 7 count, but 3 5 4 6 and 0 2 3 4 don't.
As soon as you build a group or sequence your field will automatically be reduced.
Hint: If all other players discard high numbers, it might be worth collecting them to build a sequence.
Amount of cards
A set of cards consists of:
- 5 times -2
- 15 times 0
- 10 times all other numbers
When a set is used completely, another one will be started.
End of game
The game ends when a player has uncovered the complete field. So keep an eye on your opponent's fields above your own. Sometimes you can still wait with uncovering the last card and rather swap a card on your field and get more groups or sequences. And sometimes an opponent is also close to finish and you want to make your last move as good as it can be and get rid of the unknown last card.
You have to be sure, when turning the last card though - your score will be doubled as a penalty if it is higher than anybody else's score after all cards are uncovered. This can cause that you move even further down in the ranking when playing with several opponents. So play it safe and take into consideration to exchange a high card on your field instead of revealing the last covered card.
The opponent's displays show also their points, but of course only the open cards are counted. For the final score all covered cards will be turned and added to the sum.
Revenge
The revenge is started in turns, so everybody will be the starting player somewhen.
Reducto as a puzzle
In this section the differences between puzzle and normal game are explained. If you do not know how to play the game, please check the explanaition above first.
Puzzles are played without opponents. That means you can use cards that you discarded in the next move. But you only have a limited amount of moves. If the run out, all your cards are revealed and their numbers are counted as your score. Therefore you should try to clear your field completely before you are out of moves.
Puzzles have a timer! In the upper middle of the screen is displayed how much time is left. If you run out of time, all your cards are revealed and their scores are counted.
Every retry is a new chance, because the cards are shuffled before every try.
Enjoy the puzzle!
