Ricochet Robot - Gameplay

Gameplay

The board consists of four double-sided quarters, each with a unique inner corner, that can be permuted to give 96 different board arrangements. There are also 17 chips, 16 with a symbol on a colored background and one multicolored corresponding exactly to a field on the board. At the beginning of play, four colored robots (also matching the colored fields) are placed randomly on the board and one of the chips is turned over.

The object of the game is to bring the robot of the correct colour to the field indicated on the overturned chip using as few moves as possible. Any of the robots can be moved horizontally or vertically, and they do not stop until they reach an obstacle - either a wall or another robot. As soon as one of the players has found a solution, he states the total number of moves for all of the robots used and starts a timer. Then every player has the chance to state the number of moves for his solution until the time runs out. After that, the player who stated the lowest number of moves shows his solution. If he correctly demonstrates a solution in the stated number of moves or less, he earns the chip. If not, the player with the next higher number may try, and so on; then a new chip is turned over and a new round begins. After all 17 chips have been used up, the player with the most chips wins the game.