Brothers! Salvation is at hand!

King Rat is holed up at

the top of the grandfather clock. If we can negotiate
our way safely through the clock and plant 4 sticks of
dynamite directly beneath his lair we can end his evil
reign once and for all. Move swiftly but softly, mice.
Our future is in your hands...

A nine card nanogame of guiding dynamite-carrying

mice through the insides of a grandfather clock. Can
you guide all 4 mice to their target before any of them
hit an obstacle and explode?

Components
8 Maze cards 1 double sided Start/Target card
3 yellow cubes 1 blue cube
1 red cube 4 six sided dice (any colour)

Set up

Shuffle the 8 maze cards thoroughly and lay them out face down as
pictured on the right, then place the start/target card beneath the
middle row, with the “start” side of the card face up.

Place one dice on the marked start space, rotating it until the 1 side is
showing. Put the other 3 dice to one side, for use later. Next, turn each
of the 4 corner maze cards over end-for-end (so the left hand edge
when it is face down becomes the right hand edge when it's face up).
Now flip the other 4 maze cards horizontally (so the top edge when
face down becomes the bottom edge when face up.) This is your
starting 'maze'. Finally select either a blue or yellow cube and place it
on either of the two “pick-up” locations (see “card features” below),
and put the remaining cubes off to one side, creating a supply.

The maze works like a sliding puzzle, with each of the 8 cards being
referred to as a 'tile'. You can only move a tile by sliding it into the
empty space while it is adjacent, and you cannot rotate or flip any tile. The orientation of each tile must be maintained
throughout the game, and you must maintain this 3x3 grid of cards (assuming the empty space forms part of that grid).
The start/target card cannot be moved outside of the one situation described later in these rules.

Card Features

SPACE. There are 6 spaces on each card, denoted by golden cogs. Each
time one of your dice moves forward, it must be to one of these spaces.

PICK-UP. Two of the cards contain these hollow pick-up locations at the
centre. You may place a “cheese” or “rotation” cube (described later) on
either of these locations at the beginning of each level. They do not count
as spaces, and your dice cannot stop here, they must move through them,
collecting any cubes en route to the next space.

PATH. These pathways show the route your dice must take from space to
space. You cannot deviate from these paths

To win the game you must direct all your dice to the target space. If any of them hit a dead end, the Rat Guard or
another dice before this happens, you lose.

At the beginning of each game you must commit your first dice by placing it on either of the two closest available
spaces on the first tile. (The term ‘first tile’ is always used to describe the tile adjacent to the start card). Whenever a
dice enters the first space of a new tile, it must be showing the '1' face – this denotes which direction it is moving.

Note:- Instead of using dice, you may prefer to use coins or any other token with differently marked sides, or perhaps
a meeple laid flat with the head pointing in the direction of travel. As long as it allows you to see which way the
“mouse” is moving.
Gameplay

One round of game play looks like this:-

1. Move between one and four tiles. You must move one as a minimum.
2. Move all dice in play by one space. If you moved three or four tiles in the last step, move all dice in play by
two spaces instead of one.
3. Move the Rat Guard (red cube) if it is in play.
4. You may choose to commit another dice into the maze (levels 2 and above).

STEP 1 - Each round you must move between one and four tiles. A tile can only be moved by sliding it into the empty
space while it is adjacent, and you cannot move the same tile twice consecutively during the same round. It is possible
to move a tile twice in one round, but you must have moved at least one different tile in between those two moves.

STEP 2 - All dice in play must be moved forward one space, or two spaces instead if you moved three or four tiles
during step 1. Any dice that is not on the start/target card is deemed as “in play”. To keep track of which direction each
dice is moving, rotate the dice to the '1' face each time it enters the first space of a new tile, and the '2' face when it
moves to another space within the same tile. This way, you know that any dice showing a 2 must be moved onto a
new tile the next round. All dice move simultaneously, so any collisions only actually occur if two dice are on the same
space AFTER they have both moved. To keep track of which have moved, it's best to work systematically from the
bottom row upwards. (Using different coloured dice also helps).

STEP 3 - Move the Rat Guard (red

cube) if it is in play. (Note that the Rat
Guard does not enter play until all your
dice have left the start card). If you can
draw an unbroken path from the Rat
Guard to one of your dice, move the Rat
Guard towards that dice by one space. If
there are two possible dice it can move
towards, choose the one that would take
the least number of moves to reach it. If
this is tied, it is your choice. If you
cannot draw an unbroken path, the Rat
Guard does not move this round.

STEP 4 - You can choose to commit

another dice into the maze if there are
any remaining on the start card. This only applies for levels 2 and above! However you cannot do this if there are any
other dice on the first tile.

As soon as all dice have left the start space, the start/target card should be flipped over and moved to the middle row
on the left hand side, as shown in the diagram above. Then place the Rat Guard (red cube) on the target space, and
move it one space to the right so it sits on the first adjacent cog.

Completing a Level

The game starts with you in control of just one dice – this is Level 1. If you successfully direct that dice to the target
space, you have defeated the level and may progress to the next. Move the start/target card back to its original
position, and replace the dice on the start space. Remove the Rat Guard from play and set it to one side, ready to
enter play again. Now take one of the dice that were set aside earlier, and add that to the start space – this time you
must guide two dice to the target. This process is repeated with each new level, increasing the number of dice by one
each time.

To win the full game, you must complete levels 1 through 4 without suffering a single collision. Any pick up cubes you
have collected and not yet spent can be kept from level to level. When starting a new level, do not move any of the
maze tiles – they remain exactly as they were when you completed the previous level. The only exception is if the
empty space is directly above the start/target card. If this happens, you may slide ANY ONE tile into the empty space
prior to committing the first dice.

Pick Ups

At the beginning of each level, you may take a single yellow or blue cube (your choice) from the supply and place it on
either of the pick-up locations. You may choose which of the two pick up locations to place it. However, there cannot
be more than one cube on any pick up location, so if both locations are occupied you may not place a new cube at all.

If your dice moves through a pick up location containing a cube, you collect that cube and place it on the start/target
card. These are now yours to spend. There is no limit to how many cubes you can collect, allowing you to hoard them
for higher levels. You may spend any of these cubes at any time, returning them to the supply immediately after use.

There are three yellow cubes which represent Cheese. Playing one of these on a dice will prevent that dice from
moving on the current round, no matter how many tiles were moved. You may also play a yellow cube on the Rat
Guard to prevent it from moving this round.

The single blue cube is a Rotation cube. You may play this on any maze tile (not the start/target card) to immediately
rotate that card through 180 degrees. Any dice or cubes on that tile will rotate with the card (any dice keep their
current facing). You can only ever own one Rotation cube at any time.

Other Rules

When a dice hits an obstacle, which could either be the edge of the 3x3 play area, the empty space, the Rat Guard or
another dice it explodes and you instantly lose the game. Note that cheese and rotation cubes are NOT obstacles.

When a dice enters a space with a double arrow, it means that dice accelerates and instantly moves one extra space.
When this happens, do not change the facing of that dice.

When moving along a track where two tracks converge into one, a dice must move forward and cannot make a U-turn.

When moving along a track where one track splits into two, you may choose whether the dice will take the left or right
fork of the junction.

When a dice moves into a space with a rotating arrow, its direction is reversed and it will move in the opposite
direction on the next round (leave the dice face at “2” to show it will leave this tile next round).

If two dice meet from opposite directions on the same track, they will collide and instantly explode, even if they have a
second move which would normally mean they would finish in different spaces. (This is an exception to the rule
regarding simultaneous movement.)

If one of your dice moves back into the start space (assuming it is still there), it can remain there until you decide to
commit it into the maze again on a subsequent round. However, if that was the only dice in play, you MUST commit it
back into the maze at the first opportunity. In other words, you cannot leave it in the safety of the start space while you
move tiles around, setting up a direct path to the target!

If you are finding the game too difficult, try removing the Rat Guard from the game. However, to ensure the game
remains a challenge, reshuffle all tile cards and set up a new maze in between each level. This will prevent the players
from creating a permanent direct pathway between the start and target cards.

For shorter games, it is possible to play any single level. Simply begin a new game with the desired number of dice on
the start space, and place a cube on one of the pick-up spaces as per the normal set up. To simulate having collected
some cubes on previous rounds, you may place a number of cubes on the start/target card for spending during this
level. That number should be one less than the level you are playing. So, for example, if you want to try Level 3, start
the game with 3 dice, and take any two cubes and place them on the marked spaces on the start/target card. This will
often be easier than the full game, as it assumes you haven’t spent any of those cubes on earlier levels.

If you’re feeling particularly masochistic, you can play beyond level 4. Keep on increasing the number of dice by one
for each new level. Good luck to you (and much kudos) if you want to try this!

Dynamice by Chris Alton – Entry for the 9 Card Nanogame Contest 2016 – BGG Version 0.7