Cogs & Carts

2 to 4 Players

In Cogs and Carts you and up to three of your friends race to collect

diamonds in a maze of rotating interconnected cogs.

All cogs are mechanically linked and turning a single cog will rotate all

the cogs on the board - changing the maze in dramatic and meaningful way. At

any point in time there are 8 versions of the board that exists

simultaneously; they are accessible by simply rotating the cogs.

A game of Cogs and Cart begins with empty board; each turn a player flips

over an empty cog to the track side, growing and creating a unique puzzle

every time you play. The location of the diamonds also get randomized at the

beginning of the game to shake things up.

Cogs and Carts is a culmination of two distinct goals - one is to play a

game that make use of a gear or a cog in a meaningful and mechanical way just

like one of my favorite Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calender. The other is the desire

of wanting to play a more tactical and less luck dependent version of Tsuro;

an aesthetically beautiful tile laying game.

The final result being a quick to learn fun little game that takes about 5

minutes to learn and plays in about half an hour. With each turn revealing a

new fun puzzle to solve but not so disruptive that you cannot plan your move

in advance. Finding clever route that net multiple diamonds per turn feels

rewarding, just as snatching the ones your friends are aiming for right from

under their noses.

How-To-Play

To setup a game of Cogs and carts flip all the cogs so that the empty side

is facing up.

Place all the diamonds inside the bag. Randomly draw the diamonds out one

by one and place in around the board in clockwise manner with the numbered

side facing up until all 28 spots are occupied.

The number on the diamond indicates how many cogs from the edge of the

board to place the diamond when adding it to the board.

Starting from the youngest player and going around clockwise each player

choose which of the middle four cogs to place their cart.

The last player then chooses which of the diamonds to start adding the

board. Add three diamonds to the board.

The first player is now ready to take their turn!

Each turn a player can do any, all, or none of the followings in this

order:

1) Rotate the cogs by 45° any number of times you like.

2) Pick up one of the cog with its empty side facing up. Orient and place

is back down with its track side showing. You may not flip a cog that is

occupied by one or more cart.

3) Start moving your cart along a path that connects to the cog your cart

currently occupies. Your cart will continue following this path until it

encounters an unflipped cog, or your cart has fallen off the board.

- If you encounter an unflipped cog - your cart stop there for the

turn.

- If you have fallen off the board, on your next turn you must enter the