HYPNOSIA

Hypnosia is a strategy game designed for 2 to 6 players.

Content:
- 1 board
- 2 dice
- 24 pawns (4 pawns in 6 different colors)

Set up of the game

Each player chooses a color and takes the 4 pawns of the same color, then puts those pawns on the 4 starting locations of that color. Each player throws the 2 dice: the player getting the higher score begins the game.

Goal

The goal of Hypnosia is to bring pawns into the center spaces of the board. The first player throws the 2 dice, then has to move 1 or 2 of their pawns the number of spaces indicated by each die. For example, they get 5 and 4: they can move one pawn 5 spaces and a second pawn 4 spaces, or only one pawn a total of 9 (5+4) spaces. Important: a player must "burn" all the points of a die, so a pawn cannot stop short.

How to move

Pawns can only move in a counter-clockwise direction. Pawns leave their starting location when the player gets a score high enough with a die to allow their pawns to enter the outer circle. For example, the first pawn can enter the circle with any score from 1 to 6, whereas the last one can only enter the circle with a score of 4 or more.

Some locations are special (double-colored). They permit a pawn to enter the next inner circle by crossing a "bridge". A pawn must first land on this special space, and only then can it move into the next inner circle:
- during the next turn
- in the same turn if the pawn landed on the special space using the 1st die.

A pawn can't move back to an outer circle.

Once a player has finished their two moves, play continues with the player on their left who does the same sequence of events.

Stacking pawns

A player can stack two pawns (two being the maximum). To do so, they must move a pawn so that it will end its movement on a space occupied by another of their pawns. Those two pawns are now stacked. This stack moves as a single pawn. For strategic reasons, a player can dismantle a stack by moving only one of the pawn of the stack, the second one remaining on its current space.

Capturing pawns

A player can capture an opponent's pawn. To do so, they must move one of their pawns or a stack so that it will end its movement on a space occupied by an opponent's pawn or stack. In this case, the opponent's pawn or stack is permanently removed from the game.
- A stack can remove an opponent's single pawn.
- A stack can remove an opponent's stack.
- A single pawn can remove an opponent's single pawn.
- A single pawn can't remove an opponent's stack.

Every pawn captured gives 1 point to the capturing player. The owner of the captured pawn loses 1 point.

End of the game/Victory

To enter into the center, a player must:
- put a pawn on one of the 6 special locations surrounding the center.
- get a "1" on a die (because all points of a die must be "burned").

The game ends either:
- if there are 5 pawns in the center.
- if there are no more pawns on the board.

The first pawn which enters the center gets 5 points, the second 4 points, the third 3 points, the fourth 2 points, and the fifth 1 point. If a stack enters the center when there are already four pawns there, only one of them can enter. In the case of a tie, the arrival order into the center will decide the ranking of the tied players.

Variants

For a more challenging game, apply this rule: the stack cannot cross the bridge. Before crossing any bridge, the stack has to be dismantled first. This rule also applies in the innermost circle – it means that the stack cannot score in one move.