GAMES

The rules to twelve Knot Dice games are included in this booklet.
Knot Dice puzzles can be found in the other booklet in this box.

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Eight game designers have created COMPONENTS
these twelve Knot Dice games. The
other booklet contains seven types of 18 Knot Dice
Knot Dice puzzles. 8 wooden tokens
1 game book
A playing board and a scoreboard can
be found in the center of each booklet. 1 puzzle book

Enjoy the games!

4  Kells
cooperative 1-3 players 15 min complexity: low
6 Kells : T he Boo k
cooperative 1-3 players time varies complexity: medium
8 Kells : T he A b be y
cooperative 1-3 players time varies complexity: high
10 K no t S o F a s t
competitive 2 players 10 min complexity: low
12 K no t S o F a s t To o
competitive 3-4 players 15 min complexity: medium
1 4 A C el tic Y arn
competitive 2 players 15 min complexity: medium
16  Osb ox
competitive 2 players 20 min complexity: medium
20 Tri na Co i ll te
competitive 2 players 10 min complexity: medium
23  S na kes
competitive 2 players 10 min complexity: low
26 K no t the W h o le Story
storytelling 2-4 players 25 min complexity: medium
2 9  Dista n ce
competitive 2 players 15 min complexity: medium
3 2 Mi nare ts
competitive 3-4 players 15 min complexity: high

Video instructions and more Knot Dice games

are available at www.knotdice.com
2 ©2016 Black Oak Games.
Osbo Dice designed by Cameron Browne ©2008.
z Introduction
THE SIX FACES OF A KNOT DIE

end-cap chain rounded sharp branch crossing

corner corner
MOVING DICE
In most Knot Dice games, you move a die
around by sliding it on the table while turning it ➠
clockwise or counter-clockwise as needed. The
top face may rotate, but it can not change to a different face.
CONNECTING DICE
To connect one die to another, place them next to each other by
connecting open parts of the knot design (the paths) on the
top face.
1 2 3 4
In example 1, both dice have
paths correctly connected to
one another.
In example 2, one die has ✓ ✗ ✗ ✓
paths extending toward the
other die, while the other does not. This is not a valid play
(unless otherwise specified in that game’s rules).
In example 3, while no path has been broken by the placement
of the second die, no connection between the dice has been
made either, so it is usually not a valid play...unless other
connecting dice are added first as in example 4.
In some games, the dice are placed on top of one another. In
those games, the paths connect to one another (using these
rules) on a side face rather than the top face.

COMPLETE DESIGNS
A completed design is one
that connects all paths on
the dice to form a full Celtic
knot design. ✓ ✗ ✗
3
z Kells
A cooperative game by Matthew O’Malley
PLAYERS: 1 – 3* TIME: 15 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: LOW
*1 – 4 players with an additional set of Knot Dice.

STORY
The Book of Kells
You are illustrators creating a page for
The cooperative work
the Book of Kells. of 3 artists and 4 scribes
produced the world’s most
OBJECTIVE famous example of Celtic
Cooperate with your partners to include knot art, an illuminated
as many dice as possible in a complete manuscript called the Book
Celtic knot design. of Kells.

SETUP
Place all of the dice in a pool to one side of the center of the
table. Give each player two dice from the pool, which they
immediately roll. The player who most recently drew a picture
is the starting player.

PLAY
On your turn, take these two actions in order:
1. Take one of the unused dice from the pool and roll it, adding
it to your set of dice (you will now have three). If there are no
dice in the pool, you may instead reroll one of your own dice.
2. Add one of your dice to the shared design in the center of
the table, or discard it out of the game.
• To add your die to the design, connect it following the
rules in the introduction. The top face of your die must
have paths connecting it to the shared design, and none
of the paths can extend into another die’s closed edges. If
you cannot make a valid play using any of your dice, you
must discard one of your dice.
• If you discard a die out of the game, return it to the game
box. If players discard 3 or more dice combined, you all

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 lose the game. Be careful—when you complete the design,
you will have to discard all of your remaining dice!
Then the next player clockwise takes a turn, until all the dice
have been played.

GAME END
If you complete the Celtic knot design (as described in the
introduction) without discarding 3 dice, you all win!
However, if you use up all of the dice from the pool but do not
complete the design, or if you discard 3 or more dice (including
the dice discarded when you complete the design), you lose.

SCORING 7
To score your game, count
the number of dice in
your completed design
and subtract the longest 4
dimension of the design.
If you include 18 dice in
a completed design, and
the longest dimension (of 18 (dice) - 7 (longest side) = 11
a rectangle drawn around
your design) is 7 dice, your
score is 11 points.
13 Ar feabhas (excellent)
12 Go maith (good)
11 Cothram (fair)
10 or less Níos mó obair ag teastáil (needs work)

ADVANCED GAME
To play the advanced game, set up the game with only one die
in front of each player (rather than two), so you have only two
dice from which to choose each turn.
Once you are very familiar with Kells and want more of a
challenge, try Kells: The Book and Kells: The Abbey.

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z Kells: The Book
A campaign cooperative game by Matthew O’Malley
PLAYERS: 1 – 3* TIME: VARIES COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
*1 – 4 players with an additional set of Knot Dice.

STORY
You are illustrators creating many pages for a new manuscript.

OBJECTIVE
Cooperate with your partners to complete designs using as
many dice as possible over several rounds of play. Any dice not
used in completed designs in one round are not available for
any future rounds.

SETUP
Place all of the dice in a pool to one side of the center of the
table. Give each player two dice from the pool, which they
immediately roll. The player who most recently finished reading
a book is the starting player.

PLAY
Each round of play is very similar to a game of Kells, but you
can choose to create several separate designs instead of just
one single design. The following rules are different:
• When adding a die, you still must place
it adjacent to another die. However, in
addition to being able to place a die as
in Kells, you can also place a die next
to another one if neither has a path ✓ ✗ ✓
towards the other.
• Once you complete a design, you can continuing working on
other designs with the rest of your dice.
Once all dice from the pool have been played, you have
completed a page. Discard to the game box all dice that are
not in completed designs—they will not be used again for any
future pages in this book.

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Score the page according to the
scoring rules for Kells. Open the puzzle
rulebook to the scoreboard. Track the
sum of the page scores using one of the
wooden tokens, and track the number
of pages you have completed using
another color token. game in progress

After scoring a page, take all of the dice from the completed
designs to start another page.

GAME END
When all dice have been discarded into the game box, you have
completed your book. Name the book and record the number
of pages you completed and your total score for your pages,
and compare your score to other books.

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z Kells: The Abbey
A campaign cooperative game by Matthew O’Malley
PLAYERS: 1 – 3* TIME: VARIES COMPLEXITY: HIGH
*1 – 4 players with an additional set of Knot Dice

STORY
You are building and decorating the walls of an abbey.

OBJECTIVE
Cooperate with your partners to complete designs using as
many dice as possible over several rounds of play. Any dice not
used in completed designs in one round are not available for
any future rounds.

SETUP
Place all of the dice in a pool to one side of the center of the
table. Give each player two dice from the pool, which they
immediately roll. The player who most recently saw a mural is
the starting player.

PLAY
Play is very similar to Kells: The Book, with two changes:
• Try to complete
designs on one side of
➠

a vertical wall of dice.

Rather than
connecting the top ✓ ✗
face of a die, use any
one of the four side faces of a die, but you must use it in the
orientation rolled.
• When placing dice, paths cannot extend
down into the table.
Once all dice from the pool have been ✓ ✗
played, you have completed a wall. Discard
to the game box all dice that are not in completed designs—
they will not be used again for any future walls in this abbey.

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Then score the wall according to
the scoring rules for the game of
Kells. Track the sum of the wall
scores using one of the wooden
tokens, and track the number of
walls you have completed using
another color token. game in progress

After scoring a wall, take all of the dice from the completed
designs to start another wall.

GAME END
When all dice have been discarded into the game box, you have
completed your abbey. Name the abbey and record the number
of walls you completed and your total score for your walls, and
compare your score to other abbeys.

9
z Knot So Fast
A speedy competitive game by Matthew O’Malley
PLAYERS: 2* TIME: 10 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: LOW
*With additional sets of Knot Dice, you can add 2 more players
per set without increasing playing time.

STORY
You are treasure hunters collecting pieces of Celtic artifacts.
Find and complete more artifacts than your opponent.

OBJECTIVE
Collect the most dice by using all of your dice to complete Celtic
knot designs more quickly than your opponents.

SETUP
Give each player 4 dice. In addition, place 4 dice per player
plus 1 additional die (i.e., 9 dice for 2 players) in the center of
the table.

PLAY
You do not take turns in this game! Instead, when play begins,
everyone acts at the same time.
Roll all of your dice. Pick up and reroll as many of your dice as
you want, as quickly and as often as you want, until you use all
of your dice to complete a knot design on the top face of
the dice.
Completing a design means
connecting all of the paths
to other dice, and leaving no
paths open. The complete
design can be in any shape
(it does not have to be a
square). ✓ ✗ ✗
You may rotate and rearrange your dice as much as you want by
sliding them on the table, but you may not change the top face
of your dice except by rolling them.

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When you complete your design, call out, “Knot Done!”
Everyone stops rolling and checks your design.
• If you did not correctly complete your design, then you must
take up all of your dice and restart rolling while all of the
players continue.
• If you did correctly complete your design, take a die from the
center of the table and add it to your dice, then everyone
takes up all of their dice (including any newly acquired dice)
and starts again.

GAME END
All play stops when the last die is taken from the center of the
table. The player with the most dice wins. In the case of a tie,
the tying players play one final challenge with all of their dice—
the first player to complete a design using all of their dice wins.

LEVELING PLAY
If one of the players is clearly more experienced or skilled
than the other, the experienced player can start with an extra
die at the beginning of the game, and remove that die at the
end of the game before determining the winner. This gives the
other player an advantage, because they require fewer dice to
complete each design.

KEEP ROLLING VARIANT (RECOMMENDED FOR 3+ PLAYERS)

When you earn a new die, only you take up all of your dice and
start again. All other players continue working on their existing
designs.

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z Knot So Fast Too
A speedy competitive game by Matthew O’Malley
PLAYERS: 3 – 4 TIME: 15 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
STORY
You are treasure hunters collecting pieces of Celtic artifacts.
Find and complete your artifacts more quickly than your
opponents.

OBJECTIVE
Complete Celtic knot designs more quickly than your
opponents.

SETUP
Open the puzzle rulebook to the scoreboard and set one
wooden token for each player next to the scoreboard. Give 2
starting players 9 dice each.

PLAY
This game is played as a series of matches between 2 players.
During each match, the players with the dice act at the same
time.
When you are in a match, roll all of your dice. Pick up and reroll
as many of your dice as you want, as quickly and as often as you
want, until you use all of your dice to complete a knot design
on the top face of the dice.
You may rotate and rearrange your dice as much as you want by
sliding them on the table, but you may not change the top face
of your dice except by rolling them.
When you complete your design, call out,
“Knot Done!” Both players stop rolling and
everyone checks your design.
• If you did correctly complete your
design, add 1 point to your score and
move your token up on the scoreboard. ✓

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• If you did not correctly complete your design, your
opponent gets 1 point instead.
Then the next pair of players take 9 dice each. If one player
in the pair has more points than the other before the match
begins, the player with more points takes dice from the
opposing player equal to the difference between their scores.
For example, if Player A has 3 points and Player B has 1 point,
Player A takes 2 dice from Player B before starting, so Player A
has 11 dice while Player B has 7.
Play another match, repeating the pairings below until the
game ends:
Pairings for 3 Players 1 – 2 1 – 3 2–3
Pairings for 4 Players 1 – 2, 3 – 4 1 – 3, 2 – 4 1 – 4, 2 – 3
Note: With 3 players, the player who loses the first match
becomes “Player 1” and is paired with the remaining player. This
guarantees that all players play their first match with 9 dice.

GAME END
When one player has at least 5 points and all players have
played an equal number of matches, the player with the most
points wins! If there is a tie, play additional matches until there
is a clear winner.

13
z A Celtic Yarn
A puzzling competitive game by Bonnie Neubauer
PLAYERS: 2 TIME: 15 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
STORY
As workers in a yarn factory, your job is to untangle a strand
of yarn.

OBJECTIVE
Untangle the yarn so that a strand originates in one of the 8 dice
on the outside of the tangle, includes at least 4 dice, and exits
through a different side of the tangle.

SETUP
Set four dice to end-caps and
five to chains, and randomly set
all nine into a 3x3 square—the
tangle. Place the two yellow
tokens on opposite sides of the
tangle, and the two blue tokens
on the other two sides. One
player plays yellow and the other
player plays blue. Each player
takes one additional die and rolls
it (the remaining dice will not be
used in this game). The player who most recently untangled a
rope, string, yarn, or wire goes first.

PLAY
On your turn, you may choose to reroll your die once or leave
it on the face it was already showing.
Slide your die into a row or column
of the tangle from one of the edges
marked by your color token, pushing
a die on the opposite side out of the ➠
tangle. When inserting a die, it does not
have to follow any connection rules.

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Take the die that was pushed out and place it in front of you,
keeping the same face upright until your next turn.
Alternate turns.

GAME END
The first player to form a continuous
strand of yarn that runs through at
least 4 dice and is on top of the other
strands when exiting the tangle on on top beneath
two different sides wins.
In the example to the right, the strand extending
out of the left of the middle-left die and the
bottom of the bottom-right die is the winning
strand. A number of other strands are not valid
because the ends are tangled under other
strands or the strands are not long enough.
Note: Both ends of the strand must be “on top” of the other
strands when exiting the tangle; in other words, the strand must
end in a completely open path at the edge of the tangle (which
is different than most Knot Dice games).

ADVANCED VARIANT
During setup, players roll all 9 tangle dice. Starting with the
second player, alternate placing one die at a time in the tangle.
Instead of one extra die per player, use only one extra die. To
start the game, the first player rolls the extra die. After the initial
roll, the extra die will never be rolled again.
When you push a die out of
the tangle, rather than rolling
the die or leaving it the same,
you change the upright face ➠ ➠ ➠
to a face with more open
edges per the diagram, then
hand it to the next player for
placement.

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z Osbox
Osbox and Osbo Dice designed by Cameron Browne © 2008
PLAYERS: 2 TIME: 30 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
OBJECTIVE
Complete knot designs in multiple rows and columns.

SETUP
Open the puzzle rulebook to the page with the playing board
and the scoreboard and set it in the center of the table. Place
the two yellow tokens on opposite sides of the board, and the
two blue tokens on the other two sides. One player plays yellow
and the other player plays blue. Choose a starting player.

PLAY
On your turn, take a die and set it to any upright face and
orientation, then push it one space into the grid from one of
your sides.
Pushing a die onto the grid may cause other dice to be pushed
along the same row or column. Dice can’t be pushed onto rows
or columns that are full (and would then push dice off the grid).
Knot paths don’t have to connect when dice are added to the
grid, but when you complete a path you may score points.
If you close a knot which passes through more than one row
and more than one column, you score 1 point per die in the
knot. Then remove the scoring knot(s) from the grid.

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 5 points
➠

Keep track of your scores using the black and white tokens on
the scoreboard. If you pass the end of the scoreboard, flip your
token and restart at the beginning.
Alternate turns until the grid is full, which signals the end of
the game.

GAME END
The player with the most points is the winner. If both players
have the same number of points, the game is a draw.

ANY SIDE VARIANT

You may enter your die from any side of the grid.

SCORING VARIANT
When scoring a knot, rather than scoring 1 point per die, you
score 1 point for each time the path crosses another path. If the
knot’s path crosses itself, that will score a total of 2 points.
In the previous scoring example, the complete knot is worth
8 points.

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 Playing Board

18
 Scoreboard

21 22 23 24 25

16 17 18 19 20

11 12 13 14 15

6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5

19
z Tri na Coillte
“Through the Woods,” a competitive game by Ian Reed
PLAYERS: 2 TIME: 10 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
STORY
During Irish summers, children playfully dress up as spriggans
and play a game of chase, taunting each other with a song until
one catches the other.
Tríd an coil, táim I do dhiagh
Cos deas agus clé ag gach crann
Ní cuirfidh na cosán athraitheach tú i folaigh
Tógfaidh na coille tú díreach chugam!
Through the woods, I’m after you.
Turn left or right at each tree.
The changing path won’t hide you.
The woods will lead you right to me!

OBJECTIVE
Capture your opponent’s token by moving your token onto it.

SETUP
Roll 16 dice and place them
randomly in a 4x4 square—the
forest. The dice in the forest do
not have to connect correctly
with any adjacent dice.
Choose a starting player. The chase
other player chooses a token and
places it on top of a die in any
corner of the forest. The starting
player takes a different color tree
token and places it on the die in
the opposite corner of the forest.
Then, the non-starting player rolls two extra dice and sets one
near a third different color token next to the forest (this die is
called the chase) and gives the other to the starting player (this
die is called the tree).
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PLAY
On your turn, do the following
in order:
1. Choose a die, either the tree or
the chase:
• If you choose the tree, keep

➠
its same face upright.
• If you choose the chase,
roll the die and use the new

➠
Yellow slides in the
face. Set the tree next to the tree, then moves two
chase token to become the (because of the chase).
new chase.
2. Insert your chosen die into the forest from one of the outer
edges, moving the entire row or column forward exactly one
die. The die that is pushed out of the forest becomes your
opponent’s new tree.
• When inserting a die, it does not have to follow any
connection rules.
• You can’t push a line back in the opposite direction it was
pushed the previous turn.
• If any tokens are on any of the dice that are moved, they
move along with the dice.
• If you push the die that supports the opponent’s token
out of the forest, place the token on the die that was just
inserted on the opposite side of the forest.
3. Move your token up to
the number of open paths
on the chase minus one
(see the diagram to the
right). For example, if the
chase is a corner die, you
may move your token one
space. When moving your 0 1 2 3
token, it must follow a path
on the top of the dice.
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Alternate turns between players.

GAME END
When you move your token onto your opponent’s token, you
capture it and win the game!

22
z Snakes
A competitive game by Bonnie Neubauer & Matthew O’Malley
PLAYERS: 2* TIME: 10 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: LOW
*2 – 4 players with an additional set of Knot Dice.

STORY
Help St. Patrick drive the snakes out of Ireland.

OBJECTIVE
Drive your snake farther than your opponent’s snake.

SETUP
Place eight dice in two rows of tail front
four next to each other—the
snakes. Each snake starts
with an end-cap (the tail) and
then continues with three
chains (the body). Take one
wooden token each (of different colors) and place it on your
snake, between the third and fourth die away from the end-
cap. Place six wooden tokens on the table near the tails (these
tokens will be used to count the six rounds of play). Take five
dice each and place them in front of you.

PLAY
The game is played over six rounds in which you push your luck
to move your snake at the same time as your opponent. In each
round you and your opponent take the following steps:
Step 1: Roll all of the dice in front of you at the same time as
your opponent.
• If you roll any chains or corners,
you may connect as many of
them as you want to the front
of your snake, but you must
connect at least one, following
the rules for connecting dice.
✓ ✗ last round

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 You may not connect any dice that
would move your snake over to your
opponent’s side, or that would leave
more than one open edge at the
front of your snake. ✗
• Special exception: You can also place an end-cap on your
snake, but once you do, the snake will not move any
more and your game is over. Don’t do this until the very
last round.
• If you do not roll any dice that you can place, you get bitten!
Remove any dice connected to your snake in front of the
dice with your token on them, then place those dice back
in front of you. Your round is over and you do not roll again
until the next round. Note: If you can’t place any dice on your
first roll, your round is over but you do not remove any dice
from the front of the snake, since there are no dice in front of
your token.
Step 2: Choose to pass or roll again at the same time as your
opponent.
• If you pass, the round is
over for you, though your
opponent may continue.
Move your token forward
on your snake to the line
between the two dice at
the front of your snake.
Then take enough dice from the back of your snake so that
you have five dice in front of you to start the next round
when all players are ready.
• If you roll again, return to step 1 using only the remaining
dice not connected to your snake. If your opponent also
chooses to roll again, wait until your opponent is ready, so
that rolling is simultaneous.
• Special exception: If you successfully place all five of your
dice in a single round, you may choose to continue. Move
your token forward three dice, take the five dice behind
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 the token, then continue rolling. However, if you are
bitten, you lose all of your dice back to your token.
When all players have passed or been bitten, the round ends.
Discard one of the tokens near the snakes’ tails, then begin
another round.

GAME END
The game ends after the sixth round when the last token has
been discarded. The player whose snake has traveled the
farthest forward (not counting travel to the side) from the
starting location wins! If both snakes travel the same distance,
the game is a draw.

3 – 4 PLAYER VARIANT (REQUIRES 9 DICE PER PLAYER)

Start with each snake parallel,
two die-lengths from each other.
Snakes may still turn, but may
not move more than one die to
the right or the left from their
starting line.
Use three tokens to mark rounds.
Start the game with all tokens
design face-down. Turn the
designs face-up for the first three
rounds, and discard the tokens
for the final three rounds.

25
z Knot the Whole Story
A storytelling game by Jay Treat & Doug Levandowski
PLAYERS: 2 – 4 TIME: 25 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
STORY
You are the Fates, weaving together people’s lives and stories.

OBJECTIVE
Work together to craft a story that follows the twists and turns
of the results of the dice. Each turn you tell a part of the tale
related to the die you place.

SETUP
Set two dice to end-caps. Place one of them in the middle
of the table to begin your knot. Set aside the other, which
will be used to conclude your story.
Evenly distribute the rest of the dice between players (8 each
for two players, 5 for three players, or 4 for four players). Then,
roll your dice.
Choose a genre for the story, a basic setting, and a character or
two to populate the story. Agree on any other elements you’d
like to include (this could include a challenge to overcome).
Choose which player takes the first turn. Play passes clockwise.

PLAY
On your turn, do the following in order:
1. Optional: Roll any number of your dice.
2. Required: Place one of your dice next to the die that was
most recently played, making a connection between them.
The top face of your die must have paths connecting it to
the shared design, and none of the paths can extend into
another die’s closed edges (following the connection rules in
the introduction).
• If the most recently played die has no open paths, but
other dice do, you may choose where to play your die.

26
 Don’t close the last path of the story unless everyone
agrees it’s time to end the story.
• If you cannot play any of your dice, roll all of them until
you can.
3. Required: Continue the story based on the die that you
placed as follows:
• End-cap: Bring part of the story to a logical close.
This could involve wrapping up a thread of the tale,
concluding an important tension in the story, etc.
• Chain: Continue the story in a logical way, extending plot
points or tensions.
• Corner: Continue the story, but add a twist. Where
possible, curved corners should be natural, smooth turns
in the plot while the sharper corners should be sharper,
more surprising turns—perhaps even a shift in genre.
• Branch: Continue the story,
introducing a branch in the story.
It might be a dilemma for one of
the characters, an event with two
possible results, or a narrative The right-most die
choice where the story could go in causes a branch in
either of two possible directions. the story.
• Crossing: Continue the story with
something that opens up wide “what happens next.”
Make sure that the story can go quite a few different ways
from where you end your turn.
If you place an end-cap to close part of a story, ensure that
it’s reasonable to pick the story back up at another open path
elsewhere in the knot.
If you connect two open paths with your die, the story you tell
should lead from the last part of the story back to the dilemma/
branch/open-ended problem of the older die. Perhaps a
decision made early didn’t work and you need to make a new
one. Perhaps a similar problem has cropped up again.

27
GAME END
After the final player has played their final die, place the end-
cap you set aside at the beginning of the game. Agree on a way
to bring the story to an apt conclusion.
If some paths were not closed with the final die, then
something about the story could remain open-ended: Was one
of the problems truly solved, or could it come back again?

28
z Distance
A competitive game by Matthew O’Malley
PLAYERS: 2* TIME: 15 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM
*2 or 4 players with an additional set of Knot Dice.

STORY
Your children bickered constantly while growing up, but now
they are making their way in the world. The farther their paths
diverge, the stronger their desire for family grows. “Distance
makes the heart grow fonder.”

OBJECTIVE
Create the greatest distance between your two children.

SETUP
Place four dice, crossing faces upright, in a line pointing
from one player to the other. Each player selects two
wooden tokens of the same color as children, and stacks
one upon the other on the end closest to them. Place the
rest of the dice in a pool off to the side. The player who
most recently spoke to a distant family member goes
first.

PLAY
On your turn, take these three actions in order:
1. Take one of the dice from the pool and roll it.
2. Connect the die to the design being formed, with the
following restrictions:
• You may not place a die in a space where there is a child.
• You must connect the die in a position where one of your
children will be able to travel over it.
• The paths on the die
must connect to at
least one adjacent die
where your child will
✓ ✓ ✗
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 travel. Note: This is different from many Knot Dice games!
You can place a die so that some of its paths extend into
the closed edge of another die.
3. Move one of your children along the paths on the top of the
dice:
• It must travel over the die you just placed and at least one
other die (in any order).
• It must end the turn in a new location.
• If it moves off of the dice onto a space with one of your
opponent’s children, it bounces out of that space and
can move along any path starting from that space, even a
path on another die. It can bounce before traveling over
the newly placed die. It does not bounce off of your other
child.
• It ends its movement when it travels off the dice onto an
empty space or your other child, and sits in the space that
a die could occupy at the end of a path. If it lands on your
other child, it remains there.
If you can’t connect the die you rolled following the rules above
(including moving a child), you must pass and discard the die
out of the game.
Then the next player takes a turn.

EXAMPLE TURNS
Turn 1: Yellow
places a die and 1 2 3
moves a child a
➠
➠
➠➠

short distance.
➠

Turn 2: Blue
➠

places a die and

moves a child a
short distance.
➠

Turn 3: Yellow
places a die

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and moves a child a great distance, bouncing off of both blue
children in the process.

GAME END
The game ends immediately when there are no dice left in the
pool at the end of a turn, or if you can determine that a player
will be unable to move any children in future turns.
Count the number of dice between
your two children to determine
your score. When counting dice, blue: 5
use the shortest possible distance
traveling directly over dice (not
using diagonals, and not following
the paths on the dice).
Play two games, alternating who
is the starting player, and total
your scores to see who was most
successful at bringing their family yellow: 7
together by keeping them apart.
The player with the higher score
wins!

“AESTHETICALLY PLEASING” VARIANT

When connecting a die, the paths of all dice must connect (or
not connect) correctly on all sides. This can make dice harder to
place unless you keep the paths wide open early in the game.

4-PLAYER VARIANT (RE-

QUIRES 36 DICE)
In the 4-player game, play
is the same, but start the
game with nine crossing dice
in a “+” shape, and discard
three dice out of the game
before beginning. Each player
chooses a different color and
starts with their children at
the four points of the “+”.

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z Minarets
A Cardboard Edison design by Chris & Suzanne Zinsli
PLAYERS: 3 – 4 TIME: 15 MINUTES COMPLEXITY: HIGH
STORY
In a bid to garner public support for her rule, the Sultana has
commissioned the construction of many public buildings. In
Minarets, players will have to work together to complete these
major projects. But in the end, only one player will prove to be
the best and win the game.

OBJECTIVE
Construct the best possible buildings with your two partners.

SETUP
In a three-player game, give each player six dice. In a four-
player game, give each player four dice and set aside the
remaining dice.
Set one of your dice to a minaret (end-cap) and roll the rest.
You each now have a pool of dice in front of you.
Leave room between yourself Player A
and the players to your left and
right. As you play the game, CA AB
you will construct buildings out
of dice in the spaces between
players (buildings AB, BC, and Pl
aye B
AC in the example). Orient rC l a yer
the buildings so that the front BC P
of each building faces the
center of the table. This ensures that all players can see each
building’s face.
The player who most recently built something goes first.

PLAY
On your turn, take one die from another player’s pool. If there
no dice available with legal placement in the buildings to your

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left or right, then take a die and reroll it until it can be placed.
If there are no dice in any of the other players’ pools, take a die
from your own pool.
Add the die you chose to either the building to your left or the
one to your right, following the placement rules below. You may
only add a die to the building to your immediate left or right.
The next player is the player whose pool you chose from (turn
order is not fixed and can be highly variable). For example, if
Player A chooses a die from Player C’s pool and adds it to a
building, Player C takes the next turn.
You may discuss strategy freely with the other players.

PLACEMENT RULES
Die faces may not be
changed. Re-orient the

➠
selected die so that
the previous top face is
facing the center of the
✓ ✗
table when it is added to
a building.
Dice may be placed directly on the table or stacked on top of
each other. Each die must be placed adjacent to another die
that is part of the same building.
Dice may never be
placed so that an
open edge is adjacent
to a closed edge on ✓ ✓ ✗
another die. Dice with
adjacent open edges or with adjacent closed edges are allowed.
A building may end up being two disconnected adjacent parts.
Dice may never be placed on top of a minaret.

GAME END
The game ends when all of the dice have been taken from
players’ dice pools and added to buildings.

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SCORING
Score each building according to the conditions below. Your
individual score will be the lower point value of the two
buildings you helped build. The player with the most points
wins.
• Foundations: Each die with
an open edge touching the
table is worth 1 point.
tallest: 5
• Minarets: Each minaret minaret: 2
(end-cap) is worth 1 point unfinished: -2
for each die below it. For foundations: 1
example, a minaret on top
of three other dice is worth 3 points. The open edge of a
minaret must be facing down (i.e., the minaret is “pointing
up”) to score.
• Unfinished construction: Each open edge not connected to
another die incurs a penalty of -1 point.
• Highest: The tallest building receives a bonus of 5 points.
Tied buildings each receive the full bonus.
• Widest: The widest building receives a bonus of 2 points.
Tied buildings each receive the full bonus.
In case of a tie, the player whose second building is worth more
points wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the win.

VARIANTS
For a longer game, you can play multiple rounds of Minarets.
The player who won the last round starts the next round. The
first player to win two rounds is the overall winner.
You can also play Minarets with two sets of Knot Dice. Increase
the number of dice each player receives at the start of
the game.

34
35
 Even more Knot Dice games
and video instructions are available at
www.knotdice.com

CREDITS
Photography by Matt Grosso
Graphic Design by Christine Santana
Editing by Chris Zinsli of Cardboard Edison
Celtic Knot Font by Daniel Isdell (clanbadge.com)
Osbo Dice designed by Cameron Browne ©2008

Playtesters: Table Treasure Games, Cardboard Edison, Unpub, Metatopia, Game

Designers Clubhouse, Designer Weekend, Break My Game, and all the great
playtesters at BGG Con, Gen Con, Origins, and Dreamation

Special Thanks to: Margaux O’Malley, Peter O’Malley, Anna Grace O’Malley,
Ian O’Toole, Jamey Stegmaier, Clodagh Ní Maolagáin,
and the fantastic Kickstarter backers
who made this possible

Proofreaders: Duane Beaver, Debbie Bigelow, Danny Cannan, Christine Dorn,

Matthew Gravelyn, Marisa Hill, Linda John, Kate Maeda, Carolyn Manning,
Eric Miller, Beth Norris, Sandi Oswalt, Morgan Swiers, Josh Tempkin, Sheila
Thomas, Phil Tomlinson, Alison Trace

First Edition

Copyright 2016 Black Oak Games (unless otherwise specified).

www.blackoakgames.com

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