- Strategy Game for 2 Players Aged 8 and up -

Twelve socks are scattered around the subway stations of the city. Who will be the first to reunite the sundered socks of each color? Players make connections by placing track pieces. The further apart a pair of socks is, the more points connecting them is worth.

Game Materials

• 20 game board tiles
  Each tile shows 2 Individual and 2 Joined stations (the latter are already connected to one another)
  
  Individual stations:
  'Animal Garden', 'X-Ray-Valley'
  
  Joined stations:
  'Highbeautyhousen' + 'Under the lime Trees' (they are already connected).
   
• 40 white and 40 black track pieces (approximately)
   
• 18 Sock pieces in 6 different colors (as well as a replacement sock in each color)

Setting Up the Game
The players arrange the game board tiles into a single, compact playing area. Leave five to eight hexagons of the play area vacant. Then they place 2 socks of each color onto stations according to the following rules:

• Only one sock per station.
• Socks of the same color must be placed about 6 - 10 stations apart.
• Each station containing a sock must have at least three neighboring stations which are vacant. If a sock is on a Joined station, include the neighboring stations of the other half of the Joined station in the count.

Keep the third sock of each color off the board nearby.

Each player takes all of the track pieces of one color.

Course of Play

The player who owns the must unmatched socks takes the first turn..

In his first turn the Start Player places just one of his track pieces on the play area. In each subsequent turn the players place two of their track pieces.

The first player to form a complete path using his tracks between both socks of a color takes the third sock of this color from the off board area.

When all of the sock pairs have been connected with one another as above or it's no longer possible to accomplish this, the game is over.


Placement Rules

A track piece is placed so that 2 neighboring stations are directly connected with one another. Each direct connection may only be placed once: where there is a black track, no white track may be placed, and vice versa.

Joined stations are already connected to one another via a non-player track which is printed on the tile. This counts as both a black and a white connection. No player track may be placed over such a track.

The 2 track pieces played in a turn may go onto any vacant space. They are not required to belong to the same track network.

Important: Socks interrupt connections. A path to a station containing a sock is always a ‚sock cul-de-sacs'. There is no way to connect past the station.

When there is a sock on a Joined station it only blocks the path through the station containing the sock. It is still possible to continue a connection through the other station.


Scoring

At the end of the game players score points for having connected same-colored socks. The points are awarded to the first player to achieve the connection (which is recalled by possession of the third sock).

The value of each sock award is calculated by the direct distance between the two same-colored socks: for each station that lies between them, the player receives 1 point.

Note: do not use the length of the connecting line, but rather the shortest possible distance between stations.

The player having the most points
at the end of the game wins.




Black has connected the the yellow socks by use of the non-player track.

White has not connected the red socks. The yellow sock interrupts White's network.


The yellow socks are 3 stations apart. Therefore connecting them is worth 3 points.
Strategy Hints

First look over the entire board to determine where the most important connections are. Since tracks cannot be continued over socks, it's often a good idea to delay linking up socks.

When a sock is on a Joined station, it's usually wiser to connect not to this station, but to its counterpart.


Variants

Ignore the setup rule requiring each sock to have at least three neighboring stations vacant. This makes it easier to block the opponent.

A similar effect is achieved if players block stations by placing replacement socks on them (with the under sides showing).

Also intriguing: Non-player tracks can be built over for tactical reasons (thus blocking the opponent).