A turn consists of selecting one of the exposed cards from the tableau's four columns and displaying it, face up, in front of the player. For each color, there are three types of cards - plain, "Extras" and "Pirate Flags". Selecting an Extra card allows the player to pick another exposed card of the same color (if available)...Selecting a card with pirate flags allows the player to steal as many displayed cards of that color from any one opponent. Play continues...until the entire tableau has been exhausted.

   The game consists of three "years" (or rounds)...for a total of 10 turns....On his turn, a player has five action points (APs) to spend. Adding a Knight costs 2 APs but the new Knight must enter the board adjacent to another of your Knights. ...Moving a knight orthogonally costs 1 AP. One neat trick is that Knights may enter a "door" of a castle and exit by any other door in the same Castle no matter how many spaces the exit is from the entrance!

   Placing a tower block costs 1 AP...Acquiring an action card costs 1 AP... The action cards enable the players to "break" the basic rules of the game and are often a surprise factor...

   The objective is to build the Castles up and out and to have one of your Knights placed on as high a level of the Castle as possible. Castles may only be built as many levels high as their total surface area. At the end of each "year", Knights score their level number multiplied by the total surface area of the Castle...Additionally, any Knight in the same Castle as the King AND on the same level as the number of the game "year" scores a bonus.

   The goal of the game is to win control of bases by pummeling your opponent(s). Games begin with two bases placed between the players. Players can place cards on either their end or their opponents' end of a base. Control of a base goes to the player with the highest number of "Hits" on their end of a base. Hits are the most prevalent card type in each fighter's deck and come in three colors: red, blue and green. When a hit is placed on the end of a base, it can only be followed by hits of the same color.... Players also have other cards to help them outmaneuver their opponents.

   Color specific "Block" cards prevent the placement of further hits onto one side of a base. "Press" cards void blocks. "Hit-2" cards pack quite a punch, counting as two hits. "Clear" cards allow players to remove an entire base and all attached cards! Extra "Base" card allow player to set up new bases to control...Each player also have three "Freeze" cards which are always placed on to the bottom of the deck after shuffling. Freezes end the placement of further cards onto a base. When all bases in play are frozen, the game ends. The winner is the player controlling the most bases.

   What makes the game elegant are the two different modes of play. In training mode, players take turns playing the top card from either their draw deck or discard stack onto the play area. This allows a player to strategically control the ebb and flow of their card inventory while setting up devastating chains of attacks and "clears". In the real-time tournament mode, players place cards simultaneously instead of taking turns! A fast player can get cards onto bases rapidly but a slower player may be able to block and clear bases at will, making these games incredibly intense as well as incredibly quick - real time games usually last less than a minute. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dave Rapp

   The game is sold in little ziplock bags that include one pair of buttons. Button Men is a two player game so this is enough to get you started. The buttons are large (2 1/4" diameter) and feature full color pictures of the character the button represents. Also shown on the button are five numbered circles (one character has only four) that are the dice the character uses to play the game. Of the five numbers, each character has one labelled with an X (except for one character who has two). This is called a "swing" die and can be any type of die from 4 to 20-sided. The exact value is chosen by the button's player at the start of a round of combat. You have to provide your own dice.

   Each game starts with the players choosing their swing die (or dice) in secret, adding this to their other dice, and rolling all of them. Both players roll simultaneously and compare results. The player who rolled the lowest number on one of their dice...makes the first attack.

   By attacking, a player takes one of their opponent's dice. There are only two types of attacks. A power attack can be made with only one die and the value showing on the attacking die must be greater than or equal to the value of the die being taken. A skill attack can be made with any number of the attacker's dice but the total on the attacking dice must exactly equal the value shown on the die being taken. Once a die is captured, the attacker rolls the die (or dice) used to make the attack. The die that the attack takes will be worth its maximum value in points at the end of the combat so that there is a strong incentive to take the higher valued dice.

   After the first player makes his attack, the defender gets to make his attack. Turns alternate...After both players pass (usually when one player has no dice left in front of him), the round is scored. Each player gets the full face value of dice captured plus one half the full face value of any of their own dice that they managed to keep that round. The player with the higher total wins and the next round begins...The winner is the first player to win two, or in tournament play, three rounds of combat.

   It is very easy to dismiss Button Men as merely a dice game. There is, in fact, considerably more to the game than first meets the eye....Knowing what swing die to use against a specific enemy button is one of the keys to mastering the game. One of the essential survival skills...is always paying attention to what your opponent's dice can sum to...On top of all this, you have to know how to play your button. Trying to play a specific strategy with the wrong type of button can get you three losses very quickly.

   Beginning on Cloud 1, the balloon, with each player turn, will attempt to rise a level until it reaches Cloud 9. On his turn, a player must roll two or more of the special "cloud dice"...These six sided dice have two blank faces; the other faces show a red, blue, green or yellow cloud. The combination rolled is the set of cards needed for the balloon to rise to the next cloud but before that player attempts to meet the requirements, ALL of the other players must declare whether they are jumping off the balloon of staying on in hopes of rising to the next level.

   The 80 cards consists of three different types. The most plentiful are cards which show one of the four colors of the game (red, blue, green and yellow). Umbrella cards act like wild cards, meeting ALL requirements for an upward move....The "Pass the Barn" card shifts the onus onto another player, forcing him to meet the requirements...

   If jumping off, the player nets the number of crystals listed on the cloud. (Crystal amounts start at one and quickly escalate to 25 if you make it all the way to Cloud 9.) If the requirements are met, those players remaining on the balloon continue to travel upward. But if the requirements are NOT met, that particular balloon ride is over and ALL players still on the balloon receive NOTHING for their trouble!...

   Limiting hand replenishment to only one card per balloon ride is a nice balancing touch. So is the rule allowing the player in last place on the scoring track to draw two cards immeidately once any player reaches (or passes) the 11, 22 or 33 scoring mark. But the optional rules adding bluffing and using 3, 4 or 5 of a kind to "Pass the Barn" or substitute for another card or force a player off the balloon seem forced and unnecessary. The first player to reach (or pass) 45 wins!