Equipment
For each player:
6 Jasmine tiles 6 Lily tiles 6 White Jade tiles
6 Rose tiles 6 Chrysanthemum tiles 6 Rhododendron tiles
3 Knotweed tiles 3 Boat tiles 3 Wheel tiles
3 Rock tiles 3 White Dragon tiles 3 White Lotus tiles
One game board:
Sitting
When only two people are playing, they sit across from one another at the ports. The ports are the triangles on the edge of the board. The ports are relative to position. The red triangles closest to you is the “Home Port”, the one on the opposite side of you is the “Foreign Port, and the two on the sides are the “East” and “West Ports”. The tips of these ports (where the black lines intersect) are called the “Home Tip”, "Foreign Tip", etc… Four-person games are played the same way, with each port being someone's home port. It is possible to play with more people with teams, but not recommended because too many tiles would be on the board.
NOTE: Spaces are meant to be intersections. Dragon and Lotus rules always apply. For reference to the tiles and their opposites, look further down the rules. Tiles can move over your own tiles, but not over the opponent’s tiles with the exception of the boat.
Taking your turn
To move you can:
- Place a tile on the board
- Use a tile’s ability, move a tile
- Pass your turn
- Forfeit the game
Tiles can move less than the specified number of spaces. You cannot add a tile on the board if it’s starting position is occupied by another tile, even if they are opposite tiles. You must wait a turn after adding a tile to move it or use it. All tiles can end their turn on the intersection of colors; even if one of them is it’s opposite color space (More on that later). All tiles can land in yellow, because it is a neutral area.
Removing tiles and the Pot
To remove, or capture, a tile, your tile must land on it’s opposite. If a tile cannot capture a tile it lands on, it cannot move there. Any tile can capture an elemental tile and vice-versa, but both of those tiles must be removed. When a piece is captured or removed, it is put in the designated area known as the Pot. If a flower is pushed or turned into it’s opposite color by a boat or wheel, it is returned back to the owner to use again. In order to capture a tile, the capturer must already be on the board as stated above.
Dragon and Lotus rules: Any tile can capture the special tiles and vice-versa, but only the captured tile is taken out, even with elemental tiles. When a player has captured fewer tiles than the opponent (or the least of all four players in a four-player game), their White Lotus tile is considered “blooming” and is in harmony with all flower tiles within 3 spaces. This way a player can use their opponents aggressive strategy to win by points.
Harmonies
To make a harmony, the two tiles must be next to each other on the board. A player receives one point for a harmony. Points are awarded for every harmony every 3 turns that the harmony is intact. If the harmony is broken by moving a tile, then remade by moving the tile back, it counts as a new harmony. The order of the harmony ring starting from the top tile and going clockwise is: rose(top), chrysanthemum, and rhododendron, jasmine, lily, jade. Only a neutral or harmonious tile can connect harmonies; all other tiles block harmonies (i.e. opposite tiles, elemental tiles, special tiles unless the lotus is blooming).
Placing and moving pieces
Flower tiles:
Flower tiles may only move within their own color, the yellow areas, or on an intersection with their color on one side. If a flower tile is pushed or rotated completely into it's opposite color, the tile is returned to the player for future use. Notice that a tile's opposite is always the opposite color flower. I.e. jasmine and rose, lily and chrysanthemum, jade and rhododendron.
White flowers:
Jasmine: starts in the Home Port and moves up to three spaces in a straight line
Lily: starts in the East or West Ports and moves in an “L” shape, up to 2 spaces in one direction and up to 2 at a right angle.
White Jade: starts in the center of the board and moves up to five spaces in a straight line
Red flowers:
Rose: starts on the Foreign Tip and moves up to three spaces in a straight line
Chrysanthemum: starts in the at the East or West Tip and moves in an “L” shape, up to 2 spaces in one direction and up to 2 at a right angle.
Rhododendron: starts at the center of the board and moves up to 5 spaces in a straight line
Non-flower (Elemental) Tiles:
Knotweed: can be placed anywhere but cannot be moved; it "kills" all tiles surrounding it within one space, including diagonally
Boat: starts anywhere and moves up to five spaces in a straight line; pushes up to three tiles in a line up to five spaces, as long as there is a space behind them; can travel over enemy pieces; cannot push the knotweed or rock tile;
Wheel: starts in the yellow spaces and moves unlimited spaces in a straight line; rotates all pieces in the box around it as many times as wanted
Rock: can be placed anywhere; cannot move or be moved.
Special Tiles:
White Dragon: starts on your opposite side of the board and moves up to 6 spaces at a time
White Lotus: starts on your side of the board and moves up to 2 spaces at a time, is considered neutral unless it is “blooming” (see the Dragon and Lotus rules)
Ending the game
To end the game, gain a pre-set number of points through harmonies (usually 30), or take out all of the enemy's flower and special tiles. Any player can forfeit the game.
white lotus gambit: Frank's ideas
Comments (12)
Cyril said
at 1:34 pm on Sep 9, 2011
So you finally put your rules up! Very nice. This rule set will help the working group a lot (when it's actually formed, that is ^^); your used some good ideas here (like the one that the wheel rotates the square box around it, and not only four spaces).
Frank said
at 4:47 pm on Sep 11, 2011
yeah i had it in my folder. i tried to post about it, but i guess it didn't get out there.
Frank said
at 11:13 pm on Oct 15, 2011
i changed some things that i found out made it better.
Shoeless Joe Kenyon said
at 6:03 pm on Jan 13, 2012
How do you distinguish your tiles from your opponents? I just made a set of tiles and a board and I'm looking to play with friends. I'm thinking about combining your rules with the Ancient rules. I like how you have to start pieces at specific places, but I like how in the Ancient you can use one set of tiles.
Cyril said
at 3:44 am on Jan 14, 2012
I have two sets of tiles with different wood colors. You can also just paint a small ring around the tiles in various colors, or use differently colored symbols, e.g. two different Jasmines with the petals in different colors.
Frank said
at 12:36 pm on Aug 29, 2013
Wow kinda late for me to see this, but i just have different colored backgrounds like cyril. White, black, red and blue
graaahh said
at 12:28 pm on Aug 29, 2013
Would it be possible to get a video of a sample game being played, along with point totals so a beginner can follow along?
Frank said
at 12:34 pm on Aug 29, 2013
The only recorded games i have right now are too long for a video and to make by myself, but if aomeone were to play a match against me with a low harmony point goal, then i could probably make one. No one has been willing to play a match with me to make the video.
Cyril said
at 1:12 am on Jul 17, 2014
I still think that this is in fact the best version of Wiki Pai Sho currently online. It's cohesive, very unlike our attempts at LG (haha).
Frank said
at 12:54 pm on Jul 17, 2014
Wow, thanks! I visited LG a while ago, but there's so many new pages and discussions that I don't know where to start. Do you all have a current version I could look at?
Frank said
at 12:55 pm on Jul 17, 2014
Oh nm, i see thr page now
Cyril said
at 10:48 pm on Jul 17, 2014
It's as complicated as ever, but there should be some simplifications coming in during the next days.
You don't have permission to comment on this page.