Cogs and Carts 2024

In Cogs and Carts you and up to three of your friends race to collect diamonds in a maze of rotating interconnected cogs.

All cogs are mechanically linked and turning a single cog will rotate all the cogs on the board - changing the maze in dramatic and meaningful way. At any point in time there are 8 versions of the board that exists simultaneously; they are accessible by simply rotating the cogs.

A game of Cogs and Cart begins with empty board; each turn a player flips over an empty cog to the track side, growing and creating a unique puzzle every time you play. The location of the diamonds also get randomized at the beginning of the game to shake things up.

Cogs and Carts is a culmination of two distinct goals - one is to play a game that make use of a gear or a cog in a meaningful and mechanical way just like one of my favorite Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calender. The other is the desire of wanting to play a more tactical and less luck dependent version of Tsuro; an aesthetically beautiful tile laying game.

The final result being a quick to learn fun little game that takes about 5 minutes to learn and plays in about half an hour. With each turn revealing a new fun puzzle to solve but not so disruptive that you cannot plan your move in advance. Finding clever route that net multiple diamonds per turn feels rewarding, just as snatching the ones your friends are aiming for right from under their noses.

How-To-Play

To setup a game of Cogs and carts flip all the cogs so that the empty side is facing up.

Place all the diamonds inside the bag. Randomly draw the diamonds out one by one and place in around the board in clockwise manner with the numbered side facing up until all 28 spots are occupied.

The number on the diamond indicates how many cogs from the edge of the board to place the diamond when adding it to the board.

Starting from the youngest player and going around clockwise each player choose which of the middle four cogs to place their cart.

The last player then chooses which of the diamonds to start adding the board. Add three diamonds to the board.

The first player is now ready to take their turn!

Each turn a player can do any, all, or none of the followings in this order:

1) Rotate the cogs by 45° any number of times you like.

2) Pick up one of the cog with its empty side facing up. Orient and place is back down with its track side showing. You may not flip a cog that is occupied by one or more cart.

3) Start moving your cart along a path that connects to the cog your cart currently occupies. Your cart will continue following this path until it encounters an unflipped cog, or your cart has fallen off the board.

- If you encounter an unflipped cog - your cart stop there for the turn.

- If you have fallen off the board, on your next turn you must enter the board from the track where you've fallen off.

As your cart travels along the path you will collect the diamonds on the cogs your cart entered. Any time a diamond is collected pause the cart and immediately add a new diamond to the board if one is available.

Remember that your cart picks up diamond when it arrives at a cog - so a diamond added to a cog that already has a cart on it will not be picked up. It is also possible to have multiple diamonds on the same cog.

Once your cart has come to a stop, your turn has ended.

When all diamonds has been collected, the player with the most diamonds is the winner.

If there are ties - the player who started later in the turn order amongst the tied players is the winner.

—description from the designer