MAGDAGDON — Rules

GOAL

Fill the 4×4 board while building one connected field of numbers. Score as many points as possible by creating strong rows and columns and avoiding RUINS.

A TURN

• Press ROLL. Four standard D6 are rolled.
• Tap a die, then tap one of its highlighted legal cells to stage it on the board.
• The minimum number of dice you must place depends on the selected difficulty.
• As soon as the required minimum is staged, CONFIRM becomes available. You may still place more dice before confirming. Any unused dice are discarded automatically when you confirm.
• Before CONFIRM, staged placements can be undone and changed. After CONFIRM, the placed numbers are permanent.

DIFFICULTY

• PEACEFUL: 3 Majda Powers. Place at least 2 dice per turn. Power penalties are −10, −20 and −40 points in order of use.
• SURVIVAL: 1 Majda Power. Place at least 2 dice per turn. Using the Power costs −70 points.
• NIGHTMARE: 0 Majda Powers. Place at least 3 dice per turn.
• If fewer empty cells remain than the normal minimum, the required placement automatically drops to the number of empty cells. In NIGHTMARE the final two cells therefore require 2 dice, and the final cell requires 1.
• Changing difficulty in SETTINGS starts a new game. High Scores are kept separately for each difficulty.

LEGAL PLACEMENT

• The first die of the game may be placed in any empty cell.
• Every later die must be orthogonally adjacent to at least one numeric cell: up, down, left or right. Diagonal contact does not count.
• The new value must differ by no more than 1 from every orthogonally adjacent numeric neighbour. Equal values are allowed.
• A RUIN is not a number. It does not create connectivity and it does not restrict neighbouring values.
• Placements staged earlier in the same turn already count when checking later placements. The order in which you place dice can therefore change what is legal.

Example: if an empty cell touches both 3 and 4, only 3 or 4 can be placed there.

MAJDA POWER

• The number of Majda Power charges is set by difficulty: PEACEFUL 3, SURVIVAL 1, NIGHTMARE 0.
• SHIFT −1 or SHIFT +1 changes one available die by exactly 1. Values never wrap below 1 or above 6. One SHIFT costs 1 charge.
• REROLL lets you select one or more available dice and reroll them together. One REROLL action costs 1 charge, no matter how many selected dice are rerolled.
• In PEACEFUL, the 1st Power costs 10 points, the 2nd costs another 20 and the 3rd costs another 40. Using all three therefore costs 70 points in total.
• In SURVIVAL, the single Power costs 70 points. NIGHTMARE has no Powers and therefore no Power penalty.
• Powers are optional and may be used more than once in a turn while charges remain.
• A staged die must be returned from the board before it can be shifted or rerolled.

MAGDAGDON & RUINS

• If the current roll has no legal sequence that can place the minimum required by the selected difficulty, the turn enters MAGDAGDON.
• You may spend a Majda Power to rescue the roll if your difficulty still gives you one, or accept MAGDAGDON even if you still have powers left.
• When you accept MAGDAGDON, choose any empty permanent cell. It becomes a RUIN for the rest of the game and the turn ends.
• Each RUIN costs 15 points at final scoring.
• If a legal way to place the required minimum exists, MAGDAGDON cannot be forced by making a bad staged choice. Undo or rearrange your staged placements instead.

SCORING

• Every row and every column contributes the sum of its numeric cells. Because each cell belongs to one row and one column, every number is effectively counted twice in the base score.
• A complete numeric row or column can receive one combination bonus: STRAIGHT +60, FOUR OF A KIND +40, or TWO PAIRS +20.
• A STRAIGHT must be four exact consecutive values in one direction, for example 1-2-3-4, 3-4-5-6, 4-3-2-1 or 6-5-4-3.
• A line containing a RUIN still contributes the sum of its remaining numeric cells, but it receives no combination bonus.
• Each RUIN subtracts 15 points from the total score.
• Majda Power penalties are then subtracted: PEACEFUL −10 / −20 / −40 by use order; SURVIVAL −70 for its single use; NIGHTMARE 0.

Final Score = Base Score + Line Bonuses − Ruin Penalties − Power Penalties.

END OF GAME

The game ends when all 16 cells contain either a number or a RUIN. Your final score, including all RUIN and Majda Power penalties, is calculated immediately and saved automatically to the High Scores table for the difficulty you played, together with the date, number of turns and Majda Powers used.

Placement and scoring examples

An empty cell touching a 2 and a 4 can accept only a 3: it must be within one of both neighbours. Touching 2 and 5 leaves no legal value. A diagonal number does not constrain the cell.

A complete numeric row 2–3–4–5 contributes 14 to the row sum and earns the +60 straight bonus. Those numbers also contribute to their column sums. A RUIN removes that row’s combination bonus and adds a −15 penalty, so judge its effect on both crossing lines.

Plan before confirming

Stage the required dice before committing a turn. If a placement closes the only legal space for another die, undo it and try a different order. Compare a Power’s penalty with the lines it can save; do not spend a charge just to increase one die by a point.

ABOUT

MAGDAGDON is a CUBIRI ORIGINAL dedicated to Majduška. Happy 20th birthday! ❤️