Project L

The following instructions describe how to set up the game for 2–4 players. For the Solo Variant, see that section. For games with 5 or 6 players, use the Line Clear Variant — which additionally requires the Ghost Piece expansion.

• Shuffle all the White puzzles together to form a White puzzle deck, and place it face down in the centre of the play area
  • If using the Ghost Piece expansion, include the 12 new White puzzles from that pack when shuffling
• Shuffle all the Black puzzles together, then take a number of them at random based on the player count (see below). Shuffle those into a Black puzzle deck and place it face down beside the White puzzle deck, and return any remaining Black puzzles to the box
  • If using the Ghost Piece expansion, include the 12 new Black puzzles in the shuffle before drawing the subset

• Reveal the top 4 puzzles from each deck, placing them face up in a row to the left of each deck
• Place all of the coloured pieces in a reserve nearby
  • If using the Ghost Piece expansion, add the 30 new level-5 Ghost pieces to the reserve as well
• Take 1 Player mat for each player, making sure that the mat showing the first player marker is included. Shuffle the mats and deal one out at random to each player — the player who receives the mat with the first player marker will start the game
• Each player takes one level-1 piece and one level-2 piece, placing both of them in their own personal supply to the right of their Player mat
• If using the Finesse expansion, complete the following additional steps:
  • Place all of the Credits nearby to form the bank
  • Separate the Finesse tiles by set (A, B, C) according to their backs
  • Randomly select 2 tiles from Set A, 2 tiles from Set B, and 6 tiles from Set C. Return the remaining Finesse tiles to the box unseen
  • Shuffle the 10 selected tiles together without looking at them and deal them out in a row below the Black puzzle row, placing the first two tiles face down and the remaining eight face up

In Project L, players will complete a range of puzzles using their pieces to try and earn as many points as they can. Pieces come in 4 levels, and over the course of the game you will build up your supply of pieces so that you can complete increasingly difficult puzzles for more and more points.

The game is played over a number of rounds. In each round, beginning with the first player and going in clockwise order, each player takes a turn. This continues until the Black puzzle deck is empty — players will then complete that round and play one final round.

On your turn, you must perform 3 actions. There are 5 possible actions, detailed in the sub-sections below. Unless stated otherwise, you may perform these actions in any order and any number of times — you could even take the same action three times in a turn.

Each puzzle card shows three things:

• A recessed area which you are aiming to fill with your pieces to complete it
• The points value of the puzzle at the end of the game if you have completed it
• The new piece you will gain when the puzzle is completed

When the Black puzzle deck is empty, the end of the game is triggered. Finish the current round and then play one final round. This ensures that all players will have played the same number of turns in total.

As soon as the end of the game is triggered, any Black puzzles that are taken are not replaced. Also, each player may now only take a maximum of 1 Black puzzle during their turn for the remainder of the game — this includes the player who triggered the end of the game, and so any puzzles they may have taken before the end of the game was triggered do not count towards this limit.

This section only applies when playing with the Finesse expansion.

Finesse tiles come from three different sets. Every game of Finesse uses 2 random tiles from Set A, 2 from Set B, and 6 from Set C. Each set has its own general behaviour:

• Set A tiles reward you when you place specific pieces onto any puzzle above your Player mat
• Set B tiles reward you for owning specific pieces at the end of your turn, either in your supply or on puzzles above your Player mat
• Set C tiles cover a wider variety of triggers — completing puzzles, taking puzzles, using particular actions, upgrading pieces, and so on

The sub-sections below describe each set in more detail.