Summary

SETUP is a family game about forming sets on a shared board. Players can use tiles from their own hand, from the common hand, or both. Each tile involved in a set scores 1 point, and players can earn bonus points in certain situations.

Gameplay

Players take turns in clockwise order. On their turn, a player must either:

• Play 1 or more tiles to form set(s).

• Or, swap 1 or more personal hand tiles with the tile bag.

Sets

In SETUP, "sets" are at least 2 tiles of the same value (3♣, 3♥), or at least 2 consecutive values of the same suit (9♦, 10♦). 10 does not wrap around to 1.

Playing tiles

Players may play 1 to 8 tiles from their hand, the common hand, or both.

Tiles may be played in the 4 middle squares of the board, or the player's own 2 bonus squares (marked in the player's color). If there are less than 4 players in a game, the unused bonus squares are also available. If a square is occupied, the new tile is simply placed on top. Covered tiles have no further effect.

Played tiles do not have to be adjacent to each other, but they must all be part of the same set. After tiles are played, points are scored as described below.

Scoring

Newly played tiles are part of the same set, but they may also be part of other sets. All tiles that are part of those set(s) score 1 point for the current player. Even if a tile is part of 2 sets, it still only scores 1 point.

Example: A 5♥ is on the board. The active player plays 4♥ and 6♥ on opposite sides of the 5♥, forming a 4-5-6 ♥ set.

Example continued: In addition, a 4♦ and 4♣ are already on the board, adjacent to each other. One of these touches the new 4♥, forming a 4♦ 4♣ 4♥ set. This causes both 4♦ and 4♣ to score as well.

Example result: The player scores 5 points because 5 tiles are involved in sets that include the new tiles.

In addition to the current player's points, other players may score bonus points. Each player has 2 bonus squares marked with their color. If those bonus square(s) score for the active player, the player who owns the bonus square(s) also scores 1 point for each of their bonus squares that was included.

Each inactive player can score a maximum of 2 bonus points per turn.

Swapping

Instead of playing tiles, players may set aside 1 to 4 of their hand tiles, draw an equal number from the bag, then put the set-aside tiles back in the bag.

Running out of tiles

If the bag ever runs out of tiles, all hidden tiles underneath stacks on the board are shuffled back into the bag.

End of Game

The game ends when any player reaches or exceeds a certain number of points:

• 2 players: 31 points
• 3 players: 27 points
• 4 players: 23 points

If the "Equal turns" option is used, turns continue until all players have had an equal number of turns, and the game ends.

With the "First to finish line" option, or in team mode, the game ends immediately after scoring the current turn, including any bonus points.

Because of bonus points, multiple players can reach or pass the threshold at the same time. The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the tied player who placed tile(s) on the board last wins.

Team Mode

Players may play in 2v2 team mode. In this mode, the turn order is shown on the table, and players compete to avoid last place when the game ends.

The winning team is the one WITHOUT a playing piece in last place when the finish line is crossed.

In case of a tie for last place, the team with a playing piece in first place wins.

In case there is still a tie, the last team to place tile(s) on the board wins.

Partners may see each other's hands, but can only play common tiles and hand tiles as usual. Players may not play on top of their partner's bonus spaces.