Honor System

AVALANCHE.

© 1966 Parker Brothers, Inc., Satem, Massachusetts Made in U.S.A.

LOOK OUT BELOW!

For 2 to 6 players

How to set up the board

Insert the dowel through the hole in the easel. Lodge its upper end in the socket on the back of the board, Pull the easel down so that it is nearly hori­zontal when the board is standing.

At the start of all games, the swinging gates on the board should be set at ran­dom, but each gate must be tilted com­pletely to its left or its right. No gate may be left straight up and down. Gates may be set at random easily if one player runs his fingers lightly down the board over the gates from top to bottom.

Remove from the box the plastic rack containing the marbles, the cards, and the rules. Flex the rack lightly so that the areas containing the marbles be­come separated into individual trays.

How the gates work

As a marble hits the bottom half of a gate it causes the gate to pivot as indi­cated by broken arrows. When several of the gates are loaded, one marble can set off an avalanche.

A. Beginners Game

This game can be played by small chil­dren. Older children and adults, once they have become sufficiently familiar with the operation of the board to use strategy, should play by the rules of the Standard Game.

Object
The object is to fill the cards with mar­bles so that the colors of the marbles match the colors on the cards. The first player to fill his card wins.

Start
The marbles are separated according to color and placed in three trays, one tray for each color. No marbles should be on the board at the start of any of the games.

The cards are mixed and spread out face down. Each player selects a card at random and places it face up in front of him.

The gates on the board are set at random.

Play
To take a turn, a player drops marbles of any color, one at a time, through any of the holes at the top of the board. A player’s turn ends when one or more marbles falls to the bottom of the board. He selects marbles from those which have fallen which will match the colors on his card, and he places those marbles in the correct holes. Each of the remaining marbles is re­tnrned to the tray of its respective color.

It is good strategy in this game for a player to drop marbles in the holes in such a way that marbles of the color which he needs will fall to the bottom at the end of his turn while marbles of the color which the next player does not need will remain on the board.

B. Standard Game

The rules are the same as for the be­ginners game with the followng ex­ceptions:

#1
There is no limit to the number of marbles a player may use except that the first player, on his first turn, may drop no more than five marbles through the holes at the top of the board. After one or more of the five marbles have fallen to the bottom of the board, or if all the five marbles have become lodged on the board, the first player’s turn ends. Only the first player is allowed to end his turn without any marbles falling to the bottom of the board, and in this case he may end his first turn only if his alloted five marbles all lodged on the board.

#2
A player must take all marbles that fall to the bottom of the board at the end of any turn, Marbles of the correct colors may be placed on the player’s card if he has space, but other marbles must be held and be used on subsequent turns.

#3
The winner is the first player to end a turn with all holes on his card filled with marbles of correct colors and with no additional marbles in his hand or at the bottom of the board. If he has any such additional marbles after filling his card, he must continue to play in turn until he can end a turn by drop­ping all marbles in hand through the holes at the top of the board without causing any marbles to fall to the bot­tom of the board.

#4
When two or three persons are playing, each may use two cards if desired. The object is for each player to fill two cards and other rules remain as above. When 4 persons are playing, you may play partnership. There should be one card per partner and each partner may play marbles onto either of the two cards. One partner may go “out” at any time by ending a turn with no ad­ditional marbles in hand. However, in such a case the other partner is respon­sible for any empty holes on either of the two partnership cards. The win­ning partnership must have both cards filled with marbles of the correct col­ors, and each partner must comply with the other rules of paragraph #3,

C. Expert Game I

Each player takes a tray of marbles. In this game colors do not matter and the cards are not used. The first player takes eleven marbles, each other player takes seven. The game starts with the board empty, the gates in random posi­tion. The object is to get rid of one’s marbles. To take a turn, a player drops marbles through the holes at the top of the board, one at a time, continuing un­til (1) one or more marbles fall to the bottom of the board, or until (2) he runs out of marbles. In case (1) he takes the marbles from the board and holds them for subsequent turns and play passes to the next player. In case (2) he wins. Players never draw addi­tional marbles from their trays during the game.

D. Expert Game II

Each player starts with three marbles of each color for a total of nine marbles. The object is to have at least five mar­bles of one color and no marbles of any other color. A player need not an­nounce what color he is trying to col­lect. He may in fact, change his mind in the middle of the game.

The game starts with the board empty, the gates in random positions. To take a turn a player drops marbles through the holes at the top of the board until one or more marbles fall to the bottom of the board. He then takes these into his hand, A winning combination (five or more marbles of one color and none of any other color) achieved in the mid­dle of a turn does not count. To win a player must have such a combination at the end of a turn. Therefore, on a winning turn a player must cause one or more marbles of the color he is col­lecting to drop to the bottom without causing any marbles of any other color to drop.

If at the beginning of a turn a player sees that he will not be able to make at least one marble fall to the bottom at the end of his turn, he may say “I pass” allowing play to go to the next player. This condition might develop if a player is reduced to one or two mar­bles in hand and if the board is nearly or totally empty. If a player, having de­cided to take his turn, does play all his marbles and no marbles come down, he forfeits the game.

We will be glad to answer inquiries con­cerning these rules.

Parker Brothers, Inc.
Salem, Mass.