How to play poleana

Objective

• You win when all four of your tokens reach your goal — the center cell of your house.
• There's a special victory you win without moving a single token: if someone brings a token to their goal while another player has never released a token nor committed an infraction, that quiet player wins. It's a trap for whoever is ahead, not a reward.

The board

• 60 perimeter cells, 4 bridges (one per color), 4 houses (one per color), and 4 starts with a limbo slot.
• Cells are numbered 0..14 within each color's stretch.
• Cells 0, 3 and 9 of your own color are safe — no rival can land there.
• The bridge connects your cell 14 to your cell 4 across 7 inner cells.
• Your house is 7 cells (1c..7c) — 7c is the goal.

Rolling dice

• Each turn you roll 2 dice. You get 3 usable values: die 1, die 2 and the sum.
• You can move one token with one die and another with the other, or a single token with the sum. You cannot split the sum arbitrarily.
• Doubles let you roll again at the end of your turn. Three doubles in a row = infraction and turn passes.
• Dice are generated with secure cryptography (online, the server rolls them). No one — not even us — can predict them or tilt them for or against you. You can review the roll history mid-game with the 🎲 button.

Releasing tokens

• Release combos: dice that sum to 6 (5+1, 4+2, 3+3), or exactly 6+3, or double 6.
• Sum 6 releases 1 token onto your cell 0. 6+3 releases 1 token onto your cell 3. 6+6 releases 2 tokens onto your cell 0.
• If you have a token in limbo when a release combo comes up, it rescues that token to your cell 0 first.
• Releasing is mandatory whenever a combo appears and you have tokens at start or limbo.

Capturing rivals

• Land on a rival's cell to send them home.
• After capture you must advance the same token +10 cells (via bridge above or perimeter below).
• If those 10 cells land on another rival, you capture again and advance another 10. And so on.
• All-or-nothing: if 10 cells don't fit before your goal or every path is blocked, you stay put on the captured cell.

Safe cells

• Your cells 0, 3 and 9 are safe havens: when one of your tokens is sitting there, no rival can land on it or capture you.
• When the cell is empty rivals are free to land on it — the protection only applies while your token is on the cell.
• If your color is absent from the match, those cells lose protection — and 0..8 become 'police cells'.
• Bridge and house cells are also safe: no one can jump over another token in them.

Police cells

• With fewer than 4 players, cells 0..8 of the absent colors become 'police' cells.
• If a rival sits on a police cell and your roll matches the cell number, that token is auto-sent home.
• Cell 0 only triggers the rule when your roll is also a release combo (6+6, 6+3, 3+3, 4+2 or 5+1).

Tapones (blockades)

• Two same-color tokens on the same cell form a tapón.
• A tapón blocks everyone: no one can jump over or land on it, not even your own team.
• Tapones can only form on the perimeter outside the bridge and house. Cells 0 and 3 of your own color allow more than 2 tokens (overflow zone).
• Tapón eats tapón: with a doubles roll near an own tapón you can capture an adjacent rival tapón (advanced rule, GDD §3.10).

The bridge

• Each color has a bridge from its cell 14 to its cell 4 (7 inner cells).
• Taking the bridge is optional: you only enter if you choose to go up when crossing your cell 14.
• Inside the bridge no one can jump over another token — a single token is enough to block all jumps.
• The bridge is a safe zone: no tapones can form and no captures happen inside it.

House and goal

• You enter your house via your cell 9 — the next forward step puts you on 1c.
• Only the owner can enter their own house. Other colors continue along the perimeter.
• The goal (7c) requires an exact roll. Overshooting means the move is invalid.
• Inside the house no one can jump over your other tokens, and tapones don't form (except the final stack at the goal).

Mandatory priorities

• If your roll allows multiple plays, you have to take the highest-priority one.
• Priority order: 1) send a rival home via a police cell, 2) release/rescue with a combo, 3) capture a reachable rival, 4) regular move.
• Skipping the priority counts as an infraction.
• Priorities apply both in assisted mode (with warnings) and free mode (no warnings).
• Within the priority, MAXIMUM ADVANCE is mandatory: you must play so the full roll can be used. If one play would leave a die unused and another wouldn't, the first is blocked automatically — that's why sometimes a die disappears from the list, and sometimes a whole token can't move on that roll. It costs no infraction: it simply can't be picked.

Infractions

• Standard penalty: your most-advanced token returns to start.
• If every token is still at start, one of them is sent to limbo (the small slot inside your start pocket).
• Common causes: ignoring priority, moving the wrong token, exceeding the 90 s online turn timer.
• A token in limbo only leaves via a release combo (rescue).

On-screen symbols

• When you pick a move there are two layers: the die NUMBERS on top and, when a move has two routes, the route PILLS below. Each layer has its own symbols, and they don't mean the same thing.
• ✓ and ✕ are about the RULES, and they only show up when that roll carries something mandatory: ✓ is a number that obeys it, ✕ is one you may still tap but it costs you an infraction (your most advanced token goes back to your start; with every token still in start, one drops into the limbo; if the most advanced one is part of a tapón, the whole stack goes).
• If you see neither ✓ nor ✕ there's nothing to decide: either the roll forces nothing, or everything the sheet offers already obeys it. They only appear in assisted mode.
• ★ and ⚠ are about the CELL you'll land on, and they only show up on the route pills and when picking the +10 after a capture. ★ = you're safe there: YOUR cell 0, YOUR 3, YOUR corner, the bridge, your house or the goal. Another colour's safe cells don't protect you.
• ⚠ = police cell: a rival whose roll exposes that number sends you back to your start, spending no die and moving nothing. Cell 0 triggers differently: any release combo (6+6, 6+3, 3+3, 4+2, 5+1).
• A dimmed, struck-through number carries no symbol: it isn't an infraction, it's blocked by the maximum-advance rule and can't be picked. And on the board, the gold ★ inside a cell marks the GOAL.

Triple double

• Three doubles in a row in the same turn = infraction and the turn ends immediately.
• The online server enforces this automatically.

Special cases

• 6+6 with a token in limbo: the limbo token alone comes out (not two), straight to your cell 0 — limbo rescue always wins over a regular release.
• 6+6 with one token left at start: that token releases spending just one 6; the other 6 stays available for a regular move on the same turn.
• The limbo: if you commit an infraction with all four tokens still at start, one drops into the limbo. It only leaves via a release combo (rescue to your cell 0), and while it sits there nothing else moves until you rescue it.
• Tapón on cell 0 or 3: your cell 0 (and cell 3 if you released with 6+3) allows more than 2 stacked tokens — the only exception to the tapón cap, since incoming releases drop there even when an own token is already present.
• Skipping your own 9: you never land on your own cell 9. After crossing your cell 8 the next forward step puts you straight on 1c (the first cell of your house).
• Goal needs exact roll: cell 7c (the goal) requires the exact number, not one more. If the only available play would overshoot the goal, that die can't be used — pick another.
• Tapón eats tapón: with one of your tapones standing and a doubles roll, the tapón advances as a unit along the perimeter; if it lands exactly on a rival tapón, it sends the whole rival stack home (advanced rule).
• Capture without +10: after a capture you must advance the same token +10, but if those 10 cells would overshoot the goal or every path is blocked, you stay put on the captured cell.
• The sweep grants no +10: when the police take a rival because of your roll, you don't move at all, so there is no advance to collect. But if you go and CAPTURE someone standing on a police cell, that's an ordinary capture and it does grant your 10 steps.
• Special victory: if you reach your goal and at least one rival has not released a single token from start nor committed any infraction in the whole match, that quiet rival wins instead. Before rushing tokens home, make sure every rival has already played.

Victory

• Standard: all four of your tokens at your goal (7c) — 3 tokens when playing Express mode.
• Special: if someone brings a token to their goal while at least one rival has never released a token nor committed an infraction, that quiet rival wins — not the player who scored.
• The server or local engine detects victory automatically and shows the results screen.

Express mode

• Optional fast variant: the board shrinks to 13 cells per color (0–12) and each player uses only 3 tokens.
• The corner (your house entry and third safe cell) moves from 9 to 8 — safe cells are 0, 3 and 8, and you never land on your own 8: from there you go straight into your house.
• The bridge enters at 12 and still exits at 4, with its usual 7 cells.
• With unplayed colors, police cells run from 0 to 7 (8 is not police).
• Everything else is identical to classic: dice, release combos, priorities, +10 captures, tapones and penalties. You win by bringing your 3 tokens home — games ~30% shorter.