The Crystal Payday
Rules v2.8 · Video version 7
Music: Open Room, Lantern On

PIP: I watered this square so it would grow more crystals.

CLICK: It had four crystals. It has four crystals. Squares run out. They never fill up.

PIP: Then today we find out what four actually pays.

CLICK: From the drawer. Proposal: add a Mining button. Overruled. There is no Mining button.

COACH: This is the Muju. Its Mining number is three.

COACH: The square under it holds four crystals. That is the reserve: the crystals still sitting in the square.

CLICK: Bucket three. Puddle four. Took three.

COACH: It took the smaller of those two numbers.

PIP: I am standing professionally.

COACH: Moving or attacking does not stop payday. Collect from the square where you end.

COACH: Now it is your next turn end. Nobody has touched this square.

COACH: The Muju still has Mining three. The square has one crystal left.

COACH: How many crystals does the Muju collect now?

PIP: Three. Bigger number, bigger bucket.

COACH: No rush on this one. Or just watch the bucket with me.

COACH: One crystal, and room to spare in the bucket.

COACH: Three was the Muju's number. One was the square's number. Next payday here is an Empty Payday.

CLICK: Bucket or puddle. You carry the smaller one.

COACH: In rules words: a piece takes its Mining number, or whatever the square has left. Whichever is smaller.

PIP: I tried telling it an encouraging story. Still empty.

CLICK: Reserve: unchanged.

COACH: Turn one dial. This Radi has Mining zero.

COACH: The square under it is holding sixteen.

PIP: Bucket or puddle.

CLICK: Bucket. The bucket is zero. The Radi collects nothing.

PIP: So my business needs crystals where the piece ends. The square it left pays nothing.

COACH: Whether it is still standing there next turn, I do not know yet.

PIP: The Standing Business is closing. The new one picks squares. I call it the chief financial bucket.

COACH: New games use this Unequal routes map. Home squares hold eight crystals each. The brighter expansion squares hold sixteen each. Ordinary ground holds four, and the middle cluster holds eight. Empty squares are roads with no crystals. That makes five hundred four crystals altogether. Mining lowers a square's reserve. It never refills.

COACH: Every friendly piece collects at your turn end, including pieces bought or promoted that turn. Mining uses no actions. The bank is spendable money; total income remembers everything you collected, even after you spend it.

COACH: Before you end a practice turn, say the payday out loud. Then watch what arrives.

COACH: Today was plenty if you want it to be. Next time the shop opens. What can our crystals buy?