Slide rules: how to play and how to score

Slide quick rules

The goal

Each player has a grid of sixteen cards in front of them, four by four, face down, numbered 1 to 10. At the end, matching cards that touch cancel out, the others count for their value, and the fewest points wins. Each round, you swap a card from your grid for one taken from the middle.

A round

The game lasts sixteen rounds. Everyone reveals a still face-down card from their grid in the middle of the table at the same time. Then, from the first player and going clockwise, each player takes one of the cards from the middle; the last player takes the one that is left. The First Player counter then passes to the left.

Sliding the card into your grid

Your revealed card left a gap. You slide the card you took in from the edge of your grid, at the end of a row or column, pushing the cards along until the gap is filled. Never directly into the gap, never diagonally.

End of game and scoring

When every card has been revealed, matching cards that touch along a side cancel out and are removed. Add up the remaining cards: the fewest points wins. On a tie, the fewest cards left wins, otherwise the victory is shared.

Several games

You can add up several games tournament style: the match ends as soon as a player reaches 100 points, and the lowest total wins. Change the first player each game.

Beginner traps

Build groups of matching cards that touch: they are what melts your score. Leave your opponents the cards that spoil their groups, and before sliding, check which pairs a push will break.

How to score Slide

Cards that cancel out

All matching cards that touch along a side are removed, even three or more of them.

Grid points

The sum of the cards left in your grid. The fewest points wins.

Ties

The player with the fewest cards left wins; otherwise, a shared victory.

Several games

Add up the games; the match ends as soon as a total reaches 100, and the lowest total wins.

Worked example

At the end, Emma’s grid has three 9s in a row, two 4s side by side, two pairs of 10s and a pair of 1s: these eleven cards cancel out. She has 3, 6, 2, 7 and 1 left, so 3 + 6 + 2 + 7 + 1 = 19 points with 5 cards.

Common mistakes

• Canceling two cards that only touch at a corner: they need a shared side.
• Canceling only two cards from a group of three matching ones: the whole group goes.
• Going for the highest score: the lowest one wins.

How to set up Slide

Setup takes a minute.