Hold the keep till dawn.
The Heart of the keep sits in the middle of a nine-by-nine yard. Every night, creatures come in from the edges, and each one follows a rule written out in plain words. Read the rules, work out where every creature will stand turn by turn, and place your pieces so that nothing reaches the Heart. Then hold the night and watch it play out exactly as the rules say.
A night
- A night lasts twelve turns. Each turn, every creature acts once, in the order they are listed (A first, then B, and so on).
- If a creature steps onto the Heart, the keep falls and the run is over. Score is the number of nights you held.
- Creatures that are still outside at dawn slink away. Each night brings a fresh set, and more of them as the nights pass.
- Before each night you get new pieces. Pieces you do not use stay in your bank.
The pieces
- Wall. Nothing walks through it. A wall stands for three nights, then crumbles at dawn.
- Pit. Swallows the first creature that steps in, then it is spent.
- Lantern. Nothing walks through it either, and it lights the eight tiles around it. Moths fly to lanterns; dusk creatures refuse to enter the light. A lantern burns for four nights.
- Decoy. A straw dummy. Creatures heading for the Heart go for a decoy instead if it is closer; the first one to reach it tears it apart and leaves.
- Nothing can be built on the Heart or on the four tiles touching it. The courtyard stays open.
How creatures move
Every creature has a kind, a pace and sometimes a quirk. The card next to each creature spells all three out.
- Seekers walk toward the Heart, or toward a decoy if one is closer. Each step they pick the direction that closes the larger gap. If that step is blocked they try the other useful direction, and if both are blocked they stand still.
- Flankers do the same, but always go east or west first while that still helps, then north or south.
- Chargers keep moving in a straight line. When something blocks them they turn clockwise (north, east, south, west) and carry on.
- Moths fly toward the nearest lantern and stop beside it, dazzled for the rest of the night. With no lantern on the board they walk toward the Heart like seekers.
- Mimics repeat the last step of the creature listed just before them. If that step is blocked they stand still. If the creature before them did not move this turn, they walk toward the Heart.
- Pace. Most creatures take one step a turn. Some move only on even-numbered turns. Some take two steps every turn.
- Quirks. Dusk creatures never step into lantern light. Breakers smash the first wall in their way instead of going around, which uses up that step.
- The tie-break. When a creature is exactly as far from its target across as it is up or down, it goes up or down first. Creatures never block each other; two can share a tile.
Tonight's watch and endless
Tonight's watch is the same for everyone, changes at midnight UTC, and can be played once a day. Endless starts a fresh keep whenever you like. Either way, every night you are shown has been checked: with the pieces in your bank there is a way to hold it. Finding that way is the game. The hint button places one piece of a real plan and is counted on your record.
Tips
- Walk each creature in your head, one turn at a time, before you place anything. The rules never bend.
- A creature with only one useful direction is stopped dead by a single wall. A creature coming in on the diagonal needs both of its directions closed.
- Walls crumble, pits do not. A pit on a lane that creatures use every night is a long-term investment.
- Lanterns do two jobs: bait for moths and a fence for dusk creatures.
- Charger paths are long and loop around the yard. Often the best move is to let them wander and spend your pieces elsewhere.