NEW GAME
Choose the computer strength, then choose your colour. Core uses open information and a streamlined nine-symbol set. Red always moves first.
AI DIFFICULTY
REBUS Core is the streamlined open-information version. You control Red or Blue, the computer controls the other colour, and Green tiles are neutral. Red always begins.
Each player starts with three each of Star, Omega, Pi, Triangle, Circle, Square, G, J and K. Neutral Theta, Phi and Xi remain nine each.
Select one of your unlocked tiles, then capture a glowing enemy or neutral target. A symbol cannot capture a visible copy of itself.
Ordinary symbols capture any of the eight adjacent squares. Stars reach every square within a radius of two. Each player may control no more than five active Stars; buried Stars do not count until restored.
After a capture, the attacking symbol occupies the new tile and the displaced symbol appears in the lower-left history box. A later recapture restores that displaced symbol.
Successive capture: after taking a symbol, you may also capture an orthogonally adjacent enemy or neutral tile showing that same displaced symbol. Chains may continue through further matching tiles. Diagonals do not count, and End Chain lets you stop voluntarily.
Turn protection: every tile captured during the turn is protected during the opponent's next turn. When the chain ends, nominate one other friendly tile for the same one-turn protection.
Locked groups: double-tap a complete 2×2 or 3×3 block of your own unlocked tiles. Repeatedly double-tap the same anchor to cycle through every valid combination containing it. Locked tiles cannot attack or be captured.
A mixed-symbol lock breaks when the opponent controls two complete outside edges. A uniform-symbol lock requires three complete outside edges. A mixed block already covered along two edges cannot be locked.
The first player to control 51 tiles wins immediately. At 41 tiles the trailing side may yield or continue. If neither side has a legal capture, territory decides the result; equal territory is a draw.
AI difficulty: Easy is forgiving; Medium is balanced; Hard uses deeper search and ruthless defence. Mike Mode is the intentionally extreme challenge: deeper analysis, relentless locking, no intentional mistakes and no surrender.
MAJORITY REACHED
Will you yield or continue the struggle?
GAME OVER
The board has been conquered.