Road Maker

The object of the game is to connect the opposite edges of the board with your road pieces. Player 1, the red player, plays top to bottom, and player 2, the blue player, plays left to right. Players take it in turns to place any of their pieces anywhere on the board by dragging a piece onto the board from the selected area on the side of the board. (The numbers below the pieces at the edge of the board are the number of that piece remaining). However, if a piece is placed next to another piece, the roads MUST connect on their edges. You can not have a road exit next to the blank edge of another piece. You can, however, place a blank edge next to a blank edge of another piece. The pieces will auto-rotate to make sure that they connect correctly but you can manually rotate a piece by tapping on it. If a piece is dropped in the wrong position, just drag it to a new position. If you want to change your piece, just drag out another piece from the green selected area. Once the piece is in the correct position and rotation, press the “End Turn” button to pass the turn the second player. Once a piece is played on the board, it will darken and you can no longer move it. Either player may use their opponents roads to complete their path from edge to edge. Play continues until either the top and bottom, or the left and right edges are connected by a completed road, though the start and end do not have to be directly opposite each other. If placing the last piece connects all 4 edges simultaneously, the player who places the last piece wins.

Single Player Game

When you press the “Start Game” button, you can choose to play “Two Players” where players take it in turns on the same device. Or you can choose to play as a single player playing against the device. Type in the number of times across the board from 8 to 12 tiles across. When playing the device, it play 8 tiles the easiest and 12 tiles the most ruthless.

Network Game

You can play the game with another player on another Apple device by pressing the “Host Network Game” button. If another player is within 5 meters of you, or is on the same local network, they will connect and the game will start. Play the game as normal.

Remote Game

You can play someone remotely by sending your move over the internet using iMessage, eMail, Skype or any other transport means that iOS or macOS system sharing provides. After pressing the End Turn button, the system sharing dialog appears. Choose how to send your move to the desired player. They will receive your message and on pressing the link that it sent, the game will add your move to the their board. Play the game as normal.


Tactics

Because roads must be connected to another road, by leaving a one tile gap between pieces, the roads must definitely be connected and can not be blocked (because of the "roads MUST connect" rule). You are guaranteed to be able to connect the gaps later once you have connected your board edges. By leaving a gap, you can also create a guaranteed path in just 5 moves rather than risking being blocked by your opponents dead end piece and having to find a detour. This is the most important tactic.

Use your “dead-end” piece to make your opponent have to take a longer detour, assuming that they have left an exit to detour with. Likewise, make sure you always have an alternative exit by using T-junctions rather than straight roads which have no alternative route if blocked. The blank edges of corner, straight or T-junction pieces can be used as a semi-blocker if placed one square in front of your opponents desired path. They will have to detour around the edge. Because the types of pieces are limited, you can try and surround a gap in your opponent’s road to require a piece that they do not have so that they cannot fill the gap.