Beginner's guide

Everything you need for your first games, and a few habits that win more of them.

Your first round

Your first game against the computer starts gently: you play first, at the Easy level, and the shop waits until round two. Round one is played with the starting bags only: 6 basic runes, 2 Inguz and 2 Jera each.

• Tap a rune in your hand, then a column. The rune falls to the lowest free cell of that column; a column holds six runes.
• Inguz can only go in the centre column, and Jera only in the two edge columns: when you pick one, the columns it may use light up.
• Four of your runes in a line — across, down or diagonally — win the round and one point.

Five tips

1. Think in threats. As in any line-up game, block every three-in-a-row your opponent builds, and look for the move that makes two threats at once: they can only block one.
2. Play the centre. More lines run through the middle columns than through the edges. Keep Jera for the edges and Inguz for the centre, where they block or finish a line.
3. Use the hidden hand. Your opponent cannot see your two runes. A strong rune kept in hand is a threat they have to play around.
4. Shop with the price in mind. Cursed runes (Algiz, Gebo, Nauthiz, Raido and Teiwaz) slip a neutral rune into your bag when you buy them; corrupted runes (Algiz and Dagaz) do it every time you play them. Neutral runes score nothing and clog your hand.
5. Shape your bag. Removing a basic rune means you draw your powers more often. Combining two identical runes makes a level-2 rune — worth it for the runes that have a level-2 effect: Ehwaz, Fehu, Gebo, Mannaz, Perth, Raido, Sowelu, Teiwaz and Thurisa.

Mistakes beginners make

• Giving away the cell above. The rune you drop becomes the floor for the next one. Before you play, check what your opponent could finish on top of it.
• Buying every curse. A few neutral runes in your bag mean whole turns where your hand can do very little.
• Forgetting Perth. After your opponent's Perth, your next rune must go in a column next to the Perth's.
• Counting on removing a Laguz. Nothing moves or removes it, so a line that leans on it is there to stay.
• Losing track of the score. You need the majority of the points still in play: 6 of 10 at the start, but a drawn round takes a point out of play, and then 5 of 9 are enough. The line beside the pool always shows the current majority.

The computer's five levels

Every level plays the same way: none sees your hand or the runes you will draw, and each one weighs the hands you might be holding instead. What changes is how often it misses its best move: often at Easy, never at Expert. In our tests, over a hundred games per level, each level beat the one below it about two games out of three.

Start at Easy, then move up a level once you win most of your games. After each game, Review the game shows your accuracy and the move where it turned.