Game setup: Place the flash cards on one of the blue rectangles. Each player places four markers on their glissando rectangle.
Game Play: White goes first, draws a card and places one of their markers on the note that corresponds with the card. For example, if the note was an “F”, they would move forward to the orange “F” note. Pieces move counter-clockwise around the board. Place the card on the opposite blue rectangle as a discard pile. Black’s turn. On White’s next turn, they have the choice of moving the same piece as before, or moving the next piece out. If the note is above what the keyboard has available, they do a “glissando” and slide to the other side of the board. That piece would continue play by moving on the second keyboard. When a piece returns to the “glissando” that it started on, it moves to the home square. The first player to move all four pieces to the Home square wins.
Blocking: When two pieces are on the same note, that note is blocked and no piece from either team may pass it. In this manner, one player may be able to make the other player loose a turn. If you can move, you have to move. The exception for blocking is the glissando places, which have no limit.
Jumping: If a player lands on a piece that is a third (musical interval, two notes before) another piece, they may “jump” that piece and make a triad, landing a third above the piece. If the piece that they jumped is their own, the piece remains on the board. If the piece they jumped belongs to the other player, it has to go back to its original glissando space. This may land the moving piece on the glissando square and that is okay. If any of the notes are blocked, pieces may not jump.
This game is great for piano teachers and students to play. Having the piano teacher name the note for the card that they drew reinforces those notes for the student and takes some of the pressure off of the student. Parents can play this game with their children to help them practice their note-reading. Students can play with other students during master classes. Maybe if you’re lucky, siblings will pull it out and play with each other in their spare time. I hope that you have as much fun playing the game as I did creating it.
Available as a pdf file for $1.00.
Thank you! Parcheesi was one of my favorite games when I was growing up.
This looks like fun, kind of like parcheesi, but not as mindless.