About Collapsi
Collapsi is an abstract strategy game by Mark S. Ball (Riffle Shuffle & Roll), first published in June 2025. Sixteen cards from an ordinary deck are dealt face up into a 4 x 4 grid, and each player has a pawn. The number on the card you stand on tells you exactly how far you must move, and when you leave it the card collapses. The board shrinks every turn until someone cannot complete a move.
It placed fourth for Best Overall at the BoardGameGeek 2025 Two-Player Print and Play Contest, and the designer has published it as name your own price on itch.io, so it costs nothing to try. There is nothing to print but the rules: borrow the cards from any deck. It needs no setup beyond a shuffle and a deal, and it is a good way to teach children to think a few moves ahead. The rules add a point game, a shifting-board variant and a 6 x 6 board for three or four players.
How to play in one minute
- Shuffle 2 jacks, 4 aces, 4 twos, 4 threes and 2 fours and deal them face up in a 4 x 4 grid. The first jack revealed is player 1’s start, the second is player 2’s.
- On your turn, move exactly as many spaces as the number on the card you start on (a jack moves 1, an ace 1). Move up, down, left or right, and you may turn during the move.
- You may not revisit a card in the same move or end on your opponent’s card, but you can pass through it. Moving off one edge brings you back on the opposite edge.
- After moving, flip the card you started on face down: it has collapsed and can no longer be crossed or landed on.
- The first player who cannot complete a full move loses.
What’s in the PDF
- The rules as a Google Doc (version 1.3.4, updated October 2025), also linked as a download on the itch.io page.
- Variants: point game over several rounds, shifting rows and columns, a 6 x 6 board for 3 or 4 players, and a free choice of starting cards.
- No printed components: use 16 cards from any standard deck and two pawns or coins.
In the PDF
- Rules v1.3.4 (Google Doc, with variants for a shifting board and 3 or 4 players)
