How To Play: M

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M, Martin Schlegel’s tile-laying game, asks you to match colour, value or symbol while collecting chips and scoring tiles. The catch is that only your two strongest colours score positively; the other colours subtract points.

Setup

Give each player six chips and four tiles. Use 50 tiles with two players, then ten more per extra player, up to 90 with six. Place five face-up tiles in an M shape and use the remainder as the draw pile. Keep the two markers nearby.

Your turn

Place one hand tile beside existing tiles. Every neighbour must match at least one property: colour, value or symbol. Different neighbours may match different properties. Keep the entire layout within six rows and six columns, then draw back to four tiles.

A placement touching two, three or four tiles earns one, two or three chips from the player to your right. If that player lacks chips, payment continues around the table. You may instead pass, paying one chip if you have one and exchanging one hand tile with the draw pile.

Collecting a row

A contiguous row of five or six tiles is collected when the new tile also shares two properties with its neighbour in that row. Choose one qualifying row if both directions qualify. Starting with the triggering player, then moving right, take tiles while keeping the remaining layout connected by edges; at least one tile must remain in the row.

Ending and scoring

After the draw pile runs out, finish the next row collection; the game also ends if nobody can place. Discard hand tiles. Each chip is worth ten points. Add the tile values in your two best colours and subtract all other colours. Highest total wins.

First-game tips

Check every neighbour before placing, not only the first matching tile. A productive chip move can also trigger a row collection, so look at which colours the following players would receive.

Rules and further reading

Read our M review for a closer look at the game.