Borderless Walk

What you need

• One copy of the public seam reference and the twelve board cards; choose three boards per session

• Pencils and erasers; scrap paper for a link list or route sequence

• The separate hint-and-answer pages, covered until requested; no scissors, counters, ruler or timer is required

Set up

1. Print single-sided. Keep the answer pages separate. For an introductory session use BW06, BW10 and BW03 in that order; for later sessions choose any three unseen cards. These are suggested starting points, not measured difficulty levels.

2. Choose a first planner and sit in a fixed order. Everyone may discuss and write scratch work. A planner controls one change to the shared board each turn; the next person checks it, then becomes planner. Continue this order between boards.

3. Read the active card’s blocked cells, fixed links and exact H and V counts aloud. Mark its fixed links before play. They are part of the final loop and cannot be erased. All other links start absent.

How to play

1. Your goal is one closed loop visiting every open cell exactly once, then returning to its starting cell. A blocked X is never visited. Every open cell must have exactly two different incident links, and all open cells must belong to the same loop. Two or more smaller loops do not succeed.

2. Columns A–D run left to right and rows 1–4 top to bottom. Ordinary neighbors share a side. In addition, A1 and D1 are neighbors, A2 and D2 are neighbors, and likewise for rows 3 and 4. Those four links cross the horizontal seam. Each column’s row-1 and row-4 cells are also neighbors; those four links cross the vertical seam. No other edge shortcut or diagonal is allowed.

3. Count H as the number of distinct left/right wrap links in the finished loop, and V as the number of distinct top/bottom wrap links. Count a wrap link once, regardless of traversal direction. A fixed wrap link counts toward its relevant total. A corner does not allow a diagonal double wrap: A1 can wrap to D1 or A4, never directly to D4.

4. On your turn, add one permitted nonfixed link, erase one nonfixed link, or pass. State both endpoint coordinates. The checker verifies adjacency and that neither endpoint is blocked. A duplicate link is not an additional connection. Nobody may move or erase a fixed link. The current planner makes the final choice after discussion.

5. Tentative drawings may contain dead ends, too many incident links, too many seam crossings, or several small loops. That is allowed while exploring; mark the problem and repair it on later turns. Only the locked final submission must satisfy every condition. There is no move limit, timer or speed bonus.

6. Draw ordinary links between cell centers. Represent a wrap link by matching marks at its two board edges, such as H2 on both ends of A2–D2. A written list of coordinate pairs is equally valid and is authoritative when a sketch is unclear. Lines crossing outside the grid never create a junction. You may instead submit a cyclic coordinate sequence, with each open cell listed once and its first cell repeated at the end.

7. Before locking, ask everyone whether they need a final change. Check every fixed link, then every cell’s degree of two. Finally trace from any open cell: you must return to it only after visiting all the others, and H/V must equal the printed totals. A legal-looking short loop is not enough. Correct any discovered error before locking without penalty.

8. Each board has a gentle hint and a stronger hint in the separate guide. Anyone may request either; record HINT USED. Keep the full solution covered. When everyone agrees to lock, check the submitted loop against all rules and reveal the matching answer. The verified loop is unique up to choosing a different starting cell or walking it in reverse.

9. For each board, record 2 shared points for a correct locked solution without a hint, 1 for a correct locked solution after any hint, and 0 if the group stops, reveals the solution before locking, or locks an invalid result. After a 0-point result, you may finish it together as unscored practice. Accidental full-answer exposure makes that board practice; choose an unseen replacement if available.

Ending and ties

• After three scored boards, total 0–6 shared points. Six is a fully unaided session; every solved board is still a completion worth recording. There are no individual winners or tiebreakers.

• For four return visits, use this suggested three-board schedule: session 1, BW06/BW10/BW03; session 2, BW11/BW01/BW05; session 3, BW07/BW09/BW02; session 4, BW08/BW12/BW04. The order begins with compact boards, then mixes different seam demands; it is not a playtested difficulty ladder.

• The deck supplies four three-board sessions. Put used boards aside. On a familiar board, treat solving as practice because remembered answers change the challenge. Duration is an estimate and this edition has not had a live group playtest.

• On a familiar board, cover the guide and explain why links are forced, or let someone new lead while experienced players check rules. Record it as familiar practice, not a fresh-score comparison. Each board has only one loop, so searching for a genuinely different correct loop is not a replay goal.

Make room for everyone

• All cells use letters, numbers and X marks; no color distinction is necessary. Enlarge the boards freely.

• A scribe may draw exactly the links another player names. For a fully verbal game, maintain a public link list and read both coordinates of every addition or deletion.

• Discussion and reading are untimed. Rotate who checks the degree count, the seam totals and whole-loop connectivity; do not require one person to do all three checks.

ROUND & REVEL / Borderless Walk / PLAYER MATERIALS

Printable materials

Print single-sided at 100% size. Cut only the pieces described in setup; leave boards and reference sheets whole. Check the print preview before printing.