☀ Siesta — Rules
By Guido Hoffman, Goldsieber Spiele 1999 · 2–4 players · ~30 min
Goal
Score points by forming Siestas — sequences of Sun → Roof → Shadow — on the 12×12 board. The player with the most points when the game ends wins.
Pieces
| Piece | Supply | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| ☀ Sun | 25 | Shared |
| ■ Shadow | 75 | Shared |
| ▲ Roof | 15 per player | Each player (by color) |
Turn structure
First turn only
Place exactly 1 Sun + 1 Roof (your color) + 1 Shadow, all three touching each other (contiguous), forming a complete Siesta immediately.
All subsequent turns
Place exactly 3 pieces in any combination and any order. The pieces do not need to touch each other, but each must be adjacent (orthogonally) to at least one piece already on the board.
You must score at least 1 point for yourself on every turn. If you cannot, the game ends immediately.
You may never place more pieces of a kind than are left in the supply.
Placement rules
- ☀ Sun — may never be placed adjacent to a Shadow.
- ■ Shadow — may never be placed adjacent to a Sun. Must immediately form part of at least one Siesta.
- ▲ Roof — may be adjacent to any piece. You may only place your own color.
Scoring: Siesta
A Siesta is a contiguous orthogonal line reading Sun(s) → Roof(s) → Shadow(s), read from either end of a row or column — the sun shines from all four sides. There is no upper limit on the number of each piece type in a sequence.
A Siesta scores when your turn creates it or lengthens its Shadows:
- Each Shadow in the Siesta = +1 point for every player who has at least one Roof in that Siesta.
- Having multiple Roofs of the same color does not multiply the score.
- A Siesta already standing on the board does not score again. Adding more Suns behind the Sun that already casts the Shadow changes nothing and earns nothing.
Scoring: Double Siesta
A Double Siesta occurs when the same Shadow cells are roofed from two directions at once — Sun → Roof → Shadow → Roof → Sun along one line, or a horizontal and a vertical Siesta crossing on the same Shadows. Each Siesta scores on its own, and a player holding a Roof in both earns a further flat +2 (regardless of how many Shadows are involved). Opponents may hold Roofs there too; that does not cancel the bonus.
End conditions
The game ends immediately after scoring when any of these occur:
- The last Sun is placed.
- The last Shadow is placed.
- Any player places their last Roof.
- The active player cannot make a legal move that scores at least 1 point for themselves.
Game modes
Free-for-all (FFA)
Each player scores individually. ELO rating is updated after each game when two or more humans play. Using a hint leaves you out of that game's rating, and the turn is marked 💡 in the replay.
Teams (2 vs 2, 4 players only)
Teams are assigned randomly at the start. Team scores are the sum of both teammates' individual scores. The team with the higher combined score wins. Ties count as a draw (no win or loss recorded).
Board coordinates
Columns are labelled A–L (left to right) and rows are labelled 1–12 (top to bottom), matching the labels shown around the board. Error messages use this notation, e.g. F5.