Looking for specific Suspend rules? | Setup | Playing the Game | Beginner Game | Intermediate Game | Expert Game |
Setup
- Choose whether you are going to play the beginner, intermediate, or expert tournament game. While the rules are mostly the same, there are some differences between each game. See the corresponding sections below for more details.
- Place the wooden base on a flat surface.
- Attach the three metal rods without a color or hook to the three holes in the wooden base.
- Attach the wooden connector to the metal rod sticking up into the air.
- Connect the metal rod with a hook on one end to the wooden connector.
- Distribute the pieces evenly among the players so each player receives the same number of pieces of each color. Any extra pieces are put into a draw pile that the players can use during the game.
How to Play Suspend
If you are playing the intermediate or expert tournament games, you will roll the die. You will have to use a piece that matches the color you rolled on your turn. In the beginner game, you can pick any piece you want from your pile.
After you have chosen the piece that you want to add, you can only use one hand to place it. Should you ever touch any piece with your other hand, you must take your piece back and you lose your turn.
When choosing where you want to place your chosen piece, there aren’t many rules restricting where you can place it. You can hang the piece from the initial hook or any game pieces attached to the structure. You can place your current piece on any hook or straight section of a piece already connected to the base.
At the beginning of the game the players need to decide if you can hang things off the wooden connector.
The one exception to placing pieces is that you can’t add a piece to a space where another piece is already hanging. For example if a piece is already hanging from a hook, you can’t add your own piece to the same hook. If your piece should slide (after you let go of it) to a place that already has a piece, that is okay.
Should you place a piece that makes any part of the structure touch the table/play surface, you must take back your piece and place it so the structure no longer touches the play surface.
If you place a piece on the structure that leads to a piece(s) falling onto the table, you have to pick up any pieces that fell down. You will add all of these pieces to your own pile.
After you have placed a piece, your turn ends. Play passes to the next player. The game does not say if play passes clockwise or counterclockwise.
Beginner Game
In the beginner game the players take turns placing one of their pieces. Each player should place their largest pieces first and their shortest pieces last.
The first player to run out of pieces wins the game.
Intermediate Game
On your turn you will roll the die to determine which pieces you can place on your turn.
Should you roll a color that you no longer have, look at the draw pile or the other players’ piles of pieces. If another player or the draw pile has the color you rolled, you will take one of the matching color pieces and add it to the structure. If all of the matching color pieces are on the structure, your turn ends without you placing a piece.
The first player to get rid of all of their pieces wins the game.
Expert Tournament
In the expert tournament you will follow the rules of the intermediate game. When a player plays their last piece, the current round ends.
The player that played all of their pieces scores zero points. The rest of the players count up how many notches there on the pieces they were unable to play. You will score one point for each notch on the pieces that you were unable to play. For example black pieces are worth three points while orange pieces are worth seven points.
Once a player has scored 20 or more points in the game, they are eliminated. You will keep playing rounds until only one player remains. The last remaining player wins the game.
Should there be a tie, the tied players will take turns removing pieces from the structure. The turn order moves in the opposite direction as it did during the game. Should a player make a piece(s) fall off the structure, they are eliminated from the game. The player that removes the most pieces wins the game.
Components
- 24 Game Rods
- 4 Frame Rods
- Wooden Base
- Wooden Connector
- Color Die
- Instructions
Year: 2012 | Publisher: Melissa & Doug
Genres: Dexterity, Family
Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 1-4 | Length of Game: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate
For more board and card game rules/how to plays, check out our complete alphabetical list of card and board game rules posts.