T-3 Explodes
Also written T3 Explodes · a T-3 game on zen2play
Set off the chain. Take the board.
T-3 Explodes is our take on the strategy and logic game played round the world as Chain Reaction: the same explosions, with our T3rminators, on 5 × 5 and 8 × 8 boards for 2 players, with Zen Calm and Zen Master to play against.
Free to play. No dice and no draws: the last player with T3rminators on the board wins. Play people, or Zen.
A real game Zen played: Red against Green on 8 × 8, forty placements in.
How it plays
Every cell has a limit: the number of its neighbours - up, down, left and right, never diagonal.
Add a T3rminator
On your turn tap an empty cell or one of yours: one T3rminator is added. You can never place on a rival's cell.
Explode
A cell that reaches its limit explodes: one T3rminator flies to each neighbour, and every cell it reaches becomes yours - all of its T3rminators with it.
Last one standing
A player with no T3rminators left has lost. The player with T3rminators on the board wins - the game ends the moment that happens, even in the middle of a chain.
One T3rminator, one chain, half the board
A cell that receives a T3rminator and reaches its own limit explodes in the next wave - and so on. The whole chain is your one turn.
Before: Red adds one T3rminator to the ringed cell.
After: wave after wave, the chain turns most of Green's corner Red.
Read the board before you add a T3rminator
A cell one T3rminator below its limit is primed - one more and it explodes. Primed cells shiver on the board.
Primed: a corner with 1, an edge cell with 2, an inner cell with 3.
Count the threats. Before each move, look for every primed cell - yours and your rivals'. A rival's primed cell next to your stack can take the whole stack in one burst.
More T3rminators is not more strength. A few well-placed ones often turn a much bigger group.
Build chains, not piles. Primed cells side by side explode one after another.
Two boards, two players
Pick a board in the Board size card beside the game.
5 × 5 Quick
Twenty-five cells, two players: fast and fierce. Nobody can be knocked out until each player has placed four T3rminators.
8 × 8 Strategy
Sixty-four cells, two players: room to build and to plan the big chain.
People or Zen
Play a person, or Zen Calm (two moves ahead) and Zen Master (deeper).
Your colour
Red, Green, Blue or Purple: pick yours; the others take the rest.
Clock
30 seconds a move (60 for your first); against a person 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes each.
Rating
Two-player games against people: +6 a win, −3 a loss, a rating for each board. Games against Zen are never rated.
Rules at a glance
Can a game be drawn?
Never. Explosions never create or lose T3rminators, and every chain ends - with one player left, or with the board settled.
Can I pass or undo?
No. Every turn adds one T3rminator, and a placed one stays.
What if a cell gets more than its limit?
It loses exactly its limit and keeps the rest. At the very end a cell can hold more than three T3rminators: tap it to count them.
When can I be knocked out?
Only after the opening: both players have placed once on 8 × 8, four times on 5 × 5.
What if a player leaves?
Resigning or running out of time loses, and the other player wins - against a person or against Zen.
How is a move written?
By its cell, column letter then row number: c3. a1 is the bottom-left corner.
One T3rminator can change everything.
Sign in and set off your first chain in under a minute.