Take it EasyBy Peter BurleyIt's a puzzle, it's a maze, it's a game. It's all three and much more! Place your pieces one at a time on the board. Try to form continuous rows of color from edge to edge. But one wrong tile and the whole row is worthless. It gets harder and harder as the number of vacant spaces on your board and your possible choices simultaneously diminish. Everyone has the same chance as everyone else because everyone plays the same tiles in the same order. But all the boards will be different at the end and only one player will have used the tiles in the best way, scored the most points, and won the game.Setting UpEach player should take one game board and the matching set of pieces.Decide which player will be the Caller. The Caller turns his pieces face down and shuffles them thoroughly. All the other players leave their pieces face up.Object of the GameThe winner is the player who scores the most points.Playing the GameThe Caller selects one of his pieces and turns it face up. He announces the three numbers on this piece. Each of the other players should find this same piece among their set of pieces. Then every player, including the Caller, places this piece on their own board. After all the players have placed their piece, the Caller selects the next piece. Play continues in this way until the boards are full (19 pieces).Placement RulesThe pieces must always be placed so that the numbers are straight up (as if you were reading them on a page). Only one piece may be placed on any one space. Within these two rules, each piece may be placed anywhere on the board.Once placed, a piece may not be moved.As the game progresses, players will be unable to place pieces to match up to all the existing pieces. However, each piece drawn by the Caller must be placed by every player.Players should avoid looking at each others' boards. It won't help you anyway.End of the GameAfter the 19th piece has been placed and all players' boards are full, players count their scores.Players score points for each row in each of the three directions, diagonally from the bottom left to the top right, vertically, and diagonally from the bottom right to the top left. However, points are only scored fro rows of continuous color. The row must run from edge to edge without any change in color. If there is even one piece of a different color in a row, it is worthless.Multiply the number of pieces in the row by the value of the color to get the score for each row. Example: Five yellow pieces (vertically) would score 45 (5 x 9).Add the score to each row to get a final score.To make sure the scores are correct, each player should also count the points for the player on his left.A Longer GamePlayers may play more than one round f they want a longer game. They should keep track of the scores at the end of each round.Variations1. Easier Game. The Caller turns over two pieces each time. All players then place both pieces. Only the 19th piece is turned over by itself.2. Harder Game. Only the first piece may be placed freely. Beginning with the second piece, players must place pieces on spaces that are adjacent to existing pieces.3. No Caller. This version is very different from the basic game. There is no Caller. Each player plays with his pieces face up. Each player, in turn, chooses a piece and announces it, and then every player must place this piece. In this version, players should look at their opponents' boards and base their selection on their boards as well as their own.Playing SolitaireTAKE IT EASY is a great solitaire game. Each time you play, your goal is to surpass your previous high score. The ultimate goal is to score 307 points, which is the highest possible score.