Rules 2011

The following ruleset is pulled unaltered from the rules document stored at http://cheapass.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Button-Men-Rules.pdf

The Basics:
Players: 2

Playing Time: 10 minutes and up.

Equipment: One Button Men character for each player, and several polyhedral dice.

Summary of Play: Players fight several rounds, rolling dice and capturing each other’s dice. The first player to win three rounds wins the game.

The Dice:
Each fighter uses several dice of different sizes and types, as specified by the numbers on the artwork. As a rule, smaller dice mean speed, and large dice mean strength.

“X” is a variable die, or “Swing Die.” You may use any die between 4 and 20 sides for an “X.” If a character has more than one “X,” each of those dice must be the same size.

In casual play, you can always change your Swing Dice between rounds. In a tournament, each player chooses his starting dice in secret, and only the loser of each round may change.

The Game:
To Begin: Roll all of your fighter’s dice, and arrange your dice so they can be easily read. Players will now take turns.

Whoever rolled the single lowest number will go first. If the lowest dice are tied, compare the next lowest dice, and so on until a starting player is determined. If all numbers are tied, the game is a draw.

On Your Turn: You must make an attack if you can. The basic attacks are Power and Skill. Other attacks are permitted by other dice, described on page 3.

Power Attack: Use one of your dice to capture one of your opponent’s dice. The value showing on your die must be greater than or equal to the value showing on the die you capture. Take the captured die out of play, and re-roll the capturing die.

Skill Attack: Use one or more of your dice to capture one of your opponent’s dice. In this case, the values showing on your dice must add up exactly to the value showing on the die you capture. Remove the captured die from play, and re-roll all the capturing dice.

Passing: Passing means skipping your turn. You may not pass unless you cannot make any legal attack. When both players pass, the round is over.

Scoring: Calculate your score as follows:

For each die you captured, you score its size in points. For example, a captured 8-sided die is worth 8 points. For each die of your own which you kept, you score half its size. So, keeping your 8-sided die is worth only 4 points. The highest score wins the round, and the first player to win three rounds wins the game.

If any round is a draw, re-play it.

“Button Men is © 1999, 2011 James Ernest and Cheapass Games: www.cheapass.com and www.beatpeopleup.com”