Quick-Start Summary

HAVOX is a fast 4-player, 2v2 team marble-racing arena game. Two teams battle to race all their marbles home first.

On your turn, you get two action windows:

1. Activate / Deploy Window — Deploy a marble with a D-M card, play Warp or Duplicate, or skip.
2. Movement Window — Play one movement card, or pass by discarding one card.

Components & Deck

• 20 marbles — 5 Crimson, 5 Cyan, 5 Amber, 5 Violet
• 1 shared deck — 162 cards
• 72-space outer Track loop
• 4 Start areas, 4 Deploy spaces, 4 Home Entry pips
• 4 private Home Lanes — 5 slots each
• 7-card hand per player

Deck Composition

Setup

1. Seat players in turn order: Crimson → Cyan → Amber → Violet
2. Confirm teams: Crimson + Amber are Team A. Cyan + Violet are Team B.
3. Place all 5 marbles of each color in that color's Start area.
4. Shuffle the 162-card deck.
5. Deal 7 cards to each player.
6. Choose first player. Default: Crimson starts.
7. Begin with the first player's Activate / Deploy window.

Objective & Win Condition

A marble counts as "Home" when it occupies one of its color's 5 Home Lane slots. Team progress is combined — Crimson's Home marbles + Amber's Home marbles = Team A's total.

Board Anatomy

Start Area

Where your marbles begin. Safe from normal movement. A marble can only leave Start through Deploy or Warp — never with a regular movement card.

Deploy Space

Each player has one Track space where their marbles enter the board. A D-M card deploys a marble from Start to this space.

• If occupied by your own marble — deployment is illegal.
• If occupied by an opponent — deploy bumps them to Start.
• If occupied by your partner — Partner Helper may trigger.

Track

The main 72-space perimeter loop. Forward movement is clockwise. Reverse is counterclockwise. Most interaction — bumps, Partner Helper, Warp targets, and OVERTAKE — happens here.

Home Entry Pip

Each player's special Track pip near their Home Lane. It is still part of the Track and is not safe — opponents can bump or OVERTAKE marbles here. Once a marble has completed a lap and moves forward from its Home Entry pip, it may enter its Home Lane.

Home Lane

A private 5-slot scoring lane. Only that color's marbles can enter. Marbles in Home Lane are safe from bumping, OVERTAKE, and Warp. A marble cannot reverse out of Home Lane.

Turn Structure

1. Activate / Deploy Window — Play a D-M card to deploy, play D-M as movement, play Warp, play Duplicate, or skip.
2. Movement Window — Play one movement card, or pass by discarding one card.
3. Resolve Pending Choices — If OVERTAKE triggers, choose a victim. If Burn triggers, discard as prompted.
4. Draw back to 7 cards.
5. Turn passes to the next player.

D-M Cards: Deploy or Move

D-M means Deploy-or-Move. There are two types: D-M (10) and D-M (+1).

When played, a D-M card can do one of two things:

1. Deploy one marble from Start to your Deploy Space.
2. Move one of your board marbles forward by the card value (10 or 1).

Deployment Rules

• You may deploy only your own marble from Start.
• If your Deploy Space has your own marble, Deploy is illegal.
• If your Deploy Space has an opponent, Deploy bumps that opponent to Start.
• If your Deploy Space has your partner, Partner Helper may send your partner to their Home Entry pip.

Movement Rules

Movement uses exact count. Forward is clockwise, reverse is counterclockwise.

Bump vs OVERTAKE

These are different mechanics.

Bump

Simple collision. Land exactly on an opponent → that opponent goes to Start. Only the landed-on opponent is affected.

OVERTAKE

A bonus disruption for passing multiple opponents.

• Trigger: During one movement card, your marble passes through 2 or more distinct opponent marbles.
• Both forward and reverse movement can trigger OVERTAKE.
• Teammates never count as opponents for OVERTAKE.
• When triggered, choose one eligible passed opponent marble to send to Start.

Partner Helper

The core team mechanic. When your marble lands exactly on your partner's marble on a Track pip, your partner's marble jumps forward to their own Home Entry pip — becoming lapped and ready to enter Home.

Trigger

• Your marble lands exactly on your partner's marble on a Track pip, or
• You deploy or warp onto a partner-occupied Track pip.

Restrictions

• If your partner is already on their Home Entry pip — illegal (redundant).
• If your partner's Home Entry pip is jammed or blocked by their own marble — illegal.
• If an opponent occupies your partner's Home Entry pip, that opponent is bumped to Start first.

Home Lane Rules

A marble can enter its Home Lane only after completing a lap (becoming "lapped").

How to Become Lapped

• Moving forward onto or past your Home Entry pip.
• Reverse movement that crosses your Home Entry pip.
• Warping directly to your Home Entry pip.
• Being sent there via Partner Helper.

Entering Home Lane

• A lapped marble moving forward from its Home Entry pip peels into Home Lane slot 1.
• Movement must be exact — overshooting beyond slot 5 is illegal.
• A marble cannot reverse out of Home Lane.
• Home Lane marbles are safe — cannot be bumped, OVERTAKEN, or Warped.
• You cannot pass through or land on your own marble in Home Lane.

Split 7

A forward-only split movement card.

Split 9

A mixed-direction split movement card.

Warp

A special setup-window card. Teleport one marble to any legal Track pip.

• Playable during the Activate / Deploy window only.
• Choose one marble (from Start or Track) and one legal Track pip.
• Home Lane marbles cannot be Warped.
• Can target an opponent-occupied pip — bumps that opponent.
• Can target a partner-occupied pip — triggers Partner Helper.
• Warp does not trigger OVERTAKE.
• Warp always ends the turn.

Duplicate

A special setup-window card. Copy a recent card played by another player.

• Playable during the Activate / Deploy window only.
• Copies one eligible recent non-self, non-Duplicate card.
• Duplicate cannot copy itself — no loops.
• Resolve the copied effect as if you played it, obeying all normal rules.
• If the copied effect has no legal target, it fizzles.
• Duplicate always ends the turn after resolving.

Passing, Burning & No Legal Play

Pass Move

During the Movement window, you may pass. Passing costs 1 card of your choice (discarded). After passing, draw back to 7 and the turn ends.

Burn

If you begin your turn with no playable cards, the game triggers a Burn prompt. Discard the required cards as prompted, then the game continues to the next turn.

Ratings & Ranks

HAVOX uses a skills-based performance ranking system. Your Individual Skill Rating (ISR) reflects both wins and how well you play.

ISR Formula

ISR Delta = clamp(Result Base + Performance Modifier, -35, +35)

Result Base: Win +18, Loss -12. Performance modifier ranges from -17 to +17 based on in-game actions.

Performance Modifiers

• Home marbles: +2 each
• OVERTAKE removals: +4 each
• Warp plays: +2 (general), +3 (defensive)
• Defensive stop: +4 | Home-entry stop: +5
• Partner Helper: +3 | Partner home help: +4
• Pass/burn tempo cost: -2 each (max -6)

ISR Tiers

First-Game Teaching Script

Use this script to teach new players in under 60 seconds:

Frequently Asked Questions