Reactor is an intense and competitive contest where each player must react to the alarms of the reactor core before their opponents. Played with Blinks, the world's first smart tabletop game system, Reactor is a high-speed battle that takes advantage of the distributed intelligence of Blinks pieces to create a constantly shifting gameboard and dynamic difficulty levels. Originally created at the Global Game Jam 2020, Reactor takes inspiration from competitive fighting games, and distills them down to an intense contest of reflexes and concentration.

SETUP:
Arrange your Blinks so that each player has a single-file pathway to the center Blink. If possible, each player’s path should be the same length. When you are finished setting up, long-press the center Blink to start the Reactor.

GAMEPLAY:
The center Reactor will continuously flash colors. If it flashes the same color twice in a row, players must press the Blink at the end of their path to “buzz in.” The order in which the players buzz in will be shown by the color of their path. The first player to buzz in becomes green, the last player becomes red, and all others become yellow. Any player that does not buzz in is considered “last” and also displays red.

After results are shown, any player with a red path must remove the last piece on their branch and set it on the table in reach of all other players. This piece is now “unstable,” and displays a spinning yellow pattern.

All players, in addition to watching the Reactor, must now keep their eyes on these unstable Blinks. When an unstable Blink erupts in a green display, any player can grab it off the table and add it to the end of their chain. If the Blink flashes red instead, it is permanently out of the game.

WIN CONDITION:
The game continues until all players but one have lost all the Blinks in their pathway.

PAY UP VARIANT
Reactor can also be played with a set of “Pay Up” rules. In this version, players who display red after buzzing in, either because they buzzed last or didn’t buzz at all, must give their end pieces to the green player instead of setting them aside. Because players “Pay Up” after each round, there are no unstable Blinks on the table.

This version of the game is more focused than the standard rules, and two evenly-matched players can battle it out for a very long time.

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