A downloadable game

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Anchorline is a tiny card game for two players, inspired by classic games Tic-Tac-Toe and Nine Men's Morris. Some unique placement rules and the lack of a board make Anchorline feel like a completely new game.

RULES: (Leave Comments Here)


  • the 9 cards from the PDF
  • a coin
  • some way to keep track of points

As you take turns placing your cards, you'll be trying to make lines of three or more. When you make a line, remove all of your cards from the table, along with any cards that are no longer connected to the remaining cards. A line of three is worth one point, a line of four is worth two, and a line of five wins the game..

Place the Anchor in the middle of the table. Shuffle the four Seal cards and the four Seagull cards separately, placing each stack face-up in front of a player. Flip the coin to see who goes first, then place it on the Anchor.

A card is considered “Connected” if it is either orthogonally or diagonally adjacent to either the anchor, or another Connected card.


  • If you have cards in front of you: Place the top card of your stack next to the card with the coin on it. You must place your card so that one of the arrows on the previous card points to it. Move the coin to the card you placed.
  • If you don't have cards in front of you: Pick up one of your cards from the table, and place it next to the card with the coin on it. You may not move a card this way if it will leave cards unconnected. You may also not move the Anchor. Move the coin to the card you placed.
  • If you have been blocked from moving or placing a card, use your turn to move the coin back to the Anchor. Your opponent gets 1 point.

After you place or move a card, if you have made a straight line of three or more of your cards, (This can include the Anchor) Remove all of your cards in the line from the table, (Leave the Anchor where it is) along with any cards no longer connected to the Anchor. Shuffle the removed Seals and Seagulls separately, and place them under the corresponding stacks. Move the coin to the Anchor.

A line of three cards is worth 1 point, four cards is 2, five cards is 5. The first player to 5 points wins the game.


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Click download now to get access to the following files:

Anchor.pdf 805 kB
AnchorAlt.pdf 805 kB

Development log


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Looks interesting! Thanks for sharing!

Some clarification questions:

1. I'm assuming one player is the seagulls and one player is the seals, yes?

2. When you shuffle each stack of 4 cards individually, they get passed to the corresponding player face down?

3. Is a line of cards a straight line or can it bend (i.e. a tic-tac-toe line vs just a sequence of 3/4 like cards connected via arrows)?

4. A "connected card" is defined as a card that is pointing to another? Example: at the end of the round, if I have a card to the left of the anchor with the corner arrows, it is not connected to the anchor because it does not have an arrow pointing to the anchor?

(1 edit)

Hey, thanks for the feedback, I'll make some clarifications in the rules in the morning. But for now:

  1. Yes, one player is Seagulls, the other is Seals.
  2.  The card stacks are face-up, so you can see what your opponent will be placing.
  3. A line of cards is a straight line, either orthogonal or diagonal, with no bends.
  4. A card is connected as long as it is adjacent to another card that is part of the contiguous group of cards with the anchor in it, regardless of arrows.

Awesome, thanks for the clarifications! So the arrows only apply when placing the card relative to the coin card?

(1 edit)

That is correct. Also, thanks for the purchase!

We took this camping! Ended up in this situation here. Not sure how to proceed.

I did not foresee this scenario.

I think if one player can't play, the other player gets a point and the coin moves to the anchor. Does that sound fair?