How to play Beştaş: rules, stages and tips

Traditional five stones

Beştaş is played in courtyards, streets and schoolyards with five roundish stones. The rules vary a little from place to place; the most common version goes like this:

• Who starts: Each player tosses all five stones and tries to catch them on the back of the hand. Whoever catches the most starts.
• Ones: The stones are scattered. One stone is tossed, one stone is picked up from the ground before it falls, and the tossed stone is caught with the same hand. This goes on until all four are picked up.
• Twos, Threes, Fours: The same move; two per toss, then three and one, then all four at once.
• Bridge: One hand is placed on the ground like a bridge. While a stone is in the air, the ground stones are pushed under it.
• Backhand: All five are tossed and caught on the back of the hand; the number caught counts as points.

If the stone drops, an extra stone is touched or the stones bump into each other, the turn passes to the next player. Similar games are played around the world: gonggi in Korea, knucklebones or jacks in English speaking countries.

In the game: the goal

You play on your own. There are four stones on the ground and one in your hand. On each toss you throw the stone in your hand, tap as many ground stones as the stage asks while it is in the air, then tap your hand to catch it as it falls. When all four ground stones are collected, the stage is done.

You start with three lives. Finish all six stages before you run out and you win the round. The first time you win, Grandma names you the new master of the courtyard.

Controls: scatter, toss, pick up, catch

1. Scatter: Hold your finger on the hand and release. The moving bar shows the spread: low power scatters the stones close together, high power far apart.
2. Toss: Hold and release again. This time the bar is the toss power. The stone stays in the air for 1.5 seconds at the lowest power and 3 seconds at the highest.
3. Pick up: While the stone is in the air, tap a stone on the ground or swipe over it. The picked stone slides toward your hand with a green ring.
4. Catch: As the stone falls, tap your hand when the ring on it turns green. The catch window is about 0.4 seconds at low power and about 0.25 seconds at the highest.

On a computer you do the same with the mouse. The corner button, Esc or P pauses the game.

Tutorial: On your first toss the stone stops in the air and waits for you: first "Now tap the stone on the ground", then "Now tap your hand". The first time you reach a new kind of stage, Grandma explains it on a short card, and the stone waits again on the first toss (except in Backhand).

Stages

At the start of each stage you scatter the stones again (except in Backhand).

Points

Beştaş has no stars; at the end of the round you see your score and your best score. The Statistics screen shows your best score and how many rounds you have completed.

• Each stone picked up is worth 10 points, or 20 points in Bridge.
• Power bonus: A high toss adds up to +5 points per stone. Risky but rewarding: the catch window gets shorter.
• +50 points at the end of every stage.
• In Backhand each stone caught is worth 20 points; catch all five for +100 points (Perfect).

Fouls and lives

These are fouls; each costs a life and the stage carries on from the same point:

• Stone dropped: You didn't catch the tossed stone in time.
• Too early: You tapped your hand before the ring turned green.
• Not enough: You caught it before touching the required number of stones.
• Too many: You touched more stones than needed.
• In Bridge: touching another stone, letting stones collide, hitting the bridge or catching before the stone has passed.
• In Backhand: catching none, or fewer than 3.

When you run out of lives you are offered "Watch ad: +1 life" once: if you want, you watch a short ad and continue from the same stage with 1 life. It is always your choice and is offered once per round.

Tips

• Don't rush: holding a little longer gives you more time. At first, release the power bar near the middle.
• Scatter with medium power. Stones packed too tightly touch each other; stones spread too far are hard to reach.
• In Twos and Threes pick stones that lie close together; one move can touch two at once, but don't touch a third.
• After picking up, move your finger straight to the hand and watch the ring; tap when it turns green.
• In Bridge, drag the stone around in a wide curve and keep away from the other stones and the bridge.
• In Backhand the stones land one after another: tap once for each, with a steady rhythm.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the power at its lowest and thinking there is no time; hold a little longer and the stone stays up longer.
• Scattering the stones too tightly; then reaching for one stone you touch its neighbour too.
• Tapping the hand right after picking up; tapping before the ring turns green is an early foul.
• Tapping the hand in Twos before both stones are picked up; not enough also costs a life.
• Dragging the stone in Bridge along the short path, right past the other stones.
• Thinking one tap catches several stones in Backhand; each tap catches one.