Fightball

**Release Date**: April, 2004

**Set Size**: 10 Buttons; 12 cards (Print and Play Free Edition); 12 cards (Drive Thru Cards Edition)

**Publisher**: Cheapass Games

**Designers**: James Ernest

**Artist:** Eduardo Muller, Mike Selinker

**New Rules**: Take-Five Dice (Select Dice)

Fightball is set in the same world as the Real Time Card Game of the same name takes place, and features several characters from the card game.  In Fightball, Men are men, women are women, and everyone has balls.

The set was sold as either two five packs for $10 each without dice, or as a set of ten with 36 polyhedral dice included for $32. Set 1 included Tex, Rocq, Skinny, Georgia, and Brie. Set 2 included Domino, Echo, Gordo, Mel, and Pavel. Zal and Pepper would not appear until the Free Edition.

The Fightball dice are all Take-Five Dice (Select), of which you pick five when you begin the round.  The loser of the previous round may change any or all of their dice before the next game.

## Rules Sheet

FightBall Button Men™ --A mean little dice game by James Ernest

Players: 2

Equipment: One button for each player, and several polyhedral dice.

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

The Dice: Each character is composed of several dice of different sizes, between 4 and 20 sides, as specified by the numbers on that button. As a general rule, small dice mean speed, and large dice mean strength.

"Take Five" Rule: All characters in the Fightball set have the "Take Five" rule: although each character is marked with seven or eight dice, a player must use exactly five of these dice in any single game. Between games, you may change your character's dice by choosing a different set of five from the list.  ¶ In casual play, you can always change your dice between rounds. However, in a tournament game each player chooses his starting dice in secret, and only the loser of each round may change dice. The dice you choose for each game will depend on your strategy and style of play.

To Begin the Game: Roll all of your fighter's dice. Arrange your dice so they can be easily read by both players.  ¶ Whoever rolled the single lowest number goes first. If the lowest dice are tied, compare the next lowest, and so on until a starting player is determined. After this, players will take turns until the round ends.  ¶ If all five starting dice are tied, the game is a draw.

On Your Turn: Each turn, you must make one Attack if you can. The two basic attacks are Power and Skill Attacks.

Power Attack: Use one of your dice to capture one of your opponent's dice. The number showing on your die must be greater than or equal to the number showing on the die you capture. Take the captured die out of play, then 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 dice you capture. Remove the captured die from play, and re-roll all the capturing dice.  ¶ Note that following any attack, only the attacking dice are re-rolled. The other dice remain as they were.

Passing: Passing means skipping your turn. You may not pass unless you cannot make any legal attack.

Scoring: When both players pass, the round is over. (In this set, this always happens when one player is out of dice.) Calculate your score as follows: For each die you captured, score is 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 own 8-sided die is worth only 4 points.  ¶ The highest score wins the round, and the first player to win three rounds (out of five) wins the game. If any round is a draw, re-play it.

Example of Play: Skinny take (4, 5, 8, 8, 10), and Mel decides to use (4, 8, 10, 20, 20). Their starting rolls are:

Skinny:  1  1  4  8  10

Mel:  1  2  5  12  19

The first pair of 1's cancel, and Skinny will go first because he has another 1, which is lower than Mel's next lowest number, a 2. Skinny decides to make a Skill Attack and capture Mel's 19. He re-rolls his 10, his 8, and one of his 1's, and takes Mel's 20-sided die showing 19. Now it's Mel's turn.

Button Men is a game with more than 30 expansions and 300 characters. Play the game online today at www.buttonmen.com!

Fightball Button Men was designed by James Ernest, illustrated by Eduardo Müller, using artwork from the real time card game Fightball®, designed by James Ernest and Mike Selinker. Fightball Button Men is © 2004 Cheapass Games, www.cheapass.com

## Fun Facts!

Fightball has two characters with the same name as previously published characters, Gordo and Echo.

S(4) S(6) S(8) S(10)
S(12) S(12) S(20)
S(4) S(4) S(8) S(8)
S(8) S(10) S(12)
S(4) S(6) S(6) S(6)
     Georgia
S(6) S(6) S(8) S(8)
S(12) S(20) S(20)
S(4) S(6) S(6) S(8)
S(8) S(10) S(20)
S(4) S(4) S(8) S(10)
     Pavel
S(6) S(10) S(10) S(12)
S(12) S(20) S(20)
S(6) S(10) S(10) S(10)
S(12) S(12) S(12) S(16)
S(6) S(10) S(10) S(12)
     Skinny
S(4) S(4) S(4) S(6)
S(8) S(8) S(10)
S(4) S(4) S(6) S(8) S(10)
S(10) S(12) S(12)
S(4) S(6) S(6) S(16)
S(16) S(20) S(20)

Print And Play Edition

1. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20040404100719/http://www.cheapass.com:80/
2. ↑ https://www.drivethrucards.com/product/121278/Button-Men-Fightball
3. ↑ http://www.buttonweavers.com/ui/forum.html#!threadId=35