Sim: how to play
Sim is one of the games in Classic Nook, a pencil-and-paper classic with six points and two colours. Play Classic Nook or go back to all the Classic Nook games.
The idea
Six points make a hexagon. You and your opponent take turns drawing a line between two points: red draws first, then blue. Whoever completes a triangle of their own colour loses. Triangles that mix red and blue lines do not count. There are no draws: with six points, someone is always forced to close a triangle in the end.
Opening the game
In the Classic Nook hub, Sim sits on the middle shelf (the pink tile). Tap it to open its menu. The house button at the top left always takes you back to the shelves. During a round, the arrow next to it goes back to Sim's own menu, and the ? button opens a short how-to-play card, which also opens by itself the first time you play.
How to play
- On the menu, choose Play the computer (Easy, Medium or Hard) or Two players.
- Tap a point, then tap another point. A line joins them in your colour. Nobody can draw twice on the same line.
- Keep going in turn. If you complete a triangle with three lines of your own colour, you lose.
- A red ring warns you when a line would close a triangle of your own colour.
- The round ends the moment a triangle is closed, and the three lines of it are shown.
On a phone you tap with your finger; on a computer you click with the mouse. There are no keyboard shortcuts.
The computer
- Easy often avoids closing its own triangle, but not always, and otherwise draws anywhere.
- Medium avoids its own triangle whenever it can and plays with some care.
- Hard plays perfectly. Against it you can only win when you start and play every move right.
Against the computer, who draws first changes from round to round, so you are sometimes red and sometimes blue. The game tells you your colour at the top.
Two players on one device
Choose Two players and pass the device back and forth: red first, then blue. Two-player rounds have free Undo, Hint and Restart, and they pay no coins.
Coins, hints and undo
The whole Classic Nook collection shares one coin count. You start with 30 coins and get 30 more as a welcome-back gift each day you come back. Against the computer, a win pays coins:
| Level | Win pays |
|---|---|
| Easy | 5 coins |
| Medium | 10 coins |
| Hard | 25 coins |
| Button | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Undo | Takes back your last move, and the computer's replies after it. | 10 coins |
| Hint | Puts a yellow ring on both points of the best line to draw. | 15 coins |
| Restart | Starts the round again. | Free until you have made your second move, then 5 coins |
If you lose against the computer, the result card offers Undo at the same price, so you can take back the losing move.
What is saved
Your coins, your record for each level (won and lost; in two-player rounds, red wins and blue wins) and who draws first are saved automatically. A round in progress is not saved.
Tips
- Count the safe lines. Late in the round, the player who runs out of lines that do not close a triangle loses.
- Try not to make "corners": two lines of your colour meeting at one point leave a third line that is dangerous to you.
- Lines that are dangerous for both players are worth saving. Use up the lines only you can safely draw later.
- Not sure? A Hint costs 15 coins, but Easy and Medium wins pay back 5 and 10, so use it on the rounds that matter.
- Starting second is no disadvantage with perfect play, so do not give up when the colours switch.
Questions or problems? Contact us.