As of 2020 = Currently Available for Licensing!

 'AHA' produced by B&R Mindworks 1990-1996.

Made in America of Walnut, Maple and Oak.

"AYA" produced 2001-2007 by ZOCH,

a German Company, for European distribution.

Assembled by Persons with Special Needs

Made in Composite Materials.

 "Match 5" produced by Mag-Nif 2005-2012

for North America and Japan

Rules in English

These are the rules AYA

produced by the German company ZOCH.

Contents: 1 Ball Track, 5 blue and 4 yellow balls, 39 Playing cards, (28 with dark backs and 11 with light backs), these rules:

THE BASIS OF THE GAME

Aim of Play:

The cards each show a pattern of balls. Each pattern consists of a combination of 5 blue and yellow balls. The players must attempt to recreate this pattern of blue and yellow balls in the "playing field", (the central portion of the Ball track). (see Diagram 1).

The pattern of colors on the card may be recreated from left to right or from right to left, i.e. "mirror images" count.

The Ball Track:

The track consists of a central "playing field" zone and two "side" zones. At the start of play the central zone contains 5 balls, with a further two balls in each side zone. The color order of the balls is irrelevant at this point. In the course of play, the color order of the balls will be changed, but the number of balls in each zone remains the same.

A Standard Move: The player whose turn it is takes a ball of their choice from the central zone of the track and places it on the outside of one of the two side zones, so that the inner ball in that side zone rolls into the central zone. In this way, there are always five balls in the central area of the track, and two in each of the side zones. This is the end of a standard move.

An Extraordinary Move: Is so called, because it is only played in exceptional circumstances, as outlined in these rules. Otherwise, a player may only make an extraordinary move, as a means of resolving the situation, where they have made an unsuccessful standard move, I.e., they are unable to match the pattern of colors on one of their cards. A player may not make an extraordinary move as an alternative to a standard move. An extraordinary move consists of the player taking the two outermost balls from the central area and placing them in the outermost positions of the side zones. This then causes the innermost ball from each side zone to be pushed into the "playing field" area, so maintaining, as always, fiv3e balls in the central zone.

The Playing Cards:

There are playing cards with dark backs and with light backs. A player that wishes to match the pattern on a dark backed card may use one standard move to reach their goal. A player who wishes to match a light-backed card, may take two standard moves to achieve the correct pattern. They make one standard move, and then a second, if they have not yet matched the pattern on the card.

Example 1: A) In this example, (Diagram 3) the pattern on the second card can be matched by moving the fourth ball is placed on the fight hand side of the track.

B) Placing the second ball on the left hand side gives the pattern shown on card 4.

Example 2: A) the pattern on card 1 can be matched in one move.

b) the pattern on card 5 can be matched in two moves.

Variant games: AYA can be played in various versions. The basic rules given above apply to all the following variations.

Variant 1) AYA or AHA.

Goal of game: Players attempt to match as many patterns from the opponent’s cards as possible, and simultaneously, to protect their own cards from their opponent.

Preparation: Shuffle the playing cards thoroughly. Each player takes a number of cards which they place face down in a pile in front of them. The number of cards per player is dependent on the number of players.

2 or 3 Players: 10 cards each

4 Players: 9 cards each

5 Players: 7 cards each

6 Players: 6 cards each

Any remaining cards (with 3 ?6 players) are placed face down as a ?neutral" pack next to the Ball Track. If there are only two players, the remaining cards are placed as two face down "neutral" decks, (one of 9 and one of 10 cards).

Then, all the cards (including the ?neutral packs) are turned face up. The game starts immediately.

Course of play: Play does not proceed in any order. Instead the first player to shout "AYA" or "AHA" takes their turn. If a player thinks that they can match the pattern on any one of the face up cards on the table, using one standard move, (or in the case of a light backed card, one or two standard moves), shouts "AYA". The first player to shout "AYA" takes their turn. They must carry out their turn without any delay or extra thought. If they manage to match the pattern on their chosen card (or cards) then they either remove the card (or cards) from the game, providing that it is a card from an opponent’s deck, or, if the card comes from their own deck, or one of the neutral decks, they add it to the bottom of their own deck.

Play then continues, and the next player to call takes their turn. If a player calls "AYA", but doesn’t manage to match a pattern immediately, the uppermost card is taken from their pack and removed from the game. The player to their left makes an extraordinary move, as described earlier in the rules, and play then continues as usual.

If a player is convinced that it is not possible to match any of the patterns on the visible cards, they should call “AHA". The other players now have a short time, to disprove this, by showing how one or more of the visible patterns can be matched. If they fail to manage this, all players, except the player who called "AHA", take the uppermost card from their pack and remove it from the game.

If the “AHA" player has made a mistake, and it is possible to match one of the patterns on the visible cards, they lose the uppermost card from their pack, and it is removed from the game. Then, their left hand neighbor continues the game with an "extraordinary" move.

Game End: The game ends immediately when one or more players have no more cards in front of them. The player with the most cards remaining wins.

Variant 2

AYA Rumkugeln

Preparation:

Shuffle the cards thoroughly and deal face down, equally to all players. Excess cards are removed from the game. Each player turns over 5 of their cards and places them face up in front of them (with 5 or 6 players, only 4 cards), the rest of their cards are placed face down next to the open cards.

Course of play:

Play proceeds in a clockwise direction, beginning with the first player to shout "AYA". The player whose turn it is attempts, using a standard move, to move the balls so that they match the pattern shown on one of their face up cards. They continue to play for as long as they can continue to match the patterns on their cards. Cards that have been matched are discarded by the Ball track. Once they fail to match one of the patterns on their cards, their turn is over, and they turn over sufficient cards from their face down pack until they have five cards face up in front of them again. (or less if they have insufficient cards face down to replace all that they have discarded.). the player whose turn it is must make at least one standard move, even if this does not result in them matching a pattern.

Game end:

The game ends when one player manages to discard his last card. The first player to achieve this is the winner. If a player manages to discard all five face up cards in one turn, that player wins immediately, even though they may still have face down cards in front of them. It is possible (if unusual), for it to be impossible for any player to match a pattern with the cards available. If three players in a row are unable to discard a card, the game finishes, and the player with the least cards remaining wins.

Variant 3

AYA Turbo

Preparation: One card is dealt face up in front of each player. As soon as one of these cards has been won, another card is turned up in it’s place, in this way, each player always has one card face up in front of them.

Course of play: play does not proceed in any fixed order. Instead, the first player to call "AYA", or "AHA" takes their turn. A player who is convinced that they can match the pattern on one of the face up cards using one standard move (for a dark-backed card, or 2 standard moves, for a light-backed card, calls "AYA". That player now takes their turn. They must immediately carry out their move, without delaying, or thinking further. If they manage to match a card or cards, they should take the card(s) that they matched and place them face down in a pile in front of them. Play continues immediately and the next player to call "AYA" now takes their turn. If a player fails to match a card, they lose the uppermost card from the cards they have already won and their left hand neighbor carries out an extraordinary move as outlined earlier. If a player is sure that it is impossible to match any of the face up cards, they should call "AHA". The other players now have a short time to prove the "AHA" caller wrong, by demonstrating a possible move, if this proves impossible, the "AHA" caller takes one card from each of the other player?s piles and adds it to his own, if the "AHA" caller was wrong though, and it was possible to match a card, they lose one card from their pile, and it is removed from the game. The left hand neighbor then makes an extraordinary move, and play continues.

Game End. The game finishes as soon as all the cards have been won. The player with the most cards in front of them wins.

Variant 4

Kindergarten ? AYA

Preparation:

Shuffle the cards well. Place five cards face up in the middle of the table, (you can play this with 8 or 10 cards face up). The rest of the cards are placed in a pile face down.

Course of Play: Play is in a clockwise direction. The player whose turn it is first makes an extraordinary move. Then they attempt to match the pattern on one or more of the face up cards, using the normal pattern of standard moves. (dark-backed 1, light-backed 2). If they succeed, they may take another turn. They place all the cards that they win in front of them. Once they cannot make a further move, they replace all the cards that they have won, so that the next player has 5, (or 8 or10) cards face up in front of them. The next player then takes their turn.

Game End: The game ends as soon as the last card from the face down pile is turned over. The player who has won the most cards is the winner.

AYA for Singles: It is possible to play AYA solitaire. To do this, place 10 ( or 20 or more) cards in a row, and then attempt to match the patterns on each in turn without pausing. Anyone that can achieve this well deserves the title of AYA Master.