Pick a pen

Pick a Pen: Crypts

Each turn in Pick a Pen: Crypts, the active player rolls the five colored pencils, then chooses one and marks spaces on their individual player sheet. Each other player in turn drafts a pencil and uses it. Pencils show symbols on their different sides, and the symbols on top of the chosen pencil determine what players do on their sheets.

In this game, you want to fill in as many rows and columns as possible in an ancient crypt. You must progress in a row from left to right. When you fill a row, you can color in a symbol of your choice — and if you color a bold-framed symbol with the correct color, you can color another symbol as a bonus. Fill three spaces in a row or column with the same color, and you get a 3-point bonus; place every color in a row or column, and you score 5 bonus points instead.

When one player has filled all of their symbols, the game ends, and whoever has the most points wins.

Pick a Pen: Crypts includes three difficulty levels of player sheets, with different bonuses and effects on these sheets.

Pick a Pen: Gardens

Each turn in Pick a Pen: Gardens, the active player rolls the five colored pencils, then chooses one and marks spaces on their individual player sheet. Each other player in turn drafts a pencil and uses it. Pencils show symbols on their different sides, and the symbols on top of the chosen pencil determine what players do on their sheets.

Each sheet shows bordered gardens, and on a turn, you fill in the indicated number of spaces in that color; all of those spaces must be adjacent to one another, in addition to being adjacent to everything colored previously. Your goal is to fill gardens with only a single color or with five different colors, scoring bonus points as you do so. The game ends when a player has completely colored all of their gardens or failed to color in five times.

Pick a Pen: Gardens includes three difficulty levels of player sheets, with flowers and trees on sheets 2 and 3 to help you earn bonus points in different ways.

Pick a Pen: Reefs

Each turn in Pick a Pen: Reefs, the active player rolls the five colored pencils, then chooses one and marks spaces on their individual player sheet. Each other player in turn drafts a pencil and uses it. Pencils show symbols on their different sides, and the symbols on top of the chosen pencil determine what players do on their sheets.

Each sheet shows colored dive locations in the reefs. You can have only one route per color, so if you don't yet have a route of that color, you start one at an empty dive location; otherwise, you extend your existing route of that color. The symbols on the pencil indicate how many steps you can color in and whether you have to go straight or can choose freely. If you reach treasure chests or coins on your route, you can color in bonus points on your sheet. The game ends when one of the players has colored a certain number of treasures or all of their coins.

You each have a score sheet of the same level, on which you color in routes from different dive locations. The starting player first rolls all the pencils, each of which has a different color. There are different symbols on its sides. They show how many steps the route consists of that you can color on your score sheet.

Pick a Pen: Reefs includes three difficulty levels of player sheets, with sheets 2 and 3 featuring vortices and propellers that can hinder or help you in different ways when coloring routes.