How to play Highrise Heist: rules and your first game

Highrise Heist is a strategy board game for 1–2–4 players: play against the AI (an AlphaZero-class neural net) or a live opponent online. The rules take a minute to learn and hold hundreds of games of depth. Here it is step by step.

BOARD AND GOAL

The board has 10 stands. Each holds up to 11 blocks — then the highrise is "completed" and closes. The color of the top group of blocks decides who owns the highrise. Goal: close 6 of the 10 highrises in your color.

YOUR TURN

Each turn you do one of two things:
1. Place 1 to 3 blocks on 1–2 stands (the very first move is 1 block only).
2. Transfer: lift the top group of your blocks off one stand and move it onto another (same color on top, or an empty stand).

THE TRANSFER IS THE KEY MOVE

A transfer changes a stand's owner: by moving your group on top of an opponent's nearly-finished highrise, you snatch it at the last moment. The transfer is what turns the game from "who stacks fastest" into real strategy.

THE GOLDEN STAND

Stand #1 is golden. If the game ends 5:5, whoever controls the golden highrise wins. Keep it in mind from move one.

YOUR FIRST GAME

1. Start against the Easy AI in "Player vs AI".
2. Build toward the center — central stands complete faster.
3. Don't rush to close: watch that the opponent can't snatch a stand with a last-block transfer.
4. Experiment with transfers — they're the key to comebacks.

What next: raise the AI difficulty, try ranked online, the 4-player Golden Rush mode and the daily Puzzle Rush. Full rules are in the Rules tab, and you can play free right in the browser.