The quick version
The hook identifies the active player. Flip the top instruction onto a discard pile. Combine its placement instruction with the new deck-top card: that top specifies either a girder of one of two colors or a worker on one of two girder colors.
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Prepare the table
One player sets three supports on the table and balances one girder of each of the four colors on them. No girder touches the table. Put a worker with both feet on one girder. Leave the other pieces in a supply. Give everyone three safety certificates. Shuffle the instruction deck with orange signs upward and insert Boss Rita roughly one quarter of the way down. Put awards and the rescue hook nearby. Choose a starter and hand them the hook.
Play a turn
The hook identifies the active player. Flip the top instruction onto a discard pile. Combine its placement instruction with the new deck-top card: that top specifies either a girder of one of two colors or a worker on one of two girder colors. The discarded card supplies the matching girder or worker requirement. Use the rulebook's illustrated card reference; if the required site pieces do not exist, reveal another instruction.
Use one hand. You may test positions and move existing pieces using the piece being added, but may not touch existing pieces directly. A new girder cannot touch the table, rest on a helmet, or completely cover another girder. A worker's two feet must touch its permitted girder. Put required beams and bricks on the worker's arms, except a card's specific shoulder instruction. The placement must meet all instructions when you release it.
If a piece, including a helmet, falls onto the table or a worker, lose one certificate and end your turn. A support falling by itself is not a base-game accident; a fallen piece caught elsewhere on the structure is not either, but you must finish the same placement. Lose your last certificate and leave the game. Pass the hook left. After an accident the next player first returns fallen pieces to supply, using the hook for pieces under the site; cleaning up can itself cause an accident and end that player's turn.
When Rita appears, put her beside the awards and reveal another instruction. Thereafter a successful placement earns one award if a piece you added reaches the site's highest position. Check close heights with the measuring stick. When reaching the final instruction card, set prior discards aside, reveal that card, and reshuffle the others to form a new deck.
Finish and score
Win immediately with five awards in a two-player game, four with three or four players, or three with five players. You also win if you are the only player with a certificate left. If materials run out or all workers are on the site, stop: most remaining certificates plus awards wins; break ties with more awards, then share victory.
Host the first game
Keep elbows off the table and arrange the site within comfortable reach. In Reddit's favorite dexterity games discussion, players praise the surprisingly varied challenges and humor. Demonstrate the two-card instruction before the first turn and explain that a caught piece is different from one reaching the table.
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Ideas & Twists
Choose a variation together before you start.
Men at Work · See main rules
Published base-box variantForeman choices
Before forming the deck deal each player two instruction cards. On their turn they may play one onto the deck to change what must be placed, or onto the discard to change the constraint. Do not replace used cards. In this variant workers must use the highest girder of the chosen allowed color.
Men at Work · See main rules
Published base-box variantCrane construction
Assemble the supplied crane and platform in the site's center after setup. All its parts may support construction; a piece falling onto its platform counts as an accident. The normal award and certificate finish applies.
Men at Work · See main rules
Published setup optionExpert certificates
Everyone starts with two certificates rather than three. Keep the normal award target and accident rules.
Men at Work · See main rules
Original STUDplay house twistRita from the start
Remove Rita from the deck and display her beside the awards during setup. Height awards begin on the very first turn, making early placements competitive.
Men at Work · See main rules
Original STUDplay house twistHands alternate
Each player alternates the hand used for construction on their own successive turns. Choose a starting hand and track it with a paper left/right marker. Clean-up uses that turn's assigned hand too; the supplied hook remains allowed.
About this guide
Requires the named physical game and its supplied components. Rules are paraphrased teaching guidance; keep the box's cards and reference diagrams beside the table. Original STUDplay house twists are optional, untested suggestions rather than publisher rules. Agree one before setup; unchanged rules still apply.
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