Missing Monsters

Missing Monsters is a find-the-match game for one to four players. It is played using a set of five flexagons that you will need to print and assemble before your first game.

Assembly Instructions

Each Flexagon design consists of two consecutive pages of the file missing_monsters_sheets.pdf. The first two pages comprise Flexagon 1/5, the next two comprise Flexagon 2/5, etc. To assemble a flexagon, do the following:

1. Print out the flexagon design. Be sure to choose "flip on long edge" in the two-sided printing settings to ensure that the two sides are aligned properly.
2. Cut out the design. Be sure to remove the middle four squares as well as trimming the excess paper from around the edges of the design.
3. Fold along all of the lines where one square meets another in the design.
4. Assemble the flexagon. 
   1. Lay the design flat on the table in front of you. 
   2. Fold the left column inwards and to the right.
   3. Fold the top row inwards and down.
   4. Fold the right column to the inwards and to the left. 
   5. Fold the bottom row inwards and up. The leftmost square should go under the left-side flap you created with your first fold.

A video describing this process can be found here.

Game Rules

To play Missing Monsters,

1. Place any one of the flexagons in the middle of the table with the face on which portraits of all sixteen monsters are displayed showing. This is the monster gallery.
2. Give each player one of the remaining flexagons.
3. Find the missing monsters!
   1. Try to find the top-left portrait in the monster gallery on your flexagon. To do so, you will need to manipulate your flexagon to reveal different faces and the portraits that are displayed on them. 
   2. When you find it, move on to the next portrait in the monster gallery. Proceed from left to right and top to bottom as if you were reading text on a page.
4. The first player to find all of the monster portraits on their flexagon wins.
5. If you want to play another round, choose a new flexagon to use as the monster gallery, give each player a new flexagon to play with, and you're ready to go.

Matching Monsters

This is a second game that you can play with the Missing Monsters flexagons. This is a game for two to five players. To play Matching Monsters you should:

1. Give each player one of the flexagons.
2. Manipulate your flexagon until a face on which four monster portraits are displayed is showing.
3. Study the monster portraits on your flexagon. When you are ready, put your flexagon in your lap where neither you nor the other players can see it.
4. Describe the monster portraits that you saw on your flexagon. Listen carefully to the other players' descriptions. Ask questions! When everyone is done, proceed to Step 5.
5. Pick your flexagon back up. Try to identify all of the  monster portraits that appear only on your flexagon (it might be none of them in a five-player game). If you can do so successfully, you win!