Project L

How Project L works

Each player begins with a very small personal supply of geometric pieces.

On your turn, you take exactly three actions. Most actions may be repeated, with one important exception: the Master Action can normally be used only once per turn.

You use actions to draft puzzle tiles, gain pieces, upgrade pieces and place pieces into unfinished puzzles.

When a puzzle is completely filled, it immediately scores into your completed pile, all pieces used in it return to your supply, and you gain the reward printed on the puzzle.

The five core actions

1. Take a Puzzle

Take one available puzzle from the display and place it in front of you. The display is then refilled from the appropriate deck.

You may have at most four unfinished puzzles in front of you at once.

2. Take a Level-1 Piece

Take any available level-1 piece from the common reserve and add it to your personal supply.

3. Upgrade a Piece

Return one piece from your supply and take a piece one level higher.

You may also exchange a piece for another piece of the same or lower level when shape flexibility is more important than size.

4. Place a Piece

Place one piece from your personal supply into an unfinished puzzle.

You may rotate or flip it freely, but once placed it normally stays in that puzzle until the puzzle is completed.

5. Master Action

Place up to one piece into each unfinished puzzle in front of you.

This is normally limited to once per turn.

Why the Master Action is the heart of the game

A normal Place action advances only one puzzle.

A good Master Action can advance two, three or even four puzzles with a single action.

That creates the game’s central efficiency puzzle: should you finish one puzzle quickly, or keep several unfinished puzzles open so one Master Action can touch all of them?

Editorial strategy principle: a Master Action placing three useful pieces is effectively worth several ordinary actions and is often the strongest tempo play available.

Piece levels and shapes

Pieces are grouped by level, broadly reflecting how many cells they cover.

Higher-level pieces cover more area but may be awkward shapes for a specific puzzle.

This is why the Upgrade action includes shape flexibility rather than forcing you always to take the biggest piece possible.

One large piece is not automatically stronger than two small pieces if the current puzzle geometry cannot use it efficiently.

Can pieces be rotated or flipped?

Yes.

A piece may be rotated and flipped before being placed.

It must fit completely within the puzzle’s recessed region and may not overlap another placed piece.

After placement, it cannot normally be repositioned or removed until that puzzle is completed.

What happens when you complete a puzzle?

A puzzle is completed as soon as its recessed area is fully filled.

Resolve three important steps:

1. Return every piece used in that puzzle to your personal supply.
2. Place the completed puzzle into your victory-point pile.
3. Take the reward piece shown on the puzzle.

This is the engine-building loop. Solving a puzzle does not consume your pieces; it returns them and adds another piece to your future economy.

White puzzles vs black puzzles

Project L separates puzzles into broadly easier white puzzles and more demanding black puzzles.

White puzzles are useful for developing your piece supply and engine efficiently.

Black puzzles generally become more important for scoring and endgame timing.

A common strategic arc is to use early white puzzles to improve the quality and number of pieces you own, then convert that stronger engine into faster black-puzzle completion.

Why the four-puzzle limit matters

You may normally hold a maximum of four unfinished puzzles.

Keeping four open maximizes the theoretical value of the Master Action, but it also creates risk: unfinished puzzles can cost points at the end and tie up pieces during the game.

The ideal number of open puzzles therefore changes with your piece supply. Early in the game, two or three can be easier to manage; later, four can make Master actions extremely efficient.

When should you upgrade pieces?

Upgrading is an engine investment rather than direct scoring.

A larger piece can fill more cells in one action, but every upgrade also consumes one of your three actions for the turn.

The best upgrade is usually one that immediately solves a shape problem across several active puzzles rather than an upgrade taken simply because a higher level exists.

How the endgame is triggered

The standard game enters its end sequence when the black puzzle deck runs out.

Then:

1. Finish the current round so every player has taken the same number of turns.
2. Play one additional final round.
3. Perform Finishing Touches.
4. Calculate final scoring.

This delayed ending gives players one last opportunity to convert their engine into completed puzzles.

How Finishing Touches work

After the final round, you may place pieces from your personal supply into unfinished puzzles.

Each piece placed during Finishing Touches costs 1 victory point.

If those placements complete a puzzle, move it to your victory pile, but you do not collect its normal piece reward.

Finishing Touches are optional. Sometimes paying two points to finish a five-point puzzle is profitable; spending four points to rescue a low-value puzzle may not be.

How final scoring works

Add the printed points on all completed puzzles in your victory pile.

Subtract penalties paid for Finishing Touches.

The player with the highest total wins.

Standard tiebreakers are:

1. Most completed puzzles.
2. Most pieces in personal supply.
3. If still tied, share the victory.

How Project L solo works

Project L includes an official solo variant against an automated opponent.

The solo setup creates a 3×3 puzzle grid using a deck of 15 white and 10 black puzzles.

Four level-1 pieces are placed above the three columns as locks. Locked columns are unavailable to the automated opponent.

You begin with a level-1 and level-2 piece just as in the multiplayer engine, while the AI receives a difficulty-dependent supply.

What does the solo opponent do?

After your normal three-action turn, the automated opponent attempts to take one puzzle and places it directly into its victory pile as if completed.

It cannot choose from locked columns.

Among legal puzzles, it takes the one worth the most points, using the published priority order to break ties.

After it takes a puzzle, column-lock pieces shift according to the solo rules, changing what the AI can select next turn.

How column locks create the solo puzzle

The solo mode is not just “score more than a bot.”

Whenever you take a puzzle from a column, one lock from above that column can move into the opponent’s supply.

When the opponent takes a puzzle, lock pieces are moved back onto the grid according to its rules.

If all three columns are locked, the opponent takes no puzzle that turn; instead one lock is removed from each column back to the reserve.

This turns puzzle drafting into an area-denial system unique to solo play.

Solo difficulty levels

The standard solo setup changes the automated opponent’s initial supply:

• Standard — 6 level-1 pieces.
• Challenging — 3 level-1 pieces.
• Unbeatable — 0 level-1 pieces.

Those pieces interact with the lock mechanism, so a smaller AI supply makes it harder for you to keep valuable columns protected.

Solo endgame and scoring differences

The solo game ends after the puzzle deck is exhausted and the final turn sequence is resolved.

Both sides total completed-puzzle points.

You also subtract:

• Finishing Touch penalties.
• The point value of unfinished puzzles still in front of you under the solo rules.

If the final score is tied, the automated opponent wins.

What does Project L: Finesse add?

Finesse adds shared objectives and a new resource called Credits.

Asmodee Italia currently lists the expansion for 1–4 players and says it contains:

• 35 Credits
• 30 Finesse tiles
• 1 rulebook

Each round presents a current Finesse challenge. Meeting its condition earns Credits, which can later be converted into extra actions.

How Credits work in Finesse

Credits earned this turn normally become active at the end of your turn.

You may spend 2 active Credits to take one extra immediate action.

This inserted action does not count against your normal three-action limit.

You can buy multiple extra actions in the same turn if you have enough Credits, although the standard once-per-turn Master Action restriction still applies.

How Finesse changes the endgame

Finesse adds a second possible end trigger.

The game can end through the standard black-deck trigger or when the final Finesse tile is discarded.

Credits also interact with Finishing Touches: an active Credit can be used under the Finesse rules to offset the normal penalty for a finishing piece.

For tied scores, remaining Credits become an additional tiebreaker before the standard rules continue.

What does Ghost Piece add?

Ghost Piece is the larger mainstream expansion currently listed by Asmodee.

It adds:

• 24 new puzzles
• 30 pieces
• 3 new level-5 Ghost Piece shapes
• Additional player-board components depending on edition

The new puzzles use reward systems designed around those oversized Ghost Pieces.

How the Ghost Piece Action works

A Ghost Piece is a special level-5 piece.

You normally cannot obtain one through the regular Upgrade action. You gain Ghost Pieces by completing the appropriate expansion puzzles.

As an action, you may return a Ghost Piece to the reserve and take two or more level 1–4 pieces whose shapes together recreate the returned Ghost Piece.

As part of that same action, you may immediately place those new pieces into your puzzles, but no more than one into each puzzle.

This can create a large tempo swing and synergizes strongly with maintaining several unfinished puzzles.

What is the Ambassador Pack?

The Ambassador Pack is additional Project L content included in the wider master rules.

Ambassador puzzles do not simply give a normal immediate piece reward. Instead, completing one grants access to a one-use Ambassador Action.

The Ambassador Action works like a Master Action but can be used even if you have already taken the normal Master Action that turn, provided you expend the relevant Ambassador puzzle.

This content is optional and not required by the standard Asmodee retail base game.

What is the Phoenix expansion?

Phoenix is smaller additional content documented in later Project L master rules.

It adds several high-value black puzzles rather than changing the entire turn system.

Because distribution has varied by edition/campaign, buyers should check exact box contents rather than assuming every retail copy includes Phoenix.

Can Project L expansions be combined?

Yes.

The Finesse crowdfunding FAQ explicitly states that the Project L expansions were designed to complement one another and can be combined in multiplayer and solo play.

The master rulebook integrates base game, Ghost Piece, Finesse and smaller expansion modules into one rules framework.

What is in the current retail base game?

Asmodee Italia currently lists the standard retail box with:

• 90 geometric pieces
• 52 puzzles
• 4 player boards
• 1 rulebook

Older crowdfunding/deluxe/master-rulebook references may show different component totals because they incorporate additional players or expansion content. Use the contents printed on the edition you are buying.

What is the best player count?

The official range is 1–4 players.

BoardGameGeek community voting currently favors 2–3 players, while still considering the full range playable.

Because interaction mainly comes from the shared puzzle display and endgame timing, higher player counts add competition for puzzle rewards without dramatically changing the core rules.

Solo is more distinct because the lock mechanism creates a dedicated drafting puzzle.

Eight Project L strategy principles

• Use white puzzles to build the engine. Early reward quality is often more important than immediate points.
• Make Master Actions hit multiple puzzles. A one-puzzle Master is usually wasting the game’s strongest efficiency tool.
• Upgrade for shape, not status. A lower-level piece with the correct geometry can be more useful than a larger awkward piece.
• Do not fill all four puzzle slots blindly. Every unfinished tile becomes an endgame liability if your engine cannot clear it.
• Sequence completions inside the turn. A puzzle completed with action one returns pieces that can immediately be reused for actions two and three.
• Watch the black deck. Endgame timing is public and often determines whether one more engine-building turn is worthwhile.
• Use Finishing Touches mathematically. Compare the puzzle’s points with the number of pieces you must pay to finish it.
• In solo, draft partly to manipulate locks. The puzzle you take changes what the AI can take next.

Project L vs Azul

Project L vs Patchwork

Project L vs Calico

Calico is more constrained and more scoring-dense. Every tile in Calico affects overlapping color, pattern, cat and design-goal requirements.

Project L is easier to teach and more forgiving because individual puzzles are separate and completed pieces return to your supply.

Choose Calico for a tighter spatial optimization puzzle; choose Project L for smoother engine progression and shorter tactical turns.

Project L vs Sagrada

Sagrada also asks players to fit colorful components into constrained spaces, but dice values and colors create drafting restrictions.

Project L has no comparable die-roll uncertainty in the core puzzle. Its challenge comes from action efficiency, piece shapes and timing.

What should you buy first?

Start with the base game. It already contains the complete three-action engine, Master Action and official solo mode.

Add Ghost Piece if you want more puzzle variety and a genuinely new piece-management mechanic.

Add Finesse if your group already knows the base game and wants shared objectives plus a more tactical extra-action economy.

Ambassador/Phoenix content is optional and more edition-dependent.

Project L FAQ

How many players?

1–4 players.

How long does it take?

BoardGameGeek lists roughly 20–40 minutes; Asmodee Italia lists about 30 minutes.

Who designed Project L?

Jan Soukal, Michal Mikeš and Adam Španěl.

How many actions do you take per turn?

Three.

Can you repeat actions?

Most core actions can be repeated, but the standard Master Action may normally be used only once per turn.

How many unfinished puzzles can you have?

Up to four.

Do you lose pieces when you finish a puzzle?

No. All placed pieces return to your supply and you also gain the puzzle’s reward piece.

Can pieces be flipped?

Yes. Pieces may be rotated and flipped before placement.

When does the game end?

When the black puzzle deck runs out, finish the current round and then play one additional final round before Finishing Touches.

What are Finishing Touches?

After the final round, you can place extra pieces into unfinished puzzles at a cost of 1 VP per piece.

Is there an official solo mode?

Yes. It uses a 3×3 puzzle grid, an automated opponent and movable column locks.

What does Finesse add?

Shared objectives and Credits that can be spent for extra inserted actions.

What does Ghost Piece add?

24 puzzles, new reward mechanics and three level-5 Ghost Piece shapes that can be broken into smaller pieces through a special action.

Sources and scope

• Asmodee Italia: current base-game product page, player count, age, play time and retail-box contents
• Asmodee Italia: Finesse expansion and current contents
• Asmodee Italia: Ghost Piece expansion, 24 puzzles and level-5 pieces
• Dized: current searchable Project L core-action rules
• Dized: endgame, Finishing Touches and puzzle-completion FAQ
• Dized: official solo setup and difficulty levels
• Dized: Ghost Piece Action
• Project L campaign archive: revised rules and expansion compatibility
• BoardGameGeek: current ratings, rank, player count, play time and complexity

Checked October 10, 2026. Project L exists in several retail, deluxe and crowdfunding configurations, so exact component counts can differ. This guide uses the current Asmodee retail base-game listing for standard-box contents and separates optional expansion modules from the base rules. Strategy and buyer guidance are original editorial analysis; no firsthand review or playtest is claimed. Editorial policy and corrections.