New Game: Ariadne's Thread a 2 player card game

Well guys as promised, this is my entry to Dice Hate Me's 54-Card Design Challenge. Enjoy!

In Greek mythology Theseus was sent to convey the tributes of the Athenians to the Minotaur, which prowled a Labyrinth. Ariadne the daughter of King Minos of Crete and his wife Pasiphae, fell in love with the dashing Greek hero Theseus. Now according to the myth, it was Ariadne who helped Theseus to escape the Labyrinth by supplying him with a sword and a ball of thread to navigate the tangled passages…

THREAD – An orthogonally connected group of five or more like color cards.

The goal is to have the most points within your color threads.


THE DECK – Remove the 10s from a 52-card deck and divide the rest of the deck into red suit cards and black suit cards. You will also need one Joker card with a different color back and a way of keeping score. Aces can be either high or low. An Ace can beat a King but a King cannot beat an Ace. Cards are ranked in this order (A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-J-Q-K-A) A=1 or 14, J =10, Q=11, K=12.

PLAY – Player 1 has the black suit cards and Player 2 has the red suit cards.

Thoroughly shuffle each other’s decks and return them.

The decks are placed face down in front of their respective players, these are now the draw decks from which the players will draw cards from during the game.

The game is played in 2 rounds.

The back side of the Joker card will be the Minotaur and the face of the card will be our hero Theseus.

At the start of the first round the Joker card is placed face down at the center of the tableau and at the start of the second round the Joker card is placed face up at the center of the tableau. Figure 1

Each player at the start of a round draws 3 cards from their draw deck to their hand.

In round 1 the player holding the black suit cards plays first, while in round 2 the player holding the red suit cards plays first.

Players take turns.

On your turn you may take 1 of 3 actions:

1. Play a card from your hand face up to the tableau or

2. You may swap out the last card played with a higher ranking card from your hand as long as the lower card does not divide evenly into the higher card or the lower card is not one number below the higher card. Then flip over and move the swapped card to a different spot on the tableau or

3. Swap out the Joker card with a card from your hand and then flip the Joker card over and move it to a different spot on the tableau.

Players then draw a card from their draw decks returning their hands to 3 cards, this now ends a player’s turn.

· Once players run out of cards in their draw decks they continue to play the cards that are left in their hands.

· The game ends when all the cards have been played to the tableau.

· The round is then scored.


CONSTRAINTS – All cards must touch at least one other card either orthogonally or diagonally. Figure 2

Cards may not be played on top of other cards.

You may not play a card from your hand to the tableau so that the playing area exceeds 7 cards in any direction, this also applies to moving a card. Figure 1 and 2


SCORING – The point values of the cards are as follows: Aces are worth 1 point, (2-9) are face value and (J-Q-K) are worth 10 points each.

To score a round, add up all the threads in your color suit.

If the Joker card is face down and is orthogonally adjacent to one of your threads you subtract 10 points from your score. If the Joker card is face up and is orthogonally adjacent to one of your threads you add 10 points to your score.

Finally players add up their scores from both rounds and the player with the highest score wins!

If after scoring both rounds there is a draw, play another round.

54-Card Game Design Challenge!

Over at Dice Hate Me they've got a 54-card game design challenge that I will soon be entering with my latest card game. I will post up the rules soon. :)

Cat Herders!

Nick Bentley has designed a new game called  Cat Herders. I have to say it looks like fun!

New Game: Jaywalkers

Jaywalkers is a 2 player game, played on the spaces of a 8x8 board.

2 pawns in two colors and 62 path tiles.

SETUP - Place board between players, pawns start on any space of each player’s respective first rows.

PLAY – Decide who goes first, turn then alternates.

A player on his turn must take two actions.

1.Place a tile onto an empty space.
2.Move your pawn in a series of one or more rook moves over any number of tiles following any one of three paths shown on a tile you're currently moving over and ending the move on an empty space.

RESTRICTIONS – The tile you placed on your turn must be part of the route your pawn takes. A pawn may not land on a tile. Your pawn may not jump over your opponent's pawn.

ENDGAME – You win if your opponent is unable to take his two actions.

The inspiration for this game came from Tsuro and Spaghetti Junction.

New Game: Fenrir

Well as I promised, here is my first attempt at a thematic type game based on a Norse myth.

Fenrir

According to Norse myth, Fenrir the wolf was the third son of Loki and the giantess Angrboda. It was prophesied that Fenrir would one day devour Odin ushering in Ragnarok. Tyr the god of war took it upon himself to feed Fenrir while he was still a pup, but as time went on Fenrir grew larger as did the gods fear of him. The gods then decided to bind the wolf with a fetter they called Leyding. The wolf easily broke free of his bonds. The gods then used another fetter called Dromi and once again to no avail. Receiving word of this Odin called upon the dwarves of Svartalfheim to fashion a fetter made up of six magic ingredients, they called this ribbon like material, Gleipnir. Once bound with Gleipnir, Fenrir was unable to break free…

2 to 4 players

36 Fetter cards in 3 suits

1 Pawn

1 Movement track

Objective

Players are Norse gods trying to stop Fenrir from reaching and devouring Odin.

Setup

Place the pawn on the first wolf spot of the track board.

3 or 4 player game

The Deal

The dealer thoroughly shuffles the deck and deals out all 36 cards one at a time to each player.

The player to the left of the dealer goes first by asking one of the other players for a card by rank and suit. The player asking for a card must already hold at least one card of the same suit.

If the player that was asked has the requested card he plays the card to the table face up starting a discard pile (the cards should be fanned so that the rank and suit are showing). Then move the pawn along the track backwards the number of spaces indicated on that discarded card. Now the asking player continues his turn and may ask the same player or another player for a card.

If the player that was asked does not have the requested card then the asking player must discard face up onto the discard pile a card of the same suit asked and moves the pawn along the track forwards the number of spaces indicated on that discarded card and now the turn to ask passes to the next player to the left.

The gods win if they discard all their fetter cards before Fenrir reaches Odin, otherwise they lose.

A 2 player game

Each player is dealt a hand of 10 cards and the remaining 16 cards are stacked face down on the table. A player who does not have the requested card draws one card from the stock before asking the opponent for another card. The remaining rules are the same as in a 3 or 4 player game.

Here are the PNP files, enjoy!

Fenrir Rules

Fenrir Cards and Movement Track

The Game Changer

Well guys Descent will be my last purely abstract game for a while, as I pursue more thematic game designs.

I leave you with a hint on what I'll be working on in the following months.

First is a spy game where players are sleeper spies trying to locate and neutralize who they think is the double agent, the second  game is based on a Viking myth.


Cheers!

New Game: Descent

A tactical game for two players

Materials

6 pawns, 3 black and 3 white
125 square tiles

Setup

Arrange stacks of five tiles into a 5x5 grid, then place two like color pawns on diagonally opposite corner stacks. The remaining two pawns are placed at B3 and D3.

Definitions

Adjacent- Means orthogonally or diagonally adjacent.

Play

One plays black the other white.

Decide who goes first in any appropriate manner, turns then alternate.

On a turn you,

Move a friendly pawn to an empty adjacent tile that is 1 higher, 1 lower or the same height as the one it was on, then remove one empty tile of one or more stacks that are of the same height and adjacent to the stack of the pawn last moved.

Objective

There are two ways to win,

1) The player who makes a line of his three pawns either orthogonally or diagonally (the line of pawns must be on adjacent stacks of the same height) or

2) The player last to move.

Kris Burm Interview

Kris Burm is most famous for his GIPF series of abstract games.

An interview with Kris Burm conducted by Kerry Handscomb and published in Issue 6 (Summer 2001) of Abstract Games should be read by anyone designing and ever hoping to get their abstract games published.

UNPUB 4!

Click on the logo above for more info!

Unpub 4 is bigger than ever!

———-Event Schedule———-

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17th
- Designer and Publisher ONLY networking event
- Pitch your work, hang with friends, get final preparations done before…

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18th
- Play test new games

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19th
- Publisher & Pancake Panel
- More play testing & feed back fun!
More events, contests, and panels to be announced closer to the event!!

Designer & Player registration will open soon.

Ludology podcasts

Ludology for those who do not know is the study of games and anyone even remotely interested in games should check out this very informative podcast site!

New Game: Lokai and Bele

2 player game, played on the spaces of an 8x8 board.

One player plays black the other white.

16 black and 16 white stackable pieces.

SETUP – A players 16 pieces are placed onto the 1st and 2nd rows closest to him.


OBJECTIVE – The player with the highest score at end game, is declared the winner.


STACK - A stack of one or more pieces of either color.

The color of the stack's top piece determines its owner (e.g., a black top piece makes it a black stack).

Stacks cannot be greater than 4 pieces high.

Stacks of 4 pieces high cannot move.

Stacks cannot split.

CAPTURES - A capture consists of placing a friendly stack on top of an enemy stack.

No stacks are ever removed from the board.

MOVEMENT – Single stacks move like chess queens and capture like chess kings.

Stacks made up of 2 or 3 pieces move like chess kings and capture like chess queens.

Black moves first, turn then alternates.

TURN - On each turn, each player must take one of the following actions:

• Move a stack or
• Move a stack and capture another stack.

SCORING - Each players’ stacks composed of 4 pieces are added to the numbers on the spaces of the board that they occupy (e.g., a 4 piece stack plus 3 points for the board space = 7 points).

New Game: Columna

2 player game, played on the spaces of a 7x7 board.

One player plays black the other white.

2 pawns, black and white.
A supply of black and white stackable pieces.

STACK - A stack is one or more pieces of either color.
The color of the stack's top piece determines its owner (e.g., a black top piece makes it a black stack).

Stacks cannot be greater than 4 pieces high.
Stacks of 4 pieces high cannot move.
Stacks cannot split.

MOVEMENT – Pawns start out on base tiles on opposite corners of the board and move along the outer edge of the board. Pawns may move to any point along either side of the board, so long as they do not jump over their opponent's pawn and so long as they do not occupy the same side of the board as the opponent's pawn between base tiles.

Stacks move orthogonally along empty spaces (no jumps).

Stacks move equal to the number of pieces within the stack. (e.g. , a stack of 1 moves one space, a stack of 2 moves two spaces and a stack of 3 moves three spaces.)

Board starts out empty, then pawns are placed on the base tiles.

TURN- Black moves first, turn then alternates.

On each turn, each player must take one of the following actions, which constitutes a valid move:

•Move your pawn and drop a single piece onto any empty point that lies between your pawn and the target point as long as all the points between your pawn and your target point are also empty or
•Move your pawn and drop a single piece on top of a friendly or enemy stack that is less than 4 high, also the stack most be in line of sight of your pawn and any stacks in-between your pawn and the target stack must have less pieces than the target stack, or
•Move your pawn and then move one of your stacks.

A player unable to make a valid move on his turn must pass.

The game ends when neither player can make a valid move on their turn.

THE WIN – There are two ways to win, one way is if on your turn you manage to form an unbroken orthoganlly adjacent path connecting your pawn, your stacks and your opponent’s pawn. The second way is if you control the most stacks of 4 pieces high at end game.

New Game: INVICTUS

Invictus – Latin, meaning “unconquered”.

2 player game played on the spaces of a 9x9 board.
Each player has 18 dice pieces.

Setup
Place the 9x9 board between the players.

Next, players turn 3 of their 18 dice pieces so that the top faces show all ones then 3-twos, 3-threes, 3-fours, 3-fives and 3-sixes.

Now Black sets his dice pieces onto any space of the second and third rows of the board that are closest to him, then White does the same.

Object
Player with the highest score at games end, wins.

Play
The fifth row of the board is known as the Divide and divides the board into two territories.

One player plays black the other white.

Black moves first, then play alternates.

On your turn you must take one of two actions:

1.Move a die one space either forward, left, right or diagonally forward, never backwards onto an empty space.
2.Capture a die one space diagonally forward, like a pawn in chess performing a capture.

When any friendly dice reach an opponent’s first row, they are removed from play and used in scoring at endgame.

Captures
A friendly die may only capture an opponent’s die of equal face value or less, the captured die is returned to your opponent if its face value is greater than one. On receiving the captured die from your opponent you must turn that die so that the face value of the die now reads one less, then place this die onto an empty space on your side of the Divide.

Any captured dice that have a face value of (1) are removed from play and kept for scoring at endgame.

The game ends when a player moves all of his remaining dice onto his opponent’s first row.

If any of your opponents dice are past the Divide and in your territory at endgame they will be added to your opponent's score.

Score
Add up all of the top face values of your dice that reached you’re opponent's first row, any captured dice and any of your dice that were within enemy territory.

Highest score wins!

New Game: EasyPass

EasyPass is a 2 player game, played on the spaces of a 9x9 board.

5 Red cars, cubes or tokens

20 Blue cars, cubes or tokens

8 square blank tiles

A 9x9 board with the first column shaded Green and the last column shaded Red, also rows 2,4,6,8 have 9 printed gray color cars on each of the rows. Figure 1


Setup

The board should be placed between the two players so that the Gray color cars make rows not columns. Figure 1.

Figure 1

The Blue and Red cars should be placed according to Figure 1.

Now players take turns placing the 8 blank tiles on top of the gray cars that lie between the Green and Red columns of the board. A maximum of 2 tiles per row and a tile must not be placed in parallel to another tile in another row.


Objective

The player who gets 3  Red cars to the red zone wins the game.

Play

Blue cars and Red cars are shared.

Decide who plays first, then play alternates.

All cars move from the green zone to the red zone, following the actions below.


1. Move any Blue car that is not on the board yet from 1-4 empty spaces, starting on any empty space in the Green column or

2. Move any Red car that is not on the board yet from 1-4 empty spaces, starting on any empty space in the Green column only after all the Blue cars in its row have moved onto the board first or

3. Move a Blue car or a Red car that are already on the board, 1-4 empty spaces.


Now when a car during play encounters an open space between the Gray cars in an adjacent lane, the Blue or Red car must turn towards the empty space in the Gray car lane.

Depending on how many moves on his turn the player has left, it may be possible that the Red or Blue car exit out onto the other lane or land on the empty space between the Gray cars.

After exiting onto the other lane the cars proceed their journey to the red zone. Once a car reaches the red zone on your turn, it is removed from the board.

A player who gets 3 Red cars to the red zone wins the game.

Restrictions

No car may jump over another car or move backwards.

Obelisk PNP Obelisk,Board and Scarab tiles

Light Egyptian theme, PNP of Obelisk. :)

Board

White side of tile

Black side of tile

A wonderful paper Obelisk designed by Gijs Korthals Altes

Paper Obelisk

My suggestion is make the small paper Obelisk, but before sealing the bottom fill the obelisk half way with sand or some other suitable material to give it some weight.

PNP rules,board and tiles

Obelisk PNP

New Game: Flipside

In this game you have two dilemmas, one you must be able to move one of your pawns and then add a reversi piece onto the board and second you must flip over as many reversi pieces to your color as you can before the game ends. Not an easy task!

2 player game played on the spaces of an 8x8 board with its four corner squares blanked out.


Materials

4 chess pawns, 2 black and 2 white.
64 Reversi/Othello pieces.

Setup

First place the board between the players.

Next place both like color pawns diagonal to each other on any two of the four corner squares of the board.

Then place in stacks of two, along the outer edge of the board at each row and column, the 64 reversi pieces.

Objective

The winner is the player with the most pieces in his color on the board at endgame.

Play

One player plays black the other white.

Black moves first, then play alternates.

On your turn you must,

1. Move a pawn in your color orthogonally or diagonally in a straight line and end its movement on an empty space and take a reversi piece from the outer edge of the board, flip it to your color, move it orthogonally and end its movement on an empty space that lies in a straight line of the pawn you just moved or

2. Move a pawn in your color in a straight line orthogonally or diagonally jumping over any number of empty or occupied squares ending the jump on an empty square. Then flip all of the reversi pieces along the path just taken, lastly move a reversi piece thats along the edge of the board flipping it and ending the move on an empty square that is inline with the pawn last moved.

The game ends when each player is unable to take her turn.

The winner is the player with the most pieces in his color (including his two pawns) on the board.

Restrictions

- After a pawn is moved from a corner square neither a pawn or reversi piece may be placed there.

- A reversi piece may jump over any combination of empty spaces and reversi pieces of either color.

- A reversi piece does not lie in a straight line of a pawn if another pawn is in-between them.

- Neither a pawn nor a reversi piece may jump over another pawn.4 chess pawns, 2 black and 2 white.

New Game: Obelisk

Movement examples are in the Figures below. The player sequence is denoted by sequential order.

Obelisk is a 2 player  game that is played on the spaces of a 7x7 board. 

48 Reversi/Othello pieces and a single white piece, known as the Obelisk is all that is needed.

Objective
Last player to make a valid move on his turn wins.

Definitions
Adjacent from now on means, orthogonally and diagonally adjacent.

Play
The Obelisk is placed at the center of the board at start.

Decide who goes first.

Players have 2 moves per turn, but may do one of two actions per move.

1.Place a reversi piece white side up on an empty adjacent space to the Obelisk and then move the Obelisk away from the placed reversi piece a queens move any distance across the board, so long as the move also ends on an empty space or

2.Place a reversi piece white side up on an empty space that is in line of sight with the Obelisk and then moving the Obelisk like a queens move, adjacent to that placed reversi piece, so long as the move also ends on an empty space.

Note and restrictions

•The Obelisk when moving, may travel over any number of white faced reversi pieces, but in doing so must flip over all those pieces to their black sides.

•The Obelisk may not travel over any black faced pieces.


The game ends when a player on her turn is unable to place a reversi piece and move the Obelisk, making her opponent the winner.

Feedback please, don't be shy!

Wow the blog has been getting more views lately but I've yet to get one comment on any of the games. So please don't be shy, any feedback would be appreciated. :)

New Game: 4 x 4

Figure 1

Figure 2

A 4 in a row with 4 pieces and no board.

All 4 pieces are one sided and are made up of right angled pieces in these color patterns, 2 (red, black, red) and 2 (black, red, black) pieces.

Get 4 in a row of your color for the win.

One player is red the other black.

Decide who plays first then play alternates.

1. On your turn place a piece orthogonally adjacent to another piece.

2. If after playing all the pieces there is no winner, do the following on your turn, move a piece then place it orthogonally adjacent to another piece.

3. You may not move a piece that would by its removal create two groups, as shown in Figures 1 - 2

4. You may not move the last piece placed by your opponent on your turn.

5. If  by chance you create a 4 in a row for your opponent and yourself on the same turn, your opponent wins the game.

Play continues like this until you have a winner.

New Game: OBOLOS

The dead it is said were buried with an obolos, placed in their mouths, so that once a dead person's shade reached the underworld of Hades, it would be able to pay Charon (the ferryman) for passage across the river Acheron. Legend has it that those without enough wealth, or whose friends refused to follow proper burial rites, were forced to wander the banks of the Acheron for all eternity...

• 2 player, blind bidding and trick taking card game.
• 13 cards numbered in point value from 2 to 14 known as the Ferryman cards.
• Gold and silver shaped coin tokens (called obolos) numbered on one side (2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,10,10,10,10)

Objective - like golf, lowest score wins.

Play

Shuffle the 13 Ferryman cards then cut the deck, turn half of the deck 180 degrees then shuffle again.

Fan the 13 Ferryman cards out in a straight line between the players face up, making sure all the cards are visible.

One player plays the dead with the Gold coins the other the Silver coins.

Now players bid on each of the 13 cards one at a time, starting with the card on the dealers left.

Both players hold all their coins in one hand and then they select one of their coins that they are going to bid by hiding it in their other hand.

Next both players present their hand that has the bid, closed fist. They then turn their hands over simultaneously revealing their bids. The player with the highest number on their coin wins the bid and the winning player takes his opponents coin and places his own coin number side face up onto the Ferryman card just won.

In the event that players present the same bid, look to see if Charon faces towards you, if so you win the bid, if Charon faces towards your opponent she wins the bid.

Play continues like this until all the Ferryman cards have been bid on, then the game is scored.

Scoring

Both players add up the points of the Ferryman cards they have won which are marked with the coin that was left on the card during play. Then each player subtracts the total points of their captured opponent’s coins.

Lowest score here wins the game!

PNP CARDS AND COIN TOKENS

And here is the games entry in BGG

New Game: Necropolis - A domino game for 2 players

Necropolis

A necropolis is a large ancient cemetery. The word derives from Ancient Greek literally meaning "city of the dead".

Necropolis is a 2 player domino draw game.

You will need a set of double six dominoes.

Object
Lowest score at endgame.

Play
Start by shuffling face down the set of double six dominoes.

Leave them in a pile face down between the 2 players, from this point on this will be known as the necropolis.

Next decide who goes first, then play alternates.

On your first turn draw a tile from the necropolis and place the tile face up in front of you, this area will be known as the grave site. Your opponent now does the same.

From this point on, on your turn, you may do one of the following actions.

• Draw a tile from the necropolis and place it adjacent to an existing tile at your grave site or
• Draw a tile from the necropolis but keep its value hidden from your opponent by placing it face down in front of you, but behind your grave site (This area behind your grave site will be known as the mastabas) or
• Draw a tile from your mastabas and place it adjacent to an existing tile at your grave site or
• Draw a tile from the necropolis or from the mastabas and start a new grave site, the old grave site is now considered abandoned and must not be played to for the rest of the game or
• Exchange a tile from your mastabas with the necropolis.

Now this ends your turn.

Tile Placement
The top number on a domino is known as its rank and the bottom number is known as its suit. You must match either the rank or suit to an existing domino in an active grave site.

When placing a tile to your grave site, the tile being placed must be placed touching an existing tile along its long edges on either side of the existing tile.

Scoring
The game ends when the necropolis is empty or when players are unable to add tiles to their gravesite.

Players then count the pips on their remaining dominoes in their  mastabas and  add +1 points to their totals for  the number of grave sites they started.

The player having the lowest score wins.

New Game: LOW BLOW - A dice game for 3 to 4 players

The objective is to have the lowest score after three rounds.

Best for 3 to 4 players.

The game is played in 3 rounds.

For a 3 player game the board is a 5x3 grid.

For a 4 player game the board is a 5x4 grid.

You will also need…
15 - d6 dice for 3 players in three colors and 30 counters.
20 - d6 dice for 4 players in four colors and 40 counters.

A pot to keep your communal counters in. Keep them visible to all players.

Pencil and paper for keeping score.

A 4 player game

Place the board so that all the players can reach it. The board starts out empty.

Each player owns a row. They keep the same colored Row as their home row for all 3 rounds.

Players get 5 dice (all 5 the same color, matching their 'Home' row) and 10 counters apiece at the start of the game.

The youngest player rolls first.

You get a maximum of three rolls per turn.

You begin your turn by rolling all 5 dice, you may have more or less dice, of other player's colors mixed with your own, to roll as the game progresses. Then select any of the dice you've just rolled placing them aside. You can keep all the dice and proceed to play a die or keep none of them and re-roll them all.

During your second roll you may set aside more dice and roll the remaining dice one last time. Once you set a die aside, it may not be re-rolled that turn.

Now you need to decide what to do with one die you've set aside. One die MUST be placed on your turn if you have any.

So on your turn you place your selected die using these conditions;

One - You play it to any empty space on the board. ALL the remaining dice you give to the player on your left and you then put ALL of your counters into the pot.

Two - You play it to any empty space on the board, the Ones (from all dice you possess, whether set aside in roll 1 or 2, or part of the last roll not set aside) you give to the player on your left and the rest you keep and you also put two counters into the pot.

Three - You play it to any empty space on the board, the Ones you give to the player on your left and the rest you keep and all the players put one counter into the pot.


Four - You play it to any empty space on the board, the Ones you give to the player on your left and the rest you keep and you take one counter from the pot, provided there are some to take.

Five - You play it to any empty space on the board, the Ones you give to the player on your left and the rest you keep and you take two counters from the pot, provided there are some to take.


Six - You play it to any empty space on the board, the player whose row you played on (even your own) gets to take all the counters in the pot, provided there are some to take and ALL your remaining dice you give to the player on your left.

Play then continues clockwise.

You are not out of the game if you are out of dice or counters. Dice may be passed to you, or conditions may have you move counters.

The round ends when the board is full.

You then score the round and then remove all the dice from the board and return them to the players, no change is made to the Counter Pot. The youngest player once again starts the next round. Game is over after the 3rd round's counters are scored as explained below.

Scoring

Add up the dice in each home row individually ignoring dice color.

Then you subtract 1 point for each die within your home row in your color, write down your scores. Do not use the counters until the end of round 3.

One counter is worth -1 point the second counter is worth -2 points the third counter is worth -3 points etc.

At the end of the third round total your rows as above and add up your scores for each of the three rounds then subtract the number of counters you have for a final score. Ignore any counters left in the pot. The player with the lowest score after 3 rounds is the winner.



PDF of PnP Board and player aids

New Game: CHICHEN ITZA

Introduction
Chichen itza is 2 player abstract tile laying game with a lite Mayan theme.

It is played on the spaces of a 6x6 board with 18 shared numbered tiles.

Object - attain the highest score by having the most pyramids in your color along the longest unobstructed golden paths on the board.

Definitions golden paths- are unobstructed lines on the board that run from one side of the board to the other, which are formed when the board is full of pieces. From 1 to 6 such paths will form per game.

Play
One player is red the other blue. Players share 18 domino like tiles that have two pyramids red and blue affixed to one face of the tile.
Tiles are also numbered like so…

First number is Red and the second number is Blue (3,1)(3,2)(3,3)(2,1)(2,2)(2,3)(1,1)(1,2)(1,3)

First number is Blue and the second number is Red(3,1)(3,2)(3,3)(2,1)(2,2)(2,3)(1,1)(1,2)(1,3)

The 6x6 board starts out initially empty.

Next decide who plays first.

Play then alternates.

On your turn, cover two empty connected spaces on the board using one tile piece, while taking care not to leave a single empty space between the other tiles on the board.

The game ends when the board is full.

Scoring
To score a game you simply add up all the numbers on the pyramids in your color that run along either side of the golden paths and only those pyramids that are adjacent to those paths are scored.

Note: some golden vertical and horizontal paths intersect, when this happens some of your pyramids will lie along these intersections in both directions, so do not count them twice when scoring.

The player with the highest score wins.

BGG ENTRY - CHICHEN ITZA

New Game: CIRQUE

CIRQUE is a 2 player 5 in a row abstract strategy game.

My objective was to design a 5 in a row game that eliminated or at the very least reduce the first player advantage near the center of the board by using the board to balance the game.

The rules can be viewed and downloaded below...

CIRQUE - RULES IN ENGLISH

BGG Entry

New Game: TOPOLO

Introduction

TOPOLO is a 2 player game that is played on the spaces of an 8x8 grid.

The Red player and the Black player have 32 cuboid pieces in 3 sizes(16 small pieces worth 1 point apiece, 8 mid size pieces worth 2 points apiece and 8 large pieces worth 3 points apiece).

Objective
Assemble your pieces into the largest orthogonally adjacent group to win.

Definitions
Group – Like color 1 or more orthogonally adjacent pieces.

Play
At the start of the game the board is empty. 

The player holding the Red pieces plays first.

The row on the board closest to the Red player is considered row 1 followed by rows 2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

The Red player may place any one of his pieces onto any empty space on the board, then its Blacks turn. Thereafter play alternates.

Example:
If the Red player has placed his first piece onto an empty space on the board that is within an even numbered row then both players must then play onto all the empty spaces of the even numbered rows first before proceeding to fill the empty spaces of the odd numbered rows.

The game ends when the board is full.

Scoring
Your score is determined by counting the pieces within the largest Group. Each piece within these Groups are to be counted as 1 point apiece,irrelevant of their individual heights.

The player with the highest score is the winner.

Note: In the event the largest Groups of both players are the same size at end game, the next largest Groups of both players should be looked at. Each piece within these Groups are to be counted by their individual height point values (Small - 1, Medium - 2 and Large - 3)and added to the players first Groups total to determine a winner.

For subsequent draws look at the next largest Groups of each player and apply the same scoring rules.