Monday, September 22, 2008

Noblemen the card game

I really like my current game called Noblemen. It’s a game about physically building your estate with different flavored land tiles and buildings like palaces, churches, castles, and follies. Its fun, in my opinion, because you can race each other under a slightly unpredictable clock to finish your goals.

What the game doesn’t do is feel like you are plotting and scheming to manipulate the powers of the day. Much of that is abstracted out. You are only trying to outmaneuver them to win the various physical races.

I have always known this and I have tried to mask the absence of this scheming with the scandal cards in the game. The Scandal cards do that some, but not enough. Others have echoed this too.

From all this I have thought about what would I have to do to change the game. The short answer is I cannot add something to the game to do this for several reasons. The biggest reason is it would change the game too much.

It did get me thinking though about a new game that would have this goal from the start.

I think the game would be a card game at its heart. Each player would be assigned the roll of a fictional yet similar to one from history noble. One player would be the current monarch. When the game ends the current monarch will be the winner.

From the beginning there are several schemes or plots in play that players can get behind or take over.

It would take most of the game for the plots to resolve and at some point the players would not be able to hold them back.

Plots would start resolving or getting canceled and go away resulting in potential shift in powers. Some people may be eliminated from being caught committing high treason or from being murdered.

Also at all times there is a current chain of order of who would be next on the thrown after the current monarch. Some plots would involve changing this. I think needs to have:

  1. elimination
  2. Hidden influence
  3. trading
  4. negotiating
That’s all for now.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Cubed

Cubed is the new name for a game I used to call "Unstackable"

This game started life as a mini-game in my GDS entry Duke of the hill on the BGDW site.
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CUBED
By Dwight Sullivan

2 players
12 minutes

Parts –
1 cloth bag
64 1” colored cubes; 3 yellow, 16 red, and 45 Black

Game Play –
The game is in two parts. Players first create a 4x4x4 cube by stacking up the colored cubs. Then they take turns tying to score points by unshackling them yet leaving no scoring opportunities for their opponent.

Set-up –
Pour the cubes out where both players can reach them and place the bag flat between the players.

Choose someone to go first.

First Stage: STACKING -
Players take turns stacking the cubes until they have a 4x4x4 larger cube.
They choose one of the 3 colors. If they choose black they can place 3 cubes, if they choose red they can place 2, if they choose yellow they can only choose one.
There are only two rules while stacking:
1 – You have to place your cubes squarely next to another cube or on top of another cube.
2 – You can never place a cube such that the side you are building will be larger than 4 wide, 4 deep, or 4 tall.

If you have only black cubes remaining you no longer need to take turns. Simply add all the remaining cubes to fill in the rest of the holes.

When you are done you will have this:

The last player to player to stack a red cube will go second in the next stage.

Second Stage: UNSTACKING –
Taking turns, players will remove two blocks per turn. They will remove the two blocks one at a time placing the first block each turn into one pile near them and the second into a second pile.



The only rule for removing a block is: The block has to be exposed on at least 3 sides before it can be removed. Meaning you can not remove a that is between other blocks.

Scoring –
Scoring is based on which pile the cubes are in.

First pile:
Yellow 5 points
Red 3 points
Black 0 points

Second pile:
Yellow 0 points
Red 0 points
Black 1 point

In the picture above the first pile scores 3 points and the second pile will score 1 point for a total of 4 points.

Each player will get 16 turns. When the last cube is drawn the player with the most points wins.

Strategy –
The cube is built on the bag so you can easily rotate it to see all sides before choosing which you will remove.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Patrollers

Welcome the world of Patrollers. The exciting tabletop miniatures battle game for all ages. Play with one patroller or up to five of your favorites but collect them all!

For 2 players 8 to 88 years old

Objective: To be the last person with a Patroller still in play.

Contents:
With each 5” tall Patroller:
You will get one Action eight-sided die. Each one has 4 red numbers, 1 yellow number and 3 blue numbers that are custom to match his skills. The Red numbers help with attacking, the blue numbers help with defense, and the yellow number can be used for either.

Each Patroller comes with a dog-tag:

FRONT

At the start of each game you will dial-up the abilities of each of your Patrollers to match your playing style or your strategy for the game. The back side is used after the Patroller has bee
n wounded.

BACK

Each Patroller gets one order-marker for keeping track of which of your Patrollers have moved so far in a round.

You also get 1 two inch piece of twine with knots on each end. This is used to measure distances for attacking or moving. The knots help you hold the twine tight.

You also get two Death Tokens. These are used in the Advanced Rules explained below.

Last you get one quick-reference sheet for the Patroller you purchased.


BASIC GAME

Getting started
Before you begin you and your opponent will decide how many Patrollers you want to play with from one to five. Then out of all the patrollers you own select that many to be your team for this battle.

Next you will need a flat clear area to play like a kitchen table. The area should be about 2 feet deep by 3 feet wide. Each player should sit on opposite sides of the playing area.

Set-up:
Choose one player to go first. Taking turns, starting with the first player, each player places one patroller within 4 inches of their edge of the playing area. Use the 2 inch twine.

Once all Patrollers are placed you will then dial each dog tag to the stats you desire and place the dog-tags front side up in front of you. You are now ready to play.

Play:
The game is played in rounds. Each round has one turn for each player for each patroller they have left.

Round:
1 - Players roll initiative. Each player chooses one of their die and rolls it. For imitative rolls you ignore the color. High roll goes first.
2 - Players take turns with each of their Patrollers until all have taken a turn. They may choose the order they play their Patrollers.
3 - When on his turn a player has no more Patrollers to play the round is over. Remove all turn markers and start a new round.

Example –
Mark has 3 Patrollers remaining in play 2 with order-markers; Jill has only 2 Patrollers and she has already taken a turn with both of them. It is now her turn and since she has no more Patrollers the round is over. Both will remove their oder-markers and start a new round.

Turn:
On your turn you must choose one of your Patrollers that do not have an order-marker. Place an order-marker on the dog-tag then you may take two actions whit it:
1 - Your first action is always to move.
2 - Your second action can be to move or attack.

Move:
To move you first refer to the dog-tag. The number next to “MOVE:” is the amount of 2 inch lengths of twine you can move your Patroller. You do not have to move the full amount.

Example – to move 3 you hold the twine taunt with one end next to your Patroller the other end in the direction you want to move. Then hold that end in place while you move the other end in the direction you want to move. Do this a second time to complete the move.

If you move so that your Patroller is touching another Patroller this is called Head-to-Head.

Attack:
To attack a patroller you have to be within range. The furthest Patroller you can attack is indicated by the number next to “RANGE” on your dog-tag. This number is the amount of 2 inch lengths of twine.

If the Patroller is in range announce your intentions to your opponent. You and your opponent will take the appropriate die and roll them. If the attacker rolls any red or yellow number it counts. If the defender rolls any blue or yellow number it counts. Otherwise consider the die roll a zero. Add to your die roll the current values from your dog-tag. Then compare your number with your opponents.

If the defender ties or better then the defender wins and nothing happens.

Otherwise the attack succeeds and the player that owns the attacked Patroller flips his dog-tag over to the near death side. This Patroller is now one wound from dying and may not be as strong as he was before in most of his abilities.

If the Patroller was already on the near death side has then taken its fatal wound and is out of play. Take the Patroller and lay it on its side where it died. It will be a movement obstacle for the rest of the battle.

Patrollers that have died are laid on their side where they died by the owner. These are now obstacles to movement for the rest of the battle.

Example – Mark attacks Jill’s SARGE with his Red Dragon. He Rolls a red 1 and she rolls a red 3 which counts as zero. He adds his attack value from his dog tag and has a total of 4. She adds her Defense and has a total of 3. Mark wins the attack and Jill flips her SARGE’s dog-tag to the near death side.

ADVANCED GAME

The advanced game adds more strategy by adding more abilities and synergies.

There are three new actions you gain with each Patroller Special, Leader, and Death.

Class Action - Each Patroller has a class and therefore Class actions. The player’s class is shown in the top right of the dog-tag next to the name. There are 7 types of classes:
· Leader – Add +1 attack to all grunts you control
· Grunt – NONE
· Mercenary – Add +1 attack for each Specialist you control
· Ninja – Can move before attacking on their turn
· Bizarre – +1 attack if you make the sound of the attack as you do it
· Cyborg – +1 defense for each Mercenary your opponent controls · Specialist – Add +1 defense for each Mercenary you control

Special Action – Each Patroller has one special action. Some Patrollers will lose their special action on their near death side of their dog-tag. All special actions are explained on the quick-reference sheet. Also Special actions are explained in the Patrollers Glossary below.

Death Action – Death actions occur when a Patroller dies. To know what action will take place requires extra Set-Up in addition to the basic set-up. Before the basic set-up each player will remove all the contents of each of their Patrollers and secretly choose one death token of any they own to place inside and then close it up. Then do the Basic set-up above.

Death Tokens

Each Death token has a point value. Players must choose ahead of time a maximum amount of points of death tokens to play.

Death tokens stay inside the head of the Patroller until he is killed. Then remove the token from the head and show it to your opponent. It will take effect immediately as a death action. Replace the top of the head and replace the Patroller where he died laying it on its side.

NOTE - If a Class, Special, or Death Action conflicts with any rule the Class, Special, or Death Action overrides the basic rule.


There are three types of Death Tokens; Instants, Equipment, and Battle Wide:
· Instant Death Tokens – These actions happen once and the token is then discarded.
· Equipment Death Tokens – These represent equipment that is now owned by another of your Patrollers. Choose any Patroller you have in play and place the Death Token next to his dog-tag.
· Battle Wide Tokens – These tokens are placed in view of both players and may have an effect on some or all of the remaining Patrollers.


Here are some examples of death tokens:

Instants - These events used instantly and then are discarded:
· Self Destruct – Roll an attack against all other units within attack range. All affected then have to roll defense separately.
· Med-Pack – Flip back one dog tag to the starting side if there are any.
· Elixir of Mutation – Change the Dog Tag Dial on any remaining unit.
· Resurrection – Stand this unit back up its still in the game.

Equipment - These events are attached to a remaining unit if you have one:

· Colt 45 – Add 1 to the units attack for the rest of the game.
· Kevlar Vest - Add 1 to the units defense for the rest of the game.
· MED PACK – stops the next wound on this unit. Discard afterward.
· Combat boots of Speed – Double the move value.
· Laser scope – Double the attack range.
· Grenade launcher – The next attack this unit does causes two wounds if successful otherwise zero. Discard after next attack either way.
· Temporal Nugget – Take two full turns with this unit. Discard after use.

Battle Wide - These events sit on your side and affect the whole game:
· Honor – All Ninjas remaining in play add 2 while attacking.
· Loyalty – All Mercenaries remaining in play add 1 attack and 1 defense.
· Duty – All Grunts remaining in play add 2 while defending.


Patrollers Glossary -
Each Patroller has a name, class, Attack, Defense, Move, Range, and special actions. The abilities that can be dialed have two sets of values. The first is the front of the dog-tag and the second is when that Patroller in near death.


Mad Dog
Class Mercenary
Attack 2 to 4 / 1 to 3
Defense 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Move 1 to 3 / 0 to 2
Range 2 to 3 / 2 to 3

Berserker Attack –
Can take two turns in a row but then has to skip the next turn.


Doctor Johnson
Class Specialist
Attack 0 to 1 / 0 to 1
Defense 4 to 5 / 3 to 4
Move 2 to 4 / 1 to 2
Range 0 to 1 / 0 to 1

Meatball Surgery –
Instead moving or attacking you may flip any dog-tag back over from the near death side only if the unit is within attack range.


Blue Spider
Class Ninja
Attack 2 to 4 / 1 to 3
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 3 to 3 / 2 to 3
Range 0 to 0 / 0 to 0

Tiger Claw Grip – Any unit head-to-head with Blue Spider cannot move or attack if Blue Spider didn’t move or attack this turn.


Red Dragon
Class Ninja
Attack 3 to 5 / 1 to 1
Defense 3 to 5 / 2 to 4
Move 3 to 3 / 2 to 3
Range 0 to 0 / 0 to 0

Dragon Stance –
If the Red Dragon didn’t attack in his last turn he cannot be attacked. (NEED TO reword so he can be attacked every other turn at best.)


Ice Man
Class Grunt
Attack 4 to 7 / 0 to 2
Defense 0 to 3 / 0 to 2
Move 3 to 3 / 2 to 2
Range 2 to 4 / 0 to 1

Strafing – Instead of moving may attack twice.


SARGE
Class Leader
Attack 2 to 4 / 2 to 4
Defense 2 to 4 / 1 to 3
Move 1 to 3 / 1 to 1
Range 1 to 3 / 0 to 1

Issue Orders –
You may take a turn with any grunt you control instead of Sarge.


Depth Charge
Class Grunt
Attack 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 2 to 3 / 1 to 2
Range 1 to 3 / 0 to 1

Explosives Deployment – Before moving all explosives in play are activated. Instead of attacking Depth Charge can leave an explosive charge anywhere within attack range.


Plague Bringer
Class Specialist
Attack 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 1 to 3 / 1 to 1
Range 1 to 3 / 0 to 1

Gas Attack – Instead of attacking may add a gas marker to any a dog-tag of any unit in attack range. (Units with gas markers have to remove the marker instead of taking a turn.)


Captain Dwayne
Class Specialist
Attack 3 to 6 / 4 to 7
Defense 1 to 4 / 0 to 3
Move 2 to 4 / 1 to 3
Range 2 to 4 / 2 to 4

Ambition Extreme – Player may re-roll any attack die once per a Captain Dwayne attack.


Mad Doctor
Class Bizarre
Attack 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Defense 3 to 5 / 2 to 4
Move 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Range 1 to 3 / 0 to 1

“Experimental” Surgery – Instead of attacking Mad Doctor can change any Dog-tag dial of any figure he is head-to-head with.


Sewer Rat
Class Grunt
Attack 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 2 to 4 / 1 to 3
Range 1 to 2 / 0 to 1

Back of hand –
Sewer Rat knows the terrain and if he doesn’t attack may move three times.


Riptide
Class Grunt
Attack 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 2 to 4 / 1 to 3
Range 1 to 2 / 0 to 1

Secret Deployment – Riptide is not deployed as normal. After the first turn, place Riptide anywhere in the playing area. He cannot be placed within attack range.


Ballistic
Class Mercenary
Attack 2 to 4 / 1 to 3
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 2 to 3 / 1 to 2
Range 2 to 3 / 1 to 2

Gatling Gun – Instead of attacking can choose one Patroller to attack. Gatling Gun also attacks all other Patrollers within range 1 of the choosen Patroller.If you use Gatling Gun you may not use your dialed attack. Always add 1 to the die rolled.


Patches
Class Bizarre
Attack 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Range 1 to 3 / 0 to 1

Psychic blast –
Instead of attacking Patches may do a Psychic blast. If he does he must move all figures within attack range away from him one move length.


Eight Bit
Class Cyborg
Attack 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Defense 4 to 6 / 3 to 5
Move 1 to 3 / 0 to 1
Range 1 to 3 / 0 to 1

Calculated Assault – If Eight Bit doesn’t attack this turn you may add 3 to your Initiative roll next turn.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

The summer is heating up and we have another great line up of Amateur SMASH-UP-DERBY. So get your car ready and register TODAY!

3 to 5 players
90 Minutes


Object –
Earn the most victory points repairing cars during the 12 weeks of summer at the Amateur SMASH-UP-DERBY.


Parts –
· Victory point track board and point markers for 5 players. This shows which week the players are in, what day of the week, and how many Victory Points they currently have. It also shows them how much cash they will get from their own smash up derby race winnings.



· Deck of Customer cards. These are jobs that are bid on and completed by the players to earn money and Victory points. The top money value is the minimum that job will pay. The middle value is default value. The 3rd value is maximum.


· Deck of Master Mechanic cards. These give your shop extra capacity or other features.
· Money.
· Dozens of small brown wooden cubes.
These represent boxes of car repair parts.
· 20 auto repair-shop boards. These show the players current repair jobs and how soon they will be done. Up to 4 for each player.


Set Up –
· Give each player 1 auto repair-shop board.
· Put the Victory point board in the middle.
· Put one point marker for each player on the 0 of week 1.
· Give each player some money.
· Put the week marker on Monday.
· Give each player some boxes of parts.
· Deal 5 customer cards to each player.



The game is played in 6 phases per week:

Monday –
Each player draws up to 5 cards.
Move the week marker to Tuesday.


Tuesday –
· Players can buy Parts.
· Players can hire Master Mechanics. You can only have one per shop. Put it next to one of your shops.
· Players can buy new shops.
Move the week marker to Wednesday.

Wednesday –
Each player in turn plays one customer card from their hand.
Move the week marker to Thursday.

Thursday –
· Players can buy Parts.
· Players can hire Master Mechanics. You can only have one per shop. Put it next to one of your shops.
· Players can buy new shops.
Move the week marker to Friday.


Friday –
Each player in turn plays one customer card from their hand.
Move the week marker to Saturday & Sunday.

Saturday & Sunday – Race days for the players.
Move the victory point marker of each player to the next week paying them from the bank for their racing winnings.
Move the week marker back to Monday.

After the 12th week The player with the highest score wins.


Playing customer cards:
The player playing a customer card chooses one from their hand and lays it where all can see it.

All other players bid from the range of monies on the card. The winner of the bid puts the card on an open labor slot in one of his shops. It has to be a labor slot that is equal or higher than the labor on the card.

Then money bid is put on the card from the bank.

If no one bids then the player that played can have it for the default value.

All players that did not win can move all their cards one position to the right.

Players collect any money from cards that falls off the right side. They also can move their victory point marker to the right one for each unless they are at the end of the week.



NOTE – The above is more of a treatment than a full set of rules. Many of the specifics are missing on purpose.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Sex, Lies, and Hatchets

This was an early draft of this GDS enrty. I can not find anything else.

---------------------------------------------
Are compatible with your partner or do you secretly want to kill them? It’s cheaper than therapy.

This game is for 2 or 3 teams of 2 players each, with a 45 minute playing time.

Your tools:
1 - Pop-O-Matic™ phrase selector and timer. This has two dice inside a clear dome. When the dome is pressed it will do two things at once. The dice are rolled reveling two new words. One word is an adjective and will apply to the second word which is a noun. For Example: HUMONGOUS MOTHER-IN-LAW. It also starts a timer that beeps 3 times then buzzes and the players begin. During play the timer will beep slow at first and then speed up until it will buzz again to announce the end of the round.

6 – Dice Cups. These cups easily hold 9 dice.

54 – Dice, 9 for each player. Each die has 6 symbols: Heart, Male and female sex symbols, dollar sign, smiley face, solid Red, and a hatchet.

6 – Screens. These screens hide what symbol the player is building and show as a reminder the different symbols and simple rules.

1 – Small pad of paper and pencil


Set-Up:
Place the Pop-O-Matic™ in the center where all can read it.

Give each player 1 cup, 1 screen, and 9 dice. They place the screen in front of them so it will hide what they roll.

Give the paper and pencil to someone to be score keeper.


Play:
One player press the Pop-O-Matic™. The players can read the new two-word phrase. The timer will start in 3 seconds. During this time the each player will decide which symbol on each die best matches the two-word phrase. They keep this decision secret.

When the buzzer sounds, and the timer starts, each player begins rolling their nine dice into their screens. The set aside each die that rolls the symbol they are looking for. Then they may place the rest of the dice into their cup and re-roll OR they may shout “Sex, Lies, and Hatchets” ending the round.

If anyone yells “Sex, Lies, and Hatchets” or the Pop-O-Matic™ timer buzzes then all players have to stop rolling.

The players remove their screen revealing what they have rolled and all will score the round.

You play this 4 times. The team with the highest scores are either very compatible or should start taking separate vacations.


Scoring:
· If both players collected the same symbol they add the number of dice they have between them and this is their score.
· If they collected different symbols then they subtract the smaller count from the larger and this is their score.
·



And they lived happily ever after:
After four scoring rounds the team with the highest score is the winning team.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Ice Castle Danger

“Jane, not since the 1976 winter games have we seen the kind of ICD competition we have seen here today!”

“I agree Ted.”

“This year I believe the Bulgarian team will take the gold but you should never discount the French when it comes to Ice Castle Danger!”

Ice Castle Danger
By -Dwight Sullivan and Mark Galvez


For teams of 2 to 3 players each

Stuff in the box:
6 plastic snowball catapults
30 heavy weighted plastic snowballs
10 custom ice trays
66 colored disk inserts; 30 red, 30 blue, and 6 gold
1 3 foot by 4 foot metal tray With 2 Castle templates drawn on each end; 1 Red and 1 Blue.

Set-Up:
STEP 1 – Make room in your freezer.
STEP 2 – Put 3 red disks, 3 blue disks and 1 gold disk (until the gold run out) in each Ice Tray. 1 or 2 openings in each tray will have no disk.

STEP 3 – Fill the Ice trays with water and place in freezer. Wait until frozen.
STEP 4 – Place the metal tray in the center of your kitchen table.
STEP 5 – Place 5 ice trays near each castle template.
STEP 6 – Split up into two teams. Each team should discuss who will crack trays and whole will build the castle. Also they should discuss castle building strategy and where their 3 gold bricks will go.
STEP 7 – Put all the catapults and snowballs near by but NOT on the tray.
STEP 8 – Someone say “GO”.

PHASE ONE – Castle construction
Simultaneously both teams start cracking the ice trays over the tray releasing the 100 2 inch by 2 inch square bricks of ice piled up and sliding around the tray. At the same time both teams begin building their castles with the following 2 rules:
1 – Each castle has to use all the slabs of their color and can use as many clear slabs as they want.
2 – Each castle has to include exactly 3 gold slabs anywhere within it higher than the second level up of bricks.

The first team finished building their castle will be the first to shoot their snowballs at the other castle.



PHASE TWO – Castle destruction
Teams take turns loading their catapults behind their firing lines and firing them at the other castle. Each member of the team gets 1 shot.

First team to get the other castle to loose all three of its gold bricks wins!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Duke of the Hill

By Dwight Sullivan and Mark Galvez

A party game for 8 to 30 players.

Overview:
This game is played for the duration of the party as an overlay to the party. Ideally everyone at the party is playing the game at all times. People can do any other normal party activities while playing this game.

Each player receives one card that identifies who they are and how far up the hill they are from 0 to 6. Jesters are at the bottom at 0. The Duke is at the top at 6. Players will mostly keep this identity a secret. There can be several of each type of card in play except there is only one Duke. He is on top of the Hill and everyone should pay him GREAT RESPECT during his reign.


The player that has the DUKE card is not a secret. In fact this player may strut if he or she desires. The Duke only has to wait to defend the top of The HILL from challengers.

Next, each player gets a catch-phrase card also kept secret and handy. These cards are simple one or two-word phrases that are commonly said in a party setting. The game also comes with a number of blank cards. The host can use these to create more appropriate phrases if needed. Future expansions can have more phrases.


During the course of the evening if you hear someone (other than the DUKE) say your phrase you can then show them your catch-phrase card and you get to take an Action. Afterward you have to get a new catch-phrase card from the box.

Also, there are multiple copies of The HILL mini-game within the party area. Anytime a player wants they can challenge another player to a game of The HILL. If the challenge is accepted then they find an open game and play. The winner of the challenge gets to do an Action. If the game ends in a tie then nothing happens.

Actions:
When someone says your catch-phrase you can do one of two actions:
1 - See their identity-card: They have to show you their identity card. If their number is one more than yours you can capture their card and move up the hill. Your old card is returned to the bottom of the deck and they have to take a new card from the top of the deck.

2 - Blind Capture: Without looking you capture their card and they capture your card. Maybe you will climb the and maybe you will fall!

Any player that captures an Earl (5): either from an action or from a challenge gets to challenge the current Duke to a game of The HILL! The will be the starting player and the winner of the game is the new Duke. The old duke wins all ties.


The HILL mini-game for two players:
Parts: 29 1” cubes – 3 yellow, 6 red, and 20 black.

On a flat surface the starting player selects one cube and places the cube by itself.

Players in turn choose one cube and place it squarely next to or on top of any other cube with following rules: The first level of the being built can not be larger than 4x4 cubes. The next level has to be a 3x3 set but can be anywhere on top of the first level. The last level is 2x2 and can be anywhere on top of the second level. When you are all done you will have a “Hill” of cubes.

Now players begin removing all the cubes. They remove two cubes per turn, in turn, starting with the starting player. First they remove one block for to score for themselves then one block for no-one that is placed off to the side. You can not remove a cube that is surrounded or has a cube on top of it. In the end each The starting player will have 8 cubes, the challenger will have 7 cubes, and there will be 14 cubes in the middle not scored.

Red cubes are worth 1 point each, yellow are worth 3 points each, and black cubes are 0 points. The winner is the player with the highest score.

Expansions: You can expand this game by introducing new and different Mini-Games.

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Secret-Society-of-Deadly-Dead-Celebrities

By Dwight Sullivan and Mark Galvez

You are part of an evil super-secret society of dead people. Your mission: to build a dooms-day-device faster than your fellow members so that YOU will be the most famous dead person ever.

In an effort to save man-kind the wiki-tiki people that are native to these waters have stolen all the parts you need and have scattered them across their area.


2 to 4 players
Time: 1 hour
Age: 18+

What’s in the box?
1 - Board representing a tropical region with some islands and underwater caves. You move around the board looking for the parts you need to build your dooms-day-device.


10 – Cast cards:
Each player will always have one of these cards. They show who you are and what the list of parts you need to gather to build your dooms-day-device.


4 – Pawns: Blue, Green, Yellow, Red; one for each player.

20 – Dooms-day-device parts 2 of each:
· Atomic Atomizer
· Flux Capacitor
· Chewing Gum
· Duct tape
· Nuclear ionizer
· DNA sequence from Jimmy Hoffa
· Moisture Vaporator
· Space Modulator
· Quantum Singularity
· Particle Beaminator
These are cardboard chits and they all have the same back. They start face down on the board waiting to be found.

4 – Action double-dice, one for each player. These are palm size clear cubes with one smaller regular die inside that you can shake. The outer clear cube has a word written on each side: BOAT, SUBMARINE, JET-PACK, SEARCH, TRADE, and GUESS.

20 – Double-Dice. Large tinted translucent dice with a smaller red die inside. 32 are translucent blue and 32 are translucent red.

1 – Wiki-Tiki Challenge board. This board is a grid of squares 4x4. Each square barely holds 1 double-dice.

Set-Up:
Plop the board in the exact center of the table.

Each player gets a random cast card face down. They keep it a secret. Deal three cast cards face down to be used later. The rest of the cast cards are placed face-up are not used but the players can see what they are.

Each player chooses a colored pawn.

The 20 dooms-day chits are mixed face down and 4 are placed on each of the 5 locations on the board.

Each turn begins with everyone simultaneously choosing what action to take with their Action Double-Die.

1 - All players secretly choose which action they want to do from the choices on the action die. Then they place the chosen action into their palm and begin shaking the die vigorously. No one can tell what you have chosen if you are shaking it vigorously.

2 - When everyone is ready all players slam down their die and remove their hand simultaneously reveling all the chosen actions and the value of the regular dice on the inside.


If two people at the same location chose the same action then they look at the die inside. The one with the highest number wins and does the action. If they still tie then they must play the deadly-dice showdown game.

Deadly-dice Showdown mini-game: Each player in the showdown takes 5 double-dice, shakes them and rolls them on the table. The player that rolls the most doubles wins. A double is when both die (inner and outer) have the same value.

Showdown Losers don’t get to do an action this turn.

Showdown Winners and all not in showdowns do their chosen actions in the following order:

GUESS - The player can do one of two things:
1 – Can ask any one yes or no question about the showdown winner’s cast card identity. EXAMPLE: “Is your character a male?”
OR
2 – Can make a guess about the true identity of a players cast card.
If the guess is correct the player has to exchange their cast card with one of the face-down cast without looking at it.

If the guess was incorrect the guesser has to show their identity to all. Then they have to exchange their character with a face-down cast without looking at it.

SEARCH: The player can look at the face-down chits at their location on the board and take one. Players can have a maximum of 5 parts. If they have too many they have to put one back at the location. All parts a player has are face-up and known by all.

TRADE: The trading player can trade one part with anyone else at the same location.

BOAT, SUBMARINE, and JET-PACK are move actions. The player moves his pawn following that path.

The Winner – A players that have all five of their pieces at the end of a turn wins the game!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Cubes and Sticks

Cubes and Sticks: YOUR SCHOOL HERE Edition
by Dwight Sullivan and Mark Galvez

Players: 3 – 6
Time: 1 hour
Ages: 10+

How much influence does your clique really have in College?

Object: Get as many of your Cubes and Sticks in the right place on the higher levels as you can.

Parts:
30 – 1" Cubes of wood. 5 in each of the 6 colors



30 – 4" Sticks of wood 5 in each of the 6 color.




1 – Customized board with the top view of the campus with 6 areas: Student Union, Arts, Mathematics, Library. Sciences and Athletics (Can change with each edition.).


6 - Clique cards (Edit for each edition). These tell what 3 colors you care about and the areas of the campus you need to get your colored pieces in to:

Football Team scores: Blue, brown, or green pieces in Athletics or Student Union.
Think Tank scores: Red, blue, or yellow pieces in Mathematics or Sciences.
Beatniks scores: Green, red, or yellow pieces in Arts or Library.
Greek Council scores: Orange, brown, or blue pieces in Library or Mathematics.
Party Animals scores: Brown, yellow, or blue pieces in Student Union or Sciences.
Cheerleaders scores: Yellow, orange, or green pieces in Athletics or Arts.



48 – Vote cards, up to 8 for each player. When you use these they are spent until your turn when you can replenish them.



Set up:
First pull out the correct Clique cards for the number of players and discard the rest:
3 players use Think Tank, Football Team, Beatniks
4 players add in Greek Council
5 players add in Party Animals
6 players add in Cheerleaders

Shuffle the Clique cards and deal one face down to each player. They can look at it but keep it face down and a secret during the game.

Deal vote cards to each player equal to the number of players plus two.

Put the board in the middle.

Pile all the cubes and sticks next to the board.

The ugliest player goes first.


On your turn:
1 – Draw vote cards:
Draw enough vote cards to bring your total cards equal to the number of players plus 2. You can only replenish your vote cards on your turn.

2 – Select a piece and convince others:
Select a cube or stick and begin to discuss with the other players possible placements of that piece. Try to learn their interest in that piece. You don’t have to tell them all of where or how you plan to place it but they may not vote for you if you don’t. If so then plan to out vote them.

HINT – Since there are at least two people for each color, a stick that spans two areas might get more votes.

3 – Call for a vote:
Starting with you each player will spend a vote card or pass. If they spend a card it will go in to one of two piles YES or NO. Each player can vote as long as they have vote cards to spend. The voting ends when no one wants to continue voting. Count the votes. If there are more YESs, if there are zero votes, or if it is a tie then you win and can place the piece.

If there are more NOs than YESs then the piece is passed to the player on your left and they have to try and get a positive vote to place that piece. If they fail it is passed to the left again. If the piece comes back to you, you can then place it anywhere you want.
Spent vote cards return to the deck.

HINT – Spend your vote cards wisely. You can only replenish your vote cards on your turn.

4 – Place the piece:
Whoever wins the vote should now tell everyone exactly where and how you plan to place the piece. You can not deviate from anything you promised before the vote.You can place the piece on the directly on the board or stacked on other pieces. If stacking a stick it has to have at least two other pieces under it, one on each end.

You can not have a stick hang over into the green areas of the board and you can not place a cube on a spanning stick such that it is over the green areas of the board.

HINT – You want your colors to be stacked as high as you can so let the other colors be on the lower levels.


Play then moves to the left.

Game end:
The game ends when all the pieces are on the board.

Scoring:
Each Clique card shows how it will score. It has three colors and two campus areas. A piece of the right color in either area is a scoring piece. A scoring piece on the board level is worth one point, on the second level up is worth two, and so on.

Example:
The Beatniks want Green, Yellow, or Red in the Library or Arts department. So far in this example they will score 6 points for the green stick on the 3rd level, 2 points for the stick on the 2nd level, 1 point for the green cube on the 1st level, and 2 points for the red stick on the 1st level.




In this example the Beatniks would score a total of 11 points.

The winner is the person with the highest score.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

safari party

By Dwight Sullivan and Mark Galvez

This is a block stacking game.

Players: 2 to 6
Age range: 5 to 9
Game time: 10 to 15 minutes

Howie’s Small Party
One day, Howie the hippo decided to have a small party for some of his friends at the zoo. So he called his other hippo friends, Lucy, Fred, Ethel, Sam, Bill, and Marietta.

Marietta asked if she could invite a couple of her friends. Howie said sure a couple more couldn’t hurt. So she called her Elephant friends Frank, George, Sean, Matt, Marry, and Susan.

Susan then asked if she could invite a couple of her friends and Marietta said sure a couple more couldn’t hurt. So she called her Giraffe friends Tom, Mark, Nancy, Dean, and Bob.

Bob then asked if he could invite a couple of his friends and Susan said sure a couple more couldn’t hurt. So he called his Monkey friends James, Jack, David, Brian, Max, Tory, Nick, Rob, and Morgan.

Boy was Howie surprised when everyone showed up!


Parts:
6” X 6” Board
18 Elephant blocks
18 Hippo blocks
18 Giraffe blocks
30 Monkey blocks
Buzzer (small 12 second timer that buzzes when the time is up)








Set-up:
Place the board in center on a flat steady surface.

Place the buzzer near the board.

Give each player: 3 Elephant blocks, 3 Hippo blocks, 3 Giraffe blocks, and 5 Monkey blocks.

The youngest player goes first and then play continues to the left.


Each Turn:
On your turn choose one of your animals then start the Buzzer.

You have to add the animal anywhere on the board or on other animals.

You can place it any way you want as long as it stays on the board or the other animals. No animal can touch the table.

You can only touch your own animals. You can not push or move the other animals.

If the Stack falls and one or more animals touch the table during your turn then that your are out and the remaining players have to start a new round.

If the Buzzer goes off that you have to end your turn and it’s the next players turn.

If you are playing your last piece you have to cry out “Safari Party”. Otherwise it’s the next players turn.


Winnner!
If it is your turn and you have no more pieces to play you win!

OR
If you are the last player in the game you win!