New Rule

Introduction: A game of overwhelming momentum! Players cooperate to build a blob big enough to consume board before the laws of physics (represented in the rules of the game) force it to disintegrate.

Players: 1+

Materials:

• One hundred pennies (or other small counters).
• One quarter or large coin for flipping (alternative devices for generating 50-50 random results).
• A standard Chess or Checkers board.

Setting Up: Lay the board in the center of the table and place one penny on each space. Pool the other pennies to the side of the board. Next, select eight pennies from this pool and place them on the board as follows: each player flips the flipping the coin to determine which color space to fill — heads is red/black and tails is white. Once the color has been determined, the player may place the penny on any space of that color they choose. Each player places pennies in turn until all eight have been placed.

How to Play: The object of the game is to concentrate all the pennies on the board into a 3×3 block of spaces. Each turn, players select a space and compress it, causing the pennies on it to disperse to new positions (see below). After all player have taken one turn, the board is settled.

Compression: Compressing a space involves adding pennies to it and causing it to disperse in a wave-like motion. The player draws a penny from the pool and places it on the space of their choice. Next, they move pennies out of the space in the following fashion:

1. The player flips a coin to see if the penny they are about to move will travel horizontally/vertically or diagonally — heads the former, tails the latter.
2. For every penny presently on the space, they move one of them that many spaces along the path indicated by the coin flip. Note that the play may choose which of the four horizontal or diagonal directions to move the penny.
3. They repeat the process, flipping anew and moving pennies out of the space until only one remains.

For example: A player chooses a space with four pennies already in place. They pick one from the pool, place it in the space, and flip the coin. Heads is showing, so they move one of the pennies in the space five spaces along a horizontal track (five spaces for the five pennies in the starting space). They flip the coin again — heads shows again — and move the next penny four spaces along a horizontal track (four spaces for the four pennies presently in the starting space). They continue until one penny is left in the starting space.

Note: if a penny’s momentum will carry it off the board, it is removed from play.

Settling: After each round, in which all players have taken one turn, the players settle the board. They disperse one penny from any space with four or more pennies presently occupying it in the manner described above, under Compression. Once all spaces with a penny-count of four or more have had one penny dispersed, the settling is finished for the round and players resume their play in order.

Winning the Game: Play continues until either all the pennies have been concentrated in a 3×3 area, or any one of the following conditions has been met:

• No pennies remain in the pool.
• There are only four or fewer spaces on the board with more than one penny.
• The players have player twenty-five rounds, or twenty-five turns each.

If any of these conditions is met, the players immediately lose. If they are able to concentrate the pennies into a 3×3 grid before that occurs, the players win.

Tags: Game Design //