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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

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Game Design Showdown - February 2006

This month's contest is now closed. Results at the end of the thread.

Love is in the Air…
To mark one of the most important merchandising dates of the year, this month’s GDS invites you to celebrate this festival of romance with a romantic game.

Theme: Romance.
The game should be about “romance” in some fashion. However, it shouldn’t be gratuitously extreme; although I don’t mind people pushing close to the edge, I think that a Kama Sutra game might be a step too far.

Design Limitations:
- No cards of any description. You may use tiles but not as card replacements (e.g. if they are being used to create a variable board.)
- Game series. The game should be designed to be played multiple times in sequence. The scoring system should take these multiple games into account when determining the winner. Each individual game within the series should be relatively quick (but this is obviously flexible.)
- You should not include any pirates, robots, ninjas and/or zombies in your game. I don’t care what the marketing people say.

Secondary Contest: I think titles are sometimes more important than the actual game. So I’d like you to include really terrible pun in your title (“The St Valentine’s Day Moussaka”, "Love is in the Hair" - that kind of thing.) And so I’d like people to vote for their favourite title as well – the one that would make you take the game off the shelf in the first place, if only to find out who had the nerve to call their game that...

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #1 - Pun, Lola, Pun - epigone
If you haven't seen the movie Run, Lola, Run, you should, since it's very good. In it Lola must somehow get 100,000 marks to her boyfriend Manni on the other side of Berlin in only 20 minutes. We see three versions of her attempts, each very slightly shifted in time, causing rippling side effects in a classic butterfly effect. Also, from now on the 'other player' will be referred to as 'your lover'.

Game contents:
48 6cm square tiles
2 coins
1 Manni figurine
1 Lola figurine
100 heart tokens
1 gameboard
1 timer (chess clock, keeps two running timers, one active at a time with a button to switch timers, rings a bell on timeout, easily reset)

Setup:
6 of the tiles should have a $ icon. Set them aside. Shuffle the remaining tiles face down and pick 7 to go with the 6. Place the 13 randomly face down on the gameboard on each position except the start. Now pick another 13 to put on top of the first 13, again face down, and finally the third layer of 13. Discard the remaining 9 tiles; they will not be used this game. Place the Manni and Lola figurines on the start square and give the Lola player 1 heart. Set the clock to 1 minute per player and start the timer on Manni's side, who will go first.

Gameplay:
On your turn your figurine will be on a tile with two numbers. You must move (Manni clockwise, Lola counterclockwise) a number of spaces equal to one of these. If you are not on the start square, both locations you could move to are faceup, and neither is the start square, you die. If you land on a facedown tile, flip it faceup and take a heart. If you land on a tile with a heart, take a heart. If you land on a tile with a $ symbol and do not already have a coin, take a coin. If your lover is also on the tile you landed on, resolve the meeting and end the round. When your turn is finished, press the button on the clock transferring active time to your lover. If your time runs out before you hit the clock, you die.

The coin:
Having a coin represents having the money necessary to save Manni's life. If you have a coin, you may discard it to go to a location 1 space farther than anywhere you could normally land.

Resolving the meeting:
If you land on the same tile as your lover and neither of you has the money, you both die. If at least one of you has the money, everyone with the money takes 4 hearts and the game ends.

Dying:
Cycling a tile is taking a face up tile and putting it face down at the bottom of the pile. If you die, cycle each tile that you could reach from where you are, each tile that leads to where you are, and the tile you're on. The start tile cannot cycle. Anyone who died loses up to 2 hearts, if possible. Replace both figurines on the start square, reset the clock, and begin your next life. Manni always goes first.

Ending the game:
Whoever has the most hearts at the end of the game wins. If there is a tie, you both win.

Unfortunate events:
Before play begins decide jointly what to do if someone makes an illegal move, the board is bumped, etc. while time is running. Often pausing time or switching back to the offending player until the damage is repaired will work nicely.

FAQ:
-If you land on a face down tile, flip it up, and it shows a heart, you get 1 heart for exploring and 1 heart for the icon. Similarly you immediately get a coin if your face down tile flips to show a coin.
-You may move to a face up tile that has nowhere to go; you don't die until your next turn.
-If you can reach just one face down tile from where you are and your lover moves to it, flipping it face up, then on your turn you die.
-If you both have the money when you meet, you both get hearts.
-If you discard the money to move onto your lover, you do not have it when the game ends (unless that tile has a $ icon).
-If both tiles you could go to are face up at the beginning of your turn, regardless of whether you have the money and could go farther, you die.

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #2 - Me Pull Meeple - sebastian

The slimy long-lived alien race Quixocre are desperate for a little love. Fortunately, they have discovered that decorating themselves with Meeples makes them irresistable to the opposite sex. As there are a limited supply of Meeples in the galaxy, they have devised a game to share them out.

This game is for any number of players greater than or equal to 2.

Components:
Meeples to be divided. Ideally, there would be about 10 per player, but galactic stores are limited.
1 Binary sun star system (otherwise empty)
8 Planetary bodies for each player (0.05 solar mass units, 0.01 solar mass units, 2 x 0.005 solar mass units, 4 x 0.0001 solar mass units)
Sufficient disintegrator rays to destroy any planetary bodies that threaten to destroy any of the meeples through a direct hit.

Gameplay:
Place 1/10th of the meeples into various orbits around the binary star system. Each player positions their spacecraft around the system and simultaniously shoots their planetary bodies into the system on slingshot orbits. They should try to arrange things so that their planetary bodies pull the meeples into orbit around them, and hence back to their spacecraft. After a predetermined time has passed, the round ends. Any planetary bodies that have not returned to their owners ship (through collision or otherwise) are disintegrated, extra meeples are spread out, and the next round starts.

The Quixocre with the most meeples at the end of 9 rounds (the last round has double the number of meeples in it) is the winner and gets the love and slimy adulation of millions of other Quixocre.

[I was thinking of setting Sirius up as a prototype. Sadly, I did not have sufficient Meeples to do so.]

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #3 - Romancing the Spawn - kefa
4 players - 8 years and up

Off Coronado a real underwater romantic show is keeping with bated breath thousands of Californian inhabitants. Two Seahorses, anchored to seaweed, have promised each other eternal love. He is tender, awkward and pretty confused. She is so excited and shows her new coral necklace, instead. Will they bet on their love before a skin-diver steals the necklace? Will they spawn before a hungry shark comes to bless their wedding? If someone told that life is beautiful, love is such a beautiful game.

Components:
72 tiles (12 with a yellow Seahorse on top, 12 with a green Seahorse on top, 12 with a brown Seahorse on top, 12 with a red Seahorse on top, 12 with a blue Seahorse on top and 12 with a black Seahorse on top). Six Seahorses of each colour are male, marked with an “M”, and six are female, marked with an “F”; both male and female Seahorses are numbered 1 to 6.
Score sheets

Goal of the game
Pass through the three stages of the Choice, the Courting and the Spawn scoring more points than the other players.

Tiles evaluation

<br />
Colour of Seahorse    Male      Female<br />
Yellow                  1           6<br />
Green                   2           5<br />
Brown                   3           4<br />
Red                     4           3<br />
Blue                    5           2<br />
Black                   6           1<br />

Set up
Every player draws eighteen tiles and lay them face down forming three rows of six tiles each.

Game play
The Choice…Colours and sex make the difference
This stage is composed by six rounds and involves the first row of tiles. Players reveal tiles left to right one at a time and compare the own tile with the opposite player’s one. Then write down the earned points in the score sheet as follows:

- Same colour of Seahorse but different sex 3 pt.
- Different colour of Seahorse and different sex 2 pt.
- Different colour of Seahorse but same sex 1 pt.
- Same colour of Seahorse and same sex 0 pt.

After the sixth round players set aside the tiles played and start the second stage.

The Courting…The importance of having great numbers

Even this stage is composed by six rounds but involves the second row of tiles. Players reveal tiles left to right one at a time and compare the own tile with the opposite player’s one except for the last tile. In the sixth round every player compares the own tile with each player’s one. In all the rounds players earn points as follows:

- If their own tile has a higher number but the Seahorse is of a different sex 3 pt.
- If their own tile has a higher number but the Seahorse is of the same sex 2 pt.
- If their own tile has the same number 1 pt.
- If their own tile has a lower number 0 pt.

After the sixth round players set aside the tiles played and add the score of both stages. The players with best two scores will have a face-off in the third final stage.

The Spawn…Trust on your sensations
This stage is composed by five rounds and an extra one. Before starting, the player with the lower score has the chance to choose one of the two players eliminated and take his own tiles left, naturally the opponent will take the other player’s ones. Than both players choose three tiles and shift them with the opponent’s ones, discard six tiles, form a row of five tiles and put in the middle of the table the last one for the extra round.
Like former stages players reveal tiles left to right one at a time and compare the own tile with the opposite player’s one. In this stage players earn points according to the different Seahorse colours affinities as follows:

Player Seahorse Opponent Seahorse </p>
<p>Yellow          Black          10 pt.<br />
Blue            Green           8 pt.<br />
Brown           Red             5 pt.<br />
Black           Brown           4 pt.<br />
Green           Blue            3 pt.<br />
Red             Yellow          2 pt.<br />
Other                           1 pt.<br />

After the fifth round players add the score of all stages but only the player with the lower score will earn the points from the last comparison in the extra round.

End of the game
Following all three stages and even after the extra round, the player with the best score wins the game.

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #4 - Love Me Blender - doho123
(manufactured by Presley Kitchenware Inc.)

Two players create love potions to move Pat on the Infatuation Line.

Components:
-The Love Me Blender[1] and Blender Base[2].
-Marbles, in four "Ingredient" colors, and additionally, black and clear.
-Marble bag.
-8 small bowls.
-Board showing the Infatuation Line[3] and many potion recipes[4].
-Pat, a pawn.
-Markers to cover up used recipes.

Setup:
-Place Pat on the Zero space on the Infatuation Line.
-Black and colored marbles go in the bag, clear marbles in a bowl off to the side.
-Each player gets a bowl for their stock of Ingredients. Four "Storehouse" bowls are placed in the center of the table. The last bowl is used for black marbles.
-Decide who goes first.

Gameplay:
A player performs one of the following two choices:

-Collect Ingredients:
The player takes all the marbles from one Storehouse and places them into his personal stock.

-or-

-Attempt A Potion:
The player takes any amount of marbles from his stock and places them into the Blender along with an equal amount of clear marbles[5]. The Blender is then shaken by the player; the opposing player may also shake it if he feels that it is not mixed enough. Place Blender on the Blender Base and Press "MIX", which releases all marbles into the reservoirs.
All clear marbles are returned to their bowl.
Remaining marbles in the BAD reservoir are returned to the bag.
Remaining marbles in the RETURN FROM BLENDER reservoir are divided up and placed into the four Storehouse bowls in any way the acting player decides.
The player selects ONE unmarked potion from the board by matching the ingredient list of the potion to the marbles in the GOOD reservoir[6]. The player puts a marker on this potion[7] and moves Pat the number of spaces indicated on the potion, or to the next colored space that is indicated by the potion[8] towards himself.
If there are no potions available that match the GOOD marbles, the player fails to make a potion and cannot move Pat.
All GOOD marbles are returned to the bag.

After doing either A or B above, the player then pulls 5 random marbles from the bag. Black marbles go in the 5th bowl. The player then distributes the colored marbles anyway he wishes in the 4 Storehouses.

The other player takes his turn.

A round ends immediately when A)Pat hits a 10 point space for one player, or B) 6 black marbles are in the 5th bowl.
Pat scores points for the player based on which side he is on. The points awarded are listed on the space Pat is on. Return Pat to the zero space. Return all black marbles and marbles from players personal stocks to the bag. A new round starts[9].

Points are doubled for the 2nd round, tripled for the third. The game is over after 3 rounds, or if all potions have been covered. Best total score wins.

[1] The Blender is a plastic toy that looks like a typical Blender which holds many marbles, except that the pitcher is opaque. There is a "MIX" button on the front. Inside, there are three holes which marbles can escape from down into the Blender Base when it is placed on the Base. These holes are normally blocked (marbles cannot escape) by a spring-locked sliding trap door mechanism. Pressing the "MIX" button slides the trap open, releasing all of the marbles through the three holes.

[2] The Blender sits on the Blender Base, which has three reservoirs for catching marbles (these are labeled "GOOD", "BAD", "RETURN FROM BLENDER"). Inside the Blender, funnel shapes lead into the holes which roughly distributes the marbles so that 1/2 go to the "GOOD" reservoir, 1/4 go to "BAD", and 1/4 go to "RETURN FROM BLENDER".

[3] The Infatuation Line looks like this:

[4] There are two types of Potions: "move X Spaces" and "Move to Color."
Examples:
"Empathy Elixier. 2 red/1 yellow. move 1 space."
"Howl at the Moon. 1 red/1 yellow/1 green/2 blue. move 2 spaces."
"Sweet Clementyne. 4 blue/3 red/1 yellow. move to Purple."
"Chocolate High. 4 green/2 yellow/2 blue. move to Yellow."

[5] Clear marbles are added to prevent suspicious shaking in the hopes of getting more marbles to fall into the "GOOD" reservoir.

[6] Odds are, many GOOD marbles will be unused when matching to a potion.

[7] Any potion is only used once during the entire game. Pat becomes immune quickly.

[8] There is no 10 space colored potion; a potion that "moves X spaces" would be required to move there.

[9] Markers from potions are not removed when a new round starts. More complex potions will be used during later rounds. Likewise, storehouses are not "reset."

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #5 - Honey, I love ewe! - evilupine
A game of love and sheep herding for 2-4 couples.

Background Story
On Valentine’s Day while playing truth or dare you admit to your honey that you love sheep. To your surprise and relief their response is: “Honey, I love ewe too!” Hugging your honey close, you say “It’s Valentine’s Day. We should treat ourselves to what we want most. It’s time we owned some sheep!”

You race to the local sheep ranch with stars in your eyes only to find that other couples are already here! Holding your honey’s hand you walk to the field determined not to let anyone get in the way of your dreams. You’ll have to work together to herd the most sheep into your corral.

Components
1 playing field
1 wolf
4 square and 4 round pawns, each in 4 colors
8 waving-arms markers
24 sheep, 6 in each color numbered 1-6
48 fence tiles, 12 in each color

Setup
Each team places 6 fence tiles onto the field
Place sheep in starting area
Place pawns in starting area
Determine which team goes first

Turn Order
1. Teams take turns moving sheep
2. The wolf eats a sheep
3. Teams take turns choosing actions
4. Corrals are checked for space

Moving the Sheep
Each team is responsible for moving the 6 sheep of their color. Each pawn has a radius of 2 spaces.

Sheep movement:
• Sheep always move
• Normally sheep move only 1 space
• Sheep will only move into a pawn’s radius if they cannot move anywhere else.
• If within a pawn’s radius, the sheep chooses the shortest path out of the radius and moves 2 spaces in that direction. If there is no shortest path the sheep’s controller chooses one.
• Sheep will only move into a pawn’s space if they are fleeing from waving arms or cannot move anywhere else. See: Being Knocked Down.
• Sheep can move into a corral through the trees or fences that are part of the corral, but only if they are fleeing from a pawn.

The Wolf
If there are any un-corralled sheep after 10 turns, place the wolf in the space of the sheep closest to any edge; remove that sheep from the game. The team with the least corralled sheep moves the wolf. Each turn the wolf follows the shortest path to the closest sheep. The wolf cannot pass through a pawn’s radius, it will choose the next closest sheep. The wolf cannot move through trees or fences.

Couples and Actions
Each team has two pawns. Each pawn may perform 2 actions each turn. Teams choose actions in any order. Pawns may move into any space, except tree spaces.

Actions:
• Move one space in any direction
• Wave arms – place a waving-arms marker in the pawn’s space. Sheep within it’s radius during sheep movement will ignore the shortest path, change direction one hex face of it’s controller’s choice, and move 4 spaces in that direction
• Place a fence in the pawn’s space
• Remove a fence from the pawn’s space
• Pick up a sheep in the pawn’s space, only one sheep may be held at a time
• Hold sheep – each turn you must either hold or drop a sheep you have picked up
• Drop sheep – choose the direction the sheep faces, it then gets a free move as if the pawn has a waving-arms marker.
• Stand up, see: Being Knocked Down
• Help another pawn stand up, see: Being Knocked Down

Corrals and Stampedes
A corral is a group of spaces enclosed by trees and/or fences. Corrals are owned by the team with the most fences in the corral. If there is less than 1 open space inside a corral for every 3 sheep, the team to the right of the corral’s owner removes a fence tile.

Being Knocked Down
If a sheep or pawn (“Bumper”) enters a space occupied by another pawn (”Bumpee”), the Bumper flips a coin, the Bumpee calls it. If the Bumpee wins, the Bumper is knocked down (sheep just stop movement for the turn), otherwise the Bumpee is knocked down.

Winning the Game
The game ends when there are no un-corralled sheep in the field. The couple with the most sheep wins. If there is a tie, the couple with the least sheep of their own color wins. If you win kiss your honey.

After a game, each couple should hug and say “Honey, I love ewe!”

Multiple Matches
You may play a set number of matches (3-5 recommended) or play to a set number of points (200 recommended).
To keep score through multiple games, add up the numbers on the sheep in your corrals, record these points on a sheet of paper.

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #6 - In the Woods for Love - seo
(3-4 players)
What better place for teenager romance than a camp? It only takes a couple dreamy rendez-vous at the lake or the woods, a tranquil boat ride by the river, holding hands on the bridge or a visit to the romantic waterfall, and a summer love will spring. Add a soda, a donut or a chocolate bar, and things will evolve even faster. Your only obstacles are the other kids looking for romance as eagerly as you, and the camp leaders, who will do everything they can to prevent romantic encounters between their kids.

Components

20 tiles: 7 plain terrain, 9 special terrain with romantic places (2 woods, bridge, river, lake, waterfall) and sweets (chocolate, donut, soda), 4 camps (in four colors). Each has four spaces; special terrain and camps have one special space and three plain terrain. Camp tiles backs are different from the rest.
12 campers pieces: one boy, one girl and one camp leader in each of the four player colors.
6 Sweet counters: two of each chocolate, donut and soda, one for boys, one for girls.
72 Seduction counters to keep track of seduction in each round of the game: 9 of each of the four player colors for the girls, 9 for the boys.
10 Love counters: 10 counters in the shape of a heart (to keep track of Victory Points earned in each round).
6 six-sided dice.

Set-up
Tiles are shuffled and placed face down (see image). Camp tiles are turned up. Girl, boy and camp leader of each color are placed around their respective camps, using the three plain spaces on the tile.

Game overview
A game consists of several rounds.
In each round the players move their girl and boy pieces around the board trying to meet other players boys or girls in any of the romantic places before the camp leaders arrive. When they meet, both pieces are returned to their respective camps, and the players receive seduction counters corresponding to who they just met (e.g.: blue boy and red girl meet: blue player receives a red girl counter, and red player receives a blue boy counter). If any of them was carrying a sweet to give as a present, the player can return the sweet counter and receive two seduction counters instead of just one.
When one or two players collect three seduction counters of the same camper (e.g.: the red girl), the round is ended and the player(s) receive one Love counter (each).
For the next round the tiles are reshuffled and laid face down again, and all sweet and seduction counters are returned, except for the previous round winner(s), who keep one of the counters that earned him (them) the recent victory (so it’s easier to seduce the same camper round after round).

Winner
The winner of the game is the first player(s) to earn three Love counters.
Note: giving sweets to other campers so they fall in love with his camper is the only way for a player to unbalance the score in his favour; otherwise the victory will always be shared (which seems reasonable for a romance game).

Game-play
During each round, players take turns to:
1) Roll the 6d6.
2) If there’s any empty face-down tile still on the board, turn it face up and rotate it at will. Once face up the tiles can’t be rotated anymore.
3) Discard at least two of the dice.
4) Use the dice to move at least two pieces (see below).

Movement rules
Players can control the movement of their girl and boy pieces, and any of the camp leaders. All pieces move according to the same rules:
- Advance in a straight line as many spaces as indicated by the chosen die. When using several dice on the same piece, 90º turns are allowed from one die to the next.
- If the piece arrives to any of the sweet spaces, the player receives the corresponding counter (i.e.: if a boy reaches the chocolate space, the player receives the boy-chocolate counter).
- Kids can share the same space only when they meet at the romantic places or at camps.
- When a camp leader moves into a space with one kid, the kid is immediately sent to his/her camp and looses all the sweet counters.


Top: blue boy can get the donut counter with a 1.
Right: yellow boy is waiting in the woods, green girl can meet him with a 1, blue girl needs a 4.
Bellow: Yellow girl was captured and sent back to camp. Green leader is blocking the bridge, and can capture red girl with a 1.

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #7 - Abstinence makes the Head Girl fondle - yogurt
3-6 players
At Sister Abstinence's Finishing School for Girls, young women are taught the virtues of modesty, decorum and self-respect. The school often hosts formal dances, welcoming other schools, such as the Smouldering Academy of Foreign Boys.

The closets, cloak rooms and rhododendrons quickly fill with collegial spirit.

GAME SUMMARY
Find a suitable match for each student you control, lead the couple to a private place, and let them make the most of the time alone.

Each game lasts five minutes, so seize the moment!

THE BOARD
The school ballroom is a 3x3 grid. Short paths lead to private RETREATS, such as stairwells, the music room, or the art supply cupboard.

THE STUDENTS
Each player controls four STUDENTS. They may be from Sister Abby or some other school.

One student per player is marked with a STAR. She is a head girl, a lacrosse champ, or some other notable.

HOPES
Each student has three facedown HOPE tokens: their goals for the night. These are kept off the board.

HOPES may be:

Heart - Mooning eyes and sweet nicknames.

Words - Deep thoughts and shared secrets.

Sparks - Kisses and gropes.

You may peek at your own students' HOPES.

CHAPERONES
There are two CHAPERONES who may be controlled by any player.

GAME LENGTH
After setting up, start a song from your youth on your stereo. (Yes, your actual stereo.) The game ends when the song does.

PLAYER TURNS
Each player takes one small action with play passing clockwise.

Hurry! If the next player can chant "modesty, decorum and self-respect" before you take your move, your turn ends!

On your turn, you may:
FLIRT
Choose any student you control. Reveal one HOPE belonging to a student on the same square.
You cannot flirt if there is a chaperone on your square.

MOVE
Move one of your students one space. You may pull along another player's student if they have a HOPE in common with your student.
You may not leave a RETREAT if there is a chaperone outside.
You may not enter an occupied RETREAT, unless the occupant allows it.

MOVE A CHAPERONE
Move any chaperone one space.

or

If one of your students and a chaperone are alone together, you may send the chaperone to any unoccupied space. ("They went that way.")

Caught!
If a chaperone enters an occupied RETREAT, the students are sent back to the dance without scoring points.

RENDEZVOUS ("I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW")

If you have a student in a RETREAT with another player's student, they have a chance at making a memory.

Roll five dice and place them on the RETREAT. The dice have a heart, words, sparks, and three blank sides. The more matches between the roll and your HOPES, the better.

If there are already dice there from a previous turn, you may reroll some of them -- even if they matched your partner's HOPES (you cad)!

You may stay for as many turns as you like, trying to improve. But as soon as one person leaves, you must tally the score.

SCORING

How successful was the rendezvous? Each partner scores separately.

+ For every match between your HOPES and the dice, score 1.

+ For every match between your HOPES and your partner's HOPES, score 1.

+ If the other student has a STAR (head girl etc.), score 3. There is no reward for having a STAR, just for romancing one.

Some RETREATS have modifiers. For example, "under the tablecloth" scores 0 points for Words.

Score 6-9: place a small MEMORY token by the student's HOPES.
Score 10 or more: place a large MEMORY.

A student may score more than once, but she only gets to keep the largest MEMORY.

ENDING THE GAME

As soon as the song ends, the game ends. Everyone still in a RETREAT immediately scores.

Record the memories each player earned.

WINNING

Play as many games as you like. I suggest five.

To determine the overall winner, score 3 points for each large MEMORY and 1 point for each small MEMORY. Break ties by the number of memories overall.

NITPICKY STUFF

You can't backtrack to the space you just left, unless you're in a RETREAT.

There are multiple sets of dice. If all are being used, take any set. That RETREAT scores immediately.

Don't worry about genders. Maybe your students are from a girl's school, maybe a boy's school. I hear Bartholomew’s went co-ed. Plus, kids today...

"Are the HOPES like cards? You can peek at them." A deck with only three values? Bosh. Play without peeking, if you prefer.

"One song is short!" Most scoring happens at the end. Or try Stairway to Heaven.

WHAT'S THE EXPANSION CALLED?

The Learned, The Rich and the Wardrobe

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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

note: This entry comes in at almost twice the regular word-count. However, I didn't discover this until compiling the entries, which made it too late to contact the author. I chose to be lenient, but voters may choose to disqualify it.

Entry #8 - Planetary Bump: Shake, Shake Your Rump - neoclown

Welcome to Planetary Bump: Shake, Shake Your Rump. I'll be your host for this evening. You can call me "the Instructions" and I'll call you "Playa", fair enough? Thought so, lets continue. Planetary Bump: Shake, Shake Your Rump is (for the most part) a game of complete and total chance, where one team, made up of 2 people desperately in love, plays against another team, made up of a different 2 people also desperately in love in a competition of heavenly bodies and witty wittiness. So pour a glass of fine sparkling cider and get ready to shake, yes shake your rump.

Object:
Work with your partner (whom you are desperately in love with and can't live without, not even for a single second, though realistically you do everyday while he/she's at work and you're at work, or if you're lazy and are at home veggin' out while they are at work) to be the team that throws the best inter-planetary dance party, which in turn will be a medium for "hook ups" which will in turn produce babies. Whichever team makes the most baby planets by the end of the party wins.

Tools:
- A solar system of your choosing (the more planets the better).
- A Quadric-Transfibulator (or any pair of six-sided dice over 300 stories tall).
- Scratch paper & pencils.
- An eight-track player.
- Earth, Wind, and Fire's Greatest Hits (on eight-track).

Starting a Game:
- Both teams should agree upon a solar system and venture there accordingly.
- Flip a coin in order to decide which team goes first.
- Hand out sufficient scratch paper & pencils to each team.
- Plug in the eight-track player to the nearest outlet, but do not start the music yet.

A Round:
The team who won the coin toss goes first (unless it was a tie, then both teams should go at the same time, See "Tie Rules" on page 3). There are 20 total rounds in a game of Planetary Bump: Shake, Shake Your Rump, each one representing what it takes to get two planets (or more) in the mood. A round consists of two primary actions, or steps, and two possible actions, or steps, depending on the outcome of the primary actions, or steps. These actions, or steps, are done in the following order...

1. Pick your planet couple (only one couple each round).
2. "In the mood" roll.
3. Play Music.
4. Roll to make babies.

The above actions/steps are more fully explained below...

1. Pick your planet couple: You're throwing an intergalactic shin-dig, now go play match-maker and get some of these planets to hook up. Talk with your team mate, who you are hopelessly in love with despite the fact that they are cheating on you because they say you don't have enough ambition and just sit on the couch all day and don't have a job, and together decide which planets you want to get dancing together. In Planetary Bump: Shake, Shake Your Rump size does matter, so choose accordingly.

2. "In the mood" roll: You and your partner should each roll one of the Quadric-Transfibulator cubes (or dice) being careful not to destroy any civilizations by running over a planet or two. A roll of 5 or 6 means your chosen planets are starting to dig one another and may even begin dancing a bit closer to the timeless sounds of Earth, Wind and Fire. A roll of 1 or 2 means the two simply don't care for eachother and match-making skills are lacking. A roll of 3 means you get to roll again, since 3 is universally known as a lucky number. A roll of 4 is not possible since \there is no 4 on the Quadric-Transfibulator cube (or die). One will notice, upon inspection of the Quadric-Transfibulator cube (or die), that the side where the number "4" would normally be transcribed or embossed is instead nothing. A roll of nothingness simply means that the planetary couple simply need more time to get to know one another before they make up their minds. Now back off and give them some space, they only met for heaven's sake! Planets taking more time to get to know one another are rolled for again with a different set of values (See "We Know Eachother Better Now" below).

3. Play Music: This is a possible action, or step, that is only taken if a 5 or 6 is rolled on the initial roll (or reroll in the case of a 3 being rolled on the initial roll). This action is done by simply pushing "play" on the eight-track player to start the melodious sounds of Earth, Wind and Fire's Greatest Hits.

4. Roll to make babies: This roll only takes place if action 3 takes place. And since action three only takes place if all goes well in action 2, then this action (action 4) cannot take place unless things go well in action 2 and lead to the playing of music in action 3 as well. In order to complete this action, a team must roll their Quadric-Transfibulator cubes (or dice) and treat the outcome as if they had used a Quasi-Transfibulator (or three-sided die), where the 1 and 2 are equal to 1, the 3 and 4 are 2, and the 5 and 6 are 3. Whichever number is rolled is the number of baby planets produced as a result of your hoppin' planetary party. Fo shizzle.

"Special" Situations:
My mother once told me that people who have a harder time in life via physical retardation, mental retardation, or bad fashion taste should be referred to as "special." This is of course an effort to make them feel better about being the way they are, as if they would know how it is to be any different. With the exception of the physically and mentally retarded, these "special" people have no chance of living a happy and fulfilling life, and so calling then "special" is much more polite than "loser" or "tard" (which isn't very nice at all). There exists in Planetary Bump: Shake, Shake Your Rump situations which may also be labeled as "special." They are in no way related to "special" people in various "special circumstances".

Tie Rules:
When flipping a coin to decide which team of lovers goes first, if the flip results in a tie, please adhere to the following directions immediately...
1. Take that coin and immediately deposit it in a plastic bag with a seal.
2. Find your nearest cathedral and go inside.
3. Find the Priest and reveal the coin to him, telling him that you in fact flipped a coin and it resulted in a tie.
4. Assist the Priest in the exorcism of the coin by holding it down while its demons are vanquished.
5. Then return to your game and flip again to see who goes first.

We Know Each other Better Now:
Upon a roll of nothingness, the planetary couple you were playing match-maker with have decided to take a little more time getting to know eachother. This time they share lasts for the rest of the round until the next round when they are rolled for again. During this time they may discuss politics or religion, personal preferences for inlaid chimneys, or any other common party topics. When the next round comes around, roll for the couple again to see if they are ready to get closer, or drift apart. The normal rolling rules apply, including the possibility that they may take even more time getting to know one another. Each time a couple takes said time (each time a team rolls Nothingness for a planetary couple), add 1 baby to the total number made if planetary babies are indeed produced. This number stacks if the couple decides to take forever to get it on (i.e. "get to know one another first"). ***A couple getting to know eachother better does not count against a teams allotted number of groupings a round (1).

Ending A Game:
After twenty rounds of match-making, both teams of people so in love with one another that they can barely keep from ripping eachother's clothes off right here and now are to add up all of their planetary babies. The team of love-bunnies with the most baby planets wins the game!

Alternate Modes of Play:

A Quickie:
To play a quickie game, simply shrink the number of rounds from 20 to 10. Also, raise the +1 baby bonus from Nothingness rolls to +2. This will create a more fast-paced atmosphere where your planet's inability to jump right into baby making and instead having to talk first won't complete ruin your chances at throwing the best interplanetary party ever!

All Night Long:
To play a game that might last far into the morning hours, extend the number of rounds from 20 to 50. Also, keep the Nothingness roll bonus to +1. An all night long escapade like this might include a whole lotta talkin', and a whole lotta bumpin'.

Enjoy the Game!
If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or are in dire need of an exorcist, give us a call at 1-900-PLANETARYBUMPIN. We appreciate all comments and suggestions. Thank you.

Scurra
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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Entry #9 - Sex, Lies, and Hatchets - xaqery
Are you compatible with your partner or do you secretly want to kill them? Trust me, this is cheaper than therapy.

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

Your tools:
1 - Phrase -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 revealing 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 slowly 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 collecting and shows as a reminder the different symbols and simple rules.

1 – Small pad of paper and pencil

Set-Up:
Place the Phrase-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 Phrase-O-Matic™. The players can read the new two-word phrase. The timer will start in 3 seconds. During this time each player will decide which symbol on each die best matches the two-word phrase. They keep this decision secret and there should be no discussion about it.

After the 3 seconds the buzzer will sound and the timer starts. Each player begins rolling their nine dice into their screens. They set aside and collect 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 them OR they may shout “Sex, Lies, and Hatchets” ending the round.

If anyone yells “Sex, Lies, and Hatchets” or the Phrase-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.
• Hatchets are special:
o If a player collects 9 hatchets and their partner didn’t collect Hatches the team scores 18 points.
o If a player collects hatches but did not get all 9 then the team scores zero.
o If both players collect hatchets then the teams score zero.

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

Scurra
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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

Special Bonus non-Entry - Queue-Pid - zefquaavius

This is not eligible for votes, but here's the text version of the entry.

Overview
The players, shy middle-school students, work together, distracting the teacher or their fellow students at critical moments, in order to pass a querying love note from one to the other, then back again. All the while, the sender waits anxiously to see whether the recipient circled “yes” or “no”.
[For simplicity’s sake, in these instructions, the sender will be assumed to be female, and the recipient male. This is only for convenience: Enjoy the game, whoever you two are!]

Setup
Place the teacher in one of the four central spaces, facing either toward the “top” or “bottom” of the U formed by the queue.
Set the sender beside the exit from the queue.
Set the recipient beside the queue’s entrance.
Decide which player shall play the sender; the other will be the recipient.
Put all the rest of the students in the bag. Now, draw them, one at a time, and place eleven of them in the queue, starting just before the exit, and ending at the entrance. Make sure each student is looking toward the center of the next space in the queue, as if they were standing in line.

http://users.resourceinternational.com/~nmx/Queue-pid.png

Passing the Note
Now, the the sender may run to any of the four spaces on her side of the board, lean across the rope, and hand the note to the student on the other side of the rope by placing it on that student, with the arrow pointed back toward the start of the queue, because the sender told that person where it was headed.

In general, distracting someone prevents them from passing the note, accepting the note, taking the note — basically, the person is distracted from noticing that there is a note. There is one exception to this: If you are the intended recipient of the note, and distract the person with the note, then it’s business as usual.

The Turns
Each turn, both players run to one of their four positions, and may distract either the student on the other side of the rope, in the same column, or the teacher in the same column (The teacher is taller). Note that neither player can get the attention of people in the grey spaces. To indicate a person’s distraction, turn the person’s field of vision fully toward the player.
Next, the note gets passed twice, according to the tendencies of the students who are passing it. If a pass happens where the teacher can see it, he takes the note and reads it aloud to the whole queue. How embarrassing!! (You both lose!)
Next, the queue moves one space: The student in the grey space near the exit leaves the queue, and is put into the bag. The other students are moved one space toward the exit, no longer distracted. A new student is drawn from the bag, and placed in the pre-queue, grey entry space. If the note gets carried out the exit, it is dropped, and the Sender picks it up again.
Now, if the teacher was distracted, the distraction has ended, and the teacher will now resume patrol: Roll a six-sided die. On odd numbers, the teacher faces the “bottom” of the U; on even, the “top” (the grey end of it).
Finally, the teacher moves according to the roll of a six-sided die: On 3-5, the teacher takes a step in the current direction; on 2, he looks toward his left; on 6, he looks toward his right; on 1, he turns around. If taking a step in the current direction is impossible, treat the roll as a 1 (turn around).

Passing the Note Back
Once the recipient gets the note, he sends it back toward the sender in the same fashion she sent it toward him. Once she receives the note again, the sender's heart is a-flutter, and love has bloomed! (You both win!)

Scurra
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Game Design Showdown February 2006 - Result

And we finally have a result!

Two games were well clear of the field this month, with just one point being the winning margin.
So congratulations to:
seo - In the Woods for Love - 19 points

Pushing a close second was:
yogurt - Abstinence makes the Head Girl fondle - 18 points

Making a late run for third:
doho123 - Love me Blender - 15 points

Other places were:
evilupine - Honey, I love Ewe - 10 points
epigone - Pun, Lola, Pun - 5 points
xaquery - Sex, Lies and Hatchets - 3 points
kefa - Romancing the Spawn - 1 point
sebastian - Me Pull Meeple - 1 point

neoclown - Planetary Bump and zefquaavius - Queue-Pid were both technically disqualified and received no votes.

Meanwhile, the winner of the Punniest Title vote went to:
evilupine - Honey, I love Ewe

with second place going to:
doho123 - Love me Blender

Once again, congratulations to the winners and thank-you to everyone who took part in what turned into the contest from hell. (Now, that gives me an idea for a future GDS... ;-))

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