Game Design Showdown March 2005 Challenge - Dogs at the Park

Game Design Showdown #1
March 2005

Theme: Dogs at the Park
Genre: Area Control

Chasing Tail

The Playa's:
2-5 Dog Lovers

Components:
2 6-sided dice
1 Game board
1 Scorepad and pencil
1 Bone token in each of 5 colors
1 Bitch token in each of 5 colors
8 Pup tokens in each of 5 colors
5 Horn Dog value indicators
21 Doggy Style markers

The dice:
These bones are for rolling, not to be confused with bone tokens.

The board:
Board depicts a Dog park divided into a 9x9 grid of Spaces, further divided into nine 3-space x 3-space Areas.

The tokens:
Each player gets a Bone, a Bitch, and a number of Pups in their color depending on the number of players:

4 Pups each for 2 players, set 4 Pups aside in supply 3 Pups each for 3 players, set 3 Pups aside in supply
2 Pups each for 4 players, set 3 Pups aside in supply
2 Pups each for 5 players, set 2 Pups aside in supply

Pups become Dogs when placed on the board.

The Setup:
Set the board in the play area and distribute the Bitch, Bone, Horn Dog value indicators, and Pup tokens to each player by color (see above for Pup distribution). Set the apprpriate Pup tokens and the Doggy Style markers aside in a supply pile and remove unused Pup tokens from the game. The Playa who's had the most boy/girlfriends becomes the Alpha Male (If there's a tie, just Roll the Bones). In turn order beginning with the Start Playa, place your Bitch token in the center space in one of the areas OTHER THAN the center area. Do not choose an area that's already got a Bitch in it. All Playas begin with a Horn Dog value of 1.

The Turns:
Players take turns from the Alpha Male clockwise. On your turn you do the following:

Roll The Bones:
Roll 2d6 and compare the result to your Horn Dog value. If the roll is less than your Horn Dog value then your Bitch is In Heat (see Bitch In Heat, below). Reduce your Horn Dog value to 1 and continue your turn with Movement.

If the roll is greater than or equal to your Horn Dog value, move your Bitch that number of spaces. Each step of your move must be orthagonal, and as much of your movement as possible must be used. Once you've moved in one direction, you may not move in the opposite direction this turn. You must end your movement closer to the closest opponent's Bone token then you started (you don't have to move toward your own bone, just opponents' bones). You may walk through occupied spaces, but you may not end movement in the same space as another Bitch. Ending any part of your movement on a Bone ends the movement immediately (even if you have not moved the full amount). The Bone is returned to its owner and you receive a Doggy Style marker.

Horn Dog:
After moving, increase your Horn Dog value by 1 for each Dog in the same Area as your Bitch. If you end your movement on the same Space as any Dog, collect one Pup of your color from the supply. This Pups remains in front of you until they are placed on the board to become Dogs (see Who Let The Dogs out, below).

Who Let The Dogs out?:
You may place a Pup of your color on the board. A Pup cannot be placed in the same Area as a Bitch, or in the same space as any other token. Pups on the board are called Dogs. If you do not have a Pup because they are all either on the board or in the supply, then you may not place one.

Give a Dog a Bone:
In lieu of placing a pup, you may place your Bone token in any unoccupied Space on the board. Bitches must always move toward the closest OPPONENT'S Bone token. Your own Bone token does not affect your movement, only that of your opponents. When your Bitch reaches a Bone, end movement immediately, return the bone to its owner, and collect 1 Doggy Style marker (see Doggy Style, below).

Remember, Bones may not be placed in an Area containing a Bitch, or any occupied Space.

If You Can't Run With The Big Dogs, Stay On The Porch:
If you have no Bone to place, you may either move one of your dogs or intimidate another Dog instead of placing a Pup.

Move: Choose one of your Dogs. Move that dog to an unoccupied space in an adjacent Area of your choice. Dogs may never be moved or placed into an Area containing a Bitch.

Intimidate: Choose an opponent's Dog in an area where you have at least as many Dogs as that opponent. Move that dog to an unoccupied space in an adjacent Area of your choice. Dogs may never be moved or placed into an Area containing a Bitch.

Any given space can only be occupied by 1 Dog at a time.

Bitch In Heat: When your die roll is less than your Horn Dog value, your Bitch is In Heat. Whenver any Bitch is In Heat, a scoring round occurs. For each Bitch, the Playa with the most Dogs in the Area gets 5 points. The Playa with the 2nd most Dogs in the Area gets 3 points. In the case of a tie, all tied players share maximum points (If two players are tied for 1st, they each get 5 points). Remove all Dogs from these scored Areas.

Doggy Style:
Whenever your Bitch reaches a Bone, return the Bone to its owner and collect a Doggy Style marker. When any player receives their 5th Doggy Style marker, the game ends immediately and final scores are tallied. 2 Bonus points are awarded at the game end for each Doggy Style marker.

Top Dog:
The Playa with the most points after final scoring is the Top Dog!

Scoring Recap:

3 VP for most Dogs per scoring Area during Bitch In Heat scoring 1 VP for second most Dogs per scoring Area during Bitch In Heat scoring
2 VP per Doggy Style Marker

[caveat: totally untested, and probably fails on criteria 2 of the spec, since there isn't any real conflict. But I like making "extreme" Settlers variants* and, having played Domaine not too long ago, I thought it'd be fun to explore the area surrounding mechanic in a different arena. There is nothing remotely amusing about the premise or the way the rules are written. It's also a bit long. Sorry.]

Who let the Dogs Out? - a game for three or four players. It ought to take an hour, but who knows?!

Oh dear. Someone forgot to lock the dog pound, and they’ve all escaped into the park. Players score points by placing fences to surround areas with lots of dogs - but the dogs are fairly mobile. And watch out for the Park Warden, who scares off all the dogs in his vicinity.

Components: Settlers of Catan set, a scoring track, 32 black counters.

Set-up: Lay out the Settlers island in the traditional hexagonal fashion, but don’t surround it with water. Turn all the tiles face-down except for the desert. Now lay out the number counters in the traditional fashion as well. Remove the desert tile and the two tiles with the 2 and the 12 counters on them (along with the 2 and 12 counters.) Replace them with water tiles. Put the Robber on the central tile (or, if this is water, on the adjacent tile with the highest number.) Each player takes 3 settlements and all the roads of one colour, and one city. Use a fourth settlement as a scoring marker. The other settlements and cities are returned to the box.

This is the Park (complete with ornamental ponds.) Players will place kennels (settlements) and fences (roads) to establish areas on the board. Put two black tokens on each hex. This is the initial distribution of dogs. As the game progresses, they will move from hex to hex. Players should roll the dice, with the highest roll determining the first player. Leave the dice showing the last number rolled.

Each player now places 2 kennels on the board in the traditional Settlers fashion – each player places one kennel in clockwise order and then a second in anti-clockwise order starting with the last player. Kennels are placed directly onto hexes (rather than on intersections) alongside the number counter, and they may be placed adjacent to other kennels. Each player also places a fence along with their kennel. Fences are placed in a similar fashion to roads in Settlers(i.e. along the join between two hexes) but they do not have to be adjacent to the newly-placed kennel. Fences of different colours are allowed to connect with one another to form long fences.

The first player places their city token in front of themselves. This indicates that they will build on the first turn. In a four-player game, the third player also places their city token in front of themselves. The other players leave their token to one side with their other pieces. The first player becomes the active player.

Build
If the active player has their city token in front of themselves, they must build. They must either:
• add two fences to the board or
• remove one fence in their supply from the game and replace a fence of any other colour with one of their own (that fence is returned to the owning player.)
Fences may not be built along the edge of the board or the edge of a lake.

If an area is now completely surrounded by fences and/or the board edge and/or a lake edge, and it contains at least one kennel but there are at most two different colours of kennels represented (e.g. a valid area could contain two red kennels and one blue kennel, but not one red, one blue and one green kennel), then it is scored – see scoring below.

Once a player has finished building (and scoring, if applicable), then they should put their city token back with their other components to indicate that they must move on their next turn.

Scoring
Count the number of fences of each colour comprising the boundary. The majority colour scores the total number of dogs within the region. All other colours score half the total number of dogs in the region (rounded up). Any colour with a kennel in the area scores half the total number of dogs within the region (rounded up.) Note that this will usually result in one colour scoring for both fences and kennels. All kennels and dogs in the area are removed from the board.
If the active player has fewer than three kennels on the board, they may choose to place a kennel on any hex that contains one or no dogs. Note that if they place a kennel in a scored area it has no effect.

Move
If they active player does not have their city token in front of themselves, they must move dogs. They should note what number the dice currently show, and then roll the dice.
• if it comes up with a number matching two hexes on the board, the dogs in those hexes move – see movement below.
• if it comes up with a 2 or a 12, the player may choose any single hex to move dogs from – see movement below.
• if it comes up with a 7, they must move the Park Warden into an adjacent hex. The Warden can jump over fences. All the dogs in that hex are immediately moved (not just half) – see movement below. They cannot be moved into the hex that the Warden came from.

Once a player has completed their movement, they should place their city token in front of themselves to indicate that they must build on their next turn.

Movement
Half the dogs in the hex (rounding up) are moved into an adjacent hex. If the number rolled was higher than the previous number showing on the dice, they move to an adjacent hex with a higher number. If the number rolled was lower than, or equal to the previous number, they move to an adjacent hex with a lower number. The active player chooses which hex they move to if there is a choice. Dogs do not jump over fences..

After a player has built or moved, play passes to the next player clockwise. When the last dogs are removed from the board, the game is almost over. The last action of the game is for each player to score one point for each fence piece they have remaining in their supply.

The winner is the player with the most points. Ties are broken with a staring contest.

-- David
(*pm me if you have a sudden desire to see my rulesets for "CivCatan" and "CatanXX" (a railway game, natch :-) but they’re not that exciting…)

Off Leash
For two players.

Overview
Two rival dog-walking services have collided in the park, setting free all the dogs.

Player try to recapture their dogwalkers' own dogs, while tempting the other dogs into causing havoc.

To move the dogs, players put thoughts into the dogs' heads. Dogs charge around the board, chasing whatever thought fills their head at the moment.

Setup
The park is a rough grid with a few impassable thickets and ponds.

Dogwalkers and dogs are spread through the park.

Each player has four dog cards in front of her, representing her dogwalker's lost dogs.

Turn Order
On her turn, a player:
• moves her dogwalker;
• places a dog Thought (this could make a dog move);
• places a Park Tile (this adds new temptations to the park).

Dog Thoughts and Park Tiles
Dog Thoughts fall into three categories:
• "Chase!"
• "Smell!"
• "Lick!"

Park Tiles fall into four categories:
• Things to Chase (e.g. gopher, cyclist)
• Things to Smell (e.g. signpost, hot dog)
• Things to Lick (e.g. child, businessman)
• Bystanders (e.g. picknickers, mud puddle)

Dogwalkers also count as "Things to Lick."

Earning Points
A player earns points whenever:
• her rival's dog lands on a Park Tile;
• her rival's dog runs over a bystander;
• her dogwalker moves onto one of her dogs, putting it back on the leash;

Moving the Dogwalker
The player may move her dogwalker one space.

Dogwalkers may not move onto Bystanders, but they may move onto other Park Tiles.

If a dogwalker lands on one of her dogs, the dog is put back on the leash and its marker is removed from the board. The player scores 3 points.

Placing Dog Thoughts
On her turn, a player draws one random Thought token and places it into any dog's head.

If a dog has two or more Thoughts, and one type of Thought in the dog's head outnumbers every other type, that Thought becomes that dog's Heart's Desire. For example, a dog with two Chase! tokens and one Lick! token has Chase! as its Heart's Desire.

The dog must immediately move to any matching Park Tile within range. For example, if the Heart's Desire is Chase! the dog might move to a nearby gopher or jaybird.

A dog's range is equal to the number of Thoughts in its Heart's Desire plus its natural speed. (For example, Peppy the Terrier has 2 Chase! Thoughts and 1 speed. He must move to any "Things to Chase" Park Tile within 3 squares.)

Dogs have room for 4-7 Thoughts, depending on the breed. If a dog has too many Thoughts, all Thoughts of the least numerous type are removed -- before checking to see if the dog has a Heart's Desire.

Moving Dogs
The player who caused the dog to move chooses the dog's path to the Park Tile. Dogs may move over other Park Tiles, other dogs and dogwalkers.

The player who does not own the dog will score a point for:
• each Bystander on the dog's path
• the Park Tile at the end of the path.

After scoring, remove the Park Tile where the dog landed, any Bystanders on the dog's path, and two Thought tokens from the dog's Heart's Desire.

The dog may immediately move and score again if another Heart's Desire is created by removing the two Thought tokens and there is another matching Park Tile within range.

If a dog lands on its dogwalker (because she is a Thing to Lick) the dogwalker may immediately put the dog on the leash. The dog's owner scores 3 points.

A dog may run through a dogwalker's square without being caught.

Placing Park Tiles
The player draws a random Park Tile and places it on any empty square.

No dogs move! Dogs only move when a new Thought is placed in their head.

Game End
The game ends when one player recaptures all four of her dogs.

The player with the most points wins. If there is a tie, the player with four dogs wins.

...

If I were to write up the full rules, I'd add some frills and fringes. For example, some dogs would have a permanent Thought in their head (Peppy might always have one "Lick!" token.) The park would start with some permanent Park Tiles, such as a duck who flies from pond to pond and the squirrel who is always next to the woods. A few Bystanders would stay after being trampled, like the poor picknickers. There would be bonus points for having a high scoring dog romp. Dogowners could be dragged by dogs on a leash. And finally depending on game length, the dogwalkers might have to catch each dog twice. The first time, the dog would escape and get a free move.

Yogurt

Top Dog for two to four players

Zomulgustar beat me to this idea, but not by much and anyway I wrote mine up before I read his. :-)

Quick Summary: Throw Frisbees around the Park to move your Dog, who chases the Frisbee. After catching a Frisbee, a Dog can Scent-Mark a Landmark, then must return the Frisbee before it can be thrown again. When a Dog runs low on scent, he must visit the central Fountain to recharge. Points are gained for placing Scent Markers and, at periodic intervals, regions of the Park are assessed and points awarded to the Dogs who currently have the most Scent Markers in the region.

The board is a roughly square grid of hexagons, 12 on a side. It shows a map of the park: most hexes are just grass, but one in every few hexes contains a landmark: a bench, a tree, a lamppost, a bush, a fire hydrant. The map is divided by heavier borders into four equal regions. A pond or fountain, which is not a Landmark, occupies several adjacent hexes at the center of the board.

Each player has a Dog of unique breed (lab, shepherd, etc.), along with an Owner, a Frisbee, and a supply of about 20 Scent Markers all labeled with the Dog's breed.

Setup: Each player's Dog, Owner, and Frisbee start out together on one of the corner hexes. Most of the Scent Markers are in a pool by the player's elbow; four are placed in a special "ready" region at his corner of the board.

Players take turns in clockwise order. Each player, on his turn, can take one of these actions:

Throw the Frisbee
Mark a Landmark
Fetch the Frisbee
Move the Owner
Visit the Fountain
Barking Showdown

Throw the Frisbee -- This action is allowed only if the Frisbee is with the Owner. The player rolls a six-sided die. He can then move the Frisbee up to that many spaces from the Owner in any direction. Changing direction is allowed, and rolls of 1 or 2 are treated the same as a 3. The Dog follows the Frisbee and catches it at the end of its travel; the Frisbee is now with the Dog.

Mark a Landmark -- This action is allowed only if the Dog is at a Landmark, and there is at least one Scent Marker in the player's "ready" area. If one or more of another Dog's Scent Markers is already on the Landmark, remove one Scent Marker. If the Landmark is now empty (or was already empty), place one of your own Scent Markers on the Landmark.

Fetch the Frisbee -- This action is allowed only if the Frisbee is with the Dog. The Dog returns to his Owner, bringing the Frisbee. Afterwards, the Frisbee is with the Owner again.

Move the Owner -- This action may be performed at any time. The Owner may move up to two spaces in any direction. If the Dog is with the Owner, it may accompany the Owner or remain behind.

Visit the Fountain -- This action may be performed at any time. The Dog may go to the nearest Fountain hex (regardless of its distance). The player may then refill his "ready" region with Scent Markers drawn from his pool. The "ready" region may never hold more than four Scent Markers.

Barking Showdown -- This action is allowed only if the active player's Dog is on the same hex as another player's Dog, and the active player has at least one Scent Marker in his "ready" area. Each player with a Dog on the hex rolls one six-sided die. The player who rolls lowest must remove all Scent Markers from his "ready" region and return them to his pool, and must return his Dog to his Owner. If the roll is a tie, keep rolling until there's a winner.

Scoring: Each Scent Marker scores 1 point when it is placed. Every four rounds (a round is each player taking his turn once) the entire Park is scored. To score the Park, score each of the four regions independently. The player with the most Scent Markers in a region wins 10 points; the second-most scores 7 points; the third-most scores 4 points.

The game ends at the end of the round in which any player's pool is empty and that player has two or fewer remaining Scent Tokens in his "ready" region. The Park is scored one last time, and the winner is the player with the most points.