Thanks again to jwarrend for his allowing me to have this week's slot despite my relatively recent appearance on the BGDF. I hope that I won't disappoint you guys when it's your turn. ^_^ I've uploaded the rules here. I had some technical difficulties with the sample graphics/scoring examples, but hopefully everything is clear enough. If not, let me know and I'll get something up tomorrow.
This game has gone through several revisions since its (broken) original form (still playable as 'Pirelli' at buttonmen.dhs.org if you care). While this latest version hasn't been playtested, I've tried enough different variations that I believe the core mechanic to have proven very robust, and I've done some statistical analysis to fine-tune some aspects of play to match the best emergent aspects of the original game while discarding the worst.
So why am I posting it here? First, because I'm a perfectionist, and there are a few points I'm not satisfied with. Secondly, because I've been driven so batty by a simple question that I'm willing to throw it all away and start from scratch if need be. Namely, WHAT IS THIS GAME _ABOUT_? I desperately need a title and a theme, and to that end I'm willing to tweak the incidentals of gameplay as long as the core mechanics stay recognizable.
But to outline rules issues first...I don't like leaving one player with an apparently substantial starting advantage. Several ways to fix this(?):
A. Make tied endgame scores go to the player starting without the token.
B. Remove the six tiles from each player's set that do not have any lines extending to the edges, and combine them into double-sided tiles with one side indicating ownership by each player. During the setup phase, add a step where the player who didn't set up the coins on the board divides these tiles into two sets, and places the token with one of them. The coin-placing player then chooses which set to take.
C. Again, remove the six 'blank' tiles from each player's set. and increase the number on each tile one, so that the sets are now numbered 1-6. Add a reasonable number of neutral-colored 'blank' 0-tiles. The player not placing coins chooses a number (possibly none) of 0-tiles to place with the token, and a presumably larger number for the opposite side. The remainder are discarded, then the opponent chooses which set to take.
D. In addition to the changes made in either option B or C, add two new tiles to be distributed: The '?' tile is secretly selected like any other, but when revealed allows the player to choose a different tile to play in its place, having already seen the opponent's selection. After being used, it is discarded.
‘A’ might not be enough, and necessitates an extra 'bit' while removing disincentive from using the token late in the game. I'm worried that options B+C reduce strategic flexibility more than they restore balance and D is one step down a slippery slope I should either stay away from or throw myself down wholeheartedly. I think I'll use my lifeline on this one, or will the audience supply option E?
So why am I working with a rectangular grid? Clarity, mostly. While I've looked into other ways of grouping cells into majority-scoring regions, most aren’t as visually intuitive as the grid. I'm very open to the idea of using a different layout, though, especially if it meshes well with the new theme. The most workable (IMHO) is playing much the same game on a planar cubic graph (i.e. the surface of a dodecahedron or something a bit more irregular). 'Tiles' would be played on the lines of the graph, would contribute toward majority scores for the areas they surrounded, and could make triplets with the other two lines coming together at each vertex. The difficulty of designing ‘tiles’ that would easily play onto any of the lines of a board that looks like these while remaining easily readable formidable, so if any of the visually inclined among you have any suggestions, please do chime in.
The core mechanic just whacked me upside the head out of the blue one day while trying to fix a rather different game. If I’m delusional about it being at all original, please feel free to apply a HubrisBGon(TM) brand CluBy4. Thanks VERY much for your time...while I'm nervous about subjecting this to public scrutiny, I look forward to seeing the phoenix which might yet arise from what's left of this when you're through with it.
A very interesting game, and I particularly like the mechanic of revealing piece simultaneously and deciding who places them on the basis of their values. Also, the use of the token as a tie-breaker and the dilemma of "do I give it up to place these?" is very fun.
The play on the board doesn't grab me as much as the rest of the game, but I still like it. It seems a little like Kingdoms (aka Auf Heller und Pfenning) in the placement of pieces in rows and columns, with the need to look at the ramifications a piece will have in many directions. This looks like a game where that would be hard to judge without playing (I couldn't get to the "Button Men" website without registration), but I wonder if I'll often know whether or not a certain play is good for me or whether it'll feel like I'm fumbling in the dark?
As for a theme, I can see fanaka66's point, but personally I'd like one. Perhaps the tiles are areas of Ocean, with the theme revolving around piracy? Players are pirates, staking out the areas they are going to terrorise, and the numbers on tiles translate to the number of pirate ships on a tile. The rows/columns are the routes of treasure ships, with the coins representing prizes that will be taken by the pirate doing the most dilligent patrolling (i.e. has the highest numerical value) along that route. The lines on the tiles become trade routes, which are also worth patrolling (i.e. having ships deployed along them).
While the game would remain rather abstract, there's an indescribable advantage, in my eyes, at least, to a game with soe sort of theme. Unless it creates "theme deficit" (a Greg Schloesser term to describe the pheneomenon where a theme distracts or confuses because the mechanics are counterintuitive to the theme-- he said Bridges of Shangri-La entered that realm) it will help remember what different bits are and give a more memorable reference to what is essentially an orientated line or a 0-5 number.
I'll watch for your replies to the rules queries that have come up and then reply again. Thanks for showing us the game!
Best wishes,
Richard.