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race game rules

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OdysseyDyse
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Joined: 02/17/2011
dyse

Below are rules for a race game. Would you please suggest improvements especially concerning clarity and correct formatting? Thanks, Joe

Dear Game Maker,

I'm submitting a game that involves the use of my patent pending dyse as opposed to regular dice. I'm including a picture of the dyse so the game will be better understood but here's a short description. Each face of the dyse is laid out in a three by three square grid for a total of nine squares. Then the squares that match the pip configurations on traditional dice are colored in. The result is that white spaces now come into play and when you lay the dyse next to each other you are able to make pathways of the white squares as well as use the numbers 1-6 with the dark squares. It's a simple concept that you soon find requires a bit of planning as you work with the different properties of the various numbers. For instance a #1, bordered by white spaces, allows movement in any direction, whereas a #3 with its diagonal of colored pips forces you to make a turn.

This car race is called OFF THE WALL.
It's for 2-4 players, ages 8 and up.
The game board is an “oval” grid, 10 squares by 15 squares (squares are the size of the dyse) with a checkerboard center - the Pit-Stop, and an outer border - the Wall. You need two dyse per player, differentiated by the drivers' colors, black, blue, red, green.
The game is a one lap race. Each driver places a dyse, their race car, behind the start line with the 1 face on each dyse showing. The driver in the outside lane rolls first, then places that dyse next to and square against the starting dyse according to the face showing, in the best match to move their car forward or during the course of the game they might elect to move sideways to block an opponent. The white squares must align so that the path they make leads in the direction of movement.
You may continue to roll and move as long as you dare, leaving your car in its final position when you quit. But a roll of the first 5 in a turn sends your car into the wall, past the outside lane but in the same pole position. You come OFF THE WALL by rolling a dyse and placing it on the far outside lane next to the wall. You may then keep rolling. But the second time you roll a 5 in the same turn, you head to the Pit-Stop, straight in from your dyse and your turn is over. You may elect to end your turn at any time, and if you haven't just rolled a 5, your car stays where it is. If you roll a number other than a 5 which you don't wish to place, you may end your turn without placing the new dyse. If your car is bumper to bumper with another car and you roll the same number they have showing, you may Bump them and swap places with their car.
The trick is trying to get to an advantageous spot on the track, (i.e. cutting off an opponent) before relinquishing your roll, at the risk of losing your current place on the track.
If you are in the Pit and the coming out space is blocked, you go to the next lane out. If you're in the Pit at a corner you have to come out on the side or diagonal you went in on. Your entering dyse doesn't have to align with your Pit dyse, so a 6 won't push you over a lane. If your car is blocked, you may replace your dyse (rather than moving a space) with the dyse you roll, in hopes of moving on the next roll.
You may wave off a Pit-Stop one time during a race.
The winner is the first car to cross the finish/start line.
This is a fast paced race with the lead changing often, the finish always too close to call and lots of player interaction.

hotsoup
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Joined: 08/28/2009
Interesting.

This sounds pretty interesting. I'm not sure you want to rename the dice dyse though. It's confusing as to how to pronounce them. I'd just call them race dice or something. Also, does the numeric aspect of the dice come into play? It doesn't look like it does from your rules. If so, why not go a bit free form with how the grid is colored in, instead of sticking to the standard dice pips. Unless you want the dice to be usable in other games, of course.

There are a couple places where you need commas and so on to help the clarity of you sentences, but here are a few passages that threw me:

"The driver in the outside lane rolls first, then places that dyse next to and square against the starting dyse according to the face showing, in the best match to move their car forward or during the course of the game they might elect to move sideways to block an opponent."

You at least need to put a period after the word "forward." There are too many parts to this sentence.

"You may then keep rolling. But the second time you roll a 5 in the same turn, you head to the Pit-Stop, straight in from your dyse and your turn is over."

The instructions on how to get to the Pit Stop are not immediately clear. You might want to say something like "You head to the Pit Stop by placing your Die on a square of the Pit Stop that is directly across the track from your position."

OdysseyDyse
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Joined: 02/17/2011
Thanks, Hotsoup

Fortunately hitting Replace All quickly takes care of "dyse". I did throw some other pip configurations in after I did the traditional six. You're right, It might be time to pull them out, to use in these games. And you readability suggestions are very helpful.

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