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Game Design Showdown March 2009 Challenge: "Sharing the Wind"

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(This Challenge has been completed.)

Game Design Showdown

March 2009 Challenge - "Sharing the Wind"

Design a board or card game that includes a shared component (or components) as a core part of the game with "Wind" as the theme.


Theme: Wind. This could be handled literally as the movement of air, or symbolically (Winds of Change/Fate/Time, etc.).

Additional Design Requirement:
One of the core mechanics of the game must have something to do with one or more components being shared between the players.

Formatting Request:
Please use the GDS formatting template as a reference to format your entries before submitting. No entry will be dismissed for lack of proper formatting, but entries based on the template will be greatly appreciated.


  • Start Date: Thursday, 12-March-2009
  • End Date: Thursday, 19-March-2009, Noon US Eastern time (approximately)
  • Voting: Thusrday, 19-March-2009 through Thursday, 26-March-2009.

The 10 entries to this Challenge are posted below ...

  • Critique the Entries: Use the Critique Thread to post any constructive critiques about the individual entries to this Challenge.

  • See the Results: Check out the Voting Poll to see the results of the voting.


  • Comments or Questions: Comments and questions about this Challenge were handled on the Comments Thread.

  • GDS Details: For more details on how these Game Design Showdown Challenges work, visit the GDS Wiki Page.


Admin Note: This will be my last GDS Challenge that I will be hosting for a while. Due to work and other real-life obligations, I will not have the time to do much around here for a while. The rest of the BGDF Admin staff will share the role of hosting these monthly Challenges after this month's Challenge is completed.

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Entry #1

Entry #1 - High-Flyin’ Tail Waggin’ Dragon Kite Fight!

by bluesea

Players are Dragon Kite Fight Handlers. This is a game of both combat and a manoeuvring race game. It is played out on a pyramidal board representing the limit of the battle-sky above. (Imagine this as a vertical cross section through the sky.)

Game setup

MANOEUVRE CARDS

Players are dealt seven Manoeuvre Cards. (Number and distribution of cards TBC.) The cards are numbered 1-6 representing Manoeuvres of your kite through the air. Movement direction is determined relative to the bounding hex of the Kite. (See illustration below). For example a No6 card moves a Kite up, while moving down to the right requires No2 card. If a player’s Kite cannot move, he discards his cards, moves the Kite down two spaces, draws four cards, and ends his turn. Dragon Cards are wild for movement but have zero value in a Kite Fight (see below). The top of the Kite points in the direction of movement: A diving kite (Manoeuvre Nos 1,2,3) points downward.

Cards and Movement

WIND DIRECTION

The game begins setting +1 Movement Track on No1 and Zero Movement Track on No6, i.e. until the wind changes, movement in No1 direction gains a +1 and movement in No6 direction is forbidden.

The wind direction changes whenever a Manoeuvre Card is played with a wind symbol on it. To change the wind roll 1d6. (If two Cards with wind symbols are played the same turn, only roll once). The result is the direction of the wind indicating the direction of +1 movement. The opposite movement space is blocked, i.e., no movement is allowed directly into the wind. Place the GREEN +1 Wind Marker on the Wind Direction Track; place the BLACK No Movement Marker opposite.

Movement Example

KITE HANDLER TRACK

The Kite handler track represents the player moving along the ground to manoeuvre his kite. The track is marked with a Wind direction and Bonus movement points (e.g., 6/+2). If a player’s Kite Handler is on a space on the track and plays a card of the same wind direction, he may move additionally the bonus number of spaces (any direction).

ACTIONS SUMMARY

Players do ONE of the following: 1. Play one card and move one space OR play two cards and move two spaces. (Apply Wind +1 Bonus and apply Movement Bonuses from the Kite Handler Track). 2. Move the Kite Handler along the track max. two spaces. 3. If a player holds less than seven cards he may draw any number of cards from the draw pile. A player may hold a maximum of seven cards. You may not move and draw cards on the same turn.

KITE FIGHT COMBAT!!

At the end of a kite movement if two kites occupy the same bounding hex they MUST engage in combat. Combat is resolved with cards. When two kites occupy a bounding hex a Kite Fight begins: 1. If the player with the defending Kite has at least two cards in his hand, he can choose to retreat using typical movement rules. If the defending Kite retreats upwards, the attacking Kite is awarded two points, if downwards, one points. 2. If the defending player fights each player must play one card face down from their hands and reveal them simultaneously. The winner is the player with the higher valued card. The winner is awarded the difference between the two cards in points.

Notes: If a player only has one card he lays the card down. If a player has no cards, the opposing player still lays one card down and damage is determined as if the player with no cards has played a “zero” card. If neither player has cards, each player loses one point.)

VICTORY CONDITIONS

  1. If a player reaches the purple Apex of the board, he wins the game, no matter the score.
  2. In the middle of the board are three Dragon Tokens. If a player collects all three tokens he wins the game, no matter the score.
  3. Otherwise, the first player to reach the end of the scoring track (12 points scored) wins. Scoring tracks run up the side of the board.

So players can win through artful manoeuvring or inflicting damage to his opponent.

DESIGN NOTES:

  1. Kites may have modifiable/designable properties in a version of advanced rules, e.g., speed, line strength, climbing bonus, diving bonus, etc.
  2. The pyramidal board is meant to limit the “real estate” on the board as the kites ascend so as to encourage and force kite fighting. The board may be too small/confined: Play testing required.
  3. NB: The shared components are the Wind Direction Tracks which affect the movement of both players.
  4. High cards will lift the Kites up the board, but playing them weakens the player for combat.
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Entry #2 - Anemania

Entry #2 - Anemania

by Mitchell Allen

Build more anemometers than everyone else.

The catch: there's only one anemomificator!

The U.S. Government has begun to accelerate it alternative energy sources programs.

The newly formed department of Wind Turbine Farm Operating Machine Grants (WTFOMG) has decided to contract out the testing phase of their mandate, which is to build wind farms nationwide. The testing phase consists of building relatively inexpensive anemometers. These devices measure wind speeds and are critical to ensuring that the more expensive wind turbines are built in the areas with the best source of wind.

Your area of operation is along the eastern seaboard, specifically, Atlantic City, NJ.

WTFOMG wishes to instill a spirit of competition among potential contractors. To this end, they have a prototype field unit that is capable of building two to five anemometers per day.

The field unit, a Mobile Anemometer Synthesizing Hardware Upgrade Provider (MASHUP), is a big ol' factory on wheels.

Each contractor gets to use the MASHUP for one week at a time. They can use it until the resources are expended, at which time, WTFOMG officials will reclaim the field unit.

To discourage wasteful production, the government expects each contracting company to do its due diligence in selecting sites. Contractors will be rewarded for discovering the most ideal locations, based on supply (wind velocity) and demand (population and transmission capacity.)

Setup

You need a traditional Monopoly game set, a poker deck and something that represents the MASHUP - a model truck is fine.

Finally, you need fifty chips - these are the resources that become anemometers, when placed on the board. Remove the aces, face cards, nines and tens from the deck. They are not used in the game. Shuffle the rest and place in the middle of the board, face down.

Play

Play Monopoly according to its normal rules, with two exceptions and three additions:

  • Exception 1. Houses can be built on owned property, even if the player doesn't own the whole group. (Maximum of four houses)

  • Exception 2. Hotels can only be built if the player owns the whole group and has four houses on the property (Maximum of one hotel)

  • Addition 1: when purchasing a property, the player must pluck a card from the poker deck. The rank determines the wind velocity at that location. Higher numbers are better! The card is turned face up near the player and the deed is placed on top of it.

  • Addition 2: at the END of each turn, the player with the MASHUP rolls a single die if he is on one of his own properties. If he rolls a one, he can buy a house. If he rolls a six, he can - if eligible - buy a hotel. Any other roll allows him to build an anemometer for the princely sum of $200. The wind velocity may deter construction, but losing the use of the MASHUP is also a factor that determines whether the player will build.

  • Addition 3: Whenever the player with the MASHUP passes GO or is sent to Jail, he must relinquish the MASHUP to the player to his Right. The reason for going to the right is that in the beginning, the second player is likely to be right behind the first, going around the board. He wouldn't get to use the MASHUP very long!

End of Game

The game ends as soon as the last anemometer has been built.

If a player goes bankrupt during the game, he still has a chance to win the big contract.

Scoring

Get out the calculators and do the math: for each property with an anemometer on it, add the wind velocity to the number of houses (a hotel equals five houses). Multiply that by the number of anemometers. Record all of the scores for each player separately. When all of the scores have been tallied, check for the highest individual property score. Award a bonus 50 points to each property that has that high score. Finally, add together all the scores for your properties. Highest grand total wins the Eastern seaboard contract!

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Entry #3 - Fruit Flies

Entry #3 - Fruit Flies

by Johana Goerner

(Johana ... please send me a private message if you would rather have your BGDF login name listed here)


Use the wind to take over your opponent's fruit fields before you loose all of your own crop. Be careful, things can get messy when fruit starts to fly!

Needed to play

  • The Game Board
  • Fruit Cards (10 of each fruit, 40 total)
  • 12-sided dice
  • 6-sided dice

Game Set up

  1. Separate the fruit cards into four piles: Apples, Oranges, Pears, and Bananas
  2. Choose two types of fruit you would like to play with. All fruit is the same; one is not stronger than another
  3. Put one type of fruit in each field in three spaces, one must be left blank to start
  4. Keep the rest of your fruit in a pile to the side, you will need more of each fruit throughout the game
  5. Each player choose a side, either East or West

How to Win

  • There are two ways to win
    • Get at least one of your fruit types into each field, this only requires one card of the fruit in each field including your own fields
    • Destroy one of the types of fruit your opponent has, in other words destroy one of their crops. E.g. Get rid of all their apples

Direction of the Dice

0=No Wind 1=North 2=Northeast 3=East 4=Southeast 5=South 6=Southwest 7=West 8=Northwest 9=Tornado, you must destroy one of your crops

Example Turn

  1. At the beginning of each turn, you must rotate your fruit in one of your fields clockwise - you must alternate fields each turn
    • If your field is full and there's no empty spot, you must destroy one of your own crops
  2. Role the 12-sided dice to see what direction the wind is blowing, if your roll a 0, your turn is over
  3. You may pollinate the field that corresponds with the direction of the wind
    • Example: If you are the player on the East side and the wind is blowing Southeast, you may move one of your crops into the empty spot. You may also attack one of the crops of a different type - you would do this to get rid of an opponent's crop or to move one of your crop types into your other field.
  4. Attacking To attack a crop, roll the 6-sided dice. If you roll a 5 or 6, the crop attacking succeeds in ousting the other crop. If you roll a 4 or below, nothing happens
  5. If you are successful in placing a crop in your opponents field, turn it face down for one turn. See below.

Further Rules

  • You can only control your own fields, if you have a fruit in an opponents field it it theirs to control. This means that you cannot pollinate an empty space in your field with one of your types of fruit by using it fruit from your opponents field.
  • When you pollinate an empty space, simply take another fruit card from your pile and place it in the space. You do not loose your crop when you pollinate.
  • If you're invading your opponent's field and there is a crop where you want to go, you must attack that crop. Same rules apply for attacking as above.
  • Any opponent's crop stays "dormant" (face down) for one turn when it first invades your field. This means that you cannot attack this crop at this time.
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Entry #4 - Deserted Windmill

Entry #4 - Deserted Windmill

by Robert_C

Overview

3-5 players

The players wander in the medieval hills. Looking for a job they find a deserted windmill. Everybody wants to be a miller but only the best can achieve the goal. Let's start to run a windmill.

Components

  • Board - a place for a mill, storeroom, weather compass and grain delivers
  • Windmill - a tile of the windmill head, millstone, brake and broom
  • Grain markers - small cubes in three different colors, Flour markers - large cubes in three different colors
  • Miller's boys - 4 meeples
  • Weather tiles - a compass and a wind strength marker
  • Weather cards - a pile of cards with wind change description
  • Supply cards - a set of cards with grain supply,

Setup

Place the parts onto the board (the windmill, millstone, brake, and broom). Shuffle the weather cards and give 3 cards to each player. Shuffle the supply cards. On a weather card player can find one symbol of wind compass change (clockwise, counterclockwise or still) and one symbol of wind strength change (stronger, weaker or still). Select the first active player randomly.

Gameplay

If the grain yard is empty select the card from supply cards and put appropriate supply cubes in the yard (there can be 0-4 grain cubes in 3 colors at cards).

Each player put one weather card next to the wind compass face down and takes one card from a pile. The active player now has time to place 4 boys inside the windmill. He can choose places between:

a) supply warehouse - two boys are necessary to move all grain cubes of one color from the yard to the supply warehouse,

b) windmill head - two boys are necessary to move the windmill head around to keep the correct direction, the head can be rotated by 45 degress in one turn,

c) millstone - a boy can change the stone power between low and high power (the power is indicated by the side of the millstone tile),

d) brake - a boy can aplly a brake to the sails,

e) broom - a boy can use a broom to clear millstones and to work with two different types of grain in one turn,

f) warehouse - a boy can take out flour bags (large cubes) from the windmill for the user victory points.

After placing boys the active player looks at weather cards. The weather compass is rotated according to cards in the direction of dominating symbols (by 45 degrees) or is still. The same procedure applies to the wind strength.

Now the boys perform their job (unload one color of supply grain, rotate the windmill head, change the millstone power etc.) and the player can run the windmill according to following rules:

  • the windmill can work if its head is against the wind (45 degrees difference is allowed),

  • the windmill works normally (one grain cube transformed into one flour bag) if the wind strength is in green range,

  • the windmill power doubles (one grain cube transformed into two flour bags) if the wind strength is in yellow range and the millstone power is high,

  • the windmill doesn't work if the wind strength is in green range and the millstone power is high,

  • if the wind strength is in red range the brake must be applied, otherwise the player looses one flour bag as a penalty,

  • if the windmill head is not against the wind (eg. heading north while wind is S,SW,SE) the player looses one flour bag as a penalty,

  • the windmill doesn't work if its head is in 90 degrees of the wind (eg. heading S while wind is E),

If the windmill works the appropriate number of grain cubes is transformed into flour bags and put at the warehouse. Player can take flour bag if there is a boy at the warehouse. The flour bag markers count for the victory points.

Turns go in clockwise order between players.

The end

The game ends after all supply cards have been used (it is possible to remove some cards at the beginning to fit the game time). The winner and the miller is the player gaining the highest number of flour bags in its weakest color. In case of a tie the next color counts.

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Entry #5 - Leaves in the Wind

Entry #5 - Leaves in the Wind

by ilta

A breezy 20 minute game for 2-6 players aged 8 and up

Once, the Gods of Wind controlled so much – trade, harvest, even the very fates of nations! But man’s steady technological progress has robbed the Gods of their power. Now there is but one way that they may demonstrate their superiority over one another: in schoolyards, where they blow leaves hither and yon, into the waiting arms of favored children.

Object

As a God of Wind, help your favorite child accumulate the biggest, most colorful collection of leaves! Of course, you control neither the leaves nor the children – only the wind itself. Out-guess, out-maneuver, and out-score your fellow Gods by collecting the best leaves, completing sets, and achieving your secret mission.

Components

  • One board, a 10x10 grid, marked with the cardinal directions (N-E-S-W).
  • Six” children,” pawns of various colors
  • A pile of leaf tokens, showing a variety of shapes and colors (a Ticket-to-Ride-like patterning system helps the colorblind tell them apart). Each token is also marked with a number from 1 to 4, representing leaf size.
  • A small deck of Secret Mission Cards, which confer a scoring bonus if completed by the end of the game. Examples: Canadian Pride: collect four maple leaves – 10 pts; Mulch: all your 1-pt leaves are worth 2 pts; Allergy: don’t collect any sycamore leaves – 6 pts.
  • A larger deck of Wind Cards, each showing a value between 1 and 6 and a cardinal direction. Players will select one of these from their hands during gameplay to move the leaves around the board.
  • A canvas bag, from which the leaf tokens will be drawn at random.

Set-Up

  1. Whoever can hold their breath longest goes first. Set-up (and play) then continues clockwise.
  2. Players place their pawns, in turn, on an unoccupied square of their choice.
  3. Take five leaf tokens from the bag and drop them, one by one, from about a foot above the board. Tokens that fall off the edge of the board or land on pawns or other tokens are re-dropped until all five lie on otherwise unoccupied squares.
  4. Deal out five Wind Cards and one Secret Mission Card to each player. Players should look at their Missions, but will not reveal them until the end of the game.
  5. Put away the unused Mission Cards, unseen, while keeping the undealt Wind Cards close at hand to form a draw deck.

Gameplay

  1. INVOKE THE WIND. On his turn, a player plays a Wind Card from his hand, FACE DOWN, in effect “cuing” a future wind. Then he draws a replacement Wind Card from the deck. On the first turn of the game, skip the following two steps and proceed immediately to the second player.
  2. THE WIND BLOWS THE LEAVES. Players then flip over the card the PREVIOUS player played and move all leaves the direction and distance indicated. A leaf hitting the edge of the board stops; any further movement is ignored. Leaves may blow through – or end up in – squares with pawns or other leaves in them. The card is then discarded, and the card just played is moved to the side to make room for the next player’s play.
  3. THE CHILDREN CHASE THE LEAVES. Beginning with the pawn of the current player and continuing clockwise, all pawns move one square in the direction of the closest leaf, moving diagonally if that is the most efficient route. If there are equally efficient possible routes and/or equally distant leaves, the order of priority, highest first, is N-E-S-W-NE-SE-SW-NW. If a pawn is “blocked” by another pawn – that is, the square it would move to is already occupied and there is no equally efficient route available – it does not move. A pawn also doesn’t move if it’s on the same square as a leaf.

Collecting Leaves

If, after step 3, a pawn and one or more leaf tokens are in the same square, the child collects the leaf (or leaves). Place the token(s) in front of that player.

After collecting the leaf, draw another token at random and drop it onto the board. As before, the leaf must be re-dropped if it ends up outside the board or on an occupied space.

Game End and Scoring

Once the bag is empty of leaf tokens, the game ends.

All players get a base score by adding the numbers on their leaf tokens. Bonuses are awarded to the player with the greatest number of colors, and the player with the greatest variety of species. Finally, players reveal their Secret Mission Cards and score bonuses if they completed their mission.

The player with the highest score wins, and all other Gods of Wind bow before him!

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Entry #6 - Wind of Change

Entry #6 - Wind of Change

by J Monty

“The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.” - Harold Macmillan, 1960

A Game of Imperial Decolonization

For 2-5 Players

Each player begins play with five colonial markers representing a faction in each of five different regions of Africa. Each turn, players try to remove their colonial markers from the regions, scoring points at the end of turn for having the least number of markers present.

Certain regions are worth more points on some turns than others, so it’s important to maximize decolonization on those turns. However, resources must still be collected from the various regions and these are awarded only to the most powerful factions within each region.

Components

  • 1 Game board, depicting a map of Africa divided into five ranked regions (Eastern-2, Southern-3, Northern-4, Central-5, and Western-6).
  • 125 Colonial markers in 5 colors.
  • 5 VP markers in 5 colors.
  • 1 Turn marker.
  • 30 Resource dice.

Setup

  1. Place the board in the center of the playing area.
  2. Distribute 5 markers for each player in each of the 5 regions on the board.
  3. Place a marker on the VP Track for each player.
  4. Place the turn marker on position 1 of the Turn Track.
  5. Roll dice to see who goes first.

Game Play

The game is played in a series of 5 turns, with 4 phases per turn.

Resource

Each Player gets 5 resource dice (RD). These represent the supplies and support granted them by their colonial powers.

Each player with a majority in a region also gains bonus RD. Each region on the board has its bonus RD values listed.

Action

Players roll their RD and allocate them to the actions below. After a roll, RD may be freely traded amongst players.

Decolonize Dice matching a regions rank can be used to remove one colonial marker from the region.

Example – 5 RD are rolled showing 3, 3, 4, 5, 5; the player may choose to remove 2 markers from Southern Africa (rank 3), 1 from Northern Africa (rank 4), and 2 from Central Africa (rank 5).

Ship Each die rolled matching the current turn’s number can be removed from play to score VP. This represents the faction shipping natural resources back to its colonial power. Each die spent on a shipping action rewards 2 VP.

Example – It is Turn 3 and 5 dice are rolled showing 2, 2, 3, 5, 6; the player may choose to use the die roll showing 3 on a decolonization action (removing 1 marker from Southern Africa) or shipping the die back (since it’s Turn 3) for 2VP.

Store Any RD rolled that show multiples (two or more dice of the same value) may be stored. Stored dice are set aside and kept for use on subsequent rounds. This is especially useful when a player has one or more RD showing a value that will score much better on a subsequent turn than on the current turn. Only multiple dice may be kept in this manner.

Example – The player has just rolled 3, 3, 3, 4, 5; he may choose to store one or two of the RD that show 3. He may not keep all three, only the multiples.

Re-Rolls

After rolling their RD, players may freely choose whether or not to re-roll any of the dice they wish, so long as they adhere to the following rules:

  1. You must keep at least one die after each roll.
  2. Any 1’s rolled become Unrest Dice (see below) and are set into the Unrest Box on the board. These dice must be kept.
  3. Kept Unrest Dice count for Rule 1.

Unrest

Any Unrest Dice on the board plus a variable number depending on the current turn are rolled; 1’s are set aside as dead dice and have no further effect. Rolled dice are placed into the regions matching regional rank to die number.

These represent the levels of destabilization and social upheaval as a result of colonization. The player in each region with the largest number of colonial markers must eliminate a number of markers equal to the level of unrest. For each marker removed, the player gets one less RD on the subsequent turn.

After the effects of the unrest have been resolved remove the unrest dice from the board.

Score

Whichever player has the least amount of colonial markers within a given region scores VP. Each region on the board has its own VP Track displaying the value of a minority faction on a given turn.

Game End

The game ends after the last phase of Turn 5. The player with the highest score wins.

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Entry #7 - Valley of Winds

Entry #7 - Valley of Winds

by awakener76 ... Co-Winner

A great sandstorm has blown in from the desert and through the valley revealing the entrances to ancient tombs. Archeaologist rush to the site to explore the tombs and recover the artifacts within.

The players play Archeaology Professors who send their teams of students into the tombs, but the sandstorm could return at any time, revealing new tombs and burying others. Wll your team of students be buried before they can get out with the artifacts.

Valley of Winds in a push-your-luck, trick-taking card game.

Setup

There are two types of cards, the 55 tomb cards (11 each of 5 colours, numbered from 1-5, three 1s, three 2s, two 3s, two 4s and one 5 per colour) and the 20 wind cards (these include instructions such as "add sand counter to an opponents tomb", "add sand counter to your tomb", "bury an opponents tomb", "bury your tomb").

The two decks of cards are shuffled and placed, face down between the players. Piles of sand counters and artifact tokens (coin, poker chips, glass beads or similar, in two colours to represent sand and artifacts).

Gameplay

At the start of a players turn they draw a tomb card, if it has a sandstorm icon they immediately draw a wind card and follow the instructions on it.

If their tomb is not buried then they may try and discover artifacts. This is done by playing sets of tomb cards. These tomb cards score as follows:

1 Artifact Token Combinations 4 of same colour Three 1s Three 2s 3 in a row (123,234,345) any colours

2 Artifact Token Combinations Three 3s Three 4s Four 1s Four 2s 4 in a row (1234,2345) any colours 3 in a row (123,234,345) all same colour

3 Artificat Token Combinations Five 1s Five 2s Four 3s Four 4s Three 5s
5 in a row, any colours 4 in a row, all same colour

If a tomb is buried (either by a bury card or by attaining 3 sand tokens) then the player discard their hand and cannot draw any cards until they are "dug out" by the digging team.

The Digging Team

The digging team is used to dig out students trapped in a buried tomb. When a tomb is buried the player must discard their hand and cannot draw any more cards until they are dug out. At the end of a turn each player who is currently buried must bid for the services of the digging team. If there is only one player currently buried they pay 1 artifact token and are immediately dug out. If there are more than 1 players buried they must bid artifact tokens in order to gain the digging team's services. The winning bidder is dug out whilst the other must wait until the end of the next turn to bid again.

Going clockwise from the first player, each player makes a bid and the next player must either beat the bid or drop out of the bidding.

Winning the game

When there are no more tomb cards the game is over. Players can claim artifacts for any combinations they have in their hands. The winner is the player with the most artifact tokens.

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Entry #8 - Trailer Park: The Game!

Entry #8 - Trailer Park: The Game!

by stubert ... Co-Winner

Description: There’s a tornado in your area! You and your family members have to evacuate the area ASAP! Get all 30 of your family members to the highway so you can hightail it out of there!

Components:

  • 6 sets of wind cards
  • 6 sets of 30 trailer tokens (in six colors)
  • 2 dice (6-sided)
  • 1 event deck (50 cards)
  • 1 game board
  • 1 tornado marker
  • 1 intensity meter

Setup: Each player places 10 tokens in each of the three trailer parks on the board (in any combination of spaces). Place the tornado token in the center space on the board and set the intensity meter to “1”. Shuffle the event deck and place it within reach.

How to Play:

There are three phases to every round: 1. Weather (simultaneous) 2. Movement (sequential) 3. Tornado (sequential)

Weather phase:

The wind cards will affect the movement of the tornado – they have values from 1-3, and in each direction N,S,E & W (Ex: 3N moves the tornado 3 spaces North) There is also one change intensity UP/DOWN (you must choose up or down when you play it) and 3 random movement cards (roll one die 1=choice, 2=N, 3=E, 4=S, 5=W, 6=reroll), for a total of 16 cards.

Players choose as many unplayed wind cards as they want (but at least one every round unless they do not have any), and place them face down, obscured from all players. These are chosen before the Movement phase, but they are not revealed (neither value nor quantity played by each player) until the Tornado phase (at which time they control the position/intensity of the tornado marker).

Each player’s set of wind cards does not replenish until every player has exhausted all of their wind cards, so if you play 4 wind cards on one of your turns, you may run out of wind cards before your opponents and be unable to affect the tornado in later rounds. If no player has wind cards at the beginning of a Weather phase, all players take back all of their wind cards to start fresh with a full set.

Movement phase:

Players roll both dice to see who goes first, with lowest roll going first that round, and play continuing clockwise. All players reroll on ties.

On your turn, roll both dice and move 1 token the amount of both dice, or 2 tokens – 1 for each die in the amount rolled (Ex: Rolling 6/2, you could move one token 8 spaces or two tokens – one 2 spaces, one 6 spaces). Players may only move their tokens along roads marked on the game board.

If a player rolls doubles, that player draws an event card and makes all choices required by the card (this happens before they move their pieces). Event cards move the tornado, raise/lower intensity, create road blocks, allow shortcuts, shield players’ tokens from the tornado, etc. Any player rolling doubles also gets another movement phase. Any number of tokens may occupy any road or trailer park space at any time.

Tornado phase:

The intensity meter affects how far away the tornado will take tokens off the board as well as how many tokens per player.

Beginning with the player who went first, move the tornado and adjust the intensity according to their wind cards. If the tornado would move off the play area on the gameboard, it stops at the edge of the board.

Remove all tokens in the space containing the tornado marker, then remove tokens from the board according to the area of effect of the tornado. If the tornado has intensity=3, each player removes 3 tokens from the area contained in all of the spaces within 3 spaces of the tornado marker (see illustration). If a player has fewer affected tokens than the intensity of the tornado, that player as many affected tokens as they have. The tornado’s intensity cannot go below “1” or above “5”.

Repeat the process for each player, then players discard their played wind cards (they stay discarded until every player exhausts all of their wind cards).

Once the tornado has been moved and/or adjusted by every player who played wind cards, a new round begins.

Winning the game:

Tokens that make it to any of the highway spaces are “safe”, and are unaffected by the tornado for the rest of the game.

If at any time, the number of safe tokens controlled by any player is more than the total number of tokens controlled by any other player, that player wins the game (since no other player will be able to save more of their tokens than that player). Also, if at any time only one player has tokens left on the board, that player is the winner.

Example

Brykovian
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Entry #9 - Winds of Magic

Entry #9 - Winds of Magic

by simons

A game for 3-6 players.

Wizardry school has taught you the basics, how to channel the Winds of Magic to cast powerful spells. Now, it is time for you to get out there and make a name for yourself.

Object

Impress your fellow wizards by earning gold.

Components

5 dice, 6 wizard tokens, 6 spellbook cards, 1 board, 1 monsters deck, 1 missions deck, 25 spell tokens, 25 gold tokens.

Setup

Each player is given a spellbook, 2 spell tokens, and 1 gold token. Players must choose which three spells they begin with (see: casting a spell). Each player then places their wizard token on the Wizard’s Academy (on the board). Shuffle the monster and mission deck. Place a Monster card, face-up, on each board location marked with an Encounter. Draw a number of mission cards equal to 3+3/player. Place the first 3 face-up, and leave the others face-down. Discard remaining Mission cards.

Board

The Turn

At the start of each turn, if there are any Encounter locations with no monsters, draw a Monster card to replace it. If you are out, reshuffle the Monster deck. If there are fewer than three face-up Mission cards, then draw enough Mission cards until there are three. If you cannot, then the game is over. The player with the fewest gold tokens (if there is a tie, the youngest player) makes the Winds of Magic roll, by rolling three dice.

The player with the fewest gold tokens may choose who acts first. She may cast between 0 and 3 spells. When she has finished, play proceeds counter-clockwise, until each player has acted.

Casting a Spell

To cast a spell, each player must draw power from the Winds of Magic. Each dice from the Winds of Magic roll indicates the power of each spell. Spells have a casting cost. If the cost is a number, you must use at least that much power. If the cost is X, the player may use any number. For example, if a 4 was rolled, it could be used to cast Luck, or Teleport (4 spaces), but not Fly. Each player may only use each dice once, however the roll stays the same for each player (i.e. all players use the same three rolls during their turn).

All characters can automatically cast Teleport. They begin the game knowing two other spells (one must be a combat spell). To indicate which spells a character knows, place a magic token over each spell on your spellbook card.

Teleport (X)

Move your wizard up to X territories. You may not move through a space with a monster. If you have more than enough movement to move through the monster, you are stopped. You may use a later teleport to retreat away from a monster, but may not move through it without defeating it.

Luck (4)

The next time you cast a spell this turn, add +1 to the number on the Wind of Magic dice for determining power.

Shield (4)

If you fight a Wizard’s Duel this turn, add +1 to your roll.

Fly (5)

You may move through any Monster card this turn without stopping. The monsters are not discarded, nor defeated during missions.

Combat Magic (X)

There are three types of combat magic: Dark, Fire, and Life Magic. Each counts as a different spell. Whenever you encounter a monster, it will have a Defense against each type of magic. In order to defeat the monster, you must cast a spell of at least that power. Afterwards, discard the monster, and move 1 space. Some tough monsters require that multiple spells be cast. Both spells must be cast by the same player on the same turn.

Monster Card

Missions

Each mission card lists where you must go, and what you must do. Missions include transporting items and defeating monsters. Each mission lists an amount of gold, collected upon completion.

Missions

Wizard’s Duels

During your turn, if you move to the same space as an enemy wizard, you may challenge her to a duel. Both players roll a dice. If either character wins by at least 2, her opponent loses her next turn, and the winner may choose to steal either one gold or item (including items for a mission).

Buying Items and Spells

If you are in the Wizard’s Academy, you may spend 1 gold to purchase any new spell. If you are in the Marketplace, you may spend 1 gold to purchase a magic item.

Winning

When you are unable to replace the missions cards back to three, the game ends. The player with the most gold wins.

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Entry #10 - Ventus et Virtus (Wind and Power)

Entry #10 - Ventus et Virtus (Wind and Power)

by devilindesign

Welcome to Gust a small town located in Breezy Valley. The town needs power and a struggle has begun between various wind mill companies to power the town. You are the owner of one such company. Be the company to collect the most houses to power, and "take the wind out of your opponent".

Goals

Be the company to have the highest point value in houses and power points before the housing deck runs out.

For 4 to 8 players

Setup and Game Play

1. Shuffle the house deck and improvement decks separately and place them on the middle of the table. Flip the top 3 cards on the deck face up and place them for every one to see.

2. Roll to see who goes first

3. First Player Rolls the dice to see the wind direction and power that is generated. The play who’s direction matches the roll get +3 for power and those on either side get plus 2+ those just past that get +1 (for example if the roll is 4 and the direction is N the every one get 4 power for the turn but the player in the N position get +3, both players in the NW and NE Position get +2 and the Players in the E and W Position get +1.)

4. On your turn you: 1.add the power generated in the roll to your total. 2.Pay power points for existing houses. Then you can choose to purchase an upgrade from the field or a house. If you don’t have enough to make a purchase end your turn and keep that power is reserve. When a house or a Upgrade has been purchased it is replaced with the top card from the deck. 3.the round continues until every player has gone. When a player finishes their turn they keep any excess power in reserve. 5. Then it is the next persons turn to roll for the wind direction and strength. 6. Play continues until all the houses are gone.

5. Total the point value for the houses and add it to your remaining power reserve. The person with the highest score wins.

Components

  • 1 six sided die
  • 1 eight sided die with N,NW,W,SW,S,SE,E,SW marked on the sides
  • 25 House cards some with bits of game information and house stats
  • 100 improvement cards/advertising cards(sabotage)
  • Game Board With Windmill location and Power storage. (All players connected to board)
  • 8 different colored counters To keep track of the power points.
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Results

As mentioned in the News Announcement, congratulations to awakener76 and to stubert for tying with the highest number of votes.

To see all of the voting results, jump to the Voting Poll.

Now, go give your fellow designers some proper feedback in the Critiques Thread.

I hope you all enjoyed the Challenge! Watch for the April GDS Challenge announcement over the new few weeks ... and see you on the other side. ;-)

-Bryk

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