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Category: Boards and Tokens (Page 11 of 12)

This covers board games of all kinds. This would include Like(TM), Trivial Pursuit(TM), various Avalon Hill games, and others.

Greed – Draft

August 18, 2006 /

Greed variation of Monopoly

Start the game with only $500 instead of $1250. To purchase properties, you can borrow money with interest to be paid back over a number of turns. The more turns to pay back, the higher the interest. How much you can borrow is determined by a scale. The first loan is $500. If you pay it back on time, you can go up the scale and borrow more. If you are late, you go down the scale and interest increases.

100
200
350
500
700
900
1150

Ten turns, 5% interest. Twenty turns, 10%. Thirty turns, 20%.

A property must be purchased on every turn. If no one buys a property, everyone must take a loan for the highest interest/longest term.

You can mortgage a property, like traditional Monopoly, only it goes back into circulation if it is not un-mortgaged in 10 turns.

Roman Chess – Draft

June 12, 2006 /

Latrunculi or Roman Chess is mentioned in many ancient documents, but the rules are speculative at best. These rules are based on suggestions made by Dr. Wladyslaw J Kowalski, an engineering professor at Penn State University.

The folks from Board Games Studies take issue with Dr. Kowalski's suggestions. Their interpretation of the game is here. I chose Dr. Kowalski's version because, frankly, it looks more fun. Here are Dr. K's proposed rules.

  • Use a 12 x 8 board with the starting arrangement as shown below.
  • Black plays first (Black in this case is blue).
  • All pieces may move any number of spaces in the horizontal or vertical direction.
  • A single stone is captured if it is surrounded on two opposite sides.
  • The outside walls cannot be used to capture men.
  • A stone in the corner can be captured by two stones placed across the corner.
  • Multiple stones can be captured along a line.
  • The king (or dux) cannot be captured but can be immobilized by being surrounded on all four sides.
  • First player to immobilize the enemy king wins.
  • The king is immobilized if it is blocked by an enemy stone such that it has no place left to move.
  • If the game stalemates, the player with the most captured enemy stones wins.
  • Sequences of plays that repeat endlessly must be prohibited (this is usually obvious to both players after two series of moves repeats -- any move initiating a third repeating series of moves is illegal).
  • Players must announce when they 'squeeze' a stone in-between enemy stones (to avoid any later dispute).

    • Roman Chess

    Roman Chess board

    More explanations later, but I wanted to get the basic board and rules up.

    Hedge Checkers

    June 10, 2006 /

    Equipment

    The Board: Unlike a standard board, a Hedge Checkers board requires a 12x12 board. Also required are objects to serve as the hedge. (Pens work well and well as Scrabble(R) trays.) The green shaded area in the picture represents the hedge.

    Hedge Board
    click here for a larger image

    All play is done on dark squares. The correct orientation for each player will show a dark square to the player's bottom-left corner.

    Checker Pieces: These are the same shape and size, usually round. Each player is given 12 of the same color. Usually checkers are black and red, but can be any color. It is suggested to avoid green chekers if the graphic above is used.

    Players

    The players sit on opposite sides of the board. Each player is called by the color of their checkers. Black moves first, but if black is not used, flip a coin to determine who moves first.

    The Play

    Each player places 8 of their 12 checkers on the board outside the hedge. Six are placed on the dark squares of the row closest to the player, and one each is placed on both sides on dark squares above the first row. Click on the diagram above for a larger picture - checkers are initally places on the squares marked with an X.

    Each turn, a player may "jump the hedge" to put one of their checkers into play, move diagonally forward one square, or jump an opponent. If a player jumps the hedge, he must place a checker outside the hedge, if he has any left over. When jumping over an opponent, you must take all jumps available.

    Crowning: If a piece reaches the far edge of the board, he is crowned and called a King. Kings can move and jump backwards, in addition to being able to move and jump forwards.

    Object of Play

    Deprive the opponent of the ability to move. This happens if all 12 pieces are taken, but can also occur if remaining pieces are blocked.

    Notation

    Notation is based on the graphic below. X's mark the initial position of checkers at the beginning of the game. *'s mark the Pits (explained later). The numbers mark squares either player can use in legal moves. When writing a game, it is common to write the number the pice moved from and the number where the piece moved to separated by a hypen. In the case of initial moves, X is used.

    hedge-notation.png
    click here for a larger image

    Special Rules

    Hiding: It is possible to hide a piece by jumping back over the hedge. However, the player's next move must be to jump over the hedge and return to play. If the piece is blocked from returning to play, the piece is forfeited. For example, a player may move a piece 5-14. On his next move, he must move 14-25 or forfeit his piece.

    The Pits: A move into the squares marked with a star *, are considered sacrifices. Moving into the * squares provide no means for a piece to return. For strategic reasons, a player may opt to sacrifice a piece. Such moves are notated number-*., namely 15-* and 22-*.

    Strategy

    There is no rule that you must move all 12 pieces into play as soon as possible. However, it is generally considered more beneficial to play aggresively. Not placing pieces on the board can potentially trap several pieces behind the hedge, as well as leave a player greatly outnumbered.

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