Monthly Archives: September 2020

Minopoly

A 25 min game for 2 players, ages 8+

COMPONENTS

5×5 board 

1 draw bag

5 cards 

24 dice in four colors

Paper and pencil for keeping score

OBJECTIVE

The player who can “see” the most buildings from his side of the board when the game ends is the winner.

SETUP

  1. Set the 5×5 board between the players.
  2. Shuffle the five tetromino cards and deal two face-up to each player. Set the remaining card face-up and to the right of the board.
  3. Place the 24 dice into the draw bag.

PLAY

The non-dealer starts and turns then alternate. Rotate the start player after each round.

The game is played over “4” rounds. A player on his turn first draws four dice from the bag. In each turn a player has up to three throws rolling four dice, setting aside any, and rolling the remainder. They do not have to use all three throws and may stop after the first or second. 

Rules for dice placement:

Just like in Tetris, a player must orient the selected shape in a way that enables him to place all the dice on empty spaces. This means the shape must neither overlap with previously placed dice nor extend beyond the playing grid. If none of his two shapes allows him to place four dice according to the rules, he must pass.

Each player has two open cards, cards display one of five tetromino shapes. The active player chooses one of his cards and places this card face-up to the left of the board and then places his four dice onto the board matching the shape of the chosen card, any rotation and/or reflection of the shape may be used. He now adds the fifth card placing it next to his remaining card in front of him and passes the draw bag to his opponent.

A player unable to take his turn may pass. If both players pass one after the other, the round ends triggering a scoring phase.

SCORING

The top face values of the rolled dice represent the height of a building, a value of “1” is the shortest building and a value of “6” would make it the tallest building.

The buildings or “dice” that can be seen from your side of the board are counted in each of the five columns to determine your score. Your opponent does the same.

Scoring Example – The player on this side can see in the first column the 1, 4, 5 and 6; in the second column 2, 3 and 5; in the third column 3 and 5; in the fourth column just the 6; and in the fifth column 4 and 6. So this player sees 12 buildings for a score of 12. In addition, this player sees three out of the four buildings all having the same color in column two, he gains an additional 5 points making his total 17.

The player on this side can see in the first column the 2 and 6; in the second column 3 and 5; in the third column 2, 3, 4 & 5; in the fourth column the 3 & 6; and in the fifth column just the 6. So, this player sees 11 buildings. In addition, because this player can see four buildings in sequence and of different colors in column three, he gains an additional 10 bonus points for a total score of 21.

BONUS POINTS

Bonus points are scored after the end of a round and are only scored by the player who can see the most buildings in that column.

Score 5 bonus points for one of the following in any column:

• 4 buildings of the same color.

• 4 buildings containing all four colors or

Score 10 bonus for one of the following in any column:

• 4 buildings of the same color numbered either: 1-2-3-4 or 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6. Numbers in a run need not be in descending or ascending order.

• 4 buildings containing all four colors numbered either: 1-2-3-4 or 2-3-4-5 or 3-4-5-6. Numbers in a run need not be in descending or ascending order.

After each round clear the dice from the board and return them to the bag. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JN4YNRyqaeBRWGGVkkVNXhNef_APuMCJssUhvMxzd5U/edit?usp=sharing

Copyright 2020, Rey Alicea

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Ant Trails

Ages 10+

Two players, one plays with the red ant tiles and the other with the black ant tiles.

A hex board having 6 hexes to a side and supply of ant tiles black and red. 12 food bonus tiles in the following denominations, 4 that are worth 3 points each, 4 that are worth 2 points each, 4 that are worth 1 point each.

Setup
The board is placed between the two players. Next, the 12 bonus tiles are shuffled and placed randomly face down on nonadjacent cells of the board (with the exception of border cells).

Once all the bonus tiles have been placed flip them over. The ant tiles are placed at the reach of both players.

Play
Black moves first. Turns then alternate.

A turn consists of a player placing 2 ants in his color on the board and moving food bonus tiles along friendly ant trails.

Placing an ant tile
1) Place a friendly ant on a border cell or else
2) Place a friendly ant adjacent to exactly one other friendly ant or
3) Join the ends of two friendly ant trails by placing an ant between the ants at their ends or
4) Place an ant to join both ends of a friendly ant trail into a loop. Loops cannot be extended.

Ants are always placed on empty spaces. And they may be next to ants of the other color.

An ant may have a friendly ant in front of it and one behind it, but no more than that: ant trails don’t branch.

Food bonus tiles
When an ant is adjacent to a bonus tile you have the option of picking it up and placing it on top of the adjacent ant tile.

Scoring bonus tiles
In order to score bonus tiles, the moving player must move bonus tiles one step per turn from the top of one ant to the next along the trail until it reaches the last ant at a border cell. Any number of bonus tiles along any number of trails during a turn can be claimed in this manner.

Once a bonus tile reaches the last ant of the trail it is taken and kept for endgame scoring.

A player unable to take his turn passes. If both players pass in turn the game ends.

Scoring
Bonus tiles that are not taken before the game ends are not scored.

Players count the ants in their longest trail and add up any bonus tiles that they have.

The player with the highest score wins.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/318347/ant-trails

Copyright 2020, Rey Alicea

Mata Mosca – WIP

Mata Mosca is my take on asymmetric games like Wolf and Sheep or Fox and Geese. And it is also, reminiscent of Leopard Games.

The game is played on a board like the one above.

16 Bi-color tokens. The black sides are (flies) and the white sides are (cocooned flies). The one red token is the spider.

2 players. One player is the Spider the other player the Flies.

The Flies move first. Play then alternates.

1) Flies move along the blue spots. Flies can move 1 to 2 steps per turn. Flies can also hop over other flies landing on an empty blue spot, this would count as 2 steps.

2) The Spider moves along the red spots. The Spider can only move one spot per turn. The Spider can capture an adjacent fly by jumping over it and then flipping the fly to its white side (cocooned side). Captures are not compulsory.

3) Cocooned flies don’t move for the rest of the game and block the Spider and the Flies from moving over them.

4) The Spider is also forbidden to move to a spot that is surrounded by any combination of flies, cocoons and the edge of the board.

5) Flies win by surrounding the Spider with any combination of flies, cocoons, and the edge of the board or if the Spider is cut off from the remaining Flies.

6) The Spider wins if he captures 8 flies.

Note:  The inspiration for MM comes from this…

It is called the Wang-Hazzard commutativity graph and it captures the microscopic detail of the mathematical functions physicists typically use to describe energy in quantum systems, reducing the calculation of quantum speed limits to an equation with just two inputs.

Copyright 2020, Rey Alicea

Cirque

Objective: The winning player is the first to connect 5 of their stones in a row.

1) Player 1 places one stone on the first turn.

2) After turn one, each player places 2 stones per turn.

3) Two stones cannot be placed adjacent to each other (including touching diagonally) on the same turn unless they are placed onto squares of the same color.

4) Two stones cannot be played to squares of the same color during a single turn unless they are adjacent to each other.

5) Whenever a player fills in a single shape with their stones, they gain another stone to place during that turn. This stone placement must follow normal placement rules.

BGG Entry: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/144226/cirque

Copyright 2020, Rey Alicea

Chevrons

2 players Red and Blue

A hexagonal board made up of triangles. A supply of Red chevrons and Blue chevrons and supply of Red and Blue cubes.

Play
Red moves first. Then turns alternate.

On a turn place a chevron in your color on the board along 2 edges that meet at 120 degrees. A chevron cannot be placed so that it is fully or partially inside of a previously enclosed area.

An area of empty cells encircled by edges of both colors counts for the player with the most edges bordering it. Once an area is encircled it is immediately claimed by placing a cube in a player’s color within the area. This includes areas that are encircled simultaneously for either player.

The game ends when a player is unable to take his turn.

Scoring
Players count all the triangular cells within their claimed areas.

Open areas (areas not fully encircled) and areas encircled with an equal number of Blue and Red edges are not counted.

The player encircling the greater number of cells is the winner.

BBG entry, https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/319169/chevrons

Copyright 2020, Rey Alicea

Desdemona

Setup on a 7×7 board

The game is played on a square board of sizes 7×7 or 8×8. There are two players, Black and White. Each player has two pieces in his color on 7×7, three on 8×8. There is a sufficient supply of bi-colored stones.

Setup
On 7×7 the pieces start on b2 and f2 for Black, b6, and f6 for White. On 8×8 it’s a4, b2, and g2 for Black, b7, g7, and h5 for White.

Play
Black moves first. Turns then alternate. On his turn, a player must do one of two things

1. Move a pawn in a straight line across any number of empty squares (orthogonally or diagonally) ending the move on an empty square. Then place a stone in your opponents color on an empty square away in a straight line across any number of empty squares (orthogonally or diagonally) from the pawn that was last moved, or …

2. Move a pawn in a straight line across any number of empty squares (orthogonally or diagonally) ending the move on an empty square adjacent to an opponent’s stone. The piece and the stone now define a line (straight or diagonal). If the next square of that line, going in the direction of the stone, is vacant or the next squares hold same-colored stones followed by an empty square, then your color stone is placed on that square, thus trapping the opponent’s stone(s) between itself and the moving piece, and flipping them all over to the moving player’s color.

Moving is compulsory, unless impossible, in which case a player must pass. If one player cannot move anymore, the other must proceed, but may only do so with capturing moves. The game ends when neither player can move.

The player with the most pieces on the board wins.

Online play is available against an Ai or turn based at https://mindsports.nl/index.php/the-pit/1046-desdemona

BGG entry, https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/313894/desdemona

Copyright 2020, Rey Alicea