Thankful on Thanksgiving

On my brother Eric's blog he's making a list of things he's thankful for, including how he's thankful that math is self-consistent, which I am also very grateful for. Other things I'm grateful for (besides, of course, games):

Heather, Henry, and I left early Wednesday morning to drive down to Mesa, Arizona to spend the holiday break with Heather's side of the family. And we left early. Like, I woke up at 4:20 am early. We left before the sun had even come up. Yay! Grateful!

Our car was making this weird noise. And by weird I mean it was super loud. Thankfully, my wife's uncle is a mechanic. He lives in Kanab right now, and had just moved there from Saint George. Well, our course this trip wasn't going to take us through Saint George, but it was taking us right through Kanab. We called him up wondering if when we got there he could look at our car for us. He said yes and we were able to stop in and talk and have him check out our car for free. Yay!

When Uncle Ken looked at our car, he said that our front left ball bearings were pretty shot. Like, really badly. Like, he said we couldn't finish going down to Mesa with it. Like, we'd be lucky to go another 5 miles on it. So super grateful we had him check it out. Yay!

There was a NAPA store in Kanab and we were able to buy the replacement part. Then, Uncle Ken replaced it for us--for free! Yay!

So super awesome that we were prevented from breaking down on the interstate, and that our uncle replaced the part for us for free. Which he wouldn't have been able to do unless we had left that early in the morning. Everything just clicked and came together. Totally a miracle. Yay!

Well, that took a while so even though we left super early we still wound up not arriving until really late. (Speaking of arriving, I really want to go see the new movie Arrival which got great reviews and is now in theaters.) I was getting sleepy (got up at 4:20, after all) but my wonderful wife Heather drove part of the way down so that I could sleep in the car. Yay! Sleep!

Also, we didn't take any wrong turns the whole trip down! Yay!

So we ended up arriving safe and sound (by a total miracle) in Mesa, Arizona at about 1 in the morning here. Then we got some much needed sleep.

Today (Thanksgiving day) we got up, and Henry's cousins came over and played and Heather and I were able to talk with her brothers and sisters and their spouses and kids and such Thanksgiving-y stuff. And we had so much good food it was fantastic. On a more serious note, I truly am very grateful to have food on my table, and am very often aware of how many people live their lives with little to nothing and are never sure where their next meal will come from. My heart goes out to them. I have no idea what that would be like-I have never had to want for food my entire life, and I truly am very very grateful for that.

After the food we had a rest period and later on went and played tennis at some tennis courts until it got dark out. Then we went back home and had pie. Including Pumpkin Pie. Mmmm... pumpkin pie. It's my favorite.

Later on we talked, watched some football, and played some Super Smash Brothers. All in all it was a great Thanksgiving.

Somerset rules version 1.0

In more serious news, the amazing husband of my incredible cousin passed away from cancer earlier this week. You will be missed, Jon. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you, Mindy.





For the past few days I have been working on typing up the preliminary instructions for Somerset. I have included them below.

Somerset

Somerset: the lush green country where the mythological Camelot resided. You and the other players will take on roles of ancient leaders in the city, each with peasants, knights, and wizards to do your bidding. As the years pass and the countryside grows, so too must your ability to build towns and villages, advance in the government, construct personal buildings, and use your wizards to cast magical spells, all in the goal of becoming the richest ruler.

A game for 2-5 players, ages 12 and up.

Goal of the game: Have the most money when the game ends.

Different ways to get money include: having other players use your country tiles, advancing in the government, getting money from the bank, having a large spell book, constructing buildings, and having your country tiles touch Camelot and other players’ tiles.

Game End: The game will end after the round when one of the following conditions is met: (a) All country tiles have been built. (b) A player builds their sixteenth country tile. (c) A player builds their eighth building.

Set Up: Take the Camelot city tiles depending on the number of players you have. Always use the ones labeled 2+, and use the ones with 3+ for a three or more player game and those with 4+ for a four or more player game. Place these face up on the table in a random arrangement. Note: all tiles must be connected by at least one road; one part of the board cannot be inaccessible to another part.

All country tiles are laid face up nearby so that all players may see and access them.

Every player takes all of their workers, roads, and claim markers. The government track is set out, and each player puts one claim marker on the left-most column of the government track.

Each player gets one Residence building card and one random spell card; this will be their starting hand. The two decks are then shuffled separately and placed near the board. The magic tokens, coins, and resources are also placed nearby.

Pick a starting player. That player will receive 5 coins. The player to his left will receive 1 more coin (6), the player to his left one more (7), and so forth all the way around the table.

First Round: For the first round, each player will take one of their peasants and one of their knights. Pick a starting player. That player will place one of these two workers of his and place it on a city tile, taking that action. The player to his left then places one of his workers on an unoccupied city tile, taking that action. Continue around clockwise until everyone has placed both of their workers.

These workers are now in the city and from now on can only move according to normal moving rules, which are:

·      A Peasant must only move exactly one tile.

·      A knight must move exactly two tiles.

·      A wizard must move exactly three tiles.

·      A piece can only move from one tile to another tile adjacent to it if roads are connecting them, or they have a personal road built connecting them. (And no blockades are in the way.)

·      A piece may not pass through nor land on a tile that already has one of that player’s workers in it.

Between Rounds: In between every round (but not after the last) is a building period where every player, starting with the starting player and going clockwise, may build exactly one country tile or one personal building, and purchase any spells from their hand.

They may build either a tile or a building, but not both. Players may always purchase as many spells from their hand as they wish, paying the cost and laying the cards down into their spell book. Players may pass if they do not wish to build anything.

Stand up all workers that are laying down (to show they have not moved yet this round). You are now ready to begin the next round.

Regular Round Gameplay: Starting with the current starting player and going clockwise, players will move one of their workers to a new tile, and either performs the action it lands on or does nothing. If they do nothing, they still must lay down their worker.

Once a worker has been moved, lay it down flat to show that that action has already been taken this round, and that that worker has already moved. Each tile’s action may be taken only once per round, although the tile may still be passed through. A worker may take an action on a tile where there is another worker standing up on it. Once all players have moved all of their current workers, the round ends.

End of Game: Play continues like this until one of the following occur:

a)     All country tiles have been built.

b)    A player builds their sixteenth country tile.

c)     A player builds their eighth building.

After one of these conditions is met, the round finishes as normal. Coins are then totaled.

Scoring: Players score coins based on the following:

1.     The player’s current coins are totaled.

2.     A player will score coins per country tile they have built as follows: For each of their country tiles, if it is touching the City of Camelot, it scores one coin. Each tile will also score one coin per country tile touching it that belongs to another player.

3.     The player with the largest Book of Spells (who has the most spell cards in front of them, not in their hand) will get 12 coins. The player with the second largest will get 8; the third largest 4, and the fourth largest 2. In case of a tie, evenly divide the coins of the respective tiers among the tied players (rounding down if necessary).

The player with the most money at the end wins! If tied, the tied player with the most resources left wins. If still tied, all tied players share the victory.

Building country tiles and personal buildings: When a player buys either a country tile or a personal building, they pay the resource cost found in the upper-left corner, giving those resources from in front of them back to the supply.

When a player buys a country tile, it must come from the general supply near the board. It must be placed so that it touches at least two tiles already in play. Also, at least one of its road connections must touch another tile’s road connection so that it’s accessible.

When a country tile is built, the player places one of their claim markers in the upper-left circle, covering the cost. That tile is now his for the rest of the game. Whenever another player’s worker lands on that tile, the player that built it receives one coin from the bank. Thus it might be a good idea to buy tiles your opponents would want to use repeatedly, and build them near your opponents’ workers.

Every time you build a personal building, the building card must come from your hand. When you build your first building, immediately receive one coin from the bank. When you build your second, receive two coins. When you build your third, get three coins, fourth, four coins, and so forth.

Roads and Barricades: A player has exactly six roads. These are used for both roads and barricades. If a player tries to build another road or barricade, they must reuse a road or barricade they already have on the board by picking it up and moving it to its new spot.

Roads are placed between two tiles perpendicular to the space between them, on the non-road side of one of those tiles. Thus the road will connect those two tiles for that player, allowing workers of that player to pass from one tile to the other like normal.

Barricades are placed between two tiles parallel to the space between them, usually where the roads already connect. This barricade prevents movement from one tile to the next for all players except the player that built it. However, a barricade cannot be built in a place that would completely block off a section of the current board from the other via road connections. At least one normal road must exist somewhere to connect all tiles together. If the barricade is built over a player’s road that road no longer functions, and no roads may be built over a barricade.

Spells: A player may only cast spells if they have at least one wizard. Until a player gets a wizard, they will not be able to cast any spells they lay down from their hand, although they may still lay them down to create a spell book. A player may only cast spells from those spells he has in front of him, not in his hand; they must be first bought in between rounds.

When you cast a spell, you must use up the amount of magic crystals required, giving them back to the supply from in front of you. Resolve all effects of the spell before the next player goes.

Somerset tiles

Let's not talk about the election yesterday. (I voted for McMullin for President btw who nearly tied Clinton for 2nd place in Utah. Even though all of Utah's votes for McMullin and Hillary combined didn't even match the number of votes Trump got in Utah.)

Instead, let's talk about games and how awesome they are.

The tiles for Somerset are now done. They still need play testing to see if the different strategies are balanced and such, but the good news is that its' already got some play testing from some of my students at school who play it during the study hall period.  They come in and ask if they can play it, so I get it out and they set it up and play it, and occasionally ask me for rules clarifications. Because of their sample runs, I've already been able to fix some bugs.

I haven't started working on any art or anything for the cards, but I have the index-card cards to play with right now and that's good enough. I still need to test out the cards to see how good they are, but right now I'm focused on the tiles.  There are 25 of them which are always available to anyone to buy.  There are also the starting tiles, which are way less powerful but you start with them so hey. The starting tiles I made to look like it's the city, which I'm calling the City of Camelot, and then the tiles you can buy are made to look like the country side. So you start off in the city and build out into the countryside better actions.

The starting tiles for 2 players. They are to be laid down in a random configuration. The sword in the stone is the first player marker.

The starting tiles you add for 3 players. The starting tiles you add for 4-5 players.

Advancement actions: Turn a peasant into a knight or a knight into a wizard. (It cost resources to do so.)

Advance on the government track or activate an action on the government track that you've already reached.

The Government track. Get money, or get resources, or get magic/cast a spell, or get building/spell cards.

Resource tiles. I'm not sure what else to say about these. Rutabaga.

Actions that allow you to draw building cards or spell cards. These cards are (should be? will be?) really nice.

The Magic actions. Either collect Magic, cast a spell, or both. (You must have at least one wizard before you can cast spells, however.) When you cast a spell it uses up a certain amount of magic.

These are the random or miscellaneous tiles. Do an action of a tile surrounding the one you're on, get money, build with a discount, or build some roads.

There you have it. Ah snap, sorry, I just remembered as I'm writing this that there were also going to be 7 Attack tiles that you can play with as well, but are optional if you don't want to play with attack tiles. So I'll have to do those too.

Videos of Henry Dancing

Okay, so I think I got the videos to work now:

In other news, "Somerset" is coming along nicely; I'm just working out some of the rules and tiles.