Groffeltoe - the first minigame

[Kerol]

As all of you probably know already, the minigame infrastructure is available ingame.
I hoped to have octarch's chess playable with that, but there are little problems with the board, so no OC yet.
For testing reasons there was a small board .. and as we wanted to have it available for players, we named it Groffeltoe and made up some simple rules.
This is what this thread is about.

I need people to test out those rules and give feeback on the game and even more importantly on eventual bugs with the infrastructure.

The game can be found by rightclick on one of the tables near the entrance in 'The Broken Door', the tavern in Akkaio.

Here are the rules:
The players take turns alternating.
Each turn, the player places one piece on the board, on any free field.
The game ends when the board is full.. and the player wins with the most pieces on the board.

Now there are some variations on how to capture pieces:
variant A:
if there is one or more opponent piece(s) in one line next to each other and you have one piece at each end of the line - surrounding the opponent pieces - the pieces in the middle are removed. it looks like
[piece of player A][piece of player B][piece of player A]
or
[piece of player A][piece of player B][piece of player B][piece of player B][piece of player B][piece of player A]
but not
[piece of player A][free field][piece of player B][piece of player A]
nor
[piece of player A][piece of player B][free field][piece of player B][piece of player A]

That only works for lines up and down.

variant B:
Everything like variant A, but it only works for lines diagonal.

variant C:
It works for up and down AND diagonal.


If you test out these rules, please also take into consideration possible movement of pieces, not only setting them on fields.
You also may try to combine the /roll command with the given rules or experimentate with different pieces (just doubleclick on a piece to change it to the next available symbol).

You can freely experimentate with all these functions as no rule is enforced by the server.
To set a piece of the opposing color, just rightclick. To remove a piece, drag and drop it outside of the fields, on the rim of the board.

[Keyaz]

Ok, I played Variant C with a friend, and we came across a problem



I am black, the otherp layer is white. If white was to place a checker piece inbetween my two black ones, what would happen?

A) white rmoves the black piece in between its pieces, as it is the latest move, a most plausible move
B) Black automatically removes the white piece in the middle, this is a problem, makes the game impossible to finish.

me and my game partner decided on using A as part of Variant C rule set and are about to start a new game to test.

[Karyuu]

[ Can someone please explain to me why it's called Groffeltoe? o_O ]

[LARAGORN]

Looks like fun, gonna have to try it out today

[Nathaluth Sumaza]

I've played Groffel's Toe a couple of times now. But with slightly different rules that you stated, Kerol. Instead of removing the captured pieces, the pieces when captured are changed into the colour of the one who captured it. This speeds the game up a bit. But it's stilll great fun! May I say that this is a most enjoyable addition.

However, with the original rules you stated, I tried a match with a friend of mine and after an hour and a half we just called it a draw. We could have gone on till the end of time.

Edit - Corrected spelling error.

[Kerol]

Keyaz: I'd have said solution A as well.
Karyuu: Because.

However, with the original rules you stated, I tried a match with a friend of mine and after an hour and a half we just called it a draw. We could have gone on till the end of time.

What was the problem?
What do you think about the different variants? Was there one you liked/disliked most?

[Nathaluth Sumaza]

We started of with an A and the remove rules. However it never came to an end no matter how we tried it, made obvious loses just to see if we could resolve the game with a few openings again. But that didn't work, we just kept on going and going and going et cetera, et cetera. We did very much enjoy it at first though after about an hour playing still playing the same match with seemingly no way of ending it in anyones favour it got a bit boring really. We ended up in the same situtions several times. That's when I suggest playing it slightly different, instead of removing the pieces they change colour, black to white or white to black depending on the one who captures it. This leaves a limited number of moves, as many moves as there are squares. We found this variant more enjoyable than the other, seeing you actually got to finish a match.

Concering the A, B and C variants. As I said we started out with an A, which we found a good way to start and learn the basics. After that we tried out the C variant a couple of times. All very enjoyable, a great addition, really. You really start to learn to think ahead better after a couple of matches. Personally I liked C the most because you have more options, but A is definatly the best way to start. We haven't had the chance to try out the B variant though... Seeing we did want to give others the chance to play. We taught them our "change colour rules" and the basic rules described in your original post, and they all seemed to enjoy it very much indeed. The variants are great way to add variaty, so those are a good part of the game. Though as I said before not a fan of the "remove rules", though replace those with "change colour rules" and you've got yourself a thouroughly enjoyable minigame. So thank you and congratulations.

 

[Croconil]

This looks good. Haven't Tested it for myself yet. Is it worth it?

[Karyuu]

Always :] Even if just checking out this new thing.

[Keyaz]

It's a fun thing to play with thats for sure, either suing Kerol's idea, or simple checkers (putting the board at an angle)

can be enjoyed with frieds for hours

[neko kyouran]

Just so I'm understanding things, it's this game: http://www.rainfall.com/othello/rules/othellorules.asp

only with a different name?  I love Othello, but I never have anyone to play with.

[Gondric]

i played with the board and didnt know the rules so i made my own up.

[Imshi]

Great fun to play and experiment with...can see a host of variants springing up. Is there a possibility of including a "player turn flag". In a busy place like a tavern there are always conversations going on around the board [a good thing] and it is very easy to forget whose go it is. Never been a fan of games within games but this is growing on me. A couple of standard checkers/drafts boards around the plaza would be great. Thankyou.

[Gondric]

leave the groffeltoe to oja and wateva the other game is keep it there too. reason to go to oja. also make all the tables have the game on them. or atleast 2 more.

[Pestilence]

hmm played the game with the othello rules exept that you were allowed to play your pieces anywhere. seemed to work although a bit small board

Would definately have to vote for replacing and not taking the pieces away. Not even sure it would be possible to win that way if both know the game a little. Or you get a very boring game I guess.