Monday, May 01, 2006

about.com contest - Cradle

(as sent in to the about.com game design contest)

Cradle

In the middle:
A checkerboard. This is the Main Map.
Poker chips (Gold).

Each player gets:
1 personal checkerboard (for simultaneously buying new items to populate the Main Map).
1 player screen.
Many 1d6 of their color (Armies).
6 Gold.
1 half-set of chess pieces (4 pawns, 1 each of rook, knight, bishop, king, queen) in their color. These will be used as Population Centers, known as POPs. POPs score points and offer special powers to their owner.

The Winner:
....is the player who has the most points generated from POPs that they control.


Gameplay
Game Start:
One player takes 5 Armies of each color and places them on the Map, one Army per square, anywhere he chooses. The other player chooses who plays what color. The game then begins.

A round includes these phases in order:
--Buy and Place
--Reveal
--Move Armies
--Area Conflicts
--POP Conflicts
--Collect Gold
--Famine Check

Notes:
Armies reside on Squares.
POPs exist on a corner of four Squares. In the rules, the terms "cornering" or "cornered" refers to the relationship of the POPs and the Squares that they connect to by existing on their corners.
A Square on the Map that a Player has an Army on or is cornered by a POP is said to be "controlled" by that player.


Buy and Place:
Behind the player screens, players can buy new units using Gold in their stock. New units are placed secretly on their personal checkerboard. The following costs and rules apply:
-- 1 Gold, place a new Army on a Square controlled by an Army or POP (on the Map) of your color.
-- 4 Gold, place a Village (Pawn) on the corner of four Squares. None of the four squares can be currently controlled on the Map by an opponent's Army or POP.
-- 4 Gold, upgrade a Village to a Town (Rook, Knight, Bishop), by placing a Town on the same corner as a Village on the Map.
-- 6 Gold, upgrade a Town to a City (Queen, King), by placing the City on the same corner as a Town on the Map.
-- 2 Gold, update a POP to a different type within it's class (Town or City).

Players may buy as much as they wish, provided they have the Gold.


Reveal:
Remove the screens.
Spent Gold returns to common stock.
Both players move their Armies from their personal boards to the appropriate Squares on the Map, rotating ALL Armies to show 1 pip on top.
New and upgraded/updated POPs are placed on the appropriate corners; removed POPs are returned to the player's stock.

If both players place a Village at the same corner, the player with the most Armies cornering the corner places the Village, the other does not. Otherwise, both players return their Village to their stock.


Move:
Highest 2d6 goes first. Players take turns moving their Armies with the following restrictions:
Armies showing 1 pip on top can move one Square horizontally or vertically.
After moving an Army, rotate the die to show the 6 pip, indicating it has moved this round.
Players can elect to move multiple Armies on a given turn.
Once a player has decided to move no Armies, the Move phase ends when the other player finishes all of his desired moves.


Area Conflict:
At every Square where both players have Armies, one player picks them all up and rolls them. Armies that roll 1 are removed, UNLESS the Square that they are fighting over is cornered and controlled by a same colored POP. (Desertions don’t happen close to home.)
If the amount of Armies for both sides are equal, roll again as above.
The player with the most Armies wins the Square, and places his Armies back on the Square, subtracting the amount of losing Armies.


POP Conflict:
Highest 2d6 goes first. Players take turns selecting any POP. If there are Armies of both players on the squares that corner the chosen POP, remove the Armies which have the lesser amount. The owner of the remaining Armies owns the POP. If the POP has a new owner, this POP is replace with a Village (Pawn) with the color of the new owner. If the new owner has no Pawns left, the POP is simply removed.

If the amount of Armies is equal, none are removed. This POP will be considered "contested" until resolved on a later round/turn. Contested POPs do not offer points at the end of the game, or any special powers that they grant.


Collect Gold:
For every Black Square a player controls by an Army, the player collects 1 Gold.


Famine Check:
Roll 2d6. If the results show doubles, each Red Square a player controls by an Army produces food equal to the pip count on one die. Highest 2d6 goes first. Players must remove Armies from the Map until their amount of Armies is equal to or less than the total amount of food they can produce.


End of Round:
Keep track of how many rounds are completed. After 6 rounds, roll two dice. If the number of rounds played is GREATER THAN the total of the dice, the game is over. Otherwise, start a new round.


Notes on POPs:
Each POP has a point total associated with it to determine the winner. Towns and Cities grant special abilities to the player who controls them on the Map.

Pawn -- 2 point

Rook -- 1 point, Place an Army on any empty Square cornered by each Village or Town you control.
Knight -- 3 points, Armies may make an additional move after moving into a Red Square.
Bishop -- 4 points, Red Squares cornered by any POP can be counted as producing food for Armies during Famine.

Queen -- 5 points, All Villages and Towns are worth an Additional point.
King -- 6 points, Before Famine, remove 2 Armies from the Map to gain 1 Gold.

(click on the image below to zoom it up)

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home