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\title{Easy Slider}

\author{A Changing Landscapes game\\
by RANDM Axes Games\\
(Ron and Marty Hale-Evans)}

\date{}

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\begin{document}

\maketitle

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Version 0.3.0, 2003-03-09

Any number of players.\\
15 minutes and up.\\
Requires: One piecepack per player, an opaque bag,
and a smooth, flat surface.

\section*{Introduction}

Easy Slider is the first game in a new piecepack genre: the
``B.Y.O.P.'', or ``Bring Your Own Piecepack'' game.  It can be played
solitaire, or with as many players as there are piecepacks available.
It can even be played over the phone or via online chat.

Players agree on how many rounds of the game they will play.  (Three
is a good number for beginners.) On each round, a Caller is chosen.
(Callers need not rotate.)  The Caller creates a random layout of
tiles and randomly designates a strict order in which the tiles must
be placed.  All players then try to slide the tiles on their boards
one at a time into the proper positions.  The player who does so the
fastest over the specified number of rounds is the winner.


\section*{Setup}

The main goal for setup is for the Caller to generate a randomly
arranged board and help all the players set up identical versions of
it.  This provides all the players with identical puzzles to solve.

\begin{enumerate}

\item The Caller shuffles all 24 tiles of his piecepack face down and
   lays them in a 5x5 board on the table, with a ``hole'' where the 25th
   tile would be in the lower right-hand corner.

\item The Caller throws all the coins in one suit except the Null into
   the bag, along with the four pawns.  The other players set aside
   the Ace through 5 coins of one suit and their own pawns.

\item The Caller draws the four pawns from the bag one by one, announcing
   the color of each one as it emerges.  He places them to the left
   of rows 1 through 4 of his board, in the order they were drawn.
   The other players place their pawns in a manner corresponding to
   the Caller's pawns.

\item The Caller draws the five coins from the bag one by one, announcing
   the value of each one as it emerges.  He places them above columns
   1 through 5 of his board, in the order they were drawn.  The other
   players place their coins in order corresponding to the Caller's
   coins.

\item The Caller flips his face-down tiles over, moving from left to
   right on the top row, then moving to the second row, and so on down
   to the bottom, announcing the color and value of each tile as he
   does so.  Example: ``Blue 5, Green Null, Green 2, Red Ace...''.  The
   other players place the same tiles from their own sets into the
   corresponding positions.

\item For easier sliding, you should leave a little space between
adjacent tiles (1/4 inch or 0.5 centimeters).  If all your tiles are
touching, their edges and corners will catch and snag on one another,
making effective sliding next to impossible.

\item Each player's board should now resemble the following diagram.
   (It will probably differ in the order of pawns and coins, but 
   every player's board should look the same as every other's.)

\pagebreak

\begin{verbatim}
     2 4 5 A 3
   K T T T T T
   R T T T T T
   B T T T T T
   G T T T T T
     T T T T
   
   Key: K = black pawn, A = ace coin, T= tile.
\end{verbatim}

\end{enumerate}


\section*{Game Play}

\begin{enumerate}

\item At the Caller's signal, all players (including the Caller) now
   attempt to slide the tiles on their boards to their proper
   positions as designated by the pawns and coins around the outside
   of the board.  For example, in the above diagram, the tile in the
   top left corner should be the Black 2 (2 of Moons), the second tile
   in that row should be the Black 4, the tile at the end of the
   second row should be the Red 3 (3 of Suns), and so on.

\item Tiles may not be picked up, but must be slid across the playing
   surface.  Players move tiles sequentially around the 5x5 grid into
   the shifting ``hole''.  (This may remind you of the ``15 Puzzle'', the
   little set of tiles held in a frame with numbers to put in order.)
   Players must slide only one tile at a time, and must keep each tile
   in only one column and one row at a time (except the tile currently
   being moved).  Players must use only one hand to slide tiles.

\item All null tiles must be placed in the bottom row.  They may be
   placed in any order, and the hole may be anywhere in the row.
   (This row is known as the ``parity sponge'', and guarantees that
   every Easy Slider board is solvable.)

\item The first player to finish his board calls ``Done!'' and the other
   players check his board to make sure it is correct.

\item If his board is correct, he receives a number of points equal to
   the number of other players he beat (for example, four points in a
   five-player game), and play continues.

\item If his board is incorrect, he receives zero points, and play
   continues.  This is called a ``fumble''.

\item The next player to finish calls ``Done!'' and the process just
   described is repeated.  (In a five-player game, the second player
   to finish would normally receive three points, because he beat
   three other players.)

\item Players continue to go out of the game until only one player is
   still trying to solve his board.  That player receives zero points,
   and the round is over.

\item At the end of the round, every player who did not fumble, including
   the player who did not finish his board, receives one bonus point
   for every player who did fumble that round; all other players are
   considered to have beat every player who fumbled.

\item Play continues until the agreed-upon number of rounds has been
    played.  The points gained by the players on each round are added
    to the points they gained on previous rounds.  At the end of the
    last round, the player with the most points wins the game.

\item If there is a tie among players at the end of the agreed-upon
    number of rounds, the tied players engage in a final playoff
    round.  At the end of the playoff round, the player with the most
    points wins the game.

\end{enumerate}


\section*{Variants}

This section contains alternate ways to play Easy Slider.  If you have
a suggestion for an Easy Slider variant, please email it to {\tt
\htmladdnormallink{rwhe@ludism.org} {mailto:rwhe@ludism.org}}.

\subsection*{''Slide!''}

The rules for Easy Slider, as written, make it into a fast-thinking,
logical reasoning, dexterity game because of the speed aspect. During
playtesting it was realized that an interesting variant is to take
away the dexterity aspect and some portion of the fast-thinking aspect
by preventing the various players from seeing each other's boards and
then having the caller announce ``Slide!'' at equal time intervals, at
which times each player {\em must} immediately slide a tile.  Sliding
at other times is not allowed. Thus, at the moment one player wins,
all players will have made an identical number of moves. With short
intervals the fast-thinking aspect is still there but the pressure
isn't quite so high and there's more time for deeper planning.  The
character of the game changes because mistakes are more damaging but
there's also more time to think before moving. It also somehow {\em
feels} like there's more player interaction.

{\em ---Mike Schoessow and the Changing Landscapes playtesters}



\section*{Antecedents}

As mentioned in the rules, Easy Slider resembles the classic 15
Puzzle, often called the ``19th-Century Rubik's Cube''.  In fact, the
strongest influences on this game were the 15 Puzzle itself
(Anonymous; popularized by Sam Loyd in the 1870s); Square Off (Alex
Randolph; Parker Brothers, 1972); and Take It Easy (Peter Burley; FX
Schmid, 1994), in that order.

The best way to improve at Easy Slider, besides playing it solitaire,
is to practice the 15 Puzzle.  Here are some links to web pages that
give tips on solving the 15 Puzzle, and by extension, Easy Slider.
(The first two pages should also clarify why the ``parity sponge'' row
is necessary.)

{\tt
\htmladdnormallink{http://www.jimloy.com/puzz/15.htm}
{http://www.jimloy.com/puzz/15.htm}}

{\tt
\htmladdnormallink{http://rec-puzzles.org/new/sol.pl/competition/games/15.puzzle}
{http://rec-puzzles.org/new/sol.pl/competition/games/15.puzzle}}

{\tt
\htmladdnormallink{http://www.javaonthebrain.com/java/puzz15/technical.html}
{http://www.javaonthebrain.com/java/puzz15/technical.html}}

During the design of this game, the designers became fond of a pocket
edition of the puzzle from Binary Arts.  It is made of enameled
stainless steel, with a ``chunky'' solid feel, and only costs about
US 10.00.  (This is not a paid endorsement.)

{\tt
\htmladdnormallink{http://binaryarts.com/OurProducts/BA/01p\_{}fifteen.htm}
{http://binaryarts.com/OurProducts/BA/01p\_{}fifteen.htm}}


\section*{Other Links}

Official piecepack site: \\
{\tt \htmladdnormallink{http://www.piecepack.org/}
{http://www.piecepack.org/}}

Latest version of this ruleset in several formats, including
HTML, PDF, and \LaTeX\ : \\
{\tt \htmladdnormallink{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/easy-slider/}
{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/easy-slider/}}



\section*{Credits}

Thanks to the members of Seattle Cosmic Game Night for playtesting
Easy Slider, especially Tim Schutz, Steve and Nat Dupree, and Mark
Haggerty.  Thanks also to Mike Schoessow, the judge of the Changing
Landscapes contest, and the playtesters for the contest: Lisa,
Reinhard, Gabi, Shay, Wei-Hwa, Arik, Barry, and Santiago, for the
``Slide!'' variant and a rule clarification.


\section*{History}

0.3.0, 2003-03-09: First post-contest version.  Changed to \LaTeX\
format.  Added ``Slide!'' variant.  Clarified that there should be
spaces between tiles.  Updated Credits.  Added Other Links section.

0.2.4, 2003-01-16: Current version's text slightly revised and
submitted to the Changing Landscapes piecepack game design contest.

0.2.3, 2002-10-20: Added ``Confidential'' notices; postponed FDL until
release.  Added History section.

0.2.2, 2002-09-11: Game more or less finalized. 


\section*{License}

{\em Copyright 2002, 2003 by Ron and Marty Hale-Evans. Permission is
granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant
Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the
license can be found here: \\ {\tt
\htmladdnormallink{http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html}
{http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html}}}

\end{document}
