New piecepack game: Multzo

[Glenn Overby II <guardcaptain@...>]

A couple of piecepackers who also play Icehouse (Ron Hale-Evans, Ken Leyhe) 
introduced me through that list to the piecepack.  Now I have designed my first 
piecepack game.

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Multzo
a piecepack game by Glenn Overby

Multzo, a game for 2-5 players, uses only the 24 tiles and 24 coins from a 
piecepack.  (The four dice and four pawns are not used.)  It is in the family of 
Poker and other vying card games.  But it doesn't require cash to be interesting.  
Players try to gain sets of tiles with the greatest value, and there are four different 
ways to determine the best set (and up to four winners!) each round.

Setup:  Remove the four null coins.  Stack the other five coins of each suit 
number-side up, with the 2 on top, then 3, 4, 5, and Ace (always valued as 6 in 
this game) underneath.  Put the null coin of each suit symbol-side up next to each 
stack to identify it.

Rounds:  The game is played in several rounds.  In each round, begin by dealing 
four tiles face-down to each player.  Stack the leftover tiles face-down in a 
convenient place.  The player with the highest current score then plays first, and 
play continues clockwise.

Turns:  A player takes a turn by drawing a tile from the face-down stack, OR from 
any of the previously discarded face-up tiles.  Then, the player discards one tile 
face-up to complete the turn.

End:  A player may declare the end of a round by making their discard face-down 
instead of face-up.  Each other player then gets one turn, after which the 
showdown occurs.

Showdown:  All players reveal their four tiles.  The highest-scoring group of tiles in 
each of four categories wins the round:

     * Flush (Crown coins):  Four tiles of the same suit.
     * Prime (Arms coins):  Four tiles, one of each suit.
     * Set (Sun coins):  Three or four tiles of the same number (null, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 
Ace).
     * Run (Moon coins):  Three or four tiles of sequential numbers (null-2-3, 2-3-4, 
3-4-5, 4-5-Ace, null-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5, or 3-4-5-Ace.)
     * The same group can be flush and set, flush and run, prime and set, or prime 
and run.

Point values are 6 for the Ace, 5, 4, 3, 2, or 0 for the null.  The highest total four-
tile value wins in each category where it is eligible.  However, a four-tile set or run 
always beats a three-tile set or run.

The winner in each category takes the top coin from the stack corresponding to 
the category won.  If two or more tie for the category win, neither wins.  If a player 
won two categories, they may take the null coin (the multiplier) for one of the two 
categories, if available, instead of a coin from the stack.  Also, a winner of the 
Flush category takes two Crown coins instead of one.

Score:  A player's score is the sum of all coins they have won.  One multiplier coin 
doubles the score, two triple it, and so on.  After the last coin of any stack is 
taken, the player with the highest score wins the game.  If there are still coins in all 
stacks, begin a new round.

*****

I'll get it on my website over the weekend.

Glenn E. Overby II
Clinton Twp, MI
http://home.earthlink.net/~guardcaptain/

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