Worm Derby ver 2.0

["mark_biggar" <mark.a.biggar@...>]

Here an updated version of the rules with most of the typos
fixed and some clarification and a new Slalom variant invented
by Tim Schutz and his daughters.

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Piecepack game -- Worm Derby ver. 2.0

2-4 players

The object of the game is to race your worm through a field of
obstacles around a distant pylon and back to the start line before
any of the other player's worms.

Worms

A worm consists of a connected string of touching (at the edge)
Piecepack disks of the same suit, suit side up.  A worm always has
two end disks that only touch one other disk in the worm and may
have one or more body disks that touch exactly two other disks.
Worms may never form loops or branching structures.  A worm can
be curved in any way allowed by the above description.

In the basic rules all worms are six disks long; the advanced rules
allow for worms of lengths from 2 to 6 long.

Worm Movement

A worm moves in steps.  Each step consists of picking up the disk at
one end of the worm and moving it to touch the disk at the other end
of the worm.  A worm can move in either direction, but if a worm is
moving multiple steps in one turn, it must move all in the same
direction (all the steps must take disks from the same end of the
worm).

Obstacles

Facedown Piecepack tiles are obstacles that worms must go around
as they race.  Worms cannot go over obstacles and an obstacle can
never be placed on top of a worm.  If there is not enough room
between two obstacles for a worm's disk to fit, the worm cannot go
between the two obstacles.  Worms also treat other worms like
obstacles.

Game setup

Give each player the six disks from one suit to form his worm.  It is
convenient to place the correspondingly colored pawn in front of
each player so that it is easy to tell which worm belongs to each
player (there is no other use of the pawns in this game).  Also give
each player the corresponding colored die.

Place two tiles, suit side up, about 4 tile widths apart to form the
start/finish line.  Place another tile, suit side up, three to six
feet away along the perpendicular bisector of the start line as the
turn pylon for the other end of the racecourse.  The distance you
choose will determine the length of the game; the farther away the
pylon is the longer the game length.  These three tiles are
considered obstacles except that, unlike other obstacle tiles, they
cannot be moved during the game.

Choose a first player by any agreeable method.  Turns will go
clockwise around the table starting with the first player.

Deal out the remaining tiles evenly to the players, putting any odd
tiles aside.  Starting with the first player, each player in turn
places a tile, suit side down, anywhere on the racecourse between the
start line and the pylon.  These tiles form the set of obstacles for
the race.  During this initial placement phase, no obstacle may be
placed within three tile widths of either the start line or the
pylon.  Obstacles may touch but cannot overlap.  Obstacles may be
placed in any orientation.  Players continue to place tiles in turn,
until all the dealt tiles have been placed.

Starting with the first player, each player in turns builds his worm
suit side up behind the starting line.  The starting position of a
worm must be built in a straight line perpendicular to the start
line, with only one end disk between the two start line tiles.

The Race

Starting with the first player, players take turns moving their
worms.

The goal is to move your worm from the start line, around the far
side of the pylon and back to the start line, first before any other
worm.  To move your worm, roll your die and move as follows.  On
a 2-5 move your worm that many steps (remember that you can
move your worm either direction; this may be necessary if blocked
by obstacles).  If it is impossible to move your worm the whole
number of steps, move it a many as possible.  On a null, your worm
does not move this turn.  On an ace, you may move an obstacle and
then roll again.  An obstacle may be moved no more then one tile
width from its current position and may be reoriented as the player
chooses.

Winning

The first player to move one end of his worm between the two start
line tiles after having traveled around the far side of the pylon has
won the race.  The remaining worms may continue to race to
determine second and third place.

Variants

1.      For a shorter and simpler game reduce the number of (or
completely eliminate) the obstacle tiles.

2.      Slalom

This variant has no moveable obstacles.  Instead set up the
racecourse as follows.  Create the start line as normal using two
black suited tiles.  Randomly mix up an equal number (the more
you use, the longer the game) of red and blue suit tiles facedown
and place them still facedown in along line starting line about three
tile widths from the start line a little more than one tile length
apart.  Put a green/yellow suit tile about two tile widths further on
as the pylon.  Now turn the red and blue suit tiles over.  Race as
normal expect your worm must pass to the Right of the Red tiles and
to the Left of the bLue tiles.  As there is no moving of obstacles in
this variant, on rolling an ace, your worm moves one step.
Thanks to Tim Schutz and his daughters for this variant idea.

Advanced Rules ? Cannibal worms

If when moving your worm a step would allow you to overlay one of
the end disks of another player's worm you may do so and your
worm eats that disk; pick it up and give it back to its owner.  This
ends your movement for that turn.  Length two worms may not be
attacked.  The attacked worm, on its next move, must move away
from the attacker (steps must be made by picking up disks from the
end of the worm that was eaten).  A worm can never move more
steps then its length, if you roll higher than the worm's length, the
additional steps are lost. When you roll an ace, instead of moving an
obstacle, you may add an eaten disk back on to one end of your
worm (you still get to roll again).

Copyright 2001 by Mark A. Biggar. 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 at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.