Re: Rules questions for Matrix

["Benedict" <boycat_oh@...>]

Hi, Kisa

I can let you know how I interpreted the rules (and some rules 
were clarified for me during the judging).

I agree with you that the game has a lot of potential, and that the 
presentation of the rules needs some work. I have sent Jeff my 
feedback on the rules, and hopefully he will produce an updated 
version when he has time.

I really liked how the game fit the theme.  The piecepack 
components are a good representation of something as abstract 
as a data matrix.  I thought it was neat that Jeff came up with the 
restriction that a data structure can't be contiguous/adjacent to 
more than 3 other data structures. This produces some very 
interesting patterns (both visually as well as strategically) during 
play.

> 1. There are two definition of the word contiguous that could 
> apply in each instance that it is used in the rules.  They are: 
> 
>      1. Sharing an edge or boundary; touching.
>      3. a. Connecting without a break: the 48 contiguous states.
>                              -The American Heritage Dictionary 3rd Ed.  
> 
>   The confusion is in sections Basic Game - Making a run - (1) 
& 
> (2). Which of these applies to each occurance of this word?

I interpreted this to mean an adjacent space or tile in the matrix.

> 2. When chosing where the initial pawn and tile are placed we 
> are assuming an invisible grid on the tabletop.  Is this correct?
> 

Correct. Therefore the first move of the game is to choose a 
pawn, then turn over the top tile and place it on the table as the 
first data structure encountered in the matrix.

> 3.    In Basic Game - Making a run - (2) you address how to add 
> to the matrix if you want to move in a direction that has no ice or 
> an occupied data fort.  What if you wish to go in a direction that 
> contains a tile where one of the ice breakers has previously 
> broken ice and the poer-up token is gone? Does the ice break 
> move in freely or does it have to break the ice again?

If you want to move an ice breaker onto a data structure that has 
already been broken, the ice breaker has to break the data 
structure again.

> 
> 4. Can an Ice breaker exit and re-enter the matrix?   Does it 
have 
> to deal with ice on the way out or does it just pop out and come 
> back in another way?  Could it in fact come in to the matrix in a 
> very different area of the table thus creating two sections of the 
> matrix which are, at that time, not connected?  If it can pop out 
> and re-enter this would allow you to enter right next to a data 
fort, 
> is this the intent?

In the basic game the icebreakers may not exit the matrix. For 
me it was the advanced rules that really made me think this 
game could shine. I suggest playing a few rounds with the basic 
rules, then trying out the customizable ice breakers.  My preferred 
way of generating a set of the customized icebreakers is to roll 
the 4 dice (ace=1, null=6) to select the 4 breakers for a specific 
game.

> 
> 5.  What are the values of the Null and Ace on the dice?  I 
played 
> using the default of 1 and 0.  If that is that case it seems to 
make 
> the game pretty random and very hard because you will have to 
> have a minimum of one coin of a color on hand to get into a 
data 
> fort as they have a value of 6 and you can roll at best a 5 (+1 for 
> being the same color.

Jeff refers to the use of a d6. This implies a 6-sided die with 
values 1-6.  Therefore, I used null=6 and ace=1.  This improves 
your chances of winning the game.  Aside from the unclear 
portions of the rules, my biggest problem with the game is how 
random the end game is.  Jeff may or may not decide to address 
this when he revises his rules. 

One suggestion I had was to take 1 brain damage (or spend a 
power-up token) to move a data fort to any legal location in the 
matrix and change ice breakers prior to the attempt to break ice. 
Another option I thought of while typing this message would be 
to ignore the requirement that the data forts be occupied by their 
matching ice breakers - as long as each data fort is occupied by 
an ice breaker give yourself a pat on the back.

[Note that null and ace do not actually have default values - the 
default values are null and ace.  Each game should take the time 
to point out what the values stand for, rather than assume them.]

Note also that you don't need 10 brain damage tokens to pay the 
game - just use 2 of the dice (set them to 5 each at the start) to 
denote how much brain damage you have left.
> 
> 
> 
> I look forward to the answers to these questions so that I may 
> accurately play the basic game and move on to the advanced.


I hope that helps.

Phillip