Comments on Japan

# 17 Comments. # Looks good. Comments from the top:

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-05-20 00:34 UTC


I have two double-six domino sets, but they're identical. I bet I'm not alone. How about a simple way to distinguish two identical sets? 

Buckets of colored dominoes aren't that rare (especially if one [has kids that] likes to topple dominoes so buys dominoes in bulk). Here is a relatively inexpensive example of a bucket with a double-6 set in all five colors of a Rainbow Stash (i.e. one compatible with all standard piecepack colors regardless of whether using green/yellow Crowns) plus a double-6 set in orange:

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-LER0287-Doublesix-Dominoes/dp/B000F8R4TC/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1/131-0579761-1181224?ie=UTF8&qid=1526785090&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=bucket+colored+dominoes

Gameplay wise though all one really needs is two distinguishable domino sets (i.e. any two non-identical double-6 sets should work) which is a much smaller barrier to playing the game. Most likely to be owned by boardgame players would be one traditional black/white set of dominoes plus one modern colored set of dominoes like:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074TH6J5L/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1

-- TrevorLDavis 2018-05-20 03:10 UTC


Boardgame players are IMHO most likely to own a single double-six set of dominoes, if they own any at all.

The colored dominoes are interesting. If you treat the colors as suits, they're like an inverse Decktet: single suits with multiple ranks. Still, that bucket of dominoes is $30, which seems a bit steep for the privilege of playtesting a game you might never play again. I'm not just speaking about myself.

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-05-20 03:32 UTC


It might be feasible to print these out on different colors of paper:

https://www.rosiesworld.co.nz/content/games/papercraft/Files/CustomDesign/Cuban_Dominoes.pdf

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-05-20 03:37 UTC


"Post-it Flags" should be one fairly-non-damaging way to temporarily mark up a set or two of dominoes. The following has all the non-black piecepack colors (and Japan only needs two colors) and are semi-transparent (so should be able to read pips beneath them):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Q345SC/ref=sspa_dk_detail_7?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B007Q345SC&pd_rd_wg=sWPen&pd_rd_r=8HBXTMCG0E547K8YQX43&pd_rd_w=7niDF

-- TrevorLDavis 2018-05-20 03:39 UTC


Yeah, I agree Print & Play (or some other form of DIY) dominoes would work pretty well for playing this game and shouldn't be very expensive.

-- TrevorLDavis 2018-05-20 03:47 UTC


I like the Post-It flags idea too.

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-05-20 03:53 UTC


Although a little bit more awkward to setup, to hide (could use a DM screen), and verify that the other player didn't make a mistake (best if one trusts the honor/competence of opponent) but one could also use a bunch of colored dice (some gamers have lots of dice in various colors). Two d6 can easily represent most dominoes and then use a non-d6 face for the nulls (0's on a d10 might especially make sense for this).

-- TrevorLDavis 2018-05-20 03:56 UTC


I think we're stretching it a bit ergonomically with the dice. :)

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-05-20 03:59 UTC


Anyway, Japan designers, I'm persuaded there are at least one or two ways people without two colors of dominoes, or any dominoes at all, can play your game. I recommend you work some of these suggestions, or some equally good ones, into your rules, just in case. You want as many people as possible to play your game, right?

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-05-20 04:44 UTC


I don't want to flog this too hard, but the first thing that occurred to me was to snap a rubber band around one of the domino sets as the dominoes were played. I have used rubber bands on chess pieces to distinguish them in chess variants with large numbers of pieces, and they worked well there.

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-05-20 04:51 UTC


Ha ha, this set is incomplete:

https://www.rosiesworld.co.nz/content/games/papercraft/Files/CustomDesign/Cuban_Dominoes.pdf

Use this one instead:

https://www.studenthandouts.com/01-Web-Pages/BSA/201409/diy-free-printable-dominoes-game-pieces.pdf

-- DanielAjoy 2018-05-20 05:32 UTC


Both linked PnP sets look to me like complete double-6 sets with all 28 dominoes although I agree the second is a better layout with bigger and faster/easier-to-cut tiles (it also uses the "letter" paper size popular across much of the Americas).

-- TrevorLDavis 2018-05-20 06:08 UTC


Right. I must have been tired las t night.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I incorporated several to the document.

-- DanielAjoy 2018-05-20 15:54 UTC


If you want better illustrations for your ruleset, I can create them in Poser 10 or DAZ Studio. Besides my own 3D piecepack assets, I have a set of double-nine dominoes in OBJ format that I can recolor as needed: https://www.sharecg.com/v/89501/

-- JamesVipond 2018-05-20 20:24 UTC


Rules clarifications from Facebook:

RonHaleEvans: Please clarify the phrase "the coins of values not involved in the tie", with an example, if possible.

DanielAjoy: black has 6 nulls, 3 ones, 3 twos, 3 threes, 3 fours, 3 fives and 2 aces. white was 1 null, 3 ones, 3 twos, 3 threes, 3 fours and 3 fives and 4 aces. 4 coin values are tied: Ones, twos, threes and fours. Black wins nulls. White wins aces. But black has 6 nulls whereas white has only 4 aces. Black wins.

I have amended the rules to say: The winner is the player who has more majorities than the opponent. If there is a tie, count the coins of values which are not tied. The player with more of those coins wins.

If there is a tie, play rock-paper-scissors until there is a definite winner.

Ron: What happens if Player 1 has majorities in N, 2, 3, and player 2 has majorities in 4, 5, A -- a 3-3 tie? All values are tied, as I understand it.

Daniel: Maybe tied is not the right word... if player 1 has a majority in N, then N is not "tied", only if both players have the same number of coins of a value they are tied on that value, otherwise one has a majority of that value. So in your example, as there are no "tied" values, they would count all of their coins.

Ron: Thanks. Could you please rewrite the rule clearly? I suggest not using the word "tie" two different ways. :)

Daniel: Sure. now it says: "The winner is the player who has more majorities than the opponent. If there is a tie, discard the coin values on which both players have the same number of coins, then count the coins of the remaining values. The player with more of those coins wins."

Ron: Thanks! :)

-- RonHaleEvans 2018-08-17 21:00 UTC


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