CheeseAndOnionsSpread

< ----
< This is RonHaleEvans, judge of the eighth community piecepack
< game design contest, WhereNoOneHasGamedBefore. I'm pleased to announce the winners
< of the competition. See below for discussion about the contest and each winner.
< == Games ==
< * Gold (first place): **[[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Tingle Tingle]]** by Chris Goodwin
< * Silver (second place): **[[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Desfases Desfases]]** by Antonio Recuenco Muñoz
< == Expansions ==
< * Gold (first place): **[[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/PiecepackMatchsticks Piecepack Matchsticks]]** by Dan Burkey
< * Silver (second place): **[[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/MixedSuitsExpansion Mixed Suits Expansion]]** by Antonio Recuenco Muñoz
< == Special Achievement ==
< * **[[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/PiecepackRPackage piecepackr]]** by TrevorLDavis
< ----
< = Foreword =
< This was a great contest. There were a lot of well-designed, fun, and
< innovative entries, many of which are worth trying. A few more need just a
< few fixes or a bit of playtesting to polish them.
< And there was extensive and heated discussion among some of the
< playtesters about which entries should take Gold and which Silver in
< both categories. Multiple playtesters stated their interest in playing both the Gold
< and Silver games below repeatedly.
< In previous contests, I was always disappointed when I didn't receive
< feedback about my entries, so I'm going into
< some depth below on my decisions about the winners, followed by a few
< comments about the qualifying items that didn't win. I hope this will be
< helpful to the games' designers, and maybe even to other designers as well.
< I'll gradually
< add more comments about all items on their individual wiki homepages
< as I have time. Finally, I'll list the games that were disqualified.
< = Games =
< == Gold: [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Tingle Tingle]] by Chris Goodwin ==
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/TingleGame.jpg}}
< Tingle is a fun, solid alignment game like
< [[https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11929/go-moku Gomoku]] or [[https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11930/renju Renju]], with a
< couple of interesting twists, such as the
< choice to strategically swap pieces for other types of piece.
< A four-player game among experienced players can take about half an
< hour, so this is a relatively fast game, but it is also relatively
< deep -- you can keep learning emergent strategies for some time.
< Setup time is minimal, and because the game is quick and the ruleset
< is short and easy to learn, it's an ideal game to break out after
< you've finished another piecepack game but before you put the pieces
< away.
< But that's not the only reason I awarded Tingle the Gold.
< In my opinion, Tingle is
< the vanguard of a new genre of piecepack games, of games in general,
< in fact. Chris explained on Facebook how he created the game:
< """
< **Chris Goodwin** I've got a game that I've designed for three
< systems: Piecepack, Looney Pyramids, and Sly. I'm not sure if that's
< enough of a novelty to qualify it for entry here, though.
< **Ron Hale-Evans** You'll never know unless you compete, Chris! ...
< **Marty Hale-Evans** Kudos for porting something to Sly, man. :)
< **Chris Goodwin** It wasn't so much ported as looked at all three
< systems and tried to figure out what I could do with what they all had
< in common. I think it worked out pretty well. :) The Looney Pyramids
< version is called Tink, and is on the Icehouse Games wiki under that
< name. The Piecepack and Sly versions are called Tingle and Ting,
< respectively... [and] are identical to Tink mechanically. (Pieces on a
< grid...)
< """
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/TinkGame.jpg}}
< In effect, Chris took the intersection of the affordances
< (capabilities) of three different game systems -- piecepack, IceHouse,
< and [[http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/GameSystems3.shtml Sly/Realm]]
< -- and created a new "conceptual game system" from these shared elements. In that system, he
< designed a theoretical game, then implemented this unplayable theoretical
< game as three concrete games, one in each of the three existing game systems.
< """
< **Note**: If you're a software developer, think of the conceptual game system
< in terms of the "abstract class"
< in Java programming. I tried to avoid using "abstract" in this context, because
< it already has a meaning in game design. I welcome suggestions for alternative terms.
< """
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/TingGame2.jpg}}
< Think of it this way: Have you ever seen an animal? You've seen dogs,
< octopuses, and roly-poly bugs, all of which are //kinds// of animal,
< but you've never seen an abstract animal //as such//. The conceptual game system
< Chris developed (I'm going to dub it **Psi**, for piecepack/Sly/Icehouse)
< is like an animal in the abstract, while the three concrete game
< systems are like the very real dogs, octopuses, and isopods you might have
< encountered. Chris's game design accomplishment is (metaphorically) to
< consciously develop an environment in which dogs, bugs,
< and octopuses can all three live and breathe simultaneously.
< This is quite a
< weird and delightful way to design a game, but Chris would not have
< won unless Tingle were also a solid, playable, fun game. Chris hit
< both marks.
< No other game in the contest
< gave me such unexpected things to think about as Tingle did. I've
< begun sketching a game myself at the intersection of the Decktet and
< Packtet (below), but that will have to wait a bit.
< I hope one day Chris will create a Tingle Director's Cut, with a
< commentary track encompassing Tingle the piecepack game, and its Sly
< and Icehouse counterparts Ting and Tink -- not to mention the abstract
< game at their intersection, which I'll call **Tin**.
< """
< **Refinements**: Tingle bills itself as a game for two to four players,
< and the board sizes in the three game systems range from 8x8 to 10x10
< to 12x12. It turns out that the two-player game is so fast and simple
< that it's better suited for children. Older players will find it easy to
< end the game without even bringing out all the types of piece, so it's
< not really recommended. The three-player game is more playable and
< significantly more fun because of emergent social strategies, but the
< game really shines with four players. Also, I recommend playing on
< the 8x8 or 10x10 boards rather than the 12x12, because bigger boards make for
< faster games with less player interaction.
< """
< Congratulations, Chris!
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/TingGame1.jpg}}
< == Silver: [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Desfases Desfases]] by Antonio Recuenco Muñoz ==
< Desfases is the most //mechanically// innovative game in the contest, and
< therefore takes the Silver. A game of Desfases
< is almost literally dizzying;
< as the players' pawns zip around,
< every tile on the board rotates at a
< different, player-controlled rate, spinning now faster, now slower,
< depending on events in the game.
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/DesfasesGame.jpg}}
< The object of Desfases is to claim as many high-scoring tiles as
< possible, but you can only score them if they're pointing toward you
< when you land your pawn next to them,
< and all too often they're //desfases// ("out of phase")
< from your pawn, thanks to your opponents. All this spinning and
< skipping around the board while trying to score a sweet tile makes for
< a highly tactical experience, much like (I imagine) trying
< to land a jet on an aircraft carrier on a windy, choppy day. Then
< again, at times I felt like a hovering hummingbird, waiting for a
< blossom to open.
< We mostly played four-player Desfases, which is great.
< Alas, we found the three-player version of Desfases to be unplayable.
< However, the two-player version is even
< deeper than the four-player version. I had the pleasure of having
< various bloody chunks of my anatomy handed to me by playtester Jami,
< who developed her two pawns (in a four-player game, you only get one),
< so that she could block my pieces with one pawn and score with the
< other, or pin tiles in place with her blue pawn so she could score
< them with her black pawn, and then reverse their roles. Very adept.
< What other strategies and tactics does this game hide?
< One refinement we adopted was to flip tiles over when they're scored, so
< that we could more easily navigate the available tiles and to remind us
< not to spin them. It's also important to remember to spin tiles at the
< beginning of each turn, so we all took responsibility to remind
< each other to do it.
< I recommend both the four-player and two-player games highly. Play is easy to learn
< while containing tactical depth, and the tile-spinning mechanism is unusual and
< innovative.
< Congratulations, Antonio!
< = Expansions =
< == Gold: [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/PiecepackMatchsticks Piecepack Matchsticks]] by Dan Burkey ==
< These unassuming little colored sticks have a huge amount of potential, as
< described in designer Dan's thoroughly
< thoughtful, illustrated, introductory document for the expansion. Dan provides
< an intriguing variety of possible uses, particularly in terms of board modification,
< but also including uses for functions like scoring. Dan's introduction
< also showed the geometrical thinking that went into the expansion and
< explained how to make your own set. Even better, the expansion was
< accompanied by a proof-of-concept game that required its use,
< Piecepackman.
< Although the Piecepackman game was flawed in actual
< play, it convincingly illustrated at least two different uses of the
< expansion (maze walls and turn order markers). In addition, we used
< the matchsticks instead of poker chips when we were playtesting Dual
< Piecepacks Poker.
< As a requirement of the contest, Dan sent me a complete set of painted
< wooden sticks that even came in a handmade box. Very nice!
< We were impressed by the integrity and versatility of Piecepack Matchsticks. We hope
< piecepack game designers will start using them in their games, and
< that some manufacturers will start selling them. If not, they're
< available as print-and-play with cardstock, and they're also
< 3D-printable. You have no excuse not to make your own set!
< Congratulations, Dan!
< == Silver: [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/MixedSuitsExpansion Mixed Suits Expansion]] by Antonio Recuenco Muñoz ==
< I'll henceforth refer to this expansion as the **Packtet**, which
< sounds less dry, and also alludes to its similarity to the
< [[https://www.decktet.com/ Decktet]].
< (Antonio indicated he likes this term on Facebook.)
< Like Piecepack Matchsticks, the Packtet is a versatile, promising
< expansion and was thus awarded the Silver. Antonio
< included a list of possible uses, such as new, independent suits;
< shared tiles; and transitions between pure suits. Unfortunately,
< time pressure meant he could not also submit the recommended
< sample game for his expansion. Moreover, the Packtet is clearly
< modeled on the Decktet, which is terrific in one way, because the
< Decktet is a great game system and it's fascinating to see that
< functionality brought into piecepack. On the other hand, however, it doesn't
< meet my definition of innovation as fully as the Gold winner does.
< Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to designing with the Packtet, and I
< hope other people design with it too. I'd like to see a cleaner vector
< version of the graphics, maybe with the help of piecepackr (see below), but the
< existing graphics are quite nice. They match the original printable
< sets on Piecepack.org and feature "3D" effects that really pop.
< Congratulations again, Antonio, for **two** impressive winning entries --
< Desfases and Packtet!
< == Special Achievement: [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/PiecepackRPackage piecepackr]] by Trevor L. Davis ==
< piecepackr is a free, open-source software package that aims at being
< the proverbial Swiss Army knife for printable piecepack graphics,
< including
< * standard piecepacks
< * playing card and four seasons piecepacks
< * piecepacks with custom suits, fonts, and colors
< * Dual Piecepacks
< * piecepacks for playing chess variants
< * labels for piecepack pyramids
< * game diagrams
< * rulebooks
< One day I hope to use a fraction of piecepackr's functionality to
< generate a SteampunkPiecepack as well as an easily fine-tunable Packtet,
< not to mention things I can't even imagine now.
< Trevor's plan is to install the package eventually onto [[http://www.ludism.org Ludism.org]]
< (home of the [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/HomePage Piecepack Wiki]]),
< where it will be given an easy-to-use
< web interface available to everyone in the community (and curious
< bystanders as well).
< Trevor has put a mighty effort into piecepackr and is doing a huge
< service to the piecepack community. Perhaps not many people are aware
< of Trevor's work yet, but one day it will likely mark the next phase in the
< evolution of the piecepack.
< Therefore, to celebrate Trevor's ongoing work, I award him the Where
< No One Has Gamed Before Special Achievement. Congratulations, Trevor!
< = Runners Up (in alphabetical order) =
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/TenBlankWhitePieceagories 10 Blank White Pieceagories]] by Jennifer Levenbook (game) ==
< **First Piecepack Drinking Game**
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/TenBlankWhitePieceagories1.jpg}}
< This is a nice attempt to reappropriate the public domain mechanics of such
< party games as Scattergories and Facts in Five. Nothing really
< fundamental here, but an innovative use of a scoring track that compares well to
< the vaunted use of
< [[http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Andy/Games/HeartsWithPyramids.html#ScoringWithPyramids Icehouse pyramids for the same purpose]].
< Flawed but
< innovative initial alphabetic letter selection mechanic using piecepack dice
< (for example, the letter T gets rolled about twice too often -- math available on
< request -- but it's
< still a pretty nifty mechanic). Innovative variants combining the game with Apples to Apples,
< Cards Against Humanity, and so on. Worth a spin, especially if you enjoy
< party games.
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/TenBlankWhitePieceagories2.jpg}}
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/ConsensusFantasy Consensus Fantasy]] by Chris Engle and Ron Hale-Evans (game) ==
< **First Piecepack Roleplaying Game**
< Noncompeting entry. Someone else want to critique it?
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/DualPiecepacks Dual Piecepacks]] by Trevor L. Davis (expansion) ==
< Innovative! Generated by Special Prize winner piecepackr.
< Literally adds a third (mathematical) dimension to the
< existing piecepack (for example, light vs. dark in addition to suits
< and values). This has a lot of potential and is //really cool//, but
< I'd probably be even more impressed if I weren't already aware of the
< three-dimensional card game
< [[https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1198/set Set]] or my own
< 10-dimensional game system the [[http://ludism.org/tinfoil/Kilodeck Kilodeck]].
< I am impressed that Trevor submitted a game that uses the
< Dual Piecepacks expansion, namely...
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/DualPiecepacksPoker Dual Piecepacks Poker]] by Trevor L. Davis (game) ==
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/DualPiecepacksPoker.jpg}}
< Actually, not so much a game as a way of adapting existing Poker
< variants like Five-Card Draw and Omaha to the Dual Piecepacks
< expansion. Pretty neat -- Trevor supplies a cheat sheet with lots of
< weird new Poker hands, what they're worth, and the odds of getting
< them. For example, a hand with no pairs is now better than a pair!
< Unfortunately, Trevor doesn't provide complete rules for any Dual
< Piecepacks Poker variant, and piecing one together on the fly from his
< scattered instructions is somewhat tricky. It would also have been
< nice if he had warned people that every player should have a copy of
< the cheat sheet for DPPP hands. When we were out playtesting at a coffee house, we
< didn't have access to a printer, so we only had one cheat sheet to
< pass around, making the game almost unplayable for us. In any case,
< the new Poker hands, while fun and mindbending, are frankly kind of
< cumbersome. They're an interesting mathematical idea, but in practice are
< frustratingly complicated for poker novices and frustratingly different from
< normal poker hands for experienced players.
< Nevertheless, with a bit more work on the designer's part, Dual Piecepacks Poker
< might fit well into a night of
< [[http://www.silcom.com/~tomjolly/poker_sf.htm novelty poker games]]
< such as Low Flying Outhouse, Double Jesus, or Follow the
< Mopsqueezer. You can even try Dual Piecepacks Follow the Mopsqueezer
< if you're aiming for a cerebral hemorrhage.
< """
< **Note**: It's interesting to me that of Trevor's contest items (I won't say
< "entries" because I entered piecepackr into the contest myself as a surprise),
< his more general items are more successful. I'd say piecepackr (most
< general) is more successful than Dual Piecepacks (more specific), which is more
< successful than Dual Piecepacks Poker (most specific). Trevor is
< obviously a thinky guy with an eye on the big picture.
< """
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Japan Japan]] by Daniel Ajoy and Fernanda Ausay (game) ==
< This is a fine, clean, two-player abstract game, and I highly
< recommend it. It combines the piecepack with two colors of double-six
< dominoes, which you might need to print and play if you don't have
< some on hand.
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/JapanGame.jpg}}
< Because this game is a port of Reiner Knizia's game
< [[https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3/samurai Samurai]], a fact
< that early drafts of this game obfuscated and the current rules don't
< make entirely clear either, it could never have been a winner of this
< contest, which is all about innovation (now, if it had been entered in
< [[http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp7.html Good Portsmanship]], on the
< other hand...) Nevertheless, there are some sweet, innovative mechanics
< in this game, especially having to do with the dominoes and "support".
< Playtester Karl said he actually prefers Japan to the original. I
< probably do too.
< I'm giving this game an unofficial Bronze.
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/PiecepackDiceCardsTwo Piecepack Dice Cards 2]] by Tim Schutz and Ron Hale-Evans (expansion) ==
< Noncompeting entry.
< TrevorLDavis says you can use this deck to play Dual Piecepacks Poker.
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Piecepackman Piecepackman]] by Dan Burkey (game) ==
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/PiecepackmanGame.jpg}}
< The showcase game for the first-place expansion Piecepack Matchsticks.
< Unfortunately, not as good as the expansion itself.
< Although the maze shows off the matchsticks nicely, building the board is
< tricky -- it takes a long time and a lot of manual dexterity.
< The designer himself warned that the three-player version is broken.
< (Designers seem to have trouble designing for three players.) Playtester Paul
< showed mathematically that the Piecepackman character moves much faster
< than the ghosts (the players) and will consistently beat them. (Math
< available on request.) However, a glance at some of the variants seems
< to show that the Piecepackman character is not always so fast in
< them. I might like to try a solo game in the near future.
< A lot of work obviously went into this game. Nevertheless, aspects of
< it seemed rushed. I wish Dan had put more time into playtesting, even
< at the expense of some of his nifty diagrams. Maybe in 2.0!
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/SpeedyTowers Speedy Towers]] by Jessica Eccles (game) ==
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/SpeedyTowers2.jpg}}
< A light, fun, tower-stacking dexterity game. Think Jenga as a genre
< and you won't be far off. If you knew how much I hate Jenga, you'd
< know how surprised I was to enjoy this game. The innovative rules for
< which suits and values can be stacked on which others make this little
< entry surprisingly strategic in real time. Additionally, the normally-serious
< playtesters involved were observed giving this one plenty of smiles and laughs.
< You can play Speedy Towers multiple times in an hour and still have
< plenty of change left over. Recommended!
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/SpeedyTowers1.jpg}}
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/ToPieces To Pieces]] by Chris Sakkas (game) ==
< **First Piecepack Miniatures Game**
< This game is a bit of a mess, but I have hopes the designer will clean
< it up post-contest.
< The first time I tried to play this (with playtester Karl), we
< couldn't make sense of the rules. I had to ask designer Chris upwards
< of 20 rule-clarifying questions before I and playtester Paul could
< understand them and make a second attempt.
< {{http://www.ludism.org/piecepack/pp8pix/ToPieces.jpg}}
< Once you do get going, this is a quick miniatures "skirmish"
< wargame. However, the amount of fuss necessary for setup, not to
< mention the considerable print-and-play, might outweigh the quick fun
< of the game for you. However, it might be some consolation that
< the print-and-play components look really cool.
< If you're a fan of, say,
< [[https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2162/warhammer-40000 Warhammer 40,000]]
< and you're looking for
< something comparable to do with your piecepack (on a smaller scale, of
< course), I recommend you wait until Chris cleans up the game, and then
< give it a try. On the other hand, if you're a piecepacker in search of
< an intro to miniatures wargaming, something this game really, really
< wants to be, I can't recommend To Pieces.
< Yet!
< We'll see!
< = Disqualified =
< The following three entries were disqualified for various reasons. Keep working, guys!
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/PiecepackCompanionDeck Piecepack Companion Deck]] by danielharward (expansion) ==
< Unfinished.
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/Shogi Shogi]] by Trevor L. Davis (game) ==
< Not an original game.
< The components, which are generated by piecepackr, are original and
< attractive, but this was submitted as a game, not an expansion.
< The only rules submitted were a link to Wikipedia.
< == [[http://www.ludism.org/ppwiki/StageFive Stage Five]] by Chaz Campos (game) ==
< Unfinished.
< = Afterword =
< According to the rules of this contest, the winner has
< the right to run the next contest.
< I've run three of these contests now, and I'd like to enter one
< for a change.
< Chris Goodwin, let this trophy cup pass
< from me. Dan, might you consider running a parallel expansions contest
< or what you will? Antonio,
< if for any reason either Chris or Dan cannot fulfill his duties,
< I authorize you to take over.
< Let's get the next contest going, and not wait ten years this time!
< = Credits =
< I am weeping with gratitude that I had the following people to playtest contest entries with me. Without them there would literally have been no contest. They are all
< members or guests of
< [[http://ludism.org/scwiki/ Seattle Cosmic Game Night]], and some are alumni of
< EGGS, a former local game design and playtest group.
< **Playtesters**: Yuri Button, Karl Erickson, Dennis Fisher, Marty
< Hale-Evans, Mark Purtill, Wade Rockett, Tim Schutz, Jami
< Schwarzwalder, Paul Schwarzwalder.
< Thanks to my wife, marvelous Marty Hale-Evans for a professional edit pass of these results, and as always, for her patience.
< Thank you to all the designers mentioned in the body of this post! I look forward to meeting as many as possible of you some day.
< And finally, thanks to JamesKyle for inventing the piecepack and making this madness possible.
< RonHaleEvans