Ambagibus

            Ambagibus is a two-dimensional, one to two-player puzzle game. The objective is to use all your cards by starting and closing off as many mazes as you can. The game space is continuous because the player can start their labyrinth anywhere on a flat surface, and the labyrinth can expand in any direction depending on the player’s decisions. At the same time the placement of cards (which are new sections of the labyrinth) is discrete since new sections can only be added to the open paths already in the game space that have the lowest numbers.

           

            In a single player game all the cards are shuffled and are your deck. You begin by selecting the top card and placing it in the game space. This card determines the start of the labyrinth.

            The same steps are taken for a multi-player game but the deck is split between players. Each player makes his or her own mazes. The number of mazes determines the winner. In event of a tie the winner is who ever has the lowest points (each open path is numbered 1-4, adding the numbers on each unclosed path gives the player their points)

* Behavioral Rule: I observed when playing multiplayer is that we each waited on each other to have a turn before going even though the rule never said to have individual turns nor does a persons turn effect the other player.

* House Rule: since games could be short, when playing multi-player we played had three rounds and used the 'best two out of three' rule.

          The core mechanic of this game is selecting and placing cards from your deck to alter the path of the labyrinth (you cannot look at your deck). 

          As mentioned before, the open paths are labeled 1-4 on each card and there can be 1-4 open places on each card. You must play on the lowest numbered open paths and connect the lowest numbered path on your new card to it (Figure 1). When doing this you cannot block off other open paths already in the game space with bricks on the cards (Figure 2). If there are no available moves for the card you drew it goes to the bottom of your deck. The same happens to a ‘Cave in’ or ‘Bomb’ card if selected first, there must be other cards in the game space to play them.

             

(Figure 1.)

(Figure 2. The image above depicts an illegal move. The selected card is blocking off a pathway with the brick.)

            The objects in this game are the cards. There are three different card types: Labyrinth segments, Bombs, and Cave ins.

          Labyrinth segments: the attributes of these cards are dynamic. They can have 1-4 open paths. These attributes can have 4 possible states, a number between 1-4 within each open path.

          Bombs: Their attrabutes are static. The card covers an already existing piece of the labyrinth and opens it up for another piece to go there (Figure 3a, 3b, and 3c).

          Cave-in: These cards also have static attributes. These cards are placed onto a piece of the labyrinth with one or more open paths. By placing this card the path is closed.

(Figure 3a. Bomb cards go onto existing segments of the labyrinth.)

(Figure 3b.)

(Figure 3c. The segments that are bombed are open and other cards can be placed on top of them.)

Operative Actions

          The player has selected a labyrinth piece. The resultant actions of this are that the player is able to open new paths, the player is able to steer the labyrinth in a new direction, or the player closes off an existing path.

          The player draws a Bomb card. The resultant action is it opens up a section of the labyrinth.

          The player draws a Cave-in card. The resultant action is that a section of the labyrinth has been closed off.

          The game is largely based off chance and which card you will draw next. But there is mental skill involved. If you have a few different places open the player has to make a decision about which space would be best to play on. Or if you select a Cave in or Bomb card you must decide which path would be worth closing or opening.

Chances of drawing each card:

*Each card is unique in the numbering of paths.

Cave In- 5%

Bombs- 5%

Four open paths- 7.5%

Three open paths- 27.5%

Two open paths (corner)- 30%

Two open paths (straight)- 15%

One open path- 10%

Bad Grandmas

Bad Grandmas is another terribly broken print and play game. Initially my roommate and I were drawn to it because of the illustrations. It seems like a cute card game. Many of the games on this site are war based which doesn’t appeal to me. So I saw “Bad Grandmas” and was instantly drawn by the humor.

Though the resolution is lacking the images on the cards make the game but offer nothing to game play other then a quick laugh. The tiny text at the bottom have cute comments, but distract from gameplay.

I was excited to see that the rules seemed strait forward and easy to understand. In addition the set up took ten minutes tops. The game fell apart when we played…

The objective was to get the most points. Each player sets a card down at the same time and the winner is decided on by who ever has the highest card number. Additional bonuses are added by little comments at the bottom of a rule card randomly selected at the beginning of the game (Flawed in design because the text is upside down)

The game took less then ten minutes to finish and was completely uneventful. The rules did not address scenarios such as but no limited to if the players have a tie, or what the d6 score and 0 on two of the cards mean. The d6 card we played as a normal 6 since we had no idea what it was.

Going into the game I figured that it would be like Pokémon cards but with grandmas and was excited to play. I was wrong…

Lemonade Stall

      I recently played a print-and-play game called Lemonade Stall with Brittany Shively. The objective of the game was to make the most profit at the end of the week. There were seven rounds each named after a weekday. The game had ten steps to each round.

1.     Roll for a weather forecast

2.     Each player gets a benefit card

3.     The resources placed on benefit cards are not chosen (We never figured this out)

4.     Turn over the event card (everyone has the same event card)

5.     Purchase supplies

6.     All players reveal their selling price for the day at the same time

7.     Roll for possible weather changes (We always forgot to do this)

8.     Sell Lemonade (Math)

9.     Check for lemon spoilage and melted ice.

10. Pass first player token if required.

            After printing we began to cut out the pieces required. It took us thirty minutes between the two of us to cut everything out. There were resource tokens that we needed to make, but the game provided us with a spreadsheet that served the same function. The difference between the two is simply that the spreadsheet requires you to do simple math.

            The only thing that was not included in the print and play was the dice. We didn’t have our own dice, thus had to make some out of paper. The game required a twelve-sided dice, but had rules on how to use two six sided dice. The dice was required to determine weather conditions for the day, of which there were six. The conditions were set up as 1-2 is rain 3-4 is cloudy, and so fourth. We later mended the rules so that one six sided dice was all you needed. Their rules on the dice were confusing and wasted time.

            In addition the game was based on making sales but there was no money. The games main objective was unclear. We later realized that the outside lemon edge of the board was a counter for how much money you had. If designed again I would suggest they change the lemons to money or put dollar signs next to the lemons.
        The art in the game was all clip art. It looked as if someone had made it in Microsoft word. 

        Overall the game was confusing and there were too many rules. We were constantly concerned with what rules we were doing that it felt more like a step by step tutorial than a game. The game was supposed to be an estimated 60 minutes with 2-4 players. With just us the game took 1 hour and 40 minutes. The only really fun part was the last round were it became intense only due to the knowledge that one would win and the other would lose… I lost. 

Modular Building Tutorial (Result)

This is from a week or two ago. I began working in Maya. This large structure is built out of the smaller parts on the right of the screen.