Session Report: Coin Grid (Paper Prototype)

Coin Grid

What is Coin Grid? Well I could tell you it is this magical technological environment where all you do is travel, jump on creatures, look for mushrooms, and collect coins, but then I would be lying to you (and possibly receive a lawsuit). No, Coin Grid is just this simple quick paced board game that I created that has some resemblance to checkers with a casino touch. In other words, when you look at the game, it looks like checkers with dice and money. If you are interested in playing this game, you can check out the rules by clicking on this link (game rules).

The first phase of Pirates Vs. Ninjas (Discontinued)

Although the game may be simple, it wasn't the first thing that came to my mind when trying to create a board game. My first idea was to create this card game with a Pirates Vs. Ninjas theme, but later on seemed more like Yu-Gi-Oh or Pokemon. I decided to scratch the game because it was difficult to implement what I wanted it to become and realized the whole Pirates Vs. Ninjas theme didn't fit in. So as you can see on the pictures below, the fake gold coins that I was going to use for the Pirates Vs. Ninjas game was later used for this game.

The first play session of Coin Grid

During the first play session, after scraping the whole card game idea and having only about half an hour left of class time to come up with a quick board game prototype, I decided to create a game like checkers. With the help of Bowen Chan, we created Coin Grid. We established the basic rules and mechanics of the game. We both decided that the game board should be a grid and the coins can move in many directions like a Queen Chess piece. The objective of the game is simple, capture as many coins from the opposing player and whoever has no more coins to move is declared the loser. To make the game interesting, we kept the idea of battling coins (when a coin from each player meet on the same square space) by rolling dices and whoever had the higher number won the other player's coin. The double stack feature was also implemented to make battling more interesting and to add some sort of strategy. The double stack coins allowed the player to roll two dice when attacking other players, giving it a huge advantage at times. There were times when I would roll a two and a one and lose to the opposing player's five. Talk about tough luck, but that is how the game goes and still allows players with the disadvantage a chance for the upset.

Second play session of Coin Grid

In the second play session, I was able to tune the game for improvement and balance. One of the main rules that I changed was the requirement to have the player roll a four or greater to be able to cross the middle of the game board as to be fair. This obstacle kept the game from being too easy for players to simply end up at the opposing player's territory, where they could stack a coin on top of their coin for double damage. I also added more rows to have more space in between the middle of the game board and the opposing player's territory. During this play session, I felt the game ended too fast and I needed to make the game last longer.

The third play session, which was played with my family members, helped me put in a few tweaks to the game rules to make it more balance and to extend the game-play. These minor tweaks included adding a dead coin reward, more columns, more coins, and adding more design to the game board (because let's face it, the game board I had shown isn't going to win any awards or compliments). I added the dead coin feature because I wanted to reward players for having their coin(s) reach the end of the other side of the game board just like checkers. Since I already had the double stack feature implemented, I figure I would have the player gain a new special coin that would be placed on their territory. I would also add the feature of having the dead coins receive half damage as to make them even more special. Also, instead of having double stack coins to receive half damage anywhere on the board, I decided that this specific feature will only be in effect if the double stack coin was in the player's own territory as to make it fair since it can deal double damage.

The third play session of Coin Grid

As you can see from the picture above, my final design of the game board makes it look less bland. Sure I could have added more colors and probably ask myself why did I put x's on row five or yellow stars on row six. Short answer, time was the reason why my game board will probably be thrown in the recycle bin by mistake. Of course, the game board is pretty big, but I have created a smaller and portable version that anyone can take and play shown below.

Coin Grid: Traveler's Edition

Size Comparison between Regular Edition and Traveler's Edition

Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave a comment about this blog or any suggestions for my board game (even the awesome looking game board).

Coin Grid: Game Details, Materials, and Rules

Game Materials:

·        12 x 6 square game board (Two sides with 6 x 6 squares for each side)

o   There should be X’s drawn on row 5 for each player’s side

o   There should be stars drawn on row 6 for each player’s side.

·        12 coins for each player placed in the two bottom rows (row 5 and row 6) for each player’s side (one coin for each square)

o   Preferably that each player has different sets of coins to tell apart which coin belongs to which player.

o   To make the game shorter, you may use 6 coins for each player instead of 12

·        4 six sided dice (2 for each player)

·        A stack of at least 6 coins (owned by no player from start of game) called dead coins

o   Details on dead coins found in game rule #9

Game Rules:

Setting up:

• Place game board on hard surface.
• Place 12 coins for each player’s side (24 total coins on the game board)
• a.      All 12 coins must be on squares on the bottom two rows (rows 5 & 6) for each player’s side
• b.      One coin for each square
• Each person rolls one dice
• a.      If a tie, roll dice again until someone has a greater number
• b.      Person with the greater number goes first

How To Play:

For each turn:

   1.      On their turn, the player rolls a single dice.

   2.      Based on the number they rolled, the player may move any coin (just one coin for each turn) to as many squares (can be less than the number you rolled) in any adjacent square including diagonal squares.

a.      For example: If a player rolls a 4, then they could move any of their coins at most 4 spaces (squares) in any direction

                                                    i.     Any adjacent square is any square surrounding the square the coin is currently on.

                                                   ii.     (Should be a total of 8 or less directions that the coin may move)

1.      North, South, West, East, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest

                                                  iii.     Coin can move in a variety of ways

1.      Does not have to strictly move one direction

a.      For example, if you roll a 5, you can move 3 spaces up and 2 spaces southwest

b.      Only one coin or double stacked coin (mentioned on game rule #8) may be on a square at a time.

                                                    i.     The only exception is when the player or opposing player decides to place their coin on the other player’s coin’s spot to battle.

c.      You must move all of your original 12 coins at least once before moving any coin twice.

    3.      After the player has moved their coin, their turn is over.

    4.      The next player repeats steps 1-3

Other Rules:

    5.      The player may only move their coin across the middle of the game board (aka wall) to cross into the opponent’s territory if they roll a number 4 or greater.

a.      The player does not need to roll another 4 or greater to return back to their territory.

b.      This rule only applies each time the player wants to move their coin onto the opponent’s territory

c.      Once you move a coin across the middle of the game board, you may attack any opposing player’s coin if you land on the square in which the opposing player’s coin occupies.

     6.      If a player decides to move their coin to a square containing the opponent’s coin (doesn’t matter which territory you are on), then the coins will battle.

a.      This is the only time when there can be two separate coins on one square at a time

     7.      When battling

a.      If a player has a single coin in the battle square, they roll only one dice

b.      If a player has a double stack coin (two coins stacked on top of each other), then that player rolls two dices

c.      The player with the higher number wins and takes away the loser’s coin(s)

                                                    i.     These coins won may be used to make any of your coins into double stack coins (more info on rule #8 on how to make double stack coins)

1.      Cannot be used on opponent’s coins or on any double stack coin

      8.      If a player’s coin is in the opponent’s territory, they may sacrifice their turn to put another coin on the bottom of that coin to become a double stack coin if they have won at least one coin from the opponent by battling.

a.      If you do not have any coins earned by battle, then you may not create a double stack coin

b.      Double stack coins allow the owner of the coin to roll two dice when battling other coins

c.      Double stack coins on your territory receive half damage from opponents

                                                    i.     I repeat, this half damage property for double stack coins only applies when the coin is on your territory and not on the opposing player’s territory

d.      You can only transform a single coin into a double stack coin on the opposing player’s territory and not your territory

e.      Once the player turns their coin into a double stack coin, they end their turn.

f.       They cannot move the newly created double stack coin until their next turn.

    9.      Whenever you place your coin on any square in the opponent’s star rows (row 6 which contains stars on each square), you may pick up a dead coin (which are coins that are placed aside and not own by any other player from the start of the game) and place it on any square on row 6 in your territory

a.      If all spaces on row 6 are filled with other coins, then place the coin on any square on row 5

b.      If all spaces on row 6 and row 5 are filled with other coins, then you must exchange one of your coins from row 6 or row 5 with the dead coin.

c.       These dead coins cannot become double stack coins.

d.      They receive half damage on any square on the game board.

   10.   The game is over when one player no longer has any coins to play, which declares the other player as the winner.

a.      For the alternative version:

                                                    i.     The winner keeps the money coins that he or she won from battling

1.      Does not keep the money (coins) that is left on the entire game board or lost to the opposing player.

2.      The loser of the game does not keep any money even if he or she has won the coins from battles.

   11.   Have fun and enjoy!!!

Session Report: The Settlers of Catan

The Settlers of Catan: 

A 

New 

Beginning

With earthquakes, the economic crisis, traffic, the burden of being assigned a lot of homework, and the urge to find the simpler things in life, I decided to go out and settle in the countryside. As I ventured into new territory, I along with three other travelers, Andy, Michael, and Bowen, set out to find a new home called Catan.

Setting up

At first, Catan looked like a complicated boring land, but once we settled in, the thirst for gaining more land or at least 10 Victory Points becomes apparent. Andy and Bowen were the only two who had some previous knowledge about Catan, but it wasn't until reading the rules, that Andy realized he was playing the game wrong the whole time. It was a shaky start as me and Michael, the newcomers, had to constantly asked about the details about Catan. There were some miscues, but Andy and Bowen were forgiving.





The first few rounds were mellow as we all were just getting familiar with the rules and collecting our resources as friendly neighbors. Once someone rolled a seven, they got to choose where to put the robber (the tall gray figure that looks like a bishop chess piece shown in the picture below), which blocks one resource and the owner of that resource can no longer receive any resource cards until the robber is moved. The person who rolled the seven must also pick a random resource card from the owner of the blocked resource, which as you can tell can lead to bad blood between settlers. While I was waiting for my turn, I decided to use the remainder of my unused roads, settlements, and cities to build a small tower, which has absolutely nothing to do with the game, but I thought I would give you an idea of what you could do if you played this game and were waiting for your turn to come. I probably should have taken a picture of it, but I will leave it to your imagination on how it was constructed. Back to the game!

Throughout the game, we had a struggle trying to obtain any clay resources since somebody had to roll either a 10, 11, 12 to obtain any clay resources. With clay being a vital resource to build roads and settlements, which are also needed to expand your territory, it was clear that whoever had clay would have the edge over the game. Most of my turns was spent trading with others for sheep and wheat, which I used to obtain development cards.  I would trade for clay, but no one was willing to give up clay because they were all selfish, just kidding. I kept rolling a couple of seven's and gaining a lot of development cards, which were mostly Knights, which meant I could move the robber. As you can tell I was the person who kept stealing from other people. I even had a resource card that let me obtain all the cards of one resource from all the other settlers. Of course the time I used it to obtain clay from everybody else, it resulted in just one measly clay card. Nevertheless, I used that clay card to build me a road. As it became more apparent that rolling a number higher than 9 was becoming rare, the others decided to plan out another strategy, which was expanding their territory to the ports (the locations with ships labeled next to them), which you could exchange any 2, 3, or 4 cards for any one resource card.

Tension rises as I have built two cities, gaining closer to victory

In the picture on the right, you can see how I (the red pieces) have gained control over most of the wood resources and some ore thanks to building two cities, which allowed me to obtain two times the resource cards. Unfortunately for me, I needed more than wood to expand my territory, particularly clay. (You see what I'm doing here right?)







We then spent the next couple of turns doing the same thing, collecting resources, stealing clay from whoever owned the clay resource tiles, and improving our settlements into cities. With a few advice about building my next road piece (in order to obtain the longest road card, rewarding me with the last Victory Point needed to win the game) and with class time almost ending, I came out as the victor in the end. I must say I was skeptical about playing the game, but found it fun and would love to play the game with friends/family or even strangers on my free time.


For more information about the game, rules, or other info, visit: The Settlers of Catan Brochure
To buy the game, click on the Amazon link here: Buy Here
To visit the actual game website, visit here: http://www.catan.com/game/settlers-catan

Due to time constraints, I was only able to play this game.
Thank you for reading my blog. You are welcome to leave a comment or any feedback. Have a nice day!