new game -- Worm Derby

["mark_biggar" <mark.a.biggar@...>]

Here is a weird little game I've invented of racing worms.
Please try it out and let me know what who think

Piecepack game -- Worm Derby

2-4 players

The object of the game is to race your worm through a field of
obstacles around a distant pylon and back to the start line
before any if the other player's worms.

Worms

A worm consists of a connected string of touching (at the edge)
piecepack disks of the same suit.  A worm always has two end
disks that only touch one other disk in the worm and may have one
or more body disks that touch exactly two other disks.  Worms may
never form loops or branching structures.  A worm can be curved
in any way allowed by the above description.

In the basic rules all worms are six disks long; the advanced
rules allow for worms of lengths from 2 to 6 long.

Worm Movement

A worm moves in steps.  Each step consists of picking up the
disk at one end of the worm and moving it to touch the disk
at the other end of the worm.  A worm can move in either
direction, but is a worm is moving multiple steps in one turn
it must move all in the same direction (all the steps must take
disks from the same end of the worm).

Obstacles

Facedown Piecepack tiles are obstacles that worms must go
around as they race.  Worms cannot go over obstacles and an
obstacle can never be placed on top of a worm.  If there is
not enough room between two obstacles for a worm's disk to fit,
the worm cannot go between the two obstacles.  Worms also treat
other worms like obstacles.

Game setup

Give each player the six disks form one suit form his worm.
It is convenient to place the correspondingly colored pawn
in front of each player so that it is easy to tell which worm
belongs to each player (there is no other use of the pawns in
this game).  Also give each player the corresponding colored die.

Place two tiles, suit side up, about 4 tile widths apart to
form the start/finish line.  Place another tile, suit side up,
three to six feet away along the perpendicular bisector of the
start line as the turn pylon for the other end of the racecourse.
The distance you choose will determine the length of the game; the
farther away the pylon is the longer the game length.  These three
tiles are considered obstacles except unlike other obstacle tiles
cannot be moved during the game.

Choose a first player by any agreeable method.  Turns will go
clockwise around the table starting with the first player.

Deal out the remaining tiles evenly to the players, putting
any odd tiles aside.  Starting with the first player, each
player in turn places a tile, suit side down, anywhere on the
racecourse between the start line and the pylon.  These tiles
form the set of obstacles for the race.  No obstacle may be
placed at the start within three tile widths of either the start
line or the pylon.  Obstacles my touch but cannot overlap.
Obstacles may be placed in any orientation. Continue placing
tiles in turn, until all the dealt tiles have been placed.

Starting with the first player, each player in turns builds
his worm behind the starting line.  The starting position of a
worm must be built in a straight line perpendicular to the
start line, with only one end disk between the two start
line tiles.

The race

Starting with the first player, players take turns moving
their worms.  The goal is to move your worm from the start
line to and around the far side of the pylon and back to the
start line first before any other worm.

To move your worm, roll your die and move accordingly.  On a
2-5 move your worm that many steps (remember that you can move
your worm either direction, this may be necessary if blocked by
obstacles).  On a null you do not move this turn.  On an ace you
may move an obstacle and then roll again.  An obstacle may be
moved no more then one tile width from its current position
and may be reoriented as the player chooses.

Winning

The first player to move one end of his worm between the two
start line tiles after having traveled around the far side of
the pylon has won the race.  The remaining worms may continue
to race to determine second and third place.

Variant

For a shorter and simpler game reduce the number of (or
completely eliminate) the obstacle tiles.

Advanced Rules ? Cannibal worms

If when moving your worm, a step would allow you to overlay
one of the end disks of another player's worm you may do so
and your worm eats that disk, pick it up and give it back to
its owner.  This ends your movement for that turn.  The
attacked worm, on its next move, must move away from the
attacker (steps must be made by picking up disks from the
end of the worm that was eaten).  A worm can never move more
steps then its length, if you roll higher than the worm's
length, the additional steps are lost. When you roll an ace,
instead of moving an obstacle, you may add an eaten disk back
on to one end of your worm (you still get to roll again).

Copyright 2001 by Mark A. Biggar.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts,
and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license can be found at
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html.