Re: [piecepack] piecepack modification discussion - aces and numbers

[Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@...>]

On Mon, Apr 29, 2002 at 05:19:27PM -0000, odbo255 wrote:
> I know many are attached to the concept of an 'ace,' but wouldn't it 
> be simplier to replace it with a '1' ??? 
> 
> The downside I see to this is on the die, with the removal of the ace 
> the only way to identify suit ownership of a die is by color - not a 
> good solution.

The stated reason for having an Ace instead of a 1 in each suit is
that the piecepack can use Aces as a "special" value if designers so
desire.  In Poker, Aces aren't 1, but are the highest card.  You can
do the same thing with a piecepack Ace.  The same thing is true of
using Null instead of 0.  Thus, the piecepack has two "special"
values, which somewhat makes up for its not having "face" values
(Jack, King, Queen, etc.).  You should read James Kyle's article on
how he designed the piecepack in _Grampa Barmo's_ #1.  It might help
you appreciate the fine-tuning that went into the system.

Another possible piecepack extension just occurred to me: piecepack
"Trumps", as in Tarot.  (I _just this minute_ thought of this, so I
don't know if even I am in favour of it.)

> One of the ideas I have played with is using different number systems 
> on the tiles/dice to identify suit ownership. 
> 
> An example could be: 
> 
> red/suns - I Ching Hexagrams
> black/moons - Mayan
> blue/arms - Roman
> green/crowns - Pips
> 
> (the above example is an arbitrary pairing and in no way thought out).
> 
> With this system the coins would remain numbered in Arabic. The only 
> thing numbered in Arabic would be the coins where information hiding 
> is a goal. 
> 
> Tiles would contain both the suit symbol (upper left as always) and 
> number in the suit's number system (providing a "cheat sheet" if you 
> will for the dice which will only show numbers).
> 
> Good idea, bad? Variations?

I think this is waaay too complicated, but hey, the piecepack is in
the public domain, so you can do what you want.  I don't think you'll
find this will ever become a standard though, or even commonly used.
People have enough trouble with Roman numerals; asking them to
remember Mayan numerals and I Ching hexagrams is too much.  I realise
the system you listed above was just a for-instance, however, I run
the oldest I Ching mailing list on the Net (founded in 1995 or so),
I've written several pieces of I Ching software, and I consult the I
Ching on a monthly if not a weekly basis, but even I couldn't tell you
what the first six I Ching hexagrams look like.  (They're definitely
not in binary order.)

By the way, about your complaint in another message that the piecepack
pawns are not colour-blind-friendly: this is only true of some
piecepacks.  The piecepack standard states that pawns can have suit
symbols on them, and indeed the printable piecepack available from
piecepack.org does.

Responding to yet another message, I don't think it would hurt if you
put some of the rule sets that haven't yet made it to piecepack.org in
the Files area of the group.  There are some rule sets there already.
I'm guessing that you'll end up putting there the plain-text versions
that were posted to the list.  When the creators get around to
cleaning them up and PDFing them, Dave can post them on piecepack.org.

Ron

-- 
         Ron Hale-Evans ... rwhe@... & rwhe@...
           Center for Ludic Synergy, Seattle Cosmic Game Night, 
Kennexions Glass Bead Game &  Positive Revolution FAQ: http://www.ludism.org/
Home page & Hexagram-8 I Ching Mailing List: http://www.apocalypse.org/~rwhe/