Re: [piecepack] Re: Every single aspect of piecepack?

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

On Fri, Aug 16, 2002 at 01:48:51PM -0000, jdroscha wrote:
> --- In piecepack@y..., "davelernergames" <davelernergames@y...> wrote:
> > I have a question.  Does any current game use EVERY single aspect
> > of piecepack, from the tic-marks on the coins to the quartered
> > sections on the backs of the tiles?
> 
> By "aspect" here, I assume you mean all the markings on all 
> components.  Conspiracy (by Brad Johnson) might fit the bill.  As I 
> recall, it uses both sides of tiles, both sides of coins, the 
> directional pips on coins, and the dice.

James, your answer to Dave's question is probably both more
immediately useful and less discouraging than mine, which is a good
thing IMHO.

However, broadening the definition of "aspect" a little bit, I think
there are some _important_ aspects to the piecepack that fall outside
the mere existence of the markings.  For example, if you consider the
relationships of the number markings, some of them are very different
from the others.  Null coins are blank and aces are spirals; this
makes them different from the 2, 3, 4, and 5 coins, much as court
cards are different from number cards in the standard deck.  Of
course, you know this; you designed the piecepack that way.

Or again, as you point out...

> Soccer (which, oddly enough, was the first game written for the
> piecepack) is a flicking game.  Worm Derby uses a faboo tail-
> to-head movement on a chain of coins (worm).  Hanging Gardens uses a
> line-of-sight that relies on the physical properties of the pieces.
> But those are all I can think of that do so.

Now, granted, if you try as an exercise to make a list of EVERY aspect
of the piecepack, you may eventually run out of steam and start saying
uninteresting things like "The piecepack was invented 4.3 light years
from Proxima Centauri".  However, after you list all the obvious
aspects of the piecepack and before you run out of steam, you may find
yourself listing some pretty interesting, non-obvious aspects, and I
think that there's a lot of room for creativity in this in-between
area.  Which is what I should have said in the first place.

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/