RESULTS OF THE 5th PIECEPACK GAME DESIGN COMPETITION

["Benedict" <boycat_oh@...>]

*******************
Benedict's limp form stirred as the key grated in the rusty lock
of  his confinement cell. The door opened, allowing the blinding 
sunlight to illuminate the prisoner's dirt-streaked face for the
first time in weeks.
"Well?" asked Justice Seafarth, "Have you had enough?"
"Yes, your honor, more than enough," Benedict mumbled weakly.
"Out with it then!" commanded Justice Knizia.
Benedict slowly stood up, swayed a little, then offered a piece of
scrap paper to the Justices. Seafarth snatched the note away as
Knizia kicked Benedict in the stomach for good measure.
"You aren't getting out of here until you get this cell
cleaned up.  Look at the state of it, bits of wood everywhere."
Benedict sighed and looked around him. There was no way One
Man, Thrag, was likely to show up just to help him do
housework. If only he was being held captive in a magic
dungeon surrounded by monsters and dragons?

*******************

The Lord Justices read Benedict's note aloud:

The results of the 5th piecepack design contest, Solitary
Confinement.

There were 18 entries by 13 different authors:

Brain Burn by Mark Biggar
Cardinal's Guards by Mike Schoessow
Coin Collectors by Don Kirkby
Crocodile Hop by Tim Schutz
Epic Funhouse  by Ron & Marty Hale-Evans
Fuji-san by James Kyle
Galaxy Express  by Matt Worden
Lab Rats  by Mark Biggar
Landlocked  by Eric Witt
Mathrix  by Clark Rodeffer
Matrix  by Jeff Barrett
PieceGaps  by Chris Brooks
Piece Packing Pirates  by Clark Rodeffer
Piecepack Klondike  by Eric Witt
Plans of Action  by Edward Pulley
Skyscrapers  by Mike Schoessow
Solo Salvo  by Eric Witt
The Magic Bag by Rob LeGood

Benedict's Overall Winner:

Piece Packing Pirates by Clark Rodeffer

As the name suggests this is a game of sea exploration, fighting
and booty collecting with a degree of economic management
thrown in for good measure. My first read of the (well-written)
rules made me want to try the game immediately, and I wasn't
disappointed. The game has it all: excellent integration of theme,
good replayability, good balance of strategy versus luck and
clever use of all of the piecepack components. I certainly
imagined myself as a hearty pirate plundering unsuspecting
ships, and feeling desperate when trying to out-run a larger
vessel. This was by far the game I had the most fun playing.

The game uses a couple of clever mechanics worth mentioning.

1. The sea (which is formed by placing the tiles suit-side down in
any pattern as long as all the tiles are connected) is explored by
moving your pirate ship onto the tile and turning it over. The suit
marker indicates the direction of the prevailing wind and the tile
number determines the chance of sighting an enemy ship. I
thought this was a neat multiple use of the tiles.

2. A mechanic unique to the contest (and possibly unique in all
the piecepack games?) is the rule for movement of enemy
ships. The pirate ship moves first, then the enemy ships move.
What makes the movement phase interesting is that smaller
ships flee from the pirates whereas larger ships close in to
attack. In one game I played I found myself in trouble by attacking
a larger ship before my pirates were quite ready, resulting in a
lost battle, only to have the ship attack me straight back!

The game does require the use of a 1-page play mat, which is
generally well designed. My only suggestion is that a black and
white version would be helpful for those who do not have access
to a color printer. The Booty track (green on yellow background)
looks the worst in B & W. A rules summary is also included,
which was helpful.

All in all a worthy winner of the contest, congratulations, Clark!

Justice Seafarth's Runners Up:

Two games stood out in addition to the winner. In alphabetical
order they are: Cardinal's Guards by Mike Schoessow and
Galaxy Express  by Matt Worden.

Cardinal's Guards is a well-presented very good themed
abstract with interesting mechanics. The 24 tiles are placed as a
suit-side down 5x5 square (representing chambers of the
castle) with the center square open (a common formation for the
tiles in the contest). The pawns are musketeers who must visit
the chambers in a certain order. The interesting mechanic here
is that the musketeers move as `runaway rooks', only stopping
if they encounter guards (coins) or the center square (tunnel
entrance leading to any of the 4 corner chambers).  The majority
of guards start the game outside the 5x5 square of the castle ? a
mechanic I haven't seen before ? and as the game progresses
they can be placed inside the castle, which is essential in order
to provide `blocks' to allow your musketeers to end their
runaway moves on the right squares.  Points are scored for
searching chambers as well as defeating guards. This results in
a game where searching all the rooms is possible, but defeating
all the guards as well is tough. Well done, Mike.

Galaxy Express is a clever themed game of delivering shipments
to 6 different planets (arms coins) placed on an wraparound 8x6
grid formed by 12 grid-side up tiles in order of the delivery queue
(determined by the crown coins). The rules are great and include
a sample game at the end that has what are probably the nicest
diagrams of all 18 entries. The heart of the game is deciding
how to approach each of the planets with the limited thrust (sun
coins) and brake (moon coins) resources. This clever system
made me feel like I really was flying a ship of the `cheapskate
operation' mentioned in the introductory blurb. Great game, Matt.

Justice Knizia's Honorable Mentions:

Cleverest overall concept: Epic Funhouse by Ron & Marty-Hale
Evans. This is a series of 6 mostly abstract games that are
played in the 6 rooms of an amusement park in a not too-distant
dystopian future.  Also contains the only dexterity game of the
contest.

Most aesthetically appealing: Fuji-san by James Kyle.  This is a
themed abstract that manages to evoke the feeling of a classic
oriental game in both the play of the game as well as the
physical shape of the playing area.

Best theme: Matrix by Jeff Barrett. Jeff and I share an enjoyment
of William Gibson's cyberpunk, and Matrix is based on the novel
Neuromancer complete with Cyberspace, Ice, Data Forts and
Icebreakers.  Excellent idea to adapt the genre to the piecepack,
Jeff. This is also the game that I think has the most potential to
be truly outstanding with some work on the rules and gameplay.
The customizable icebreakers also made this game stand out.

Thanks to everyone for submitting games and making this a
great contest.  If you would like specific feedback for your game
please let me know by email. As there are a lot of games, please
be patient when waiting for a response, but I will be trying hard to
respond as fast as possible so that any updates can be made
quickly in order to get the games posted at piecepack.org asap.

Phillip

A note from Karol:

Congratulations to the winner! I am pleased to have each of
these games added to the growing piecepack game list.

I would like to get the contest games posted to the piecepack
website as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours of permission
or submission). To help motivate the authors we are going to
post only polished games onto the games page - if authors are
satisfied with the way their games were written and submitted
please simply send me a note to that effect and I can take it from
there. Otherwise please make any changes you'd like and then
send me the file again. If there are any questions please contact
me [Karol] directly.

Respectfully, we request that authors DO NOT post games
elsewhere until they are on piecepack dot org that is designed to
be the place for folks to go to find all the games - let's work
together to keep it that way!

I would like to remind everyone that the prize includes a 3rd
Edition with CD-ROM rules that include the contest entries -More
incentive to get the games or permission in to me [Karol] :
submissions @ piecepack . org (without the spaces).

Thanks,
Karol