Week 9 Remixing & Modifying: Tic-Tac-Foot & Tyrannical Oil Monger

This week we had to modify the game of Tic-Tac-Toe so that there is an element of luck.

I made a couple simple change that I have found through playtesting make the game more interesting and still add that element of luck required for the assignment.

Name of the Game: Tic-Tac-Foot

Number of Players: 2

Time to Play: 15 - 30 minutes

Setup:

1. 5x5 Grid (as opposed to the 3x3 grid)
2. One player is Xs the other is Os.
3. Get a coin. Tails represents X. Heads represents O

Rules:

• Who ever gets 5 in a row of their shape wins.

One Round:

• Flip a coin to determine which shape you will draw on your turn. If its heads you have to place an O on the grid. If its tails you have to place on X on the grid, regardless of what shape is yours.
• This means a player can be the shape X but if they flip a coin on heads they have to place an O on the board.

Playtesting:

I found that during playtesting the game actually took longer to play than regular Tic-Tac-Toe, not only because of the size of the board, but because when a player had to place the opposing player's shape on the board they took more time to think about where they were placing it. Because of the element of luck it also means that players can't do the same thing every time they play (like in regular Tic-Tac-Toe). The size of the board was important because at 3x3 the game ended too quickly with my rule change, but the 5x5 dimensions suited it perfectly.

We also had to modify a game we previously made in class to shit the focus of the original game entirely to either skill or chance depending on the original focus of the game. I decided to change the focus of the territorial acquisition game Moazzam Pathan and I made, Supreme Oil Monger, such that it is based entirely on luck.

Name of the Game: Tyrannical Oil Monger

Number of Players: 2-4

Game Bits: 4 sets of pipes (150 tiles each); 1 for each player. 12 wells

Time to play: 30 - 60 minutes

Object of the Game: Connect the refinery to the most oil wells with your pipes to win.

One change that I've made to the board is that the spaces alternate between grey and white like a checker board.

Setup:

1. Players pick their colour and take their set of pipes.
2. Split the wells evenly between each other
3. Place wells on the board. Wells must be at least one space apart, and there can only be one well per quadrant.
4. Each player must shuffle their set of pipes. 

How to Play:

  2 Players:

1. If it is your first turn draw 5 pipes. Otherwise draw until you have 5 pipes.
2. Flip a coin. Heads is grey, tails is white. You may place your next piece on the space of the corresponding colour.
3. Place those pipes on the board. Your first pipe must be placed such that it is connected and adjacent or touching corners to one of the spaces around the refinery located in the centre of the board. After connecting your first pipe to the refinery, you may connect an additional pipe directly to the refinery, or choose to do so later on. 3 of 5 pipes must be placed on the board

 3/4 Players:

1. If it is your first turn draw 4 pipes. Otherwise draw until you have 4 pipes.
2. Flip a coin. Heads is grey, tails is white. You may place your next piece on the space of the corresponding colour.
3. Place those pipes on the board. Your first pipe must be placed such that it is connected and adjacent or touching corners to one of the spaces around the refinery located in the centre of the board. After connecting your first pipe to the refinery, you may connect an additional pipe directly to the refinery, or choose to do so later on. 2 of 4 pipes must be placed on the board.

NOTE:  Your pipes must be placed such that it is touching another pipe. Pipes can be oriented in any direction. More than one person can connect to a well.

Pipes are still drawn from a deck to maintain the element of chance, however players no longer choose exactly where to place their pipes; a coin is flipped to determine what color space the player's next pipe can be placed on. The only choice I have left for players is the option to choose which pipe to place. If I took out this choice, there would no longer be any meaningful decisions in this game.

Playtesting:

During playtesting I found that the game was now indeed more based on luck now. It was much more difficult to place pieces in such a way that everything connects. At first the rule was that all pipes must be placed on the board. I playtested this way once and found that it was too difficult to the point of frustration. I decided to adjust that rule to give the player a little more freedom, and made it so that they only have to place a fraction of the pipes they have. This way, the game was still based on luck, but the player also still felt they at least had some control and made them feel less frustrated.