September Mega-Game: Critical Mass

Hey there, CJ faithful. I’m hoping to see a spike in players as more and more people fall out of Survivor over at my other place.

Here’s a game I first ran in Gods and Mortals that I rather like, for the stress levels and whatnot.

As usual, we start with a board.

You will all make a blob of five connected (even diagonally) spaces and will get the number of points you cover. However, any spaces also touched by others will be left open and you won’t get credit for them. In the extremely unlikely event that you’re completely crossed by other players, I’ll throw you a bone and give you one space nearby (with a meager point total) so you’re not, you know, unable to play.

Then there will be four turns, making this a guaranteed quick game. On these turns you will make a single ten-space (or fewer, down to zero) journey starting connected to a space you already cover. You get all the points you cover, but if you intersect with anyone, neither of you get any points that round AND you’re both unable to make any more moves. You can for this reason abstain on moves if you want, to try to wait out people who get smoked out.

Once a turn is over, if you gained points, you cannot ever lose them. You’ll only lose what you would have had if you intersect on that turn.

It’s simple enough, and the rules are minimal, Melissa, so this should be an easy one to run. I had “Bullseye” in the August spot last year but I’m trying something new, for whatever reason. If you’re missing Bullseye, let me know. I also have a game called “Marco Polo Sasquatch” that I want to run here if I can figure out how to run it; it’s going to be easy to run in Survivor but isn’t perfect here without a solution to a certain mechanic.

“The Spread” is in October. Hopefully Survivor won’t deprive me of players.

Join here, gang, or via email. The plan is to make initial placements due on a Monday – possibly the one just after my return from Minnesota – and play Tuesday to Friday.

AMR
Beau
daneekasghost
Dread Pirate
freealonzo
inkarnit
jontheelf
kg2005
mbnovak
melissad
nettiebarron
nibbish
yickit