Crimson Flag Comic Forums
Other Realms => Game Room => Topic started by: mathgrant on March 06, 2012, 11:38:53 PM
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Battle of LITS: the board game that
everyone is talking about!
In all seriousness, ever since I commissioned Virmir to draw me a new avatar, there's been a mild amount of buzz from people who want to know what it is:
(http://art.by.virmir.com/i/thumb/care_for_a_battle.png) (http://art.by.virmir.com/art/care_for_a_battle)
The colorful objects in Grant Badger Fox's hands are pieces from my board game Battle of LITS, which has been in development for some time now. Based on the Japanese logic puzzle LITS, in Battle of LITS, your goal is to use a shared supply of pieces to cover up spaces containing your opponent's symbol (X or O) while protecting your symbol from the same. Three simple rules govern the placement of pieces, and create a game which I am proud to attach my name to. As of today, a Print and Play version of Battle of LITS, including three pages of illustrated rules and all necessary components, is available for download from BoardGameGeek. Check it out! (http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/76882/battle-of-lits-print-and-play-edition)
If you like the game and have a BoardGameGeek account, I encourage you to sign into BGG and visit the following links to show your support:
* Thumb this up (http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/48043/item/1792048#item1792048) if you want to see this game published by nestorgames, a small publisher based in Spain.
* Thumb this up (http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/43699/item/1865708#item1865708) if you want to see this game made available on the board game server igGameCenter.
* Even if you hate the game, please don't be afraid to visit the Battle of LITS page on BGG (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/105265/battle-of-lits) and rate this game.
If Battle of LITS becomes available on igGameCenter, I will consider hosting a Battle of LITS tournament in the vein of my earlier Coffee tournament. ]:)
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I was thinking of playing Battle of LITS by forum. Right now, BGG is down for maintenance, so I have attached a ZIP of the print-and-play edition of the game for easy downloading. It includes a three-page PDF of illustrated rules of play. Here's a brief summary:
* The board starts with X's and O's on it. One player is X, and one player is O. Each player tries to cover up their opponent's symbols with tetrominoes, while protecting their own symbols.
* Starting with X, players take turns placing any tetromino from the shared supply onto the board. X may play the first tetromino anywhere. From that point on:
** Every tetromino must share an edge with at least one other tetromino.
** No two tetrominoes of the same shape (color) may share an edge.
** No four cells in a 2x2 arrangement may all be covered by tetrominoes.
* When no more pieces can be legally placed, count how many X's and how many O's remain uncovered; the player with more of their symbol wins. (In the case of a tie, the player who played the last piece wins.)
Attached is a simple template for playing Battle of LITS on a forum; the flood fill tool in any image editor suffices for modifying the grid.
Who's interested in playing? Maybe if we get eight people we could have a mini tourney.
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I'll play a round, though I have no doubt what the outcome will be! |;)
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I'm game.
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Hopefully at some point, we'll have enough players for a tournament (8 would be especially awesome), but in the meantime, I propose a practice round between Selden and Juubi_No_Ookami for no apparent reason.
You two, play on the board play-by-forum-ceeeff.png (attached to the above post). Selden will make the first move as X; Juubi_No_Ookami will have the choice to make the next move as O or switch symbols and become X. I will act as arbiter to make sure no rules are broken.
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Here we go.
Edit: removed a piece from the bank.
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That is definitely a legal move. I'd recommend removing one of the I's from the bank of pieces on the right side of the board next time the image gets edited; that's what it's there for. ]:)
Juubi_No_Ookami, don't forget that, on the first turn only, you have the choice to swap with Selden and play as X for the rest of the game instead of making a move. (People forgot this a lot during my Coffee tournament, so I feel the need to be annoying about it here.)
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Nah, I'll play as O.
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I don't think we need to wait for Grant to confirm every single move, do you? |:P
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Nah.
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Clever. I honestly hadn't seen that coming.
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Heheh...
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I think I could see it the first time. |;)
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Sorry.
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Don't worry about it - my idea of a joke.
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I see what you did there
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Look on the bright side - you're still winning! |;)
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Heh. Having a tricky time finding moves to play.
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Unless I'm missing a move, I think that's the end. I count 12 uncovered Xs and 11 Os, so it was a nice, close game!
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Posting the final board+ Numbering for reference.
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Looks like O is the winner, 11 to 10. ]:)
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I'm in o:
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Ill play
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Four players so far; I think we can get a tournament going if we get four more. X3
Players will compete pairwise in best 4 out of 7 matches as follows:
1. A vs B, board number 1
2. B vs A, board number 1
3. B vs A, board number 2
4. A vs B, board number 2
5. A vs B, board number 3
6. B vs A, board number 3
7. B vs A, board number 4
Boards 1, 2, and 3 for each match will be chosen at random from the following boards:
* boxes (one of the 4 boards enclosed in the print-and-play edition)
* ceeeff (the board Selden and Juubi just played a practice round on)
* diagonals (one of the 4 boards enclosed in the print-and-play edition)
* horizontals (one of the 4 boards enclosed in the print-and-play edition)
[If you guys don't object, we can create more boards for increased variety. Each one should have around 30-35 X's and the same number of O's.]
Board 4 will be generated at random via random.org with 30 X's and 30 O's placed symmetrically opposite each other.
The player with fewer losses in the previous round will be designated player A. (In the event of a tie, or in the first round, player A will be assigned randomly.)
To keep things moving forward in a timely fashion, if a player takes longer than 48 hours to make a move, the opponent may choose to give that player a strike. If a player accumulates three strikes during a single game, or takes longer than a week to make a single move, that player may be eliminated.
Any objections or questions?
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Sounds like a cool idea to me :)
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I'll play! *bounces!*
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I'll join.
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I might as well join my own tournament. See how my skills stack up against random CFers', maybe develop a greater understanding of this game. . . . X3
One more person, and we'll have 8.
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I will allow 48 hours for an eighth player to sign up. If no player does so, I will give myself a first-round bye.
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So, check this out. There's a guy who makes board game components and stuff out of wood: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/berialpha/lyris-laser-studios-custom-cut-board-game-accessor
I sent him an inquiry about a wooden edition of Battle of LITS, and he said he could do three copies of the game for $150 or one for $100. He says, " The bulk of the cost is really just my design time. However, if you can stir up some interest and have other fans pledge for a copy of your game, I can definitely adjust the price down for everyone." [emphasis mine]
Would you like to help make wooden Battle of LITS possible and inflate my ego? Support the Kickstarter and tell Barry that it's towards Battle of LITS! Even if you don't want a copy of the game in return, it can help make this dream cheaper for me to achieve. ]:P
Edit: Alternatively, you can just send me money via PayPal if you trust me enough, and I will add it to my own pledge; if I reach the $150 level in a single pledge on my own, that will simplify things a little, in terms of us knowing whether this is going to happen or not! As a bonus, I'll construct custom logic puzzles for you, whether you ask for them or not!
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Update 1: An anonymous sponsor has brought me up to the $150 I need for wooden Battle of LITS to become a reality! ]:)
Update 2: The time limit is up, so let's start the tournament! The first round is as follows:
mathgrant (bye)
foxgamer01 vs JarynFrostwing (http://crimsonflagcomic.com/forum/index.php?topic=1415.0)
Jonas vs Kenku (http://crimsonflagcomic.com/forum/index.php?topic=1416.0)
Juubi_No_Ookami vs Selden (http://crimsonflagcomic.com/forum/index.php?topic=1417.0)
I will start three separate threads for these match-ups. Good luck!
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One more detail I forgot to mention:
For the purposes of a tournament, if one player (hereafter known as player A) attempts to pass when there are still possible placements, the other player (player B) may point out a possible placement, and place it on the board as though player A had made it. Since that is considered to be player A's move, it remains player B's turn, and B may play another piece if able. (The purpose of this rule is to prevent a player from passing when none of the possible placements give that player a tactical advantage.)
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Ok, first move.
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Please post in this thread instead of here, Jonas: http://crimsonflagcomic.com/forum/index.php?topic=1416.0
I made these separate threads to minimize confusion while multiple games happen at once. :)
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Effective immediately, a game does not end until both players have said PASS in bold, without a piece being placed in between. If you believe that there are no possible moves on your turn, say PASS. Your opponent will then have the option of passing (to end the game) or forcing you to make a move if one is available (as described above).
If you believe there are no possible moves after your move, you may preemptively PASS to speed up the process of ending the game. If your opponent passes, the game ends as usual. If your opponent moves, then play moves on as though your premature pass didn't happen, and you may make a move on your turn. (Thus far, I've decided not to have a penalty for trying to preemptively pass when moves are available. I hope I don't have to create one. ]:))
Effective starting with the semi-final matches, if a game ends in a tie score, and the last piece was played by player A in response to player B prematurely passing, player A will be the winner. (For all other purposes, the piece played by player A will still be considered player B's move, meaning that player A may play a second piece.)
Effective immediately, if a player takes longer than a week to make a single move, the arbiter shall give that player a strike. (This is in addition to the opponent's option to give that player a strike for having not moved for 48 hours, or to claim victory for having not moved for a week.) If the player hasn't moved for two weeks, the arbiter shall eliminate that player. (I don't want any games stalling because their opponents are too merciful to give them strikes, but I also don't want to take away a player's ability to exercise mercy if they wish.)
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Selden defeats Juubi_No_Ookami 4-2 to advance to the next round.
I noticed that Kenku and Jonas were talking about the diagonals board not having as much interactivity as the ceeeff board. Since the physical version of the game will have the boards divided into 5x5 quadrants which can be reassembled at will, I've slightly remixed this board and the horizontals board. Would the other players object to using diagonals2 and horizontals2 instead of diagonals and horizontals in the next round? We'll still use the original versions in this round, because I don't wish to change the rules in the middle of the round. I'll let all of the players vote on it (including Juubi_No_Ookami); the votes of the players who end up actually advancing to the next round will be counted higher.
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Diagonals 2 actually looks like a preety cool board :) I will say although that I want to retract my statement a little at least on Diagonals. It really seems to be less a board about going back and forth and more about power plays. Still the mixed board looks better, especially in the case of Horizontals. I vote for.
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I agree with Kenku - both of the mixed boards look like they'd be better for trick plays and mixing defense and offense.
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Jonas beat Kenku 4-3, and foxgamer01, who apparently forgot his thread existed, timed out, making FrostedLights the winner DEFAULT-2.
The match-ups for the semis are as follows:
mathgrant vs Selden! (http://crimsonflagcomic.com/forum/index.php?topic=1518.0)
1. mathgrant vs Selden, board ceeeff
2. Selden vs mathgrant, board ceeeff
3. Selden vs mathgrant, board boxes
4. mathgrant vs Selden, board boxes
5. mathgrant vs Selden, board diagonals2
6. Selden vs mathgrant, board diagonals2
7. Selden vs mathgrant, random board
FrostedLights versus Jonas! (http://crimsonflagcomic.com/forum/index.php?topic=1519.0)
1. FrostedLights vs Jonas, board boxes
2. Jonas vs FrostedLights, board boxes
3. Jonas vs FrostedLights, board horizontals2
4. FrostedLights vs Jonas, board horizontals2
5. FrostedLights vs Jonas, board diagonals2
6. Jonas vs FrostedLights, board diagonals2
7. Jonas vs FrostedLights, random board
I'll set up the threads. . . ]:)
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Battle of LITS is now available for pre-order on nestorbooster!! (http://www.nestorbooster.com/#battleoflits_detail)
Got 21 euros (about US$27)? Then you should definitely pre-order the game! If we don't get at least 500 euros, then we can't publish! So pay, pay, pay! It will make a great belated Christmas gift!