Battle of LITS

[mathgrant]

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:



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!

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 if you want to see this game published by nestorgames, a small publisher based in Spain.
* Thumb this up 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 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.

[mathgrant]

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.

[Selden]

I'll play a round, though I have no doubt what the outcome will be! 

[Juubi]

I'm game.

[mathgrant]

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.

[Selden]

Here we go.

Edit:  removed a piece from the bank.

[mathgrant]

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.)

[Juubi]

Nah, I'll play as O.

[Selden]

I don't think we need to wait for Grant to confirm every single move, do you? 

[Juubi]

Nah.

[Selden]

Clever.  I honestly hadn't seen that coming.

[Juubi]

Heheh...

[Selden]

I think I could see it the first time. 

[Juubi]

Sorry.

[Selden]

Don't worry about it - my idea of a joke.