Logical Bluffs

Gameplay

This game is played on a 4x4 grid. Each square on the grid will be randomly colored with either red, blue, green, or yellow, before the game begins. The goal of the game is simple: guess the exact color combination of the entire grid.

Liridium will learn the colors of the squares marked in orange, and Marcer will learn the colors of the squares marked in purple.

The game will be divided into multiple rounds, and each round has multiple phases:

Bluffing Phase

Claiming Phase

Reveal Phase

In the Bluffing Phase, each player will choose a subset of the tiles of the grid. The following restrictions are placed on subsets:

1) A subset must be continuous. That is, every tile in the subset must be able to be reached from any other tile in the subset by repeatedly traveling one space up, down, left, or right. 2) A subset must contain anywhere from 4-8 tiles, inclusive. 3) A subset cannot share half of its tiles (rounded down) with the player's previous subset. That is, if a player submits A1 B1 C1 D1, A1 B1 A2 B2 would be an invalid submission in the next round. What the other player submitted does not matter for this condition.

An example of a subset is A1 B1 A2 B2 C1 D1.

It is recommended players read the following section very carefully.

Players will then give four statements about their own subset which must be either true or false.

Statements need to follow the five characteristics:

1) Cannot involve any tiles outside the subset 2) Must involve every tile in the subset (Given a tile t, there exists a coloration of the other tiles in the subset such that t's color would affect the veracity of the statement.) 3) Cannot involve information outside of the 4x4 grid 4) Must be easy to understand (ie: not obfuscated or unnecessarily complex). 5) Must be less than or equal to 15 words.

That aside, statements should have a clear way to interpret them, be grammatically correct, and keep vocabulary mundane. If you are unsure, clarify whether a statement is valid with the host in advance. The host will make all final judgment calls.

Example valid statements are as follows:

There are two red tiles. [The fact this refers to tiles in the subset is implied. Because this does not specify exactness, this statement will be true if there are at least two red tiles.]

Exactly three tiles are red or two tiles are blue. [And/or/xor/whatever is allowed. Or, like in computer science, is true if either statement is true.]

There is a blue tile orthogonally adjacent to a green tile. [Adjacent refers to both orthogonal and diagonal adjacencies -- so this must be specified.]

There is a 2x2 square with one red tile. [This is valid if and only if every tile can conceivably be placed within a 2x2 square in the subset. Otherwise, this is an invalid statement.]

Example invalid statements are as follows:

There are four red tiles on the grid. [Uses tiles outside the subset.]

The leftmost tile is red. [This does not involve every tile in the subset -- only the leftmost one.]

There are two red tiles, and I beat Marcer in arithmetic 3-1. [Uses information outside the game.]

Players have three minutes to perform all actions in the Bluffing Phase. Once the Bluffing Phase is over, players will be privately informed which of their statements are true and which are false. For each true statement a player makes in the Bluffing Phase, that player gains 1 Reveal Point.

The amount of Reveal Points each player has will remain secret, except to the respective players.

In the Claiming Phase, both players’ subsets and statements will be revealed. Players will privately submit true or false to each of the opponent’s statements. Players have 90 seconds to submit.

For each correct truth value a player makes for a statement, that player gains 2 Reveal Points.

The correct answer to each statement will not be publicized, Claiming Phase submissions will not be publicized, and whether each individual truth value was correct or not will also not be publicized.

In the Reveal Phase, players have 30 seconds to do at most one of these two actions (they must do so privately):

1) Spend 8 Reveal Points to privately learn the color of a square on the grid. This action may be used multiple times in a single Reveal Phase if a player has 16 or more Reveal Points, costing 8 Reveal Points each time. Players will learn when this ability is used (and how many times it is used), but not which square this was used on. 2) Guess the layout of the grid, privately submitting a color for every space. They will gain an additional 150 seconds (on top of the initial 30 seconds) for this. If a player guesses a single space incorrectly, that player loses all their current Reveal Points and may not reveal a square next round. Their opponent will not be given any information about the guesses. If a player guesses every space correctly, that player wins the Death Match. If both players guess successfully at the same time, the player with more Reveal Points wins. The player who submitted a final answer earlier wins further ties.

Players will have five minutes of reserve time. If a player has not submitted in time in the Bluffing or Claiming Phase, reserve time will be used. If a player runs out of reserve time, they lose the DM. Reserve time is not used in the Reveal Phase (and players simply do not submit an action as a result).

The game will continue until one player has successfully guessed the entire layout of the grid.

No Limit: You may use this item to ignore all of the three restrictions on subsets for a single round. This is a one time use item.

Smokescreen: You may use this to hide a statement of yours from your opponent -- they cannot answer it with either true or false. This is a one time use item.

Detective: You may use this to find out the truth value of your opponent’s statement in the Claiming Phase. However, you cannot gain any RPs from guessing its truth value. This is a one time use item, and cannot be used on a statement that has been Smokescreened.

Clarification: Players will always know their RP total. Players will only learn the RP total of the other player at the end of the Bluffing Phase and the Reveal Phase.

Edit: In the 2x2 square example, the claim was incorrect. As long as every tile can be contained in a 2x2 square, it would be valid.

Clarification: Coordinates on the grid do not count as part of the grid. (Ex: "The sum of the numerical coordinates of the spaces is 10" is invalid.)

Edit: Players will never learn the RP total of the other player throughout the game.

I think this is important enough to warrant a @Player.