In this Death Match, deduce the letters of your opponent by submitting words that may contain them.
| Designer(s): Zero | Match Type: DM (for 2 players) |
| Featured in: Zero's Gambit, DM Colosseum 2 | |
Set Up:
Both DM players will be given 5 letters of the alphabet at random to form their hand from the pool of 26 letters (Players hands will not share letters). They then have the chance to change their hand in the same format as yahtzee. Players will choose which letters of their hand they would like to hold. The remaining letters will be replaced. This will happen twice.
(Initial letters > Hold phase 1 > 2nd set of letters > Hold Phase 2 > DM Game Letters).
When receiving new letters, both players could receive any letter that isn't being held, including one they received before.
Once both DM players have their game letters, each player not participating in the DM will receive a letter each that is not in either of the players hands from the pool. The DM players may then speak with the players to learn of the letters they have, and therefore their opponent doesn't have. But players beware! The letters you receive will be used as your identities in the next Main Match, so make sure to only share them with the people you trust.
Live Game:
Player's alternate turns. In each turn you can choose one of 3 options:
Submit a word
Guess an opponent's letter
Attempt Last Chance
Submitting a word:
When submitting a word, you choose a word in the standard scrabble dictionary that is at least 3 letters long. It cannot be a word that was already used in the Deathmatch. Both players will use this word to gain a hint on their opponents hand.
Your opponent will choose one of the 3 options below.
Then the player who submitted the word will choose one of the remaining 2 options.
Players will then be told if they hit or miss on their guess.
None: Is a hit if no letters in the submitted word are in your opponents hand.
One: Is a hit if only one letter in the submitted word is in your opponents hand.
Any: Is a hit if at least one letter in the submitted word is in your opponents hand.
Once this is done, your turn ends and it becomes your opponents turn.
Guessing an opponent's letter:
When guessing an opponent's letter, you choose a letter of the alphabet.
If you correctly guess an opponent's letter it is removed from their hand.
If you incorrectly guess an opponent's letter, you must remove one letter from your hand. (It is revealed to your opponent)
If a player's hand is emptied, they lose and are eliminated. The other player is declared the winner. Otherwise you turn ends and it becomes your opponents turn.
Attempting Last Chance:
Here it's do or die. You must one by one name the remaining letters in your opponents hand.
If you correctly guess all the remaining letters in your opponents hand, you win the Deathmatch.
If you incorrectly guess at any time, you lose the Deathmatch.
Players have a 2 minute time limit to choose an action from the last dealer post, and 1 minute time limit to choose one of [None,One,Any]. Players have a 5 minute reserve time. If a player runs out of time, they skip their turn. (Or don't receive a hint from the rounds word)
As neither player solved the revelations puzzle, neither will automatically gain starting player choice. If the DM opponent (player chosen by EC) has at least as many garnets as the EC, they will choose the starting player. Otherwise, the DM players will play deadlock coin to determine who chooses the starting player.
I will be using this website to determine if a word is valid. (Legal in Scrabble)
The player with advantage will choose the starting player
Example Round
Player A has hand (ABCDE)
Player B has hand (FGHIJ)
Player A Choose to Submit a word
They Choose the word "BASIC"
Player B would then choose one of [None, One, Any]
Player A would choose one of the remaining 2 options
Results if Player A Choose:
None Miss
One Hit
Any Hit
(Word Contains I)
Results if Player B Choose:
None Miss
One Miss
Any Hit
(Word contains A,B,C)
DM Players have 13 Hours from now to submit their first shuffle
LETTERBOX
Take down the opponent's letters by deducing from words.
This game appeared in Zero's Gambit as Death Match 1, hosted by Zero. The original version had a social aspect; this time, it has been removed, with some rules adjusted, so make sure to read the rules carefully.
GAME RULES
⚙️ Setup and terminology
The game has 26 letter cards, one for each letter in the English alphabet. They are divided into three rarities:
The game also uses English words; to be specific, words in the Collins Scrabble Words (CSW) list. Note that, as a Scrabble word list, it doesn't contain proper nouns or hyphenated words, and words are limited to 15 letters in length. You can check if a word is available in this list or not by entering it here: https://unikove.com/projects/scrabble_widget/ (Site Admin's note: this link is now dead; a suitable alternative is https://scrabblecheck.com/.)
Each player also has a hand of letter cards.
At the start of the game, before the first turn, each player will draw a selection of 8 letter cards: 4 common, 3 uncommon, 1 rare. These cards are chosen randomly, but making sure that no letter is held by both players. From this selection of 8 cards, each player will choose 5 to form their hand. Once this is done, players will no longer get letter cards into their hand; they will only lose them throughout the game.
🧠 On your move
Players alternate being the active player, starting from the starting player.
During your turn as the active player, you must choose one of three move options:
Each move option leads to further decisions. Once the move option is resolved, the opponent becomes the active player.
🔍 Forming a hint
If you choose to form a hint, there are three decision points:
First, you choose a hint word. The word can be any word in the CSW that is at least three letters long. However, the word may not repeat a previously used word in this match.
Then, your opponent will choose a hint to take, then you will choose a hint to take. There are three kinds of hints: one, odd, and any. You may not choose the same hint as the opponent; for example, if the opponent takes an "odd" hint, you may not also take an "odd" hint, you may only take either a "one" hint or an "any" hint.
The hints refer to how many of the letters in the word belong to the opposing hand. For example, if your opponent holds the letters A, E, H, J, M, and the hint word is BUMMED, then three of the letters in the word belong to the opponent's hand: both M's and the E. Note that if a letter appears multiple times in the word, it is counted multiple times.
The result of a hint is either "yes" or "no". The result of a hint is "yes" if it matches the indicated condition; otherwise, it's a "no".
Thus, in case of the example of BUMMED above, a "one" hint would say "no", but an "odd" hint or an "any" hint would say "yes".
After both players have chosen which hint to take, they will receive their hint result. The hint results are public, as the opponent already knows what hint result you would receive.
🔍 Guessing
If you choose to guess, either guessing a letter or guessing the whole hand, you will make all the decisions during your time as the active player (i.e. the opponent doesn't make any decision), and then it will be your opponent's turn to be the active player.
To guess a letter, simply choose a letter you believe to be in the opponent's hand. If your guess is correct, your opponent loses that letter card from their hand. If your guess is incorrect, you lose a letter card of your choice from your hand, which will be revealed to the opponent. Note that since the letter card is lost from a player's hand, the hand no longer has the letter card and it will affect future hints. Past hints will not be modified to match.
To guess the entire hand, choose as many letters as there are in your opponent's hand; note that previously revealed cards are not considered (and you don't need to guess them any more). This ends the game. If your guess is completely correct, you win the game; if your guess has any mistake, you lose the game.
💎 Winning
You win if your opponent loses all cards from their hand, which happens by either you guessing their letters or them incorrectly guessing your letters. You also win if you successfully guess the opponent's entire hand, or the opponent incorrectly guesses your hand.
In addition, the game also has a turn limit. After both players have taken 40 turns each, players are no longer allowed to form hints, forcing players to guess for the rest of the game and bringing the game into a swift conclusion.
ADMINISTRATION
🏷️ Writing your move
When you start your turn as the active player, your move must include your move option and the first decision point. In particular, this means:
Your hint word must be a word in CSW. If it is not in CSW, you will be told so and you must change your hint word.
In case of forming a hint, when you get the option to take a hint, you must choose "one", "odd", or "any". You may not choose the same hint option as the opponent.
If you incorrectly guess an opponent's letter, you must choose a letter card from your hand to lose. Note that you must choose a card in your hand; if you choose a card not in your hand, it will be revealed to the opponent (revealing information) and you must choose another.
👁️ Available information
Which letters you draw and which letters you choose to make up your hand are all private information. You should decide them in your private submissions channel.
After that, all of the game is public except for the hands. You should make your moves in the public game room.
After each decision point, the current state of the game will be posted: the hint word, the hint taken by each player, the hint results, the current number of cards left in each player's hand, and all letter cards that have been lost. Additionally, after each of the non-starting player's turns, the current turn number will be announced.
Unlike in Zero's Gambit, we will not be keeping a log of recent moves. Please take note of them by yourself.
⌛ Timing
You have 3 minutes to decide on your hand during setup. If you run out of time, your hand will be made of 5 randomly chosen cards among the 8 you drew.
During your turn as the active player, you have 2 minutes for the first decision point (choosing a move option and the hint word / the guesses). In addition, you have 1 minute to choose a hint to take. If you incorrectly guess an opponent's letter, you have 1 minute to choose which card you wish to reveal.
You also have a time bank of 5 minutes. If you run out of time, you lose the game.
CLARIFICATIONS
📌 Examples
The following is an example game between Black and White.
Black draws the letters E, G, N, T (common), H, M, P (uncommon), and J (rare). Black decides to take E, G, J, N, P into their hand.
Suppose that White has A, B, C, I, R in their hand.
Black begins the first turn as the active player. Black chooses to form a hint and offers the hint word GENIUS. White chooses the "one" hint and Black chooses the "odd" hint. White receives a response of "no" (there are 3 letters of GENIUS in Black's hand) and Black receives a response of "yes" (there is 1 letter in White's hand).
White begins the next turn as the active player. White chooses to guess the letter N. This is correct; Black loses the letter N from their hand.
Black begins the next turn as the active player. Black chooses to form a hint and offers the hint word NONE. White chooses the "one" hint and Black chooses the "any" hint. White receives a response of "yes" (there is 1 letter of NONE in Black's hand; remember that N is now gone, so only E remains), and Black receives a response of "no" (there is no letter in White's hand).
White begins the next turn as the active player. White chooses to guess the letter O. This is incorrect; White must choose to lose a letter, and chooses to remove the letter B from their hand.
Black begins the next turn as the active player. Black wishes to guess the entire White's hand; there are 4 letters remaining. Black offers the guess A, C, I, S. This is not fully correct, and so Black loses the game.
📌 Allowed tools
The allowed tools are the usual, except that you may also use the text file and the checker. You may not use your own program or anything.
📌 Illegal hint word
If you attempt to propose a hint word that is not in CSW, you will be told so and you must change your hint word. (You may also choose to change your move option.)
📌 Turn limit
The turn limit before players have to start guessing is that both players have made 40 turns each, not 40 turns in total.
Strategy (The game tests the players' strategic & tactical abilities.)
Turn-based (The game involves players taking turns one after another.)
Words (The game tests the players' linguistic abilities.)