Demeter's Anguish
In this Death Match, play as both Demeter and Hades to expand your garden while demolishing your opponent's.
| Designer(s): e_is_cool, elara | Match Type: DM (for 2 players) |
| Featured in: The Genius: Heaven and Hell | |
Death Match 10: Demeter's Anguish
Hades fell in love with Persephone, daughter of Demeter, and kidnapped her to the Underworld. Demeter eventually learned of this and demanded that Hades return her daughter, but Persephone had eaten some pomegranate seeds while in the Underworld, which obliged her to spend some time each year there. When Persephone is with her mother, the flowers bloom in their joy, but when she is with Hades, the world experiences winter in her sorrow…
BASIC RULES
In this Death Match, one player will try and make a beautiful garden on a 15 by 15 board, while the other player will try and stop them.
These players will be taking on the roles of Demeter (defender) and Hades (attacker).
On their turn, Demeter can place flowers. Flowers are polyominoes, and you have 21 of them. You will get one of each pentomino (12), one of each tetromino (5), one of each tromino (2), one domino (1), and one monomino (1).
Each turn, Demeter will place a flower atop empty spaces. If it is not the first flower, it must be diagonally adjacent to an existing flower, but cannot be orthogonally adjacent to an existing flower. Pieces may be rotated or reflected.
On their turn, Hades will be able to place one rock atop empty spaces. The rock may either be 1 by 1 or 2 by 2, chosen by Hades. These turns alternate.
Players may also pass their turn. The game ends when both players pass in a row (or by agreement).
OTHER RULES
Each player will be playing as Demeter and Hades at the same time, on two separate boards.
Before the DM begins, each player will privately submit a Demeter move on their own board. Then, the DMO will select who will be the player who moves first. Both Demeter moves will be revealed, and then the selected player will make their Hades move. Afterwards, on all future turns, players make both their Demeter and Hades turns at the same time.
The player with more tiles occupied by flowers on their board wins. If this is a tie, the player with more pentomino flowers placed wins, and this tiebreaker repeats for the rest of the polyomino sizes in order. If this is still a tie, the DMO wins.
On a player's turn, they have 2 minutes to make both of their moves, in addition to 5 minutes of reserve time. If a player runs out of reserve time, then they automatically pass their turn on that turn (and any future turn that they exceed their 2 minutes on).
EXAMPLE
Here is a possible start to a single game. The pieces represent which pieces have yet to be used by Demeter.
Demeter places their U-pentomino on G7, H7, I7, G8, I8:
Hades places their rock on G9, H9, G10, H10:
Demeter places their I-pentomino on B9, C9, D9, E9, F9:
The game would continue as such.
Tags
Area control (The game involves controlling more area on the board in order to win.)
Asymmetric (The game involves different factions or roles that have different win and lose conditions.)
Grid-based (The game involves play on a grid.)
Piece placement (The game involves pieces being placed on a board.)
Polyominoes (The game involves polyominoes of size greater than 2 in its mechanics.)
Strategy (The game tests the players' strategic & tactical abilities.)
Turn-based (The game involves players taking turns one after another.)