Take-Back-Toe
In this Death Match, roll dice to move pieces so that three cells in your row has the same amount. (Original Design by James Ernest)
| Designer(s): Non-original Game | Match Type: DM (for 2 players) |
| Featured in: DM Colosseum 2 | |
TAKE-BACK-TOE
Fight the dice and build three stacks of the same size.
This game has never appeared in a previous The Genius ORG before. This game was invented by James Ernest, and won the Thousand-Year Game Design Challenge in 2011.
GAME RULES
⚙️ Setup and terminology
The game takes place on a 3×4 board. The board has a coordinate system, where the rows are labeled A-C and the columns are labeled 1-4. Each player has a home row; one player will take row A as their home row, and the other will take row C.
The game also uses 40 pieces. Pieces can occupy the same cell; pieces in the same cell form a stack. (A cell with only 1 piece still forms a stack of 1 piece, but a cell with no piece doesn't have a stack.) At the start of the game, each cell in row B contains a stack of 10 pieces. In board updates, each cell is depicted by a number indicating the size of the stack on it, or completely empty for a cell with no stack.
The game is also played with a regular six-sided die, with numbers 1-6 on them.
Throughout the game, players will move pieces between cells.
🧠 On your move
Players alternate turns, starting from the starting player.
On your turn, first roll the die. The number rolled indicates the number of pieces you must move this turn. To make your move, select a stack containing pieces at least as many as the number rolled, and select an adjacent square that shares a side (touching only at a point is not enough). Then move as many pieces as the number rolled, to the selected square.
There is one limitation: you are not allowed to reverse the opponent's move. That is, if the opponent made a certain move, you cannot undo it by moving the same number of pieces back. Moving a different number of pieces between the same two squares is allowed. It is also allowed to revisit an earlier board state as long as it's not directly reversing a move.
If you cannot make a move due to the rolled number being higher than all stacks on the board, you skip your turn.
💎 Winning
You win if, after the end of a player's turn, you have three or more stacks of the same size in your home row.
In addition, the game also has a turn limit. After both players have taken 40 turns, if the win condition above has not been reached, the player that has more pieces in their home row wins. In case of a tie, the starting player wins.
ADMINISTRATION
🏷️ Writing your move
Your turn will begin with me rolling the die. This will be done in the public game room, by using the command !1d6; @DiceParser will respond with a number indicating your roll, and hence the number of pieces you must move.
Once the die has been rolled, you can make your move. Your move must state the starting square and the ending square.
If you have to skip your turn, it will be done automatically.
👁️ Available information
There is no hidden information. All information is public. You should make your moves in the public game room.
After each move, the current board will be posted. In addition, after each of the non-starting player's turns, the current turn number will be posted.
⌛ Timing
You have the standard time controls. You have 1 minute per move, plus a time bank of 5 minutes.
As a reminder, the game has a 40-turn limit.
CLARIFICATIONS
📌 Examples
The following is an example game between Red (home row is row A) and Green (home row is row C). Red moves first.
Red rolls 4 and moves B2 to A2.
Green rolls 3 and moves A2 to A1. Note that it's allowed to move between any two cells; your home row is not private.
Red rolls 3 and moves B3 to A3. Note that Red cannot play A1 to A2 as it would reverse the turn.
Green rolls 6 and moves B4 to C4.
Red gets a lucky roll of 3 and moves B4 to A4, ending the game on Red's 3rd turn.
📌 No maximum stack size
There is no maximum stack size; a stack can grow larger than 10 pieces.
📌 Turn limit
The game ends after both players have made 40 turns each, not 40 turns in total.
Tags
Connect in a row (The game involves players connecting pieces in a row, like gomoku.)
Dice (The game involves rolling dice.)
Grid-based (The game involves play on a grid.)
Luck (The game involves an element of luck.)
Piece movement (The game involves pieces moving on a board.)
Turn-based (The game involves players taking turns one after another.)