Pyramid Superiority

🌺 Main Match 11: Pyramid Superiority 🌺

Grow your groups on the pyramid with the help of the guests.

You will be joined by guests that will help you in building a pyramid... although they will have their own interests, too. The guests will fight in a bidding war to propose pieces, which you will later use to build the pyramid. By tactically placing pieces to possibly cover existing cells, your goal is to form big groups of your cells whenever it's time to evaluate and score your progress.

RULES

This game features 6 guests, divided into two groups of 3. All players are in Blue Meadow. The guests in Red Meadow are eliminated players, and the guests in Green Meadow are volunteer spectators. Hopefully you still have your bellflowers!

Each player/guest receives a type: green grass, red fire, or blue water. Note that these colors should not be confused with the meadow colors. Types have stronger-than relationship like in many video games: fire beats grass, water beats fire, and grass beats water.

Each meadow contains one of each type; that is, one player has grass, one player has fire, one player has water; also, in each of the guest meadows, one guest has grass, one guest has fire, and one guest has water. All these types are randomly chosen, and will be known to everyone.

The game uses pieces. A piece is a 2x2 square of cells, where each cell can be grass, fire, or water. (They will be represented only using colors; tell me if you have trouble with these colors.) It is guaranteed that each piece consists of two cells of a type and one cell of each other type; the type with two cells is called the majority type. In addition, one of the cells has a star, which makes it more valuable. The following is an example of a piece:

Players will use pieces to build a pyramid. The pyramid consists of 3 levels: the base consists of 3x3 pieces (forming 6x6 cells), the middle consists of 2x2 pieces (forming 4x4 cells), and the apex consists of 1 piece (forming 2x2 cells). The middle is centered on top of the base, and the apex is centered on top of the middle. This means each piece in the middle and the apex is supported by 4 pieces below it. The pyramid starts off empty:

Each player/guest also begins with a number of chips, used for bidding. Each player starts with 50 chips, and each guest starts with 20 chips. Chips are not tradable. However, players may send chips to guests; the rules for this are described later, during player submissions.

The game is divided into 14 rounds. Each round consists of two parts: proposal stage and construction stage. The construction stage of a round overlaps with the proposal stage of the next round. The guests will play the proposal stage, and the players will play the construction stage.

PROPOSAL STAGE - FOR GUESTS

The guests play the proposal stage of each round.

At the start of the round, each guest receives a piece. The piece will have a majority type matching the guest; for example, a guest with grass type will receive a piece with majority type grass (i.e. has 2 grass cells, 1 fire cell, and 1 water cell). However, the piece will not yet have a star.

These pieces are known to their respective meadows. The eliminated player guests know each other's pieces, but don't know the spectator guests' pieces, and vice versa.

Guests, your task is to have your piece proposed, but more importantly, to place a star in a cell matching your type.

Your submission consists of the following:

• A number of chips you want to bid, in order to propose this piece.
• One of the cells you try to place a star in: top-left, top-right, bottom-left, or bottom-right.
• In addition, you may spend 5 chips. If you do so, you may rotate your piece by any multiple of 90 degrees. You may not reflect your piece.

At the end of the round, all bids are revealed to their respective meadows, and all bids are taken regardless of whether they win. The highest bidder gets their piece proposed.

• In case two guests are tied for highest bid, the one with the stronger type wins. For example, if grass and fire guests are tied, the fire guest wins.
• In case all three guests in a meadow are tied, the one whose type is stronger against the previous round's winner wins. (For the first round, assume the previous round's winner is grass type.) For example, if the previous round's winner was the water guest, and all three are tied this round, then the grass type guest wins.

Also, all attempts of starring cells are revealed. Only one cell will receive a star:

• If at least two guests try to place a star in the same cell, then that cell gets the star.
• Otherwise, there is one cell that doesn't get starred by the guests; that cell is the one that gets a star. For example, if the guests try to place a star in the top-left, bottom-left, and bottom-right cells, then the cell that gets the star is the top-right cell instead.

You score 2 points if your piece gets proposed, and 3 points if a cell of your type gets starred. After all 14 rounds, your points are all added up together. In addition, if there is a sole guest with the most chips remaining, they get an additional 4 points. (If there is a tie for the number of chips remaining, nobody gets any bonus points.)

While the exact breakdown of submissions is known to the guests in a meadow, the other players/guests will only see what piece gets proposed and where the star is. (However, these are enough to reconstruct the guests' points.)

In each meadow, the guest with the most points wins. In case of a tie, there can only be two guests that tie; the guest with the stronger type wins.

The winning guests will be able to give additional support: they may give 1 cosmos to the finalist of their choice. They will be contacted later on how they will be able to give their extra cosmos. These extra cosmos are optional; the winners may elect not to use them.

CONSTRUCTION STAGE - FOR PLAYERS

The players play the construction stage of each round.

At the start of each construction stage, the proposal stage of the round must have just ended. Each of the guest meadows thus proposes a piece, with a star on one of the cells.

Players, your task is to build the pyramid, so that during scoring rounds, you have a large group of your cells visible from the top.

Your submission consists of the following:

• A number of chips you want to bid, for the right to build the pyramid.
• One of the two proposed pieces, together with its orientation and position. There are some rules for this, see below.
• Optionally, you may send any number of your chips to the guests in any way you want. The chips will be sent at the end of the construction stage, meaning they will only be able to use the chips for the next proposal stage. You may not send chips in the last construction stage.

You may use garnets in place of chips, but only if you have run out of your regular chips. Each garnet can be converted into 1 chip. You will automatically use garnets once you run out of chips; you cannot turn excess garnets into chips without immediately using the chips. (In particular, you cannot use the chips to get the bonus for holding the most remaining chips; see below in scoring.)

The rules for who gets the right to build are identical to the guests: the highest bidder gets it; in case of a tie for two, the stronger type gets it; in case of a tie for three, the stronger type against the previous round's winner (against grass in the first round) gets it. All chips used for bidding are taken, not just the winner's.

The second part of your submission consists of a piece and its placement. If you win the right to build, you will place the selected piece in the position you choose. There are a few rules to this:

• Like the guests, if you wish to rotate the piece, you must pay 5 chips. You cannot reflect the piece. The star is part of the piece and will rotate along with the piece.
• Pieces must be placed in order to allow their full placement. For example, the base must be 3x3; it's not allowed to straddle a piece that makes it impossible to complete a 3x3.
• The very first piece placed can be anywhere on the base. After that, if you want to place a piece on the base, it must be adjacent to an existing piece. (You need horizontal/vertical adjacency; just touching diagonally isn't enough.)
• If you want to place the piece in the middle or the apex, the 4 supporting pieces beneath it must already exist. You cannot build on top of an empty cell. But you don't have to build next to an adjacent middle piece.

There are a few components for your score. The first is for winning bids: getting the right to place a piece in the N-th round scores N points. However, most of your score comes from scoring rounds.

At the end of rounds 6, 11, and 14, there is a scoring round. All scoring rounds work the same; however, scores in a scoring round are multiplied by a multiplier that depends on the round:

Round Multi

6 2x

11 3x

14 4x

In a scoring round, you will score for cells of your type, plus for having the largest connected group of cells.

• In all cases, a starred cell counts as an additional 2 cells (for a total of 3).
• You score 1 point per cell of your type.
• You score 1 additional point per cell in the largest connected group of your type. (Cells only connect horizontally and vertically, never diagonally.) If multiple groups are tied for highest, only count one group.
• In addition, the largest group overall scores 2 additional points per cell; the second-largest group scores 1 additional point per cell. These groups may belong to the same player. In case of a tie, take the lower reward. For example, if two groups are tied for highest, they both score 1 point per cell; if two groups are tied for second-highest, they score nothing.

As an example: grass type has groups of size 3 (+2 stars in it), 3, 1; fire type has groups of size 6, 4 (+1 star in it), 2; water type has groups of size 3, 3, 3, 3.

• From simply having 1 point per cell: grass scores 11 (each star counts as 2 cells), fire scores 14, water scores 12.
• From your respective largest groups: grass scores 7 (the group with the star counts as 3+2+2), fire scores 6 (the group with the star counts as 4+2 = 6, but you can only score one largest group), water scores 3 (score only one largest group).
• The largest group overall is by grass, scoring 7x2.
• The second-largest groups are shared, both by fire: the 6 and the 4 plus star are both size 6. There is no bonus for the second-largest group.

In total, grass scores 32 points, fire scores 20 points, and water scores 15 points. These are then multiplied by the round's multiplier.

Note that groups are scored by looking at the pyramid "from the top". That means pieces in the middle/apex will cover cells underneath them, and it's possible to have a group spanning multiple layers. Empty cells don't belong to anyone.

At the end of the game, the player with the most chips scores an additional 20 points. In case of a tie, nobody scores this bonus.

To recap, your score comes from:

• Winning bids: winning the right to build in the N-th round scores you N points.
• Scoring cells of your type and largest groups. These only happen in scoring rounds: rounds 6, 11, and 14.
• Having the most remaining chips: the sole player to have the most chips remaining gets 20 points.

The player with the most points wins; they receive a cosmos and a Token of Life, sending the other two players into the Death Match. In case of a tie for two, the player with the stronger type wins. (In case of a tie for all, pseud wins as the winner of the previous Main Match and will decide the Elimination Candidate. This is highly unlikely and I bet it won't happen, but it is technically possible so I'll put the rules here.)

The player with the least points loses and becomes the Elimination Candidate. In case of a tie for two, the player with the weaker type loses. (In case of a tie for all, pseud as the winner will choose the Elimination Candidate.)

ADMINISTRATION

📌 🀄 Player items

The game involves pieces that consist of 2x2 colored cells having a star. Pieces are technically never in your possession, and so you cannot trade pieces.

You have some chips. Players start with 50 chips; guests start with 20 chips. Chips are not tradable; however, players may send chips to guests as part of their submissions. Players may also exchange garnets for chips once they run out of chips.

📌 ⏰ Timing

The game consists of 15 "days". Each phase of a round takes place in a day, so a round covers two consecutive days; for example, the proposal stage of round 1 is on day 1, and the construction stage is on day 2.

Each day lasts for approximately 24 hours, except for the first day that lasts for approximately 48 hours. The deadline of every round is at 3pm UTC ( your local time); allow a few minutes for updating.

The deadline is exact; submissions significantly beyond the deadline (e.g. more than 1 minute after the deadline) are not accepted, even if I am not yet present to update. I reserve the right to extend days by some multiple of 24 hours for any reason; usually this is because of a player/guest emergency or because of a situation that makes me unable to give a timely update.

📌 🧠 Submission

A guest's submission consists of:

• A bid of a number of chips to propose your piece
• A cell you try to place a star in
• Optionally, an orientation you wish to rotate your piece into; this costs 5 chips

If you fail to submit, you are bidding 0 and placing the star on the first cell of your type (in the order: top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right).

A player's submission consists of:

• A bid of a number of chips for the right to build
• A proposed piece and its location, in case you win the right
• Optionally, an orientation you wish to rotate the piece into; this costs 5 chips
• Optionally, any number of chip transfers to guests

If you fail to submit, you are bidding 0, taking the piece from the eliminated players' meadow, and placing it on the first empty spot in the lowest layer in reading order.

📌 📡 Information

This game has the following pieces of information, along with how and when they are revealed to the players/guests, if at all. If a piece of information is not in this list, it is likely not known to anyone, but feel free to clarify.

🔺 Publicly announced, at the start of the game

• What type everyone is.

🔺 Announced to each guest's meadow, at the start of each proposal stage

• What piece everyone in the meadow gets.

🔺 Announced to each guest's meadow, at the end of each proposal stage

• What bid everyone in the meadow made. Therefore, the winner of the bid.
• Which cell everyone in the meadow tried to place a piece in. Therefore, the cell containing the star.

🔺 Publicly announced, at the end of each proposal stage

• What piece each guest meadow proposes, together with its star.
• How many points each guest has.

🔺 Announced to the players, at the end of each construction stage

• What bid everyone made. Therefore, the winner of the bid.
• What piece/location the winner chose. Therefore, the new state of the pyramid.
• How many points everyone has. In case a scoring round just ended, also a breakdown of the scoring round.

🔻 Explicitly only known to you

• How many chips you hold.
• For guests, whether you received chips from the players, and how many.

🔺 Publicly announced, at the end of the game

• All scores, and thus all winners.

📌 💎 ORG items

You can gain ORG currency in this way:

• Players, at the end of the game, you get 1 cosmos if you are the winner.
• Guests, at the end of the game, the winning guests get 1 extra cosmos they may give to the finalists, just like the usual support from eliminated players.

You can spend garnets in this way:

• You may spend 1 garnet for 1 chip. You may only do this if you run out of chips.