In this Death Match, solve ice puzzles faster than your opponent.

Designer(s): Sam, uriquack	Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: Genius Invitational, Gambit Game: First Move, The Genius: Cosmic Banquet

An Ice DM is a simple observation dm that will require players to solve an ice maze faster and more efficiently than their opponent.

Ice Mazes

An Ice Maze will consist of three types of squares.

Snoms These are green tiles and can be moved throughout the maze.

Ice Tiles These are are blue tiles.

Rocks These are black tiles.

Goal Squares These are red tiles. When a Snom passes over a goal square, then it becomes locked into that square unmoving (and will function as a rock). There can only be 1 Snom on a goal square a time.

Solving a maze

A solution to the maze is an issue of orders (left, right, up, and down in some sequence) that leads to all the Snoms being on Goal Squares. When you issue an order, all the Snoms will move in that direction until they hit a rock or a border.

There will be at least 1 Snom in each maze and at least as many goal spaces as Snoms. The minimum dimensions will be 5x5 and the maximum will be 20x20. You can submit at most 15 moves in an answer.

A player can buzz in at any time, and will then have 1 minute to write a solution to the maze. After they suggest a solution, then the other player has 1 minute to suggest a solution that takes less moves.

There are three outcomes possible:

Player 1 has a solution, and it was shorter than or equal in length to Player 2's solution - Player 1 scores a point

Player 2 has a solution that was shorter than Player 1's solution - Player 2 scores a point

Player 1's solution is incorrect (or timed out). Player 2 scores a point

If neither player buzzes in after about 10 minutes, then the round will be junked. A maximum of 20 rounds will be played, after which the leading player, or player with most garnets in a tie, will win the game.

The player with more garnets, instead of buzzing in, can once a game say skip maze, the current maze will be skipped (if no one else buzzed in).

Winner

The game winner will be the first player to reach 7 points.

The above is an example board

Correction: Player 2 does not score if they time out

Addendum: No external tools may be used during the game related to solving a board. You may use a stopwatch or similar to keep track of time.

Rule change: When buzzing in as player 1, you must write how many moves your solution requires. When presenting your solution, you must move exactly the number of steps stated when you buzzed in. If your solution consists of any other amount of steps - fewer or more - your opponent will gain a point.

Clarification: "Buzzing in" in this context is done by typing a number. Typing anything else than a number is not considered buzzing. I will accept the first legal submission - which means any number between 1 and 15, but not above 15. I will not grant lenience towards typos.

DM4: Shepherd's Way

In this Death Match, players will guide sheep through a maze faster and more efficiently than their opponent.

This game is a re-skinned version of An Ice DM by Sam with some minor changes.

🐑 Gameplay

A maze will consist of the following types of tiles:

Sheep - These are white tiles and can be moved throughout the maze.

Dirt - These are brown tiles that can be walked over by the sheep.

Rocks - These are gray tiles that cannot be walked over by the sheep.

Grass - These are green tiles. When a sheep passes over a grass tile, it becomes locked into that tile unmoving (and will function as a rock). There can only be 1 sheep on a grass tile a time.

A solution to the maze is an issue of orders (left, right, up, and down in some sequence) that leads to all the sheep being on grass tiles. When you issue an order, all the sheep will move in that direction until they hit a rock, a border, or another sheep.

There will be at least 1 sheep in each maze and at least as many grass tiles as sheep.

🧠 Solving

A player can buzz in at any time, then give the number of moves that their solution to the maze will take. The other player will then have 20 seconds to buzz in with a smaller number of moves. This process repeats until 20 seconds have gone by without a player buzzing in.

After the move count has been finalized, the player that made the final claim will be given 30 seconds to suggest a solution using that exact number of moves.

If the solution is correct and matches the move count given, the solver scores 1 point. Otherwise, the other player scores 1 point.

If neither player buzzes in after 10 minutes, then the round will be skipped with neither player scoring a point.

👑 Winning

You win the Death Match when you score 4 points.

The winner of Shepherd's Way will stay in the game and earn 2 garnets for their victory.

The loser of Shepherd's Way becomes the fourth player eliminated from The Genius: Cosmic Banquet.

❓ Example

The following is an example of a maze. A possible solution would be URULDRU (directions have been shortened to their first letter (D for down, U for up, etc.).

Clarification: Notetaking is legal.

Clarification: Buzz-in is done by calling a number in chat.