Variations on a Theme of Amidakuji
In this Main Match, players will combine hints to figure out how to become on the outcome of an Amidakuji board.
| Designer(s): uriquack | Match Type: MM (for 12 players) |
| Featured in: The Genius: House of Larks | |
Variations on a Theme of Amidakuji
In this game, players will receive hints about the structure of an invisible Amidakuji board and place bets on the outcome of each board.
Amidakuji Rules
Amidakuji is played by choosing a starting letter (S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z) leg and following it to reach an ending letter leg (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H). To follow a leg, move vertically down the leg while moving once all horizontal rungs you encounter.
Horizontal rungs cannot be placed side by side (horizontally).
This is a Wikipedia resource link detailing the rules to Amidakuji.
In this Main Match, all horizontal rungs are invisible, save for four Phantom Rungs.
Phantom Rungs
There are 4 phantom rungs visible to every player that disappear or reappear at the start of every round, changing the outcome (starting number to letter) of each round.
Phantom Rung (a) starts disappeared R1 and switches every round.
Phantom Rung (b) starts appeared R1 and switches every 2 rounds.
Phantom Rung (c) starts disappeared R1 and switches every 2 rounds.
Phantom Rung (d) starts appeared R1 and switches every round.
General
Each player will receive 20 beads. The goal of the game is to bet strategically to win the greatest amount of beads from payouts by placing bets on the Amidakuji board starting letters. Each starting letter (STUVWXYZ) corresponds to an ending letter (ABCDEFGH), which earns payouts based on the ending letter's fixed placement (unrelated to the board).
Every round, players can bid up to 6 beads total (you may split these beads in any way you wish) on any of the eight starting letter legs. As the phantom rungs will change each round, the corresponding letter will change. For example, in Round 1, if you bet 6 chips on S and 1 finishes at A, then you will have 6 chips on A which will earn payouts at the end of the game based on the placement of A and the other factors explained under the payouts section.
All bids are private. However, players have one Peek each which can be used to check the number of beads that have been bid on a starting leg in that round. An additional Peek can be bought for 2 garnets.
At the beginning of the match, each player will also receive 2 hints. One hint will be about the rungs of the Amidakuji game, meaning the board's structure; the other hint will be about the fixed placement of each leg (A-H), which affects payouts. In these hints, columns will be designated by an X-Y notation. Rows will be designated by a "Row A", "Row B" notation.
Blockers
Each player will also have one blocker they can use to disable a rung. Blockers are placed in the space between rungs, such as in the following image:
When a blocker is placed, it negates the most recently crossed rung if the blocker is in the path of travel. In the above image, if the left bar is Bar 1 and the right bar is Bar 2, starting from the top of Bar 1 finishes you at the end of Bar 1, and starting from the top of Bar 2 finishes you at the end of Bar 1.
When in any given round, two blockers are placed such that both sides of a rung are blocked, as in the image below, both blockers are destroyed. These destroyed blockers are not refunded.
At the end of each round, all blockers will be announced.
Endgame and Payouts
The game ends after 5 rounds, followed by payouts.
The payout proceeds as follows:
(5 - placement of this leg) x number of beads you have on this leg x total number of beads not on this leg / total number of beads on this leg
Only the top 4 placements receive payouts.
For example, if A is the 1st placing leg, B is the 2nd placing leg, and C is the 7th placing leg, and you have 5 beads on A, 2 beads on B, and 18 beads on C, where there are 20 total beads on A, 50 total beads on B, and 80 total beads on C (and none on D-H), you earn 4 x 5 x 130 / 20 [A] + 3 x 2 x 100 / 50 [B] + 0 [C] beads for a total of 130 [A] + 12 [B] + 0 [C] = 142 total beads.
Payouts are calculated and received.
(1) The player with the highest amount of beads receives two Tokens of Life. If there are multiple players tied for first, they receive 1 Token of Life each. If more than 4 players are tied for first, nobody receives a Token a Life.
(2) The player with the second highest amount of beads receives a single Token of Life.
(3) At the end of the game, for every 120 beads, each player earns 1 garnet.
(4) The player with the least amount of beads is the EC. They may select the DMO.
Edit: point calculator discrepancy fixed.
Clarification: A blocker functions for that round only (thereby affecting only the bids for that round). Blockers affect ghost rungs if they appear in that round.
Clarification: Players have 1 Peek per the entirety of MM2 and 1 Blocker per the entirety of MM2.
Clarification: Players will not receive the same hints.
The Board
Clarification: At the end of each round, the blockers used for that round will be publicly revealed (but not who placed them). Destroyed/voided blockers will not be revealed. At the end of the match (all five rounds), players will privately be told their payouts.
Amendment: For bidding, players will place bids on S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z, not 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
This change has been reflected in the above ruleset.
Clarification: After all payouts are calculated and summed, if your final score is not a whole number, everything after the decimal point will be truncated.
Tags
Bidding (The game involves auction-style bidding.)
Intel game (The game involves collecting and exchanging initial clues to further deduce information.)
Logic (The game involves logical deductions and puzzles.)
Piece placement (The game involves pieces being placed on a board.)
Puzzle (The game tests the players' abilities to solve puzzles.)