Lockmaker

Lockmaker

In this game, players draft pieces to be used to construct sliding Lock puzzles for their opponent.

General

The game will be played over the course of 5 rounds, or until one player has earned 16 points.

There are two parts to each round: the Lockmaking Phase and the Lockpicking Phase.

In the Lockmaking Phase, players alternate drafting pieces for a sliding Lock puzzle.

Board sizes and shapes will be revealed at the time of the game. Boards will be no larger than a 11x11 area.

Then, in the Lockmaking Phase, players solve each other’s locks (and/or their own) to earn points.

External programming tools and solvers may not be used during this Death Match (besides self-made visual assistance tools). Note-taking tools such as spreadsheets (without formulas) and image editors are allowed.

Lockmaking Phase

At the beginning of the Lockmaking Phase, players are given 90 seconds to assess the board size and shape, as well as the pieces offered to be drafted for the round.

During this time in the very first round, the Death Match Opponent must choose whether they wish to draft first or second in the first round. This will determine the drafting order for the rest of the Death Match, as the starting drafter will alternate every round.

Then, the drafting will begin.

Pieces are drafted in snake order: for which the first player to draft is A and the second player to draft is B, the drafting order will be A BB AA BB AA BB AA BB...A, or until both players have chosen to stop drafting pieces.

Each player’s turn in the drafting period lasts 45 seconds.

All drafted pieces must be used when constructing one’s Lock.

After the draft, players must in 7 minutes (420 seconds) design a Lock for their opponent to solve using the pieces they have drafted.

Pieces

When constructing a Lock, pieces must be placed within a grid of cells. Besides the LABEL edge, pieces may be placed in all LIGHT GREY cells. You may not place (or move, whether sliding or rotating) a piece into DARK GREY cells.

A piece cannot slide off the edge of the board, into darkened grey cells, or past another piece.

The Key is a 1x2 (length x height) or 2x1 piece that may be placed anywhere within the grid. The Lockmaker decides the unitary length of the Key; if the Key is a 1x2 piece, then the Key may only be slid up or down during the Lockpicking Phase; if the Key is a 2x1 piece, then the Key may only be slid left or right during the Lockpicking Phase.

The Keyhole is a 1x1 piece that must be placed on an (unlabeled) edge of the board. The Keyhole may not be moved.

Neither the Key nor the Keyhole is a draftable piece; they will be directly given to both players at the start of the round.

Vertical pieces (length x height where height > length) may only slide up and down. Vertical pieces will always be 1 x a in unitary length for which a > 1.

Horizontal pieces (length x height where length > height) may only slide left and right. Horizontal pieces will always be b x 1 in unitary length for which b > 1.

Axis pieces are 1x1 in size and may not move up, left, down or right, but are capable of rotating their attached pieces 90 degrees. Axis pieces MUST be attached to at least one other non-axis piece such that the side the axis piece is attached to is of length 1 unit.

You may unattach a piece from an axis piece by sliding it in a direction it ordinarily moves (as long as at least one piece remains attached to the axis piece).

An axis rotation is capable of ignoring pieces that appear “in the way” of the rotation. In the following image, the axis rotates 90 degrees clockwise.

Lockpicking Phase

The Lockpicking Phase is broken up into two sub-phases: the Solving Phase and the Countersolve Phase. Reserve time cannot be used during the Lockpicking Phase.

In the Solving Phase, players will pick the Locks constructed by their opponent. To pick a Lock, you list the moves needed to get the Key piece to the Keyhole piece such that the side of the Key that touches the Keyhole is of length 1 unit.

When listing moves, you may use an image editor or any notational format; the board will be labeled in a grid with algebraic notation. (Please check with me to see if your method is legible.)

A preferred notation format would be to sequentially list the pieces and their movements.

The following image is an example of a Lock.

The solution to this Lock is to slide the BC1 piece 1 space to the left, the C34 piece 2 spaces downward, and the Key 1 space to the right. This solution is a three move solution.

During the Solving Phase, players may list multiple solutions. At the end of the Solving Phase, players will be given 30 seconds to decide on the solution they wish to submit. That solution’s speed (from the time the Lock’s image is posted) and number of moves will be taken as the final solution for the round.

The number of moves is counted by the number of times any piece is moved. (The number of spaces a piece moves does not add to the number of moves; sliding a piece 1 space to the left is the same number of moves as sliding it 2 spaces to the left). Moving Piece A, moving Piece B, then returning to move Piece A again constitutes 3 moves.

During the Solving Phase, a player may declare their opponent’s Lock impossible.

After the Solving Phase, players enter the Countersolving Phase. Once the players’ solutions are publicly announced, they have 30 seconds to decide whether they wish to Countersolve. (Players may opt to not Countersolve. If you choose to not Countersolve, no points will be earned according to the Countersolve formula.)

Players must then provide a solution to their own Lock they constructed in this round in the time their opponent took to solve the Lock.

If you fail to provide a solution to your own Lock within the allotted time, the Solver earns 3 points.

If you successfully provide a solution to your own Lock within the allotted time, you or your opponent earns 1 point. If the Countersolver’s solution took fewer moves, then the Countersolver earns 1 point; if the Solver’s solution took fewer (or the same amount of) moves, the Solver earns 2 points.

If a Lock was declared impossible, the player who constructed the Lock must immediately proceed to the Countersolving Phase; they are allotted 5 minutes to solve the Lock. If after 5 minutes the Lock remains unsolved, the Solver who declared the Lock impossible will earn 5 points. If a Lock that was declared impossible is solved by its creator, the creator of the Lock will earn 1 point.

Point Scoring

Players will earn points as follows:

+1 point if during the Solving Phase you solve the board within the 5 minute time limit.

+1 point if during the Solving Phase you solve the board faster than the other player. (In the case of timing discrepancies pertaining to Discord/host error, I will Snowflake the difference in time between your final valid solution and the time the image of the Lock is sent).

+2 points if during the Solving Phase you solve your opponent's board in fewer moves than the other player solved your board.

+1 point or 2 points for Countersolving; if the Countersolver's solution is of shorter move length, they earn 1 point, but if the Solver's solution is of shorter or equal move length, they earn 2 points.

+5 points for successfully declaring a Lock impossible.

+1 point for solving your Lock that was declared impossible.

Administration

Besides drafting and choosing whether to Countersolve, which will take place publicly, all submissions will take place in your private submissions channels.

For the Lockmaking Phase, players will be allotted 8 minutes of overall reserve in twenty 30 second periods. If you run out of reserve time, you automatically lose the Death Match.

As a reminder, the time allotments are as follow:

in Lockmaking (reserve may be used),

90 seconds to assess the board prior to drafting, 45 seconds to select your draft pieces, 7 minutes (420 seconds) to design your Lock,

in Lockpicking (reserve may not be used),

5 minutes to pick the Lock, 30 seconds to decide on your solution, 30 seconds to decide whether to Countersolve after the solutions’ move lengths and speeds are announced,

and x seconds to Countersolve (for which x = the amount of time it took for the Solver to solve your Lock)

Winning

At the end of a round, when a player reaches 16 points,

If only one player has reached 16 points, that player wins the Death Match.

If both players have reached 16 points, the player with more points wins.

• If both players have reached 16 points, the score is tied, and fewer than 5 rounds have been played, another round will be played.
• If both players have reached 16 points, the score is tied, and 5 rounds have been played, the player who was most recently leading in points wins the Death Match.

If neither player earns 16 points at the end of 5 rounds, the player with the higher point score wins the Death Match. If this is tied, the player who was most recently leading in points wins the Death Match.

• If both players' point counts have been tied for the entire duration of the Death Match, the Death Match Opponent will be the victor.

Clarification: Changing the directional orientation of a piece with the axis changes the direction in which it slides; if a vertical pieces is rotated such that it become a horizontal piece, it will slide left and right as a horizontal piece.

Clarification: When placing pieces to construct your Lock, horizontal and vertical pieces' directional orientations cannot be changed. You must place a horizontal piece as a horizontal piece and a vertical piece as a vertical piece.

Clarification: Calling the board impossible will lock the impossible call as the final solution.

Clarification: There must always be at least one piece attached to any given axis piece. If your Lock doesn't fulfill this requirement, it is considered illegal. For Locks, the latest valid submission within the 7 minute period will be taken; if you go into reserve, the earliest valid submission will be taken during reserve.

Clarification: A player may choose to stop drafting at any point. The other player then can take from the remaining pieces and/or end the draft.

Clarification: If you successfully declare a Lock impossible, the other player can earn only one point (if they solve your Lock).

+1 point if during the Solving Phase you solve the board faster than the other player. (In the case of timing discrepancies pertaining to Discord/host error, I will Snowflake the difference in time between your final valid solution and the time the image of the Lock is sent).

+2 points if during the Solving Phase you solve your opponent's board in fewer moves than the other player solved your board.

Points earned from these will not be counted.

Clarification: If you fail to submit a valid solution as the Solver, you will have neither a valid time nor a valid number of moves.

Clarification: Axis pieces rotate in 90 degree increments. They can rotate 180 degrees at once.