Four Seasons

Four Seasons

In this game, players grow seasonal houseplants by assigning and claiming points to different pots.

General

This game is played over six rounds, including a singular 24 hour pregame period during which a submission must be made and five rounds of play.

There are four pots: the Spring Pot, the Summer Pot, the Autumn Pot, and the Winter Pot.

In each round, players privately assign an integer value to each pot:

For the Spring Pot, players may choose between 2 and 7 (all inclusive),

For the Summer Pot, players may choose between 1 and 5,

For the Autumn Pot, players may choose between 0 and 3,

And for the Winter Pot, players may choose between 0 and 2.

You may also spend 3 garnets to add an additional point to one pot of your choice; this point, in addition to your original point value assignment, may exceed the maximum limit of 7 points for Spring, 5 for Summer, 3 for Autumn, and 2 for Winter. This may only be done once per player on Round 2 or Round 4.

At the end of a round, per each pot, all values are summed with leftover unclaimed points from previous rounds to form that round’s Total Pot Value.

Each round, you must also privately submit two Calls on two different Pots. If at the end of the round your Call for a pot is exactly equal to the Total Pot Value for that pot, you earn X / Y points from the pot, for which X = the Total Pot Value and Y = the total number of correct Calls made in that round.

At the beginning of each round, if you are the player with the least points, you will earn two additional Calls for that round only. Those two Calls will be split evenly among all last place scorers, rounded down, meaning, if there are two last place players, they will earn one additional Call each. All Calls must be used on different Pots.

Public Declarations, Bluffs, and Challenges

Prior to each round, players must also choose 1 pot for which they publicly declare their submission and a value submission. This value will be their fixed submission for that pot in the ensuing round, with one exception–if it is a bluff.

A player can make bluffs over the course of the Main Match in the form of a public declaration. A bluff is any value that differs from the publicly declared value, and can be made during the course of the round the bluff accrues (meaning, you do not have to designate a bluff as a bluff during the round prior).

Bluffs, however, can be challenged.

If you challenge a public claim and it turns out to be a bluff, the person who bluffed will lose X points this round, for which X = the Total Pot Value of the pot for which the public declaration was made.

If you challenge a public claim and it turns out to not be a bluff, you will lose X / N points this round, rounded up, for which X = the Total Pot Value of the pot for which the public declaration was made and N = the number of total people who incorrectly call that bluff.

There is no limit to the number of bluffs or challenges each player can make.

Submissions and Administration

During the Pregame Phase, players must submit their Round 1 public declarations.

During Rounds 1-4 of the Main Match, players must submit their Rounds 2-5 public declarations, their four assigned values per pot for Rounds 1-4, and their Calls per pot for Rounds 1-4, and any bluffs or bluff challenges. During Round 5, players must submit their four assigned values per pot for Round 5, their Calls per pot for Round 5, and any bluffs or bluff challenges.

An example of a submission for Round 2 might appear as such (you do not have to strictly follow the format; use whatever is comfortable for you as long as it can be understood):

MarcerMercer's Submission

Round 3 Public Declaration: Summer 3

Round 2 Assign 4 Spring, 1 Summer (Bluff), 2 Fall, 1 Winter

Public information that will be revealed each round consists of the following:

1. All players’ public declarations for the following round.
2. All players’ overall score.
3. All players’ Calls per pot and points earned from Calls.
4. Each pot’s Pot Value at the end of the round, after Calls and points are collected, i.e. the points that will carry over to that pot in the next round.
5. All challenges, whether those challenges succeed, and points lost from challenges.

The singular player with the greatest amount of points wins the Main Match and an additional Token of Life to distribute. If this is tied between two players, both players win one Token of Life each for themselves; no Tokens of Life are to be distributed. If this is tied among three or more players, the following tiebreaks occur, in order:

1. The player who assigned the greatest total sum of points to all pots over the course of all five rounds will win the tiebreak and become the sole winner.
2. The player who made the greatest number of successful bluffs over the course of all five rounds will win the tiebreak.
3. Gamewide Tiebreak.

The singular player with the least amount of points loses the Main Match and will become the Elimination Candidate. The same tiebreaks apply if this is tied:

1. The player who assigned the greatest total sum of points to all pots over the course of all five rounds will win the tiebreak and escape the position of Elimination Candidate.
2. The player who made the greatest number of successful bluffs over the course of all five rounds will win the tiebreak.
3. Gamewide Tiebreak.

Clarification: You may only spend 3 garnets to add an additional point to any pot of your choice once on Round 2 and once on Round 4. This mechanic is unavailable for the rest of the rounds.

Clarification: For any given round, Public Declarations are privately declared in your submissions channels on the round prior. I will publicly reveal them at the beginning of each round.

Clarification: You can go into negative points (in the case of calling bluffs).

Addendum: The winner of the Main Match will earn 2 garnets. At the end of the game, for every 10 points, rounded up, each player will earn 1 garnet. (Players with negative points will not lose garnets.)

Clarification:

Each round, you must also privately submit two Calls on two different Pots. If at the end of the round your Call for a pot is exactly equal to the Total Pot Value for that pot, you earn X / Y points from the pot, for which X = the Total Pot Value and Y = the total number of correct Calls made in that round for that pot.

bolded clarification for scoring

Clarification:

If multiple people challenge a singular player, each challenge is parsed individually. If two people correctly challenge Marcer, Marcer will lose 2X points.

Clarification: Challenge/bluff penalties carry the value of X after players' integer values have been added to the pot but before pots are claimed.

Clarification: Challenges for a bluff can be made on the rounds during and after players have made their private submissions for that bluff. However, if the challenge parses for the round during, it will no longer be available for the round after. (If the bluff is made on Round 1 and the private submission on Round 2, then the submission can be challenged both on Round 2 and on Round 3).

The final round's bluffs can only be challenged on the final round.

Clarification: The value of a challenge’s penalty is determined by the value of the pot (after integer values have been added and before pots have been claimed) on the round of the submission that is challenged.

Clarification: The example submission above does not account for Calls. A proper submission with Calls would appear as follows:

MarcerMercer's Submission

Round 3 Public Declaration: Summer 3

Round 2 Assign 4 Spring, 1 Summer (Bluff), 2 Fall, 1 Winter

Calls:

4 Spring 3 Summer 2 Fall 1 Winter