Battle of the Flower Domain

Death Match: Battle of the Flower Domain

SUMMARY

RULES

This game takes place on two 10 by 10 boards: the meadow and the garden. Players will be taking flowers from the meadow and placing them in the garden in order to form the largest group of their colors.

✏️ There are four types of flowers: red (diamond), yellow (hexagon), green (square), and blue (circle). These colors can be easily changed upon request.

At the beginning of the game, the meadow will be filled with flowers (25 of each color) and the garden will be empty. Players will snake draft (ABBA) for which colors they wish to control; the player with the advantage will decide who goes first in the draft. The player who controls the red color goes first in the main phase of the game.

Players will take turns taking flowers from the meadow and placing them in the garden. On a player's turn, they may select an orthogonally connected set of flowers that are all distinctly colored from the meadow; this set must be of at least size 2. They may then place it (as one connected group) in the garden in any orientation (rotation and reflection allowed) on empty spaces. On the first player's first turn, they may only select a group of 2 flowers.

Additionally, instead of taking a turn, a player may pass.

✏️ If a player fails to submit, they will automatically pass.

WINNING

The game ends when both players pass four times in a row (two times from each player). Each player's score is the sum of the size of their largest orthogonally connected region of each of their colors. The player with the higher score wins. In the case of a tie, each color's second largest group will also be added to their score, and so on until the tie is resolved.

✏️ If the tie is never resolved, the player who controls the blue color wins the DM.

SUBMISSIONS

✏️ At the start of the DM, the Meadow grid will be revealed. Both players will have 3 minutes to examine the Meadow. Then, the player with the advantage will decide who drafts first, and afterwards the drafting phase begins.

✏️ Players will have 90 seconds per turn, with 5 minutes of reserve. Running out of time means you automatically pass.

✏️ As an example, a valid submission could be "A1-B1-C1-C2 to B3-B2-B1-A1". Different formats are acceptable too.

Amendment: In future plays of this Death Match, the first move restrictions will be changed. Instead of being forced to make a two-piece move, the first player (the player with red) is forced to make a four-piece move that must cover at least one of the center four cells of the grid.

For transparency, we do not believe that the original game is significantly red-favored; however, this change should lower the skill floor and make the game more enjoyable overall.