Keys to Success

In this Main Match, attempt to escape through a series of limited doors to reach the final room.

Designer(s): Zero Match Type: MM (for 13 players)
Featured in: Zero's Gauntlet, Squeaky Genius: Legends Untold

In this game, players must aim to escape through a series of doors and reach Room 6.

Unfortunately, only 1 person can go through each door each round, and some doors can only be used once.

Everybody will start the game in Room 1 with the aim to escape to Room 6 and to not be left behind.


At the start of the game, players will be given a series of key-cards that will be spent to open the doors. Key cards cannot be traded. The values of these key cards are as follows:

{1,1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3}


Room Information:

Players may not communicate with players in different rooms.

Each round you will be told who is in your room.

Each round there will be a channel consisting of all members for each room.


Round Submissions:

Each round, players may submit their key-cards to the doors.

Players may submit to up to 2 doors in a round, but they must be adjacent.

Your submissions score for a door is equal to the sum of the values of the key-cards you submitted.

In the event a player doesn't submit, they will automatically submit their lowest numbered key-card to the far-right purple door.

All key cards submitted are discarded.


If you run out of key-cards without reaching Room 6, you lose the MainMatch.


We then look at the submissions for each door, and resolve from left to right:

If only 1 player submitted to a door, they go through the door automatically.

If multiple players submitted to the same door, the player who submitted the highest total score to that door goes through.

In the case of a tie those high scoring players are blocked and we look at the next highest total score.

This process repeats until either exactly 1 person has the highest unique score (in which case they go through the door), or everyone has been blocked (in which case nobody goes through the door).

Once somebody has gone through a door their submissions for other doors will be ignored. This means it will not be included in working out the highest unique score.


Public Information:

At the end of a round, the following information will be revealed:

The people who went through a door in your room, and which door they went through.

How many key-cards each person in your room used.

You will not be told any information of events from outside your room.


There are also 3 types of doors:

Green doors are “Open” doors. There is no limit to people going through them.

Orange doors are “Pass” doors. These will permanently lock once someone has gone through them. This is indicated by them turning red.

Purple doors are “Garnet” doors. Players who go through a Garnet door will earn a garnet at the end of the Mainmatch. The door will then locked shut for the next round and then reopened the round after.


The Room/Door Layout is as follows:




Game Results

The game ends when either at least 12 people have entered Room 6 or all players not in Room 6 have run out of key-cards.


The winner(s) of the MainMatch are those that either:


  • Were first to enter Room 6.
  • Players who went through at least 3 Pass doors and reached Room 6.

The winners will each receive a ToL.

The loser(s) of the MainMatch are the people who failed to escape.

If nobody failed to escape the losers are those who were last to escape. This excludes those who went through 3 Pass doors.

If there are multiple losers, the EC will be decided by standard tie breaking rules.


An Example

We have doors ABCD


Alpha - Submits 3 to doors A and B

Beta - Submits 2 to doors A and B

Gamma - Submits 2 to doors B and C

Omega - Submits 1 to doors B and C


Alpha goes through door A with the highest score

Beta and Gamma clash on Door B, and Omega goes through the door

Gamma goes through door C.




Main Match 1: Gatekeeping


Every nine years, Minos, ruler of Crete, demands a shipment of humans to be devoured by his Minotaur, as a tribute to his late son, Androgeos. However, Minos has gotten bored of the usual 7 youths and 7 maidens, so for this year he has devised a game to select two people who will be sent into the Labyrinth. In order to recover the keys to the Labyrinth, the thirteen of you have volunteered to participate. The rules to this game are as follows:


Overview


This is a limited communications match.




The goal of the game is to fight your way through a series of gates in order to escape the testing chamber by reaching Level 0 (Escaping the test chamber and reaching Level 0 are synonymous). However, only one person can go through each gate each round, and some gates will be permanently sealed off after they are passed through.






Every player will start with an assortment of weapons: Four daggers of strength 1, three axes of strength 2, and two broadswords of strength 3. These weapons cannot be traded with other players.




You may only communicate with players in the same Level of the test chamber as you. At the beginning of each round, you will be told who is in your Level, and you will gain access to a channel containing all players in your Level.




I repeat, under no circumstances are you permitted to communicate in any way with a player that is not in the same Level as you.


Submissions

Each round, players use their weapons to fight at gates. Players can fight at up to 2 different gates in a round, but they must be adjacent to each other. Your fighting strength at a gate is equal to the sum of the strengths of weapons you used to fight at that gate. You must use at least one weapon every round. If you do not submit for a round, or do not specify what weapon(s) you will use, you will automatically use your lowest strength weapon at the furthest right gate in your Level. All weapons used in a round are discarded.




If you run out of weapons before you escape the test chamber, you lose the match, and can no longer submit to any gates.




Processing

Gates will be processed from left to right.


If only one player submitted to a gate, they will automatically enter it.




If multiple players submitted to the same gate, the player with the highest fighting strength will enter the gate. If there is a tie for the highest fighting strength at a gate, all tied players will be blocked from entering it, and the next highest fighting strength will be checked. This process repeats until either exactly one person has the highest unique fighting strength, in which case they will enter the gate, or everyone at the gate has been blocked from entering, in which case no player will enter the gate. If a player enters a gate, their submissions for other gates will be ignored, meaning they will not be considered when working out the highest unique fighting strength.








Updates

At the end of each round, you will be told which players from your Level entered a gate, and which gates they entered. You will be told how many weapons each player in your Level used that round. You will not be told any information of events that did not occur in your Level.


At the start of each round, you will be told who is in your Level, and you will be shown the current status of all of the gates to the next Level. You will also be privately shown what weapons you have remaining.


Gate Types

There are three types of gates, Open, Pass, and Garnet.




Open: Open gates are green, and have no special effects. They can be entered by one person every round.

Pass: Pass gates start the game as orange, but will permanently close after a player enters one. Closed Pass gates will turn red, and cannot be entered for the rest of the match.

Garnet: Garnet gates are purple. Players who enter a Garnet gate will earn a Garnet at the end of the match for each Garnet gate they entered. After a player enters a Garnet gate, it will close for the next round, and then reopen the round after. Closed Garnet gates will be a darker shade of purple, and cannot be entered.




Gate Layout

All players will begin in the outer ring of the test chamber, Level 5, and work their way inwards towards the center ring with the trapdoor, Level 0.




Results

The game will end when either:

  • At least 12 players escape the test chamber by reaching Level 0...
  • ...or all players who have not escaped the test chamber have run out of weapons.





The winner(s) of the match are those who either:

  • Were the first to escape the test chamber...
  • ...or entered at least 3 Pass gates, and escaped the test chamber.

The winners will each receive a Token of Life.


The loser(s) of the match are those who failed to escape the test chamber. If nobody failed to escape, the losers will be those who were last to escape (This excludes players who entered at least 3 Pass gates). If there are multiple losers, the winner(s) will hold a majority vote to decide the Elimination Candidate from the losers. If the vote ties, the Elimination Candidate will be the loser with the least garnets. If this is still tied, the Elimination Candidate will be randomized from the losers with the least garnets.




Clarification: When submitting weapons for a round, if you submit for two gates, the weapon(s) you submit will be used at both gates, and only discarded once. For example, if a player submitted one axe to gates = and +, they would have a fighting strength of 2 at both gates, and discard one axe.


Clarification: Gates A and J are not adjacent. Gates K and R are not adjacent. Gates S and X are not adjacent. Gates Y and # are not adjacent. Gates = and - are not adjacent.


Clarification: You can submit any number of weapons in a round, the sum total of the powers of your submitted weapons will be your fighting strength at any gate(s) you submit to in that round.


Addendum: If there are multiple losers, the sole winner's choice/group of winners' votes will be due 24h after the match ends, and all communication restrictions will be lifted when the match ends.

Tags

Limited communication    (The game cuts or restricts communications in some way between players.)