Battle of LITS

In this Death Match, wisely use the shared inventory of tetrominoes to cover up more of your opponent's territory than your own. (Original design by Grant Fikes)

Designer(s): Non-original Game Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: The Genius Puzzler

Death Match 2: Battle of LITS

In Battle of LITS, players place pieces on a board following the rules of the logic puzzle LITS, protecting their symbols while covering their opponent's.


This game is adapted from a board game of the same name, invented by Grant Fikes in 2011. However problematic the person was, I must admit the game is very good and worth playing. I thought this game has been played in a previous ORG before, but apparently that was not the case.


RULES

The game will take place on a 12x12 board. (Note: This is a difference from the original board game.) The board contains some O's and X's. The board is guaranteed to be rotationally anti-symmetric; if a cell contains an O, the cell rotationally opposite of it contains an X, and vice versa.


Each DM has a board that has been designed beforehand; it will only be revealed at the start of the corresponding DM. The following is an example board; it may or may not reflect the actual boards used.



The DM Opponent chooses whether to play as O or as X; the opponent will play the other. The player playing O will start by making a move described below. However, the pie rule is in effect; on X's first turn, they have the choice to swap sides, playing as O instead and taking the move made as the first turn. (Then the player that was originally O will become X and make their move.) The pie rule option can only be exercised at the start of X's first turn.


On your turn, you must place a piece on the board. The available pieces are shown to the right of the board. Each piece is a tetromino (a piece made of four squares joined together), and there are four types named after the letter they resemble: red L, yellow I, green T, and blue S. The piece must satisfy these rules:

  • The piece must be aligned to the grid.
  • The piece cannot cover existing pieces or extend out of the grid.
  • Other than the first piece placed, the piece must be adjacent to an existing piece. It must share at least one unit segment worth of adjacency; touching at a point is not enough.
  • The piece cannot be adjacent to a piece of the same type. Touching at a point is okay.
  • The piece cannot cause a 2x2 area to be completely covered.

The O/X symbols don't matter to determine if a piece is legally placed.


The supply contains 5 pieces of each type. If a type runs out, you can no longer place pieces of that type. (Note: The supply still only contains 5 pieces of each type even though the board is larger compared to the board game.)


The game ends when there is no more legal move to be made. The player that have more of their symbols visible (not covered by a piece) wins the game. In case of a tie, the player that made the last move wins.


ADMINISTRATION

Timing

You have 1 minute for each of your turns, plus 5 minutes of time bank. If you run out of time for your turn, you will begin using your time bank. Your 1-minute is replenished every turn, but time used up from your time bank is gone for the rest of this DM. If your time bank runs out, you immediately lose the game.


Submissions

All submissions are done in public, in the game room. We will take the first submission you post, unless you quickly correct it (e.g. to fix a typo).


To place a piece, simply state the four cells it covers. The type is inferred based on that.


Information

All information in this game is public.

Tags

Grid-based    (The game involves play on a grid.)

Piece placement    (The game involves pieces being placed on a board.)

Polyominoes    (The game involves polyominoes of size greater than 2 in its mechanics.)

Strategy    (The game tests the players' strategic & tactical abilities.)

Turn-based    (The game involves players taking turns one after another.)