Dueling Monsters

In this Death Match, play a variant of Goofspiel where you play two cards each round instead of one, with one card acting as the tiebreaker for the other.

Designer(s): CaffeineBoost	Match Type: DM (for 2 players)
Featured in: Age of Information, DM Colosseum, The Squeaky Genius: Legends Untold

⚔ 1,2,3 Goofspiel ⚔

This game appeared in The Genius: Age of Information, hosted by CaffeineBoost, as Death Match 1. This game was inspired from a game called Goofspiel, created by Merrill Flood.

The goal of the game is to win valuable prize cards by playing a higher card than the opponent. However, cards come in two colors, allowing what would be a sure loser to win.

RULES

The game is a best-of-3 match. The game is divided into 3 bouts; each bout is an identical game and independent from other bouts. The first player to win 2 bouts wins. The rest of these rules talk about a single bout.

Each player begins with the same set of cards: 9 black cards and 9 white cards. The black cards are 3 copies of 1-3 each, while the white cards are numbered uniquely 1-9.

In addition, there is a set of 9 prizes, numbered 1-9. At the beginning of the bout, the prizes are shuffled randomly and put in order; its order is unknown from the players.

The bout is divided into 9 rounds. Each round, the prize corresponding to the current round will be revealed. You must then play a black card and a white card that you still have. Both players play simultaneously and privately.

Once both players have submitted, the black cards are revealed first. If you submit a higher black card than your opponent, you get the prize. In addition, the white cards are not revealed; however, it will be revealed which white card is higher (or whether it's a tie).

If the black cards are tied, the white cards are revealed; the player with higher white card takes the prize. In case the white cards are also tied, the prize is discarded.

Regardless, all played cards are discarded, revealed or not. The next round then begins.

The bout ends after 9 rounds, after all prizes have been contested. The player with higher sum of prizes wins the bout. In case of a tie, the bout is replayed. In case a player wins by so much that the opponent cannot catch up even by winning the remaining rounds, the bout will also be ended prematurely for that player's win.

ADMINISTRATION

Make your moves in your private channel. State which cards you wish to play.

Information revealed in public game room: prize for the round, black cards played, white cards played if they are revealed, current scores, bout winner, bout win count.

Information revealed in private channel: nothing. In particular, you have to keep track your used cards yourself.

Time controls: 1 minute per round. You may change your move until the end of the round. If at deadline you have an illegal submission or no submission, assuming the opponent has a legal submission: The opponent wins the prize card and does not reveal their white card. You also have one black card and one white card discarded at random, both revealed to the opponent. If both players miss a submission, it is stated so and the round is restarted.

Variant rule: If both players and host agree, the game may be played as either best-of-3 (default) or best-of-5.

Tags

Cards (The game involves cards of any kind.)

Goofspiel-like (The game takes elements from the classic game Goofspiel.)

Points-based (The game involves players earning points.)

Psych (The game tests the players' psychological & bluffing abilities.)

Simultaneous (The game involves players taking their turns simultaneously.)

”You know we don’t just summon these things for the hell of it, right? They have to be good for something. That’s why tonight, we’re training them to be the greatest fighters of their generation. The only problem is, when they lose, they tend to take their anger out on their handlers…”

In Dueling Monsters, players will face each other in up to 3 games of Monster-to-Monster combat, using Monsters of different Levels and Weapons of different Strengths to score points.

Players will start each game with:

9 Monsters, of Levels (1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3)
9 Weapons, of Strengths (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

Each game is separated into 9 battles, and each battle will be worth a different number of points between 1-9. The point values of each battle are randomly pre-determined, and will only be revealed at the start of the battle.

In a battle, after the point value is revealed, both players will privately submit one Monster and one Weapon. Then, the result of the battle will be determined by the following process:

If the submitted Monsters have different Levels, the player who submitted the highest Level will win the battle and score its points. The submitted Weapons will not be revealed, however players will be told who submitted the highest Strength, or if it was a tie.

If the submitted Monsters have the same Level, then the submitted Weapons will be revealed. The player who submitted the highest Strength will win the battle and score its points. In case of a tie for both Level and Strength, the points for that battle will not be awarded to either player, and the game will continue to the next battle.

In all cases, all submitted Monsters and Weapons are consumed for the remainder of that game.

When one player has more than half of the total available points in a game (which is 23 before any ties), that player wins the game. If a game ends in a tie, it will be replayed until there is a winner.

The first player to win two games will win the Death Match, and be awarded ???. The other player will be trampled by a horde of angry Monsters, and be eliminated from the game.

You will have 1 minute to make your submission each battle. Only your first submission will be accepted, and this minute may end early if both players make their submission before it is over.