Crossy River

Death Match 7: Crossy River

Summary:

Players compete to ferry a set of objects from one side of the river to the other. These objects, however, have some strange unknown properties to them that the players will have to make trials to discover. Once you’ve solved the mystery of the Crossy River, declare your guess and make it across!

Gameplay:

This game will take place over the course of 3 rounds, with each round becoming progressively harder. Players will be battling in a best of 3 format to win 2 of the rounds before the other.

The first Crossy River will feature 5 objects that have to be ferried across in a boat that can hold 1 object at a time.

The second Crossy River will feature 7 objects that have to be ferried across in a boat that can hold 2 objects at a time.

The third Crossy River will feature 9 objects that have to be ferried across in a boat that can hold 3 objects at a time.

At the beginning of each round, the players will be shown all of the objects that are on the starting side of the river. Objects will have sets of interactions between one another that are not announced publicly. The players will be told the number of interactions that the current Crossy River has. Players will have to complete trials to obtain information that tells how the objects interact with one another. All information gathered is released publicly in this game.

At the start of every single round, the DMO will select which of the two players is allowed to start making a trial first. After this first turn of each round, the players will alternate taking turns to make trials.

The interactions that can be used between objects can be limitless. Some objects may interact with only 1 other object or with more than 1 other object, and some objects may interact with themselves or with the boat (You should think of yourself and the boat as 1 unit that counts as an additional object). Sometimes an object may even have an interaction that is based on 2 or more things combined triggering it, or an object may even have an interaction that does not include itself as 1 of the triggers. However, the sides of the river are never treated as objects and are always equal to one another.

When an interaction happens during a trial, it is announced in some way. Interactions are always negative things that are meant to be avoided. This may be an announcement that says “X object has eaten Y” or “X object has fallen off the boat” or “X object went home.” Any of these interactions indicates that the player’s trial has ended and their river resets to the starting state. The interactions that may exist can be any of these things or a plethora of any other things that are not announced here.

The interactions that can be used between objects can be limitless. Some objects may interact with only 1 other object or with more than 1 other object, and some objects may interact with themselves or with the boat (You should think of yourself and the boat as 1 unit that counts as an additional object). Sometimes an object may even have an interaction that is based on 2 or more things combined triggering it, or an object may even have an interaction that does not include itself as 1 of the triggers. However, the sides of the river are never treated as objects and are always equal to one another.

When an interaction happens during a trial, it is announced in some way. Interactions are always negative things that are meant to be avoided. This may be an announcement that says “X object has eaten Y” or “X object has fallen off the boat” or “X object went home.” Any of these interactions indicates that the player’s trial has ended and their river resets to the starting state. The interactions that may exist can be any of these things or a plethora of any other things that are not announced here.

Time Controls:

Each player will have 1 minute to present the trial they are attempting to make when it is their turn. If a player does not submit during this 1 minute, then they are skipped. A player who is skipped 3 times during a single round automatically loses the round.

After buzzing in, a player will have 3 minutes to type their guess. If they do not type their guess within 3 minutes, their guess will be considered wrong.

Results:

A player who buzzes in and makes a fully correct guess about how to cross the Crossy River then you will immediately win the round. Making an incorrect guess will not automatically cause you to lose the round. Instead, if you have submitted a guess which is not perfectly correct, then you will be scored based on how many objects you have at the across side of the river at the point when your guess has failed. For example, if you manage to get 4 objects across the river instead of all 5 in your attempt, you will receive a score of 4.

At this time, you will be privately informed that your guess was incorrect and what score you have received. Then, your opponent will be given 3 minutes to submit a counter guess. They will be scored on their counter guess as well. If their counter guess has a score that is equal to or greater than your score, then they will win the round. If their score is any less than yours, then you will win the round.

Additionally, it will be illegal to make a buzz in until at least half of the interactions present in the round have occurred in a trial, rounded up.

Guesses will be made privately and the score received will be private as well, however it will be announced that the player who buzzed in was not perfectly correct in their guess and it will be revealed which player wins the round.

Reminder that there may be multiple solutions which result in a perfect guess - the key to a guess being considered perfect is that all objects have been ferried to the across side without any interactions occurring.

The player who wins 2 rounds first will be the winner.

Example Submission:

Assume that this round will take place with 3 objects and a boat that can ferry 1 object at a time. Here is an example set of objects: 🐐 🥬 🐺

The round begins when these three objects are revealed to the players. It is also announced that 2 interactions exist.

The starting player will choose to make a trial run of bringing the 🥬 across the river. The players would then be informed that upon crossing the river, the 🐺 has eaten the 🐐. This resets their river to the starting state.

Now, it is the opposing player’s turn. They begin by trying to bring the 🐐 across the river. They are informed publicly that the cross occurs without event. Their river does not reset, and now contains a 🐐 on the across side of the river and the boat there as well.

It is now the first player’s turn again. They still have a river with every object on the starting side since their river reset. They decide to try to bring the 🐺 across the river. It is publicly announced that the 🐐 has eaten the 🥬.

One of the two players now decides to buzz in. They make the following guess:

1. Take the 🐐 across
2. Take nothing back
3. Take the 🥬 across
4. Take the 🐐 back
5. Take the 🐺 across
6. Take nothing back
7. Take the 🐐 across

The interactions for these objects were hidden and were as follows:

If the 🐺 and the 🐐 are alone together, then the 🐺 eats the 🐐.

If the 🐐 and the 🥬 are alone together, then the 🐐 eats the 🥬.

This player’s solution is correct, and the player has won the round.

As per Note 2, the players could have made their submissions using the above method or by using the letters of the columns or by calling the objects “goat” “cabbage” and “wolf.” Similar names like “sheep” “lettuce” and “dog” would have also been easily understandable, so they could have been accepted as well. Announcements will always be posted using image form with the lettering of the columns shown.

However, there may have been even more interactions that existed and would have restricted the solution further. This same set of objects with more interactions introduced may have had a solution with 9 steps, or perhaps 21 steps. Note that a guess should always have an odd number of steps to solve since taking across and taking back are always alternated and a solution always ends with a move across. A solution that contains more steps than the minimum necessary is acceptable as long as there are no interaction rules broken.

To express this, consider a version of this same round wherein the boat can ferry two objects at a time instead of only 1 and there are additional objects with other interactions. Additionally, this following interaction has been added:

If the 🐺 is not near the 🥬, then the 🐺 becomes upset and throws a tantrum.

Some interactions may seem vague when they are announced and the players must attempt to discern their meaning. Consider if the same above interaction was worded as this:

The 🐺 cannot find his friend.

This interaction is less direct, however it is triggered by the same event: the cabbage being separated from the wolf. If you had perhaps moved the goat and the cabbage in the same move, you might have thought that the goat was the wolf’s friend, or even that the player operating the boat was the wolf’s friend.

Addendum: At any time, you may submit 'Undo' instead of a new command for a trial to return to the most recent previous board state for your trial. This can occur even after a trial has failed, thus reverting to the position directly before the failure. This does take your turn.

Clarification: Making a trial refers to providing a command to occur in your trial environment. Both players will have an independent trial environment which is public to everyone. When you issue a command, such as 'Take the 🐺 across', this is the trial you have made in your trial environment. An update image which reflects that the wolf has moved across in your trial environment will be shared publicly in the DM room. The use of the trials is to try to discern what rules are in place in order to formulate a final guess to solve the Crossy River. If you manage to solve the Crossy River in your trial environment, this does not trigger a victory for the round. The only way to achieve victory in a round is by buzzing in and providing a full list of the commands required to solve the Crossy River

Clarification: You must use observation to determine what is going on in interactions! There will not always be a clear indicator of what has caused an interaction to occur and end the trial, so you must use logic to determine

Clarification: From round 2 onwards, for interactions that occur between a specific set of only 2 or 3 objects, they are considered to be together while they are in the boat. In a sense, you can assume that interactions can happen while either the objects are on the back side, the across side, or in the boat.

Clarification: Undo will take you to the most recent previous safe position, meaning it would not put you in the trial position resulting in an interaction

Clarification: Unless the interaction takes place in the boat, the boat will always manage to complete your trial move. ie if an interaction would trigger that is irrelevant to the objects in the boat when the boat attempts to move, then the boat will successfully traverse the river then the interaction will trigger. It follows suit that the only time the interaction will occur while the boat is in the river is when the interaction itself happened in the boat