Social Snake

Shamelessly stolen/copied/borrowed/used with permission from pseudonam, with modifications. pseudo awa.

Main Match 2.5: Social Snake

Maneuver your snakes across two grids to collect the most apples and garnets. Be wary of collisions, though, or you’ll lose your apples!

Setup:

Social Snake will be played on two square grids: Grid A and Grid B, with sizes 14 x 14 and 16 x 16, respectively. Every space of each grid contains either apples or garnets. Grids A and B are played on at the same time; this means players must submit for both grids. The match will last for at most 5 rounds.

For each grid, players will choose three possible starting positions, ordered in a priority list (first choice, second choice, and third choice). Players will then be assigned to the starting position highest in their priority list unless that space appears on another player’s priority list at an equal or higher priority level (i.e. they will get their first choice unless it appears in another player’s priority list as a first choice, second choice unless it appears in another list as a first or second choice, and similarly for their third choice).

If a player is not assigned a space through the above process, their starting position will be randomized. All apples and garnets on starting spaces will disappear into the void.

In addition, at the beginning of the game, please publicly claim a color (that has not been claimed by someone else).

Gameplay:

After the starting positions are decided, they will be publicly revealed. Each player controls a snake’s Head on each grid, initially located at their starting position. As they move their Head across the board, any space formerly occupied by their Head will become their Body. Each snake has a color corresponding to the player controlling it.

For each round, players submit a movement sequence comprising the individual up-down-left-right moves of their Heads for that round. Each move in a sequence moves the Head one space in that direction. For the first three rounds, movement sequences are limited to a single cardinal direction; for example, LLL, UU, and DDDDD are valid sequences, but LU, RRRDR, and DRUUL are not. In the fourth and fifth rounds, this restriction is removed. There is no restriction on the number of moves which can be made in a single round.

Moves resolve simultaneously for all movement sequences, in order. For example, if three movement sequences are ULLU, RDDRD, and LLLUR, the sets of moves will resolve in the following order: [U, R, L], [L, D, L], [L, D, L], [U, R, U], and [none, D, R].

After each individual UDLR move, every former location of a Head is replaced with a Body of the same color. This is repeated for every move until all move sequences in the round are resolved.

If after a round there are no items remaining on the grid that are possible to obtain, the grid will no longer be played on for the remainder of the match.

A collision occurs if after a move, a Head moves onto a space with another Head or Body. All Heads involved in a collision give all the apples they earned on that grid in that round to the Body they have collided with (if there is no such Body, all Heads lose their apples for that round). If a Head collides with another Head but the first Head was there one or more positions earlier in the movement sequence, the second snake would give its apples to the first snake. Garnets will not be transferred or lost in collisions. The Heads also have their last moves (that caused the collision) taken back, and have their movement sequences terminated. The backtrack occurs immediately after the collision and before the next move of a normal movement sequence. Heads can move again on later rounds.

After each move, Heads collect any apples or other items on the space they moved onto, unless a collision occurred on that space, in which case all items on that space vanish. This repeats for all moves in the movement sequence.

It is possible to collide into one’s own snake.

Winners:

The player with the most apples over both grids will receive two Tokens of Life. The player with the second most apples and the player with the third most apples will each win a single Token of Life. If there is a tie, a lot of complicated rules go into place. First, only at most 4 ToLs will be awarded. If a step requires giving out a 5th ToL, that step and all subsequent steps will not be taken. The first step is giving 1 ToL to every player with the most apples, unless this player is unique, then they get 2 ToLs. The second step is giving 1 ToL to every player with the second most apples. The third step is giving 1 ToL to every player with the third most apples.

The two players with the least apples will become the Elimination Candidates. If this is a tie, the player(s) with the most apples will vote on who becomes the ECs. If this vote is a tie, the player with the least apples, most votes, and least garnets will be the EC.

A garnet is awarded at the end of the Main Match if a player collects 150 apples. For every 50 apples after that, players earn an additional garnet.

Results:

At the end of each round, the current grid state will be revealed, similar to how the grid is in the examples. Attempted moves that don’t go through (moves that occur after collisions) will not be revealed.

Garnets:

Garnets may be used to enable premoving. If you spend x garnets in a round, your sequence will resolve x moves ahead of everyone else who did not spend any garnets.. Premoves resolve simultaneously; if two players both use a 1 garnet premove, their first moves will resolve at the same time (but one move ahead of a normal sequence).

Submissions:

You have 24 hours of pregame, in which no submissions are due except for your color choice.

You have 24 hours after the pregame to submit your priority lists of starting positions. Priority lists should list the coordinates of each space chosen, from first to third. It would be preferred for your starting coordinates to be in capital letters, as to distinguish between I and L.

You have 24 hours each round to make a movement submission. You must submit two distinct movement sequences, one for each grid. You may choose to submit a movement sequence of length zero.

Submissions with invalid moves (moving in more than one direction in the first three rounds, moving off the board) will only be processed until the first invalid move, then will not be processed further. Non-submissions will be treated as a submission of length zero, though if you intend for this please submit it instead of just not submitting.

Addendum: If a grid space were to contain a negative number of apples, it would remove that number of apples from your total, including the possibility of going into Apple Debt.

Addendum: Negative apples will apply to your total immediately, and cannot be given away or lost via collision.

As you arrive at your next location, an archipelago with a seemingly infinite supply of gorgeous, deep blue water, it’s difficult to be calmed by its beauty. For the first time in your quest, it appears that violence will be necessary to obtain this Legendary Artifact. To add to this stress, not only can nobody agree on a way to decide who has to undertake this brutal task, but the target of said violence is nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only sign that anyone at all has been here in the past… thousand years? are these patterned ribbons, strewn about the ground. Curiously, despite the lack of any kind of breeze, they still seem to be moving. What are these things made out-

Oh.

Well, the good news is that it doesn’t seem like they’re interested in humans at all. They appear to be much more focused on butting heads with each other over whatever food they can find lying in the dirt. As each person names a different snake as their favorite, the group collectively decides that their best option is to let their new scaly friends decide their fates. Someone makes a pun about betting on snake eyes. Everyone groans.

The goal of the game is to acquire as many apples as possible. The game will be played over two phases, and across three islands. In phase one, players will play on Island A, and in phase two, players will play on Islands B and C simultaneously. Island A will be 13 x 13 tiles large, while Islands B and C will be 14 x 14 and 15 x 15, respectively. Every tile will contain apples, garnets, or tunnels. Each phase will last a maximum of 5 rounds.

At the start of phase one, Island A will be revealed, and players will have 24 hours to submit three starting tiles in a priority list (first choice, second choice, third choice) for Island A. You cannot select tiles containing tunnels for a starting tile.

Players will be assigned the starting tile highest in their priority list that does not appear on any other player’s list at an equal or higher priority (i.e. they will get their first choice unless it appears in another player’s priority list as a first choice, second choice unless it appears in another list as a first or second choice, and similarly for their third choice).

If a player does not get assigned a tile from this process, their starting tile will be randomized.

Any apples or garnets on any starting spaces will be destroyed. Again, you cannot start on a tile with a tunnel.

In phase two, the above process will be carried out separately and simultaneously for both Island B and Island C.

After all players’ starting tiles have been determined, they will be publicly revealed. Each player controls a snake’s head on each Island, which will be initially located at their starting tile.

As these heads move around the board, all tiles previously occupied by a head will become the snake’s body. Each snake’s color and pattern matches what their respective player claimed earlier.

In each round, players will submit a movement sequence, which is a list of up/down/left/right moves that their head will follow at the end of the round. During phase one, players will submit one sequence for Island A, and during phase two, players will submit two separate sequences: one for Island B, and one for Island C. Movement sequences can be of length zero, and there is no restriction to how long they can be.

For the first three rounds of each phase, movement sequences are only allowed to contain one cardinal direction. For example, “LLL”, “UU”, and “DDDDD” are all valid submissions, but “LU”, “RRRDR”, and “DRUUL” are not valid submissions. In the fourth and fifth rounds of each phase, this restriction is removed.

Submissions which are invalid (break the above restriction, attempt to move off the board) will be processed until the first invalid move. Missed submissions will be treated as a submission of length zero, although we would prefer that you explicitly tell us you would like to submit a length of zero.

Movement sequences will resolve simultaneously. This means that all players’ first moves will resolve, then all second moves, then all third moves, etc. After every individual move, every head will leave behind a matching body on the tile they moved from. Heads will also collect any apples or garnets on the tile they are currently on, unless a collision has occurred on that tile, in which case any apples or garnets on the tile will be destroyed.

If, after a round, there are no more obtainable apples or garnets on an Island, the Island will not be played on for the rest of the match. If all Islands in a phase are no longer being played on, or the fifth round of a phase has ended, the phase will end.

Every tunnel on an Island will have a paired tunnel of the same color. When a snake attempts to move onto a tunnel, they will instead go through it, and come out of the paired tunnel in the same direction they entered the other one in. This means that if you enter a tunnel from the left, you will come out of the paired tunnel on its right. You cannot collide on a tunnel tile or “inside” a tunnel, but you can collide immediately upon exiting a tunnel.

A collision occurs when, after a move, a head is on the same tile as a body or another head.

If a head collides with a body, the player who controls the head will give all of the apples they collected on the Island of the collision during that round to the player who controls the body. The player who controls the head will have their last move taken back, and their movement sequence immediately terminated.

If a head collides with a head that either finished moving earlier in the round or did not move, it will be treated as if it were a head-to-body collision. The player who moved their head into the collision will give all apples they collected on the Island of the collision during that round to the player who controls the other head. The first snake will then have their last move taken back, and their movement sequence immediately terminated.

If two heads move into the same tile on the same move, any apples or garnets on that tile will be destroyed, along with any apples either snake collected on the Island of the collision during that round. Both snakes will have their last move taken back, and their move sequences will be immediately terminated.

Note: Collisions do not affect garnets that players collected previously in the round, nor do they affect any apples collected in a previous round or phase. It is also possible to collide into your own snake.

You may spend garnets to premove. If you spend X garnets in a round, your move sequence will start resolving X moves before anyone who did not spend garnets. Premoves resolve simultaneously, which means two players who spend one garnet will have their first move process at the same time, but still one move before players who spent nothing.

You may spend garnets you collect during the match on premoves, but only after the round in which you collected said garnet(s).

At the end of phase two, the player who collected the most apples across all three Islands will receive two Tokens of Life. The players who collected the second and third most apples will each receive one Token of Life.

A maximum of four Tokens of Life will be given out this match. Tokens of Life will be distributed in the following order:

• Players who collected the most apples will receive 1 Token of Life each
• If there is no tie for first, the player will receive a second Token of Life
• Players who collected the second most apples will receive 1 Token of Life each
• Players who collected the third most apples will receive 1 Token of Life each

If, at any point during this process, there are not enough Tokens of Life to complete a step, any Tokens of Life which would be given out during that step are negated.

The player with the least apples will become the Elimination Candidate. If this is a tie, the player(s) with the most apples will decide the Elimination Candidate between the tied players.

Players will receive 1 garnet for collecting 150 apples. For every 50 apples after that, players will gain an additional garnet.

At the start of phase one, Island A will be revealed, and players will have 24 hours to submit their priority list of starting tiles. At the start of phase two, Islands B and C will be revealed, and players will have 24 hours to submit two priority lists, one for each Island.

At the end of each round, the current state of each Island will be revealed, along with updated apple totals for each player. Attempted moves that didn’t go through (moves which occur after a collision) will not be revealed.

Clarification: The Elimination Candidate will be determined before Tokens of Life are distributed.

MM10: Variations on a Theme of GG4 ~ Antisocial Snake

The latter of two bookends.

Players cannot communicate at all for the duration of this Main Match, both privately and publicly.

This game has five rounds, but rounds contain two boards. Rounds do not have Variations, but boards do.

Each round has a placement phase and a movement phase, so a round’s placement phase coincides with the previous round’s movement phase.

Both phases take 24 hours. Variations will be revealed at the start of a board’s placement phase.

There is a 24-hour pregame before the first placement phase starts.

Gameplay

Each board has a grid of varying size. Tiles have a number (signifying the number of apples on that space) and a color (signifying the color of the space). Tiles with no number are implied to have a 0.

Placement Phase

Before each phase begins, players have 24 hours to place snakes on the board via an ordered list of spaces. For each color on the board except white and black, players must submit a space with that color exactly once. Snakes placed earlier have higher priority.

If multiple snakes are placed on the same tile, some or all of the snakes will be booted off. If a snake has higher priority than the conflicting snakes, the other snakes will be booted. If there is a tie for highest priority, all snakes will be booted.

Booted snakes will occupy a random space that shares the same color as the original space, and is closest to the original space. This will happen in a random order. (If three snakes are all booted from a given space, and the closest spaces have distances 1, 2, and 3 away, they will occupy those spaces in a random order.)

All apples are removed from spaces with a snake on them. Then, the movement phase begins.

Snakes will be identified with a letter on the final grid. Players will not know which letter belongs to which player (except their own).

Movement Phase

When a phase begins, players have 24 hours to move each of their placed snakes. A submission consists of a movement sequence (a string of letters ULDR, representing Up, Left, Down, Right). Snakes can normally only move in one direction (so UUU, DDDDD, L, RRRR, and [no movement] are valid). Snakes cannot move into themselves, onto black spaces, or off the board.

Each board has a twist cap. A twist is a difference between two consecutive movements in a movement sequence: for example, UURRDDLL has three twists and UUURRR has one. Players can distribute twists throughout their snakes’ movement sequences, but the sum of all twists across a player’s snakes must be less than or equal to the board’s twist cap.

During processing, each snake’s first movement will be processed. Each snake’s next movement will then be processed, and this repeats until all snakes have no moves remaining.

Snakes will claim apples on every space they move onto (as a reminder, their starting space will have its apples removed). Snakes will score double apples if they move onto a space with the same color as their starting space.

If a snake attempts to move into a position that has been occupied by another snake (including a snake’s starting position), that snake will halt its movement before the collision. If multiple snakes attempt to move into the same position at the same time, those snakes will halt their movement before the collision. If a snake's movement has been forcibly halted, its apple count is cut in half (rounded down). Note that, unlike the original game, no apples are gained from a collision.

At the end of the round, players will score points equal to the total number of apples their snakes have collected.

Variations:

Board 0: Theme (no variation)

Board 1: Addition

On Board 1, snakes will instead use the digit sum of the number of apples they have when calculating scoring.

Board 2: Elemental

On Board 2, snakes will have an element corresponding to the color of the space they spawned on. This can be fire (red), water (blue), or grass (green). Snakes will score double apples if they move onto a space with a losing element, the normal amount of apples (without any doubling) if they move onto a space with an equal element, and no apples if they move onto a space with a winning element.

Board 3: Frame

On Board 3, players can submit up to five spaces in the rows 1-4 in the Placement Phase. Apples on those spaces will be transferred four spaces down before the start of the Movement Phase.

Board 4: Swap

On Board 4, players gain 5 swaps to be used on adjacent spaces during the Movement Phase, swapping both their numbers and colors. Players cannot swap spaces with player tiles. Swaps occur right before movement. If a space would be swapped with multiple spaces at once, none of those swaps go through.

Board 5: Stale

On Board 5, snakes will gain 1 Staleness every time they visit a tile of another color, other than white (this happens before they earn apples from that space). Snakes will have their staleness value deducted from the number of apples they would gain on each subsequent tile they visit (to a minimum of zero).

Board 6: Toggle

On Board 6, players can submit two spaces in the Placement Phase. All of those spaces will toggle the color of themselves and all orthogonally adjacent spaces (turning from red to blue and vice versa). Spaces can get toggled multiple times. However, spaces with a snake on them will remain the same.

Board 7: Redirect

On Board 7, players control all spaces on the same vertical or horizontal axis as one of their snakes. Players can place five direction (clockwise / anticlockwise) tiles on the board on empty spaces they control during the Movement Phase. If any opposing direction tiles are played on the same space, none of them are. If multiple identical direction tiles are played on a space, exactly one of them will be played. Snakes that move onto a direction tile will turn 90 degrees in the specified direction.

Board 8: Quiz

On Board 8, players are given a shortlist of questions in the Movement Phase about the round. Questions have a Point Value -- answering a question correctly earns points equal to the question’s PV (which may be modified by the question itself, and cannot drop below zero), and answering a question incorrectly always gives 0 points.

Board 9: Bidding

On Board 9, shifts cannot be distributed among snakes. Players also gain 100 chips to be used in the Placement Phase. Players must distribute their bids across their four snakes. The highest bidder for each snake color can make up to 3 shifts for their snake of that color, the second highest bidder can make up to 2 shifts, and the lowest bidder can only make 1 shift.