Pass the Present

📰 Summary 📰

In this explosive (💥) surprise of a Main Match, design multi-layered presents (🎁) for the other players! Lacerate the last layer haphazardly, however, and you go boom (💣)!

🎲 Gameplay 🎲

Pre-game

There are nine seats in a circle, labeled 1-9 clockwise. You have 24 hours to select a single player you don't trust giving presents to you -- that player will not be in a position that passes presents to you. One of the possible configurations of player seatings that satisfies the players' selections will be chosen at random and revealed to all players, and the Present Design phase will then begin. If there are no possible configurations, all submissions containing the player(s) who were selected most will be repeatedly ignored until there are possible configurations.

Present Design Phase

In the Present Design phase, players will have 24 hours to design three presents, labeled with their name and a distinct letter from A, B, and C. (For instance, a present can be identified as Zero-C). Players must assign a number of layers to each present, which is a positive integer between three and ten, inclusive. Players will always know who designed each present and the letter of each present, but will never know how the number of layers any present has. Players will assign their presents to the players with seats numbered 1, 2, and 3 higher than theirs, looping around (for instance, the player in seat 8 will give presents to players 9, 1, and 2). Players will start with the three presents they were assigned by the other players. After the Present Design phase concludes, there will be 6 Present Passing Phases, 24 hours each. Players will always have three presents at any given time.

Present Passing Phase

For each present a player has, players must do two things in each round: select an action, and pass it along.

The possible actions are as follows:

Open - Select 1, 2, or 3 -- remove that many layers from a present. If the present has at least one layer remaining, score points equal to the number of layers removed. If the present has no layers remaining, lose points equal to the number of layers the present began with.

Defuse - Remove 2 layers from a present. If the present still has layers remaining, lose points equal to the number of layers the present began with. If the present has no layer remaining, gain points equal to the number of layers the present began with.

Ignore - Remove no layers from a present. You may ignore one present in a given round for free -- for each additional present you ignore, you must spend one garnet.

If a present you designed is defused successfully (it has no layers remaining), you lose points equal to the number of layers the present began with. There are no other circumstances where you earn or lose points based on a present you do not have. You can have a negative point total.

Players will not learn the actions of any other players. If a present has lost all its layers from being opened or defused (either successfully or unsuccessfully), it regains the layers it originally started with when passed to the next player.

Very specific information will be revealed at the end of each Present Passing phase. It is recommended that you read the Information section.

Players must also pass their presents to three distinct players -- the players with numbers 1, 2, and 3 higher than theirs, looping around. They may pass presents in any order. All present passes (including which specific presents are passed) will be public. At the end of each round, players will receive one present from three distinct players for the next

round, so players will always have three presents at any given time.

🗒️ Information 🗒️

Pre-Game

Players will learn the seatings of each player at the end of the phase.

Players will not learn the selections of other players.

Present Design Phase

Players will learn which presents each player (including themselves) has been assigned.

Players will not learn how many layers each present has.

Present Passing Phase

Players will learn which presents each player (including themselves) has been given.

Players will learn whether they have lost points due to particular present(s), and which present(s) made them lose points, but not how many points they have lost. This includes players’ own presents if they were successfully Defused.

Players will not learn how many points were lost if they lost points.

Players will not learn their point total.

Players will not learn whether others’ presents ran out of layers.

Players will not learn the actions of the other players, nor how many layers each present has.

Game End

Players will learn how many points they have.

🏆 Winners 🏆

The player with the most points wins two Tokens of Life. If there are less than four players tied for first, all of them win a Token of Life. If at most two Tokens of Life were given out in the first step, the player with the second most points wins one Token of Life -- if not, or if there is a tie for second, none of the players with the second most points win a Token of Life.

The player with the least points is Elimination Candidate.

Players will earn a garnet for every two points they have.

Clarification: Garnets are only earned at the end.

Clarification: If you do not submit, your gifts will automatically have a random number of layers, you will pass/assign presents randomly, and you will Open 2 layers from every present you received.

Clarification: If a present is defused and it still has layers remaining after the defuse, the number of layers does not reset.