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Hours of Bouncy Pagan Fun!

Had to change things slightly from Douglas' initial rules idea; those rules are a slightly obfuscated nim.  And while I like small and simple games, something very slightly more complex seemed called for.

The aim of the game is to get the Blow-up Book, the Bouncy Ba^Hell and the Candy Candle to Inflatable Stonehange; to prevent the Cuddly horrors from another dimension breaking through.

Each player has four druids.  One is Bigger and bouncier than the others, he starts off carrying nothing; the other three carry one of the items each.

The board is made of nodes and links.  Several spare items are populated face-down.

Your turn:
Begin chanting "Bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy..."  If you stop, your turn ends immediately.  Fainting counts.

Roll a die; and move a druid that number of spaces.  If he lands on a 'bouncy' space; move him that number of spaces again!  Keep going until you land on something that isn't bouncy.

Other druids are bouncy!

If the thing you bounced on had a counter; you can swap it with whatever your druid is carrying (if anything)

You can Crunch the candles, Burst the book or Boing the Bell to roll the die again and take another move (with a different druid if you like)

If you land at Inflatable Stonehenge; put the token that druid was carrying in front of you if that type of item hasn't already been delivered.  That's going to be worth points!
But Inflatable Stonehenge is bouncy!  Carry on bouncing!

The game ends when either:
  1. One of each token is at Inflatable Stonehenge.  In that case, the people who delivered items score one point per item; for a maximum of three points.  Winner has most points.
  2. There are not enough items left to bring one of each to Inflatable Stonehenge (all the face down ones must have been taken).  In this case, Cuddly Creatures from a Dimensional of unimaginable fluffiness invade and the players who delivered no tokens at all jointly win.  (Don't worry though, the Yogic Airforce will take the Cuddly Creatures out.)
  3. Moral victor is whoever said "bouncy" the most, and the bounciest.

Inspired by "Bouncy Bouncy Druids (the Inflatable Stonehenge Song)" by Mitch Benn.




This would be even better as a school-kids running around outside game.  Players as both druids and tokens - tokens carrying the inflatable items.




Playtest report.  "Bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy..."

It works!
Obvious changes needed:  Board should be bigger.  Clarify that you get a whole new turn (including die roll) when you burst an item.  Clarify that pausing before picking up the die counts as stopping chanting; you get just long enough to take a breath, no studying the board intently before you roll.

Less obvious: The ending phase was a bit too long; maybe let the tokens be face up?  Would that harm anything?  Maybe allow scoring until all three delivered - that probably always drags the game out,t hough.
Red lines were confusing; unless they are actually used for 'advanced' game.

The game was a lot shorter once people realised (had explained) the concentric-circles logical layout.

Taking away the chanting made the game less silly, but no less playable.




Rules change for next time (if there is a next time):  Players don't start with any item counters; counters start face-up; scoring continues until 1 of each is delivered, or one type is missing.

Expected effect: Game will start a bit more slowly, but the end will be less frustrating; and games won't go to the last token very often.



CategoryGames BoardGame

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Last edited August 10, 2012 1:30 pm (viewing revision 5, which is the newest) (diff)
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