Towers 2.00

Sean Lambert 10/11/95


The game:

In the recently developing Big City, big contracts mean big money. Two rival companies are trying to build as much of Big City as possible. However, skyscrapers cannot be built just anywhere; there needs to be a community base to support the use of these towering structures. This is the game of building up more and more support for larger and larger buildings - the towers.


Object:

Place as many towers on the board as possible, as tall as possible, and keep your opponent from doing the same.


Players:

two (2)


Board:

eight by eight (8x8) square grid (i.e. a checker board)


Pieces:

any number of towers sizes one through nine (1-9)


Definitions:

Gender convention:
If "he" or "she" are used, "he" refers to the acting player and "she" refers to his opponent.
Tower:
This is any playing piece. Towers are measured in sizes representing fifties of stories. The allowed sizes are fifty (50) stories to four hundred fifty (450) stories. Build them high and fast.
Assisting tower:
To assist another tower, the assisting tower must be no smaller than one (1) size less than the assisted tower, and must be located diagonally adjacent to the assisted tower. These buildings provide some aid for the buildings they assist, but not enough of a consumer base to "support" the businesses in a new building.
Supporting tower:
To support another tower, the tower must be no smaller than one (1) size less than the supported tower, and must be located directly adjacent to the supported tower. These buildings are connected to the buildings they support by skywalks and underground tunnels. A lot of traffic flows between them.
Unclaimed territory:
Any empty square that is not claimed. These areas are neutral blocks wasted on shops and homes. They are waiting to be razed and replaced with shiny new towers.
Claimed territory:
Any empty square in a claimed region. (see rules for claiming below.) These blocks have been exposed to the ad campaigns (propaganda) of a specific development corporation and are waiting for their community to be improved by it (and not that other company.)

Play:

Who goes first:
Each player secretly chooses a tower of any size. Both players reveal their tower at the same time and add their sizes. If the total is ten (10) or less, the player with the larger piece goes first, if the total is eleven (11) or more, the player with the smaller piece goes first. Redo ties. If you don't like this method, flip a coin or something.
Tower placement:
  1. The acting player may place up to one (1) tower in unclaimed territory or in territory he has claimed on each of his turns.
  2. Size one (1) towers may be placed anywhere in unclaimed territory or in territory claimed by the acting player.
  3. A tower may be placed with at least one (1) supporting tower if the supporting tower is owned by the acting player and is larger than the new tower.
  4. A tower may be placed with at least two (2) supporting towers if the acting player owns one (1) of them.
  5. A tower may be placed with at least one (1) supporting tower and two (2) assisting towers if the acting player owns one (1) of them.
  6. If a player cannot place a tower according to the above rules he must declare a pass and his turn is forfeit.
  7. The acting player's turn ends when his fingers leave the piece being placed, when the placement is declared (if actual playing pieces are not being used,) or when he declares a pass.
Claiming Territory:
A contiguous group of empty squares is considered claimed territory if every tower directly adjacent to any square in the group is owned by the same player (i.e. no tower belonging to another player is directly adjacent to any square in the group.
Double turns:
Each player may declare up to two (2) double turns in a game. Once a double turn is declared, the declaring player takes an extra turn directly following the current turn. If more than one (1) double turn is declared during the same turn, the turns occur in the order declared; if the active player's opponent declares a double turn during his turn, and he then declared a double turn, it would occur _after_ hers. In this first-come-first-served corporate world sometimes it pays to gamble. Double moves may not be declared until a player has a tower of at least size three (3). Until then the corporation lacks the resources for rush jobs.

Endgame:

The game ends when there is no empty territory left, or when the acting player declares a pass and his opponent immediately declares endgame.


Victory conditions:

At the end of the game, both players sum the sizes of the towers they own. The player with the highest sum wins.


Advanced rules:

The acting player may remove any of his towers from the board as long as no tower becomes unsupported by its absence. This allows a player to avoid declaring a pass by demolishing an old building and constructing a new tower in its place.


Corporate war rules:

The acting player may demolish any of his towers, even if another tower becomes unsupported. Any tower left unsupported also falls, possibly leading to a chain reaction of destruction. Note that this variant has not been playtested, but sounded fun when the rules were being written.


Other Variants:

Try playing with different sized boards, more people, etc. A solitaire version would be cool, but would it work? Be creative.


Thanks (so far) to:


Copyright © Sean Lambert 1995

Please send any comments to: sum1els@sum1els.com