Amoeba
| Amoeba | ||
|---|---|---|
| Designed by: Erik Oosterwal | ||
| A science themed game with an ever-increasing board size. | ||
| Players: | 2 - 6 | |
| Length: | Medium | |
| Complexity: | Low | |
| Trios per color: | 5 | |
| Number of colors: | 1 per player | |
| - - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - - | ||
| 16 Poker Chips per player | ||
| Setup time: | 1 minute | |
| Playing time: | 20 minutes - 30 minutes | |
| Strategy depth: | Medium | |
| Random chance: | None | |
| Game mechanics: | Placement, None | |
| Theme: | Science | |
| BGG Link: | Amoeba | |
| Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2009 | ||
Amoeba is a science themed strategy game for 2-6 players. They take turns placing a pyramid, scoring their turn, and adding another chip to the playing area. A pyramid may be placed on any empty chip. When adding a new chip to the playing area, it must touch at least two other chips. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba)
Components[edit | edit source]
Some number of poker chips (16 times the number of players plus 1.)
2 Players = 33 Chips
3 Players = 49 Chips
4 Players = 65 Chips
Each player gets 15 pyramids in a single color, 1 stash, (5 small, 5 medium, 5 large.)
Setup[edit | edit source]
Set up a quantity of poker chips 1 more than the number of players in the following manner:
2: o
o o
3: o
o o
o
4: o o
o o o
5: o
o o
o o o
6: o o
o o o
o o
Game Play[edit | edit source]
Players take turns placing a pyramid, scoring their turn, and adding another chip to the playing area. A pyramid may be placed on any empty chip. The currently placed pyramid is scored according to these rules: Add up the number of pips that are linearly connected to the currently placed pyramid (not including itself) and multiply by the number of pips on the currently placed pyramid. If the currently placed pyramid touches no other pyramids of the same color, then the score is the number of pips on that pyramid. When adding a new chip to the playing area, it must touch at least two other chips.
Game End[edit | edit source]
Play ends when the last pyramid has been placed. The scores are tallied and the winner is the player with the largest score.
Examples[edit | edit source]
Before: After:
o X1 o
o o o o
X scores 1 point for placing a 1-pip pyramid, then places a new chip to the right of the filled space.
Before: After:
X3 Y1 Y1 X3 Y1 Y1
o X1 Y2 o o X1 Y2 o
X2 o o X2 X3
X places a 3-pip pyramid in the open spot on the bottom row and scores 3 x (3+1+2) = 18, then places a new chip on the left end of the bottom row.
Before: After:
o o
Y3 Y2 Y3 Y3 Y2 Y3
X3 Y1 Y1 Y1 X3 Y1 Y1 Y1
o X1 Y2 X1 o X1 Y2 X1
Y1 X2 X3 X1 Y1 X2 X3 X1 ?e
X3 X2 o ?a X3 X2 X3 ?d
?b ?c
X can place a pyramid in the top row to block Y from collecting 7x points on the next turn, place a pyramid on the left side open spot to collect 8x points this turn, or place a pyramid on the open spot on the bottom right to collect 14x points this turn.
After collecting 42 points for placing a 3-pip pyramid, X must place another new chip to complete his turn. The 5 best locations are shown as ? marks and labeled a - e. Location a would possible provide 8x points for X next turn or 1x points for Y, location b would also provide 8x points for X and 1x points for Y (when touching no other pyramids, the pyramid scores the number of pips on the placed pyramid), c would proveide 9x for X and 1x for Y, d would also provide 9x for X and 1x for Y, and e would provide only 7x for X and 1x for Y.
License[edit | edit source]
http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/88x31.png
This work is distributed by Erik Oosterwal under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
