GAME CATEGORY 2 – STRATEGY AND LOGIC …

GAME CATEGORY 2 contains game suggestions that particularly promote logical and tactical thinking as well as the concentration and attentiveness of the players.

The game suggestions show, for example, how an old strategy game can be played with the GAME & MORE dice and how some new, interesting strategy and logic games have been created using extended rules.

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.1 …

Game suggestion 2.1 is a very old two-person strategy game that is widely known as “Tic-Tac-Toe” or “Three Wins”. This old strategy game, whose history can be traced back to the 12th century BC, can also be played with the GAME & MORE dice. The 18 dice on the game box even allow you to play 2 games at the same time, which is also very appealing.

On the two square playing fields (3×3 dice), the two players take it in turns to place their markers (dice with a hole or dice without a hole) on one of the 9 possible spaces (if you play the game on the right and left side of the packaging, the two maximum “playing fields” can be easily recognised). The player who manages to place three markers in a row, column or diagonal in both playing fields wins the game. If neither or both players manage to do this, there is a draw.

In the example shown, you can see who won one of the two games.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.2 …

Game suggestion 2.2 is a further development of the two-person strategy game described in game suggestion 2.1.

As GAME & MORE contains more dice than you need to play the old strategy game, I have extended the rules and this has resulted in this interesting game variant:

A major difference to the already known game is that now the “playing field” is only limited in one direction (maximum 3 markers, or dice) and is open in the other direction. The aim of this game variant is also to position 3 identical markers in a row, column or diagonal. As the new game variant is played alternately with 9 different dice, the open “playing field” means that 4 or more identical dice can be placed next to each other, but these are counted as 3 identical markers. The player who most often manages to position 3 identical dice in a row, column or diagonal wins the game.

In the example shown, you can see how the player with the hole cubes won this game by 4 points to 3.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.3 …

In game suggestion 2.3, there are 2 playing fields on which the game is played simultaneously. The two players involved each receive 9 dice (one player receives 9 dice with holes, the other 9 dice without holes).

Both players place one of their dice on the table in front of them. From the point of view of the two players sitting opposite each other, each of these positioned cubes will later form the respective baseline of a “playing field” (maximum 3 cubes next to each other).

The next cube can now be positioned. Make sure that this cube is positioned in the “playing field” in which the opponent’s first cube is already located.

All dice can then be positioned alternately in the two playing fields. The aim of the strategy game is also to get 3 identical markers in a row, column or diagonal and, of course, as many of them as possible. It does not matter whether this is done in both “playing fields” or only in one “playing field”. Both “playing fields” are not limited above their base lines and can therefore be of different heights. Another special feature of this game variant is that L-shaped markers, each consisting of 4 dice, are also scored. The open “playing field” also means that 4 or more identical dice can lie next to each other in this game variant, but they are scored as 3 identical markers.

In the example shown, you can see how the player with the hole cubes won this game by 5 to 4 points.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.4 …

Game suggestion 2.4 is an interesting two-player strategy game in which 4 small, square “playing fields” are created and played on simultaneously.

One of the two players starts the game and places one of their 8 dice on the table. The other player takes their turn and can either place their die anywhere on the die already on the table (on either side, even diagonally) or use this die to create another small, square “playing field”.

Where the two players position their dice within the 4 small “playing fields” should be strategically well considered, as the 4 small squares are then pushed together to form a large square and it is then easy to see who has positioned their dice most cleverly.

The aim of this strategy game is to get 3 identical markers in a row, column or diagonal and to get as many of them as possible. With this large “playing field” with 16 dice, 4 identical markers can of course appear next to each other in a row, column or diagonal, but these are only considered and scored as 3 identical markers.

In the example shown, you can see how the player with the hole dice only scored 2 points and lost the game.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.5 …

Game suggestion 2.5 is an interesting 3D strategy game in which a good memory is very helpful – so it is also a game that is good for training the memory.

Each player receives 9 dice (one 9 dice with holes, the other 9 dice without holes).

One of the two players starts the game and places one of their 9 dice on the table. The other player takes their turn and can either place their cube against the cube already on the table (either side, even diagonally) or position their cube on the cube already on the table.

The base area of the “playing field” is limited to 3 x 2 cubes and the height of the resulting tower of cubes is limited to 3 cubes (see picture A).

The two players (can also be 2 small groups) now take it in turns to stack their dice to form a double dice tower, which will consist of 18 dice once completed. For the dice with holes, one of the two holes must always be visible at the top and for the dice without holes, one of the two cut surfaces of the dice, which are usually somewhat rougher than the 4 planed surfaces of these dice, should also always be visible at the top.

During the stacking process, the players must remember where the dice with holes and the dice without holes are positioned in the dice tower.

This is important because both players must try to get 3 identical markings in a row, column or diagonal in one of the two square, vertical “tower discs”, each of which consists of 9 dice, and of course as many of these as possible.

At this point it becomes clear why it is worth remembering the positions of the dice, because only if you know which dice are in the two lower rows can you position your dice as successfully as possible.

After the dice tower has reached its final height, one of the two players converts it into a horizontal surface of 6 x 3 dice (see picture B) as follows:

This is done as follows: The top row of dice of one of the two “dice tower discs” is placed on the table next to the bottom row of dice at a distance of a few centimetres. The middle row of dice is then placed between the two rows of dice already on the table (see picture C).

This is now also done with the other “dice tower disc” according to the same principle, only in the other direction (see picture D).

The cubes lying on the table are then carefully pushed together to create the area of 6 x 3 cubes (see picture B).

And now it is very easy to recognise where there are 3 identical markings in a row, column or diagonal.

By pushing the cubes together to form a large area, there may be more than 3 identical markings next to each other in a column, but these are only considered and counted as 3 identical markings.

In the example shown (see picture B) you can see how the game ended in a draw.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.6 …

Game suggestion 2.6 is a two-person strategy game that can be played immediately on a playing surface that you have quickly sketched out.

The playing area consists of 25 square squares and the two players sitting opposite each other are each given 9 dice (one player 9 dice with holes, the other 9 dice without holes).

Before the game begins, the two players each place 5 of their dice on their respective baseline of the playing field. The 4 remaining dice are placed outside the playing field in front of them (see picture A).

The aim of the two players is to get to the opposite side of the playing field (to their finish line) with their dice and collect as many of the other player’s dice as possible in order to build the highest possible dice towers.

The two players take turns and only have the following options:

Option 1: One player moves one square straight forwards with one of their dice if the square in front of them is not yet occupied.

Option 2: A player moves one square diagonally forwards with one of their dice. However, this is only possible if there is already a die or dice tower of the other player in the square. If this is the case, the player places their die on top of the die or dice tower that is already there.

Option 3: A player moves one of their dice towers one space forwards if this space is not already occupied.

Option 4: A player moves their dice tower one space diagonally forwards. This is possible in three cases:

  1. if this square is free.
  2. if there is a dice or a dice tower of the other player in the square.
  3. if there is already one of their own dice towers there.

If there is a dice tower of the other player or one of their own dice towers, the player places their dice tower on top of the respective dice tower. During the course of the game, the player’s dice towers should be as high as possible before they reach the finish line. Once they reach the finish line, they are no longer allowed to leave their respective location.  The top die of a dice tower always shows who currently owns this dice tower and only the player who has control of this dice tower may move it towards their finish line (only one space forwards or diagonally forwards per turn, depending on the situation).

Option 5: A player takes one of their dice that is still outside the playing area and places it on an empty space on their baseline.

If none of these move options is possible, the player must sit out until the game situation changes again and they can make another move.

If a player can make a move, they must make it. Only when both players are definitely unable to make a move is the game over and the result of the game can be determined. Only the dice on the dice towers that reach the finish line are counted.

The player with the most points wins the game.

In the example shown (see picture B), you can see how the player with the hole dice won this game with 15 to 0 points.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.7 …

Game suggestion 2.7 is a variant of the two-person strategy game described in game suggestion 2.2.

The difference is that the “playing field” is now open on all sides and that the dice can be positioned alternately on all sides of a dice (also diagonally, i.e. dice edge to dice edge) on the open “playing field”.

The aim of this game variant is also to position 3 identical markers in a row, column or diagonal. As this game variant is also played alternately with 9 different dice, 4 or more identical dice can be placed next to each other, but these are counted as 3 identical markers. The player who most often manages to position 3 identical dice in a row, column or diagonal wins the game.

In the example shown, you can see how the player with the hole cubes won this game by 5 points to 4.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.8 …

Game suggestion 2.8 is a two-person strategy game that can also be played on the familiar playing surface of game suggestion 2.6.

The playing area consists of 25 square squares and the two players sitting opposite each other also receive 9 dice (one player receives 9 dice with holes, the other 9 dice without holes).

The dice are positioned alternately on the boundary lines of the 25 square fields until all the dice of both players are on the playing field (see picture A).

The aim of the game is to position the dice in such a way that several diagonal rows of at least 3 identical dice are created. Additional dice should be positioned in such a way that, once all the dice have been positioned on the playing field, they can be used to skip over the diagonal rows that have already been created (see image B with the red arrow and the slanted dice). Once this has been done, the respective player may take 2 cubes from the opponent’s playing field, provided that they are not cubes that belong to a diagonal row of at least 3 cubes that has already been created.

If the player removes one or two of the opponent’s cubes from the game (see image C with the two blue arrows), they must also remove the cube with which they skipped their diagonal row from the game (see image C with the green arrow).

In the game, each cube may be moved along the boundary lines of the 25 square fields in all 4 directions, but only from one intersection point to the other intersection point per turn.

If a player can make a move, then the move must be carried out. Only when a player has no more dice on the playing field or can no longer make any moves does the opposing player win the game. If both players still have the same number of dice on the board and it is clear that the game situation can no longer be changed for either player, the game ends in a draw.

In picture D you can see who won the game.

Have fun and good luck!

GAME & MORE – GAME SUGGESTION 2.9 …

Game suggestion 2.9 is also about logic, as the game suggestion is based on binary numbers, which only consist of the digits 0 and 1 and are used in the binary system. This system is the basis for almost all modern computers and digital systems. The system has fascinated me since my youth and I am delighted that it is now part of my following game proposal:

A selected player of a game group, which can easily consist of more than 10 players, creates an arbitrary dice chain with up to 18 dice (see picture A).

Although the dice chain was created arbitrarily, it represents a specific number (in this example it is a number that is even greater than 2 billion, namely the number 2,521,652,320), which can be systematically determined by the players.

To do this, the players first mentally divide the dice chain shown into 6 individual dice chains, each consisting of 3 dice (see image B).

The binary numbers, which consist of the digits 0 and 1, are represented in this game with GAME & MORE dice (a die without holes stands for the digit 0 and a die with holes stands for the digit 1).

All players are given a piece of paper and a pen to write down the codes of the binary numbers 0 to 7 (see left-hand column in Figure C). The numbers in the other two columns do not have to be written down, as in this game only the numbers 1 and 2 are placed in front of the numbers 0 to 7 (see centre and right-hand columns in Figure C).

As you can probably already imagine, the respective arrangement of the 3 dice within a small dice chain plays an important role in this game:

The numbers in column 1 apply to the case where all 3 dice have been positioned straight.

The numbers in column 2 apply if all 3 dice have been positioned at an angle. In this case, only the 1 is placed before the digits 0 to 7.

The numbers in column 3 apply if all 3 dice have been positioned straight and at an angle. In this case, only the 2 is placed in front of the numbers 0 to 7.

The players should memorise this well so that they can start to determine the result they are looking for as follows: First, they look at the dice chain again and again and then write down the corresponding numbers of the 6 small dice chains on their piece of paper: 25 2 16 5 23 20

If you now push these 6 numbers together and place a dot every 3 digits from right to left, you will already have your result – the correct result in this example would be: 2521652320 = 2,521,652,320

The level of difficulty of the game can of course also be changed, for example by dividing the dice chain into 6 small dice chains with 3 dice each (see picture B), or by making it significantly shorter.

The first person to determine a result calls out “1” to the group and writes the number 1 on their piece of paper. The next person to determine a result calls out “2” and writes the number 2 on their piece of paper. This is done in the same way for the other players.

Once all players have written down their results, the results are compared and points are awarded. The player who was quickest to determine the correct result receives 3 points and every other player who also determined a correct result receives 1 point.

Have fun and good luck!

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