Game Design Showdown June 2005 Challenge - 'Out There!'

Entry #1 - Map Quest
by btaggart

Map Quest
For 2 to 4 players

Notice to all scout patrols: Due to a computer glitch (stupid Windows!) our navigational systems are no longer capable of plotting a course back to the Homeworld. But all is not lost! Due to the fundamental interconnectedness of all things, accurate maps of Hyperspace can be found by studying the shape of Bovine intestines.

You have been assigned the glorious task of serving Hive Mother by gathering visual reproductions of these maps! However, so that we do not arouse the suspicion of the cows, you must use one of the more oblivious races on this planet as drones: Humans.

Catch the humans alone, brainwash them into opening the cows and taking pictures of the intestines, and then retrieve the pictures from them. Whichever scout patrol’s team of oblivious human pawns gathers the needed maps first will be awarded the Order of the Frood.

Contents
24 grey (neutral) human pawns.
4 black (federal agent) human pawns.
4 human pawns in each of four colors (brainwashed).
1 scout ship in each of four colors.
12 clever cow pawns.
50 happenstance cards.
1 Time of Day token.
2 dice.
1 board:

Objective
Collect a team of brainwashed humans to collect cows and return them to the pickup sites. The first player to collect four cows and return her scout ship to any pickup site wins.

Setup
Place one neutral pawn on each of the house squares. Place 6 cows in each pasture, and your own scout ship on your chosen pickup site. Shuffle the happenstance cards and place them face down next to the board. Place the Time of Day token with the Night side facing up. The scout leader with the highest Stellar Navy rank goes first.

Play

1. Draw the top happenstance card. Unless it says otherwise, follow the instructions and discard the card.
2. Roll the dice. The result is the number of moves you may make. You may move any pieces available to you. The pieces available to you are: Any neutral or federal agent human pawns, brainwashed pawns of your own color, and your scout ship (moves 2 spaces per move). The human pawns may move on any road space. Neutral pawns may also be on any house space. Scout ships may be on any space except pasture and houses. Only unmutilated cows may be in the pastures.
3. At any time during your turn, you may attempt Brainwashing or Cattle Mutilation.

Brainwashing: To brainwash a human, get them alone at night (any time the Night side of the Time of Day token is showing) on a road. Alone means no other human pawns on any adjacent road or house squares, but with your scout ship on the same space. Replace the neutral pawn with a pawn of your color.
Cattle Mutilation: Move a pawn you control to a space connected to a pasture. If it is night, place one cow piece with your pawn. The pawn is now delivering cow pictures. That cow piece moves with that pawn until it reaches a collection site or is recovered.
Federal Agents: Federal Agents will replace other human pawns as dictated on the happenstance cards. Federal agents cannot be brainwashed. If an agent can be moved onto the same space as a scout ship, that player loses one cow piece already collected (not cow pieces currently held by pawns). If that player doesn’t have any cow pieces already, laugh at him for being useless. If an agent can be moved onto the same space as a brainwashed pawn with a cow piece, return the cow to the pasture, and replace the brainwashed pawn with a neutral pawn.

Example Happenstance Cards

• Time of Day: Turn over the Time of Day token.
• Lost Track of Time: Save this card to surprise another player. Change the Time of Day token to day. Any attempted brainwashing fails. Move the human pawn to the nearest house.
• Sighting!: Return one neutral pawn to the nearest house and replace it with a Federal Agent.
• Faulty Brainwashing: Replace a brainwashed pawn with a neutral pawn. Do not replace a pawn that is currently delivering cow pictures.
• Navigational Glitch: Move any other player’s scout ship to a board space of your choice.
• Farmer!: No mutilating cattle this turn.
• Plain Clothes Agent: Save this card to use when another player attempts a brainwashing. The pawn is not brainwashed. Replace it with a Federal Agent. That player loses one collected cow piece.
• Clever Human: Save this card to surprise another player. Make up to 5 moves (no brainwashing or mutilating).
• (RARE) Teenager Pranks!: Someone already mutilated a cow for you, add one cow from either pasture to your collection.

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Entry #3 - Last Stand at Pudding Corners
by yogurt

Last Stand at Pudding Corners

Tentacled invaders crawl from the thrumming crater that used to be Pudding Corners town hall.

OVERVIEW

Invaders drag stray humans into the crater. Humans fight back by picking up the invaders and sinking them in the reservoir. The trick is to never be caught alone.

Leaders and equipment make these tasks easier.

Both players have a hand of cards that let them move townsfolk, place tiles, or take other actions.

SET-UP

The gameboard is a map of a small town. There are two main streets, narrow paths, a diner, homes, gas stations, etc. Each building or street section is a space.

Some spaces start with facedown tiles concealing equipment, obstacles or alien pods.

Place townspeople in homes. Place invaders on the crater.

The human player chooses two leaders, who begin together. The invader player starts with no leaders.

TURN ORDER

Each player:

1. Moves townspeople who share a space with one of the player’s leader. The invader player also moves invaders.
2. Plays ONE card. Cards let you move other townspeople or add tiles.
3. Spends counters to move leaders or use equipment.
4. Captures outnumbered enemies.
5. Draws one card.

LEADERS

Leaders are exceptional townspeople, such as Dusty the Delivery Boy or Parks Superintendent Jenkins. Both players may gain leaders. Invader-controlled leaders are pod people.

Leaders may move any townspeople who start in their square without playing a movement card. Townspeople move three spaces.

Each leader also has a unique power. Examples:
* You know a shortcut. Place two counters on the board. You may move directly between these spaces.
* You can activate the shotgun for one counter.
* You can reveal tiles in adjacent spaces.

Each leader has a pool of counters used to activate equipment or take actions such as:
1 counter - move up to 3 spaces.
3 counters - escape capture or dynamite

If a leader does not spend any counters in a turn, she gains 3 counters (maximum 8).

Leaders cannot capture enemies, but can be captured.

MOVING INVADERS

The invader player divides 8 movement points among the invaders.

Invaders may move once, either one space or four spaces. Each space costs a point.

MOVEMENT CARDS

To move townspeople without a leader, players may use a movement card.

Examples:
* "Now's our chance!" Move all townspeople in one space. Each one may move five spaces.
* "Probably just teenagers." Move three townspeople who are indoors.
* "Get it!" Move any townspeople who can reach a lone invader onto that invader.

Townspeople will not move to where they would be outnumbered.

OTHER CARDS

Other cards allow players to add tiles or trigger events.

Examples:

* Aftershock. Draw two tiles. Place one and let your opponent place the other.
* Cache. Draw two tiles. Place them at the end of your turn.
* Whoosh! If a leader is near a gas station, destroy the station and everything within 1 space.
* "Not today!" Bring a leader back from the dead.

CAPTURING THE ENEMY

If two invaders move onto a lone townsperson, the townsperson is captured and may no longer move. All three pieces now move as one.

Townspeople may capture lone invaders in the same way.

Captives are freed if two allies move onto them.

If a captive invader reaches the reservoir or a captive human reaches the crater, remove it. Score 1 VP.

GAINING LEADERS

The human player may change a townsperson to a leader when:
* the townsperson is beside another townsperson who gets captured or killed.

The alien player may change a townsperson to a leader when:
* the townsperson is alone with an alien pod.

Draw two leader cards and pick one.

No player may control more than 4 leaders.

EXPOSING POD PEOPLE

Human-controlled leaders may expose invader-controlled leaders on the same square. Hold a blind bid in counters. If the human wins, the invader’s leader becomes a normal invader, losing all equipment.

TILES

Reveal a tile when encountered by any moving piece.

Examples:

Scenery
* Closet. One piece is safe from capture here.
* Downed power lines. No entry! Retreat.
* Cistern. Humans may dunk captive invaders here instead of the reservoir.

Reinforcements
* Add two townspeople or invaders.

Equipment (Used only by leaders., but any piece may carry one equipment tile.)
* Shotgun. Knock any piece back two spaces (2 counters to use).
* Bike. Move 6 spaces on streets. (1 counter)
* Dynamite. Destroy everything in an adjacent space. (3 counters)

Victory Tiles
* Pod. Invaders may deliver a pod to the highway sign for 3 VP.
* Ham radio. Humans may deliver a ham radio to the hills for 3 VP.

VICTORY

Each enemy destroyed is worth 1 VP. Each victory tile delivered is worth 3 VP. The game ends at 20.

Entry #5 - Independence Day
by sedjtroll, Nando, and Jelorol

Independence Day

Defend life, as you know it.

On July 2nd, while Alien attack ships loom overhead, players lay tiles to construct evacuation routes. On July 3rd, the aliens strike, destroying the cities. Players search for survivors and take them to a nearby military base where they are deployed as fighter pilots. On July 4th, a Hero emerges who pilots a captured alien fighter into the mothership to upload a computer virus. If successful, the virus disables their shields and the alien threat is defeated!

Phase 1 (July 2nd):
Evacuation
In turn order, players draw square tiles from a bag.

If a City tile is drawn, place it on the board. The board is a rectangular grid with the following features:

* Area 51, a large square grid in the center * City Center/Ground Zero spaces labeled with targets
* Roads from the base toward each city and also between cities

The City tiles have identical road segments and blast arrows on both sides, and a number of survivors on the back. The survivor side may be viewed when drawn but faces downward when the tile is placed. Tile placement cannot create a dead end where two tile sides abut or where a tile overlays a pre-printed road.

If an Alien Fighter tile is drawn, place it into an Alien Pile (as a measure of the Alien Attack Ships' approach), and draw another tile. When a certain number of Fighter tiles are drawn, the attack ships arrive and destroy the cities.

Fighter tiles have a Fighter image on the back and a pattern of colored lines on the face (single line, cross, T pattern, etc.) These tiles are kept face down.

The Attack!
Aliens blast Ground Zero in every city simultaneously, along with any adjacent tiles. The blast follows the blast arrows on the tiles, destroying City tiles in a chain reaction. Rubble markers are placed on those destroyed tiles.

Phase 2 (July 3rd):
Each player places a truck on one of the city centers.

On his turn, a player may Search & Rescue (move his truck and either search for survivors or deliver survivors to Area 51), and then he must Dogfight with any of his planes in the Dogfight.

Search & Rescue
Trucks move up to 5 tiles along roads or 1 tile off-road. When on a tile without Survivors or Rubble, you may search for survivors. Flip the tile (roads will still be visible) and collect the number of Survivor meeples indicated. Each truck can carry a maximum of 6 survivors; extras are left on the tile to be rescued later by any player.

When delivering Survivors to Area 51, draw 1 Survivor card per survivor delivered. Keep up to 1 Jet and up to 2 Pilots. If you do not choose a Jet card, take a Crop Duster card from the supply. With each player's first delivery they receive one additional Crop Duster.

Jets and Crop Dusters have "built-in" pilots, which can be replaced with Pilot cards. Jets can carry an additional Pilot card as a Co-pilot. Pilot cards indicate dogfight skill modifiers. Co-pilots do not add to combat ability.

All planes immediately engage in combat.

Dogfight!
Each turn, players roll 1d8 for each plane they have in combat, indicating whether they are flying Defensively or Aggressively.
Defensive: On a roll of...

1-2: You're hit! 3-6 Evade enemy fire
7-8 Score a kill

Aggressive: On a roll of...

1-3 You're hit! 4-5 Evade enemy fire
6-8 Score a kill

When a plane is hit, discard the co-pilot. No co-pilot? Discard the plane and any pilot on it.

When any player scores a kill, move a Fighter tile from the Alien Pile into a separate Hero Pile.

Once all players have engaged in combat, any player whose last plane is shot down is out of the fight and out of contention to be the Hero. That player becomes an Alien and awaits the next phase. When there is only one player remaining in the dogfight, the phase ends. Combat stops and that player is designated the Hero.

Phase 3 (July 4th):
The Virus
The Hero takes the Hero Pile. The Alien Pile remains face down and is shared among all other players who are now playing as aliens.

The Hero and aliens alternate turns laying tiles from their respective pile onto the grid inside of Area 51. (Aliens get only one play per turn.) If the Hero can connect 2 opposite sides of the grid with an unbroken line of a single color, then the virus is successfully uploaded.

Independence Day?
A player who becomes the Hero and successfully uploads the virus has won the game! Fly home and enjoy your "Victory Dance" cigar. If the Hero fails to upload the virus, the Aliens win.

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Entry #7 - I was Ubducted!!
by Pt314

I was Ubducted!!

3-6 players

Pieces
25 square map tiles (12 farmland, 8 suburb, 5 urban),
1 UFO piece,
Deck of 50 population cards (10 cows, 10 workers, 8 thinkers, 6 artists, 4 doctors, 4 celebrities, 4 lawyers, 4 politicians)

Initialization
The game starts with 25 square tiles placed randomly in a 5x5 grid.
The UFO is placed in the center of the board. Player who draws highest scoring card from deck chooses who goes first.

Game Structure
On a players turn they may move the UFO in any orthogonal direction, except back to the tile it was moved from on the preveous turn, on the board. They then decide what kind of population unit they are going to try to ubduct from that tile. If the unit you are aiming for is native to that tile you may draw up to 4 cards from the deck, if it is semi-native you may draw up to 2 cards from the deck, if it isn't native to the tile you cannot draw any cards. If you get what you were aiming for you can keep it in your own ubductee stash. Play then shifts to the next player. If the deck is exausted then the discard pile is reshuffled and becomes the new deck.

Endgame Condition

The game ends once somebody either moves the UFO off the board, or if there are no more cards left in the deck.

Scoring
When the game is over the players look at their stash of ubductees.

Cows = 1 point, Humans = 2-4 points
For every type that you have more of, then any other player, you get 2 bonus points. If you are the only one that has a certain type you gain another 2 bonus points for that type.

The player with the most points wins.

In the case of a draw, the person with the most humans wins, if still a draw, then either decare it a draw, roll dice, or just play the game again to choose who won.

Entry #9 - Doppleganger: Unleashed From Groom Lake!
by doho123

Doppleganger:
Unleashed From Groom Lake!

OBJECT: Investigating the abandoned Groom Lake test site, the players have found conclusive evidence of past Alien experiments. However, their vehicles have been sabotaged. Now, the team is trying to cross the desert to civilization with their proof, but one team member has been taken over by an Alien, trying to foil their plans.

COMPONENTS:
CHARACTER CARDS and WIN CONDITIONS:
Each player gets one hidden character card.

One player will be randomly assigned the ALIEN card. If all HUMANS and the BOUNTY HUNTER die before reaching civilization, the ALIEN wins, regardless if he is still alive.

One player is an ALIEN BOUNTY HUNTER. The BOUNTY HUNTER wins solely if he kills the ALIEN.

The rest of the players are HUMANS. HUMANS who are still living who make it to a Civilization tile win the game.

DESERT TILES:
There is one tile designated as GROOM LAKE (the start tile). Tiles are drawn and placed to form a map of the Desert. Also, some tiles have Events on them which must be followed.

THE GROUP:
The Group pawn starts on the Groom Lake tile. The rest of the tiles are divided into three piles, shuffled, and placed face down. The three piles are determined by icons on the back of the tiles: 3,6, and compass.

SUPPLY CARDS:
Each player draws 12 Supply cards, and discard 6 at the start of the game. ALL SUPPLY CARDS CANNOT BE SHOWN TO ANY OTHER PLAYER UNTIL THEY ARE PLAYED DURING THE GAME.

HAZARD CHITS:
HAZARD chits are played on marked Desert Tiles as they are revealed. The Group cannot move onto a Desert Tile unless the Hazard on the tile is removed by the group discarding the appropriate Supply Cards, or possibly by discarding a life token.

LIFE TOKENS:
Each player starts with 5 Life tokens. Player with no life tokens have died.

A PLAYERS TURN:
A player has two Desert actions:
--Scout the area.
--Move the group to a neighboring Desert Tile.

SCOUT THE AREA:
The player picks up two Desert Tiles. HE CANNOT SHOW THESE TILES TO ANYONE ELSE. He chooses one, and discards the other. If the group is 3 or less tiles away from Groom Lake, he takes tiles from the “3” pile of tiles. If the group is 6,5, or 4 tiles away from Groom Lake, he takes tiles from the “6” pile. otherwise, he takes the tiles from the “Compass” pile.

If the tile shows a prt of the desert, he must place it next to the tile that the group is currently on, the graphic edge elements must match (ie, the paths must continue across both tiles). If the tile cannont be placed next to the current tile the group is on, the player loses a life token and places the tile anywhere on the board. Again, the graphic elements along the edges must match.

If the tile indicates that it has a Hazard, the player draws two Hazard chits, selects one, and places it face down on the tile, discarding the other one. PLAYERS CANNOT SHOW TO THE OTHER PLAYERS OR DISCUSS FACE DOWN OR DISCARDED HAZARD CHITS until they are flipped over during play.

If the tile is an Event tile, the players must follow the directions of the Event.

Event tiles can let player find supplies, swap character cards, or result in life token/supply loss.

MOVE THE GROUP:
M the pawn to the next tile as long as it follows a path.

Moving to a town (civilization) tile wins the game for all remaining Humans.

If the tile has a Hazard chit on it, it is flipped over, and the players must play Supply cards and/or Life tokens to remove the Hazard. If the Hazard is not removed, the Group token is moved back to the previous tile.

Some Hazards require cooperative card play from the entire group; other Hazards require play from each player individually.

ALIEN ACCUSATION:
After any player’s turn, any player may accuse another player of being the Alien. Then a vote is taken to determine if the accused player should be killed (removed from the game). If a simple majority vote a player to be an Alien, then that player is removed from the game. DO NOT LOOK AT HIS CHARACTER CARD.

Instead of taking a vote, the Alien Bounty Hunter may reveal his character card, and independently kill another player. That player’s character card is flipped over. If the Bounty Hunter selected the Alien player, the game is over, and the Bounty Hunter wins. If the player is a Human, the Bounty Hunter and his target are removed from the game.

When a player is removed, his supply cards are dealt randomly to the remaining players.

Entry #11 - The Ataraxis Transcendence
by Challengers

The Ataraxis Transcendence

H. G. Wells notwithstanding, extra-terrestrials are so much more advanced than Earthlings that bellicosity has been expunged from their physical and abstract composition. Playfulness, however, has become the essence of their being. The Earthling, Steven Wright, is their poster child and he represents man's best hope to attain the Ataraxis Transcendence.

The Ataraxis Transcendence is an exalted state of mind wherein living creatures are totally at peace and keenly aware of their place in the universe. Humans have variously described this experience as the rapture, trippin' and being in "the zone". It is while in this state that sentient beings communicate with each other, regardless of celestial origin.

To play AT, you need a white-noise generator, a large clock with a sweep second-hand, 25 blank, unruled 3x5 index cards, several blue felt-tip markers and a picture of Steven Wright. Oh, you need at least two other friends to play with you!
Everyone sits quietly in a circle on the floor. The last person to sit down must get up and turn on the white noise generator. This will open the channels to the extra-terrestrials. After the person sits back down, he must give each player a marker and two index cards. Finally, he must give the picture of Steven Wright to any other player he chooses. This player, while possessing the picture, is known as the "conduit" to the extra-terrestrials and is responsible for flipping the index cards as needed.
A round consists of drawing a shape, making noises and reacting to the noises.
Everyone must think of a shape: circle, square or triangle. Without rushing, each player takes his marker, draws the shape on one index card and places it face-down on the floor where everyone can reach it. Next, everyone must simultaneously make one of three noises: "sis", "boom" or "bah". To ensure that the noises are made simultaneously, wait until the last player has placed his card face-down. Then, everyone should stare at the clock until the second hand sweeps past the "6" to make his or her noise. What happens next depends on what sounds were made:
· sis only reveal one shape (if possible)
· boom only hide one shape (if possible)
· bah only give each player another blank card (if able, even if you run out of cards along the way)
· sis-boom reveal all shapes
· sis-bah hide all shapes
· boom-bah stare at the clock and make another noise at "6" (basically, a do-over)
· sis-boom-bah invoke the extra-terrestrial

Invoking the extra-terrestrial is easy: the conduit has the opportunity to collect three cards, whether face-up or face-down, from the central area only. If the three cards are all the same shape, then the extra-terrestrial has made contact! The conduit gets to keep one of the cards as "proof of contact". the other two cards must be returned to the central area. If each card is a different shape, then the extra-terrestrial contacts everyone via the white-noise generator! The conduit returns two cards to the central area, keeping one for himself. Each player, beginning with the one to the left of the conduit gets to take one card from the central area as "proof of contact". There may not be enough cards for everyone, and that simply means that the group was not powerful enough to invoke the extra-terrestrial 's essence.
During the invocation, all players must be allowed to see the revealed cards (if any). When the cards are returned to the central area, the conduit must show the card to all players before placing them face-down. Note that a card that was face-up when taken at the beginning of the invocation still gets placed face-down.
After the invocation, the conduit must pass the picture of Steven Wright to the player on his right (of course!)

After each noise-making phase, a new round begins. It is possible that some players may begin the round without a blank index card. They will still participate in the rest of the round's activities.

The game ends when there is no longer any chance of invoking the extra-terrestrials. Everyone wins. Ommmmmm!

Arcana: The white-noise generator and the clock are known as "magnifiers". These devices help humans to focus their innate powers of extra-sensory perception. The white-noise generator, which can be a radio "tuned" between stations, harnesses the inner auditory faculties. The sweep hand focuses the inner eye. The shapes represent the universal symbology of sentient beings. The blue marker is more visible to extra-terrestrials. As well, the color blue represents calmness. Sitting in a circle eliminates positional power plays. "sis" " boom" and "bah" represent the universal, non-fricative phonology of 95% of extant sentient beings.