Designing a New Dice Game - Snatch the Match

SNATCH THE MATCH - STARTING RULESET

• The game is played with 4 dice and two players or more. Note that the game is most engaging with 4 players.
• One player is also designated to track score through pen and paper. As each player scores during his/her turn, write down the cumulative score, not just the score for that turn. This will make it easier for the players to track their progress.
• Phase 1 (First turn) : Video Link to Demonstration
  

• Players start by tossing the dice and catching them on the back of their palms.
• They then flip the dice they caught back in the air and catch them in their palms.
• They place the caught die on the floor and multiply the numbers for their score.
• Phase 2 : In subsequent turns, players roll all 4 dice.
• If all 4 dice are even, then we have a ‘match’
• When a match occurs based on any player’s roll, all players must snatch the dice!
• Players multiply the numbers on the dice they successfully snatched and add them to their score.
• All players who caught at least one dice now go back to Phase 1.
• If all 4 dice are odd, then the added score of all 4 dice is subtracted from player score!
• If 2 or 3 out of 4 dice are either odd or even then: Video Link to Demonstration

• Player picks one die from the larger category, i,e, odd or even.
• With his finger he flicks the die such that it hits another die of the same category.
• The two numbers are added for the score.
• After the first contact, if either die hits the other number in the category, then the score is multiplied by that number.
• If any die hits the die from the other category then the score is 0.

PROBABILITY ANALYSIS

• Probability of getting 2 out of 4 odd or even numbers :
• 1(2^4) * 4C2 = ⅜
• Thrice every two rounds for 4 players
• Probability of getting 3 out of 4 odd or even numbers :
• 1(2^4) * 4C1 = ¼
• Once every round for 4 players
• Probability of getting all odd or even numbers :
• 1 / 2^4 = 1/16
• Once every 4 rounds for a team of 4

GENERAL THOUGHTS

• The game is definitely better suited to a younger demographic, probably in the age group of 10 - 15, primarily because fine motor skills are still developing but not yet undeveloped at this age.
• The engagement factor in the physical elements of the game would probably be higher at a younger age as well.
• I’m unsure on whether the game needs a theme. I don’t think it would any particular value to the mechanics.
• The selection of 4 dice for the game draws from the game it was inspired by. When I considered changing the number of die, I realized that 4 is sort of a magic number for this game to work. It provides the perfect set of probability as well as symmetry.

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 1
Players - Group of 4 CMU friends (no affiliation to games and not avid gamers)

Date - Saturday 09:00pm, 4th February

• Observation - The probability of an all even is too low. One of the key elements of engagement here is the ‘match’ element of the game and it is too infrequent.
  Change - A match is triggered when all even or all odd occurs. Therefore no subtraction of score occurs.
  

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 2

Players - Roommate

Date - Sunday 12:00pm, 5th February

• Observation - The stakes of a turn are not high enough, i.e. players are not rewarded for a good performance in their turn.
  Change - A player’s turn continues until a mistake is made or a match occurs.
• Observation - Players tend to reach for a match even when it hasn’t occurred.
  Change - If a player falsely reacts to a match, then he loses one turn.

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 3

Players - Game Design Group (4 ETC students)

Date - Sunday 07:00pm, 5th February

• Observation - The game needs an end state! In my haste to ‘test the toy first’ I neglected the fact that players need an end state to track progress. The objective of the game is probably as important an engagement factor as the mechanics.
  Change - First player to 100 points wins. This also means we need to cap the multiplication rewards. In any stage no more than the scores of 2 dice may be multiplied.

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 4

Players - Jing Shu

Date - Tuesday 03:00pm, 7th February

• Observation - A player’s turn could drag on endlessly. Additionally, once a player gets ahead in the game, it’s very difficult to catch upto him/her.
  Change - When a player successfully executes a turn, he has a choice on whether to play again or pass. If he loses his next turn, he forfeits all points earned in that turn.
  
  The hope here is that players will determine whether to pass or risk another turn, based on the state of the game, i.e. whether they are lagging behind or whether they are close to the finish line. It is worth pointing out that this is rule has the potential to greatly impact player mindset and the genesis of the rule came from the game’s objective, not it’s mechanic. This further underscores my belief that while it is important to ‘test the toy’ first, considering the mechanics in relation with the end goal is also important.

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 5

Players - Group of 4 CMU friends (no affiliation to games and not avid gamers)

Date - Wednesday 07:00pm, 8th February

• Observation - After testing now with quite a few players, it is apparent that there is a clear disparity between players who have a certain degree of fine motor skill and those who don’t. The latter group disengages because it takes too long to clear Stage 1, i.e., throwing and catching the dice.
  Change - Players may choose to pass Stage 1 and directly proceed to rolling the dice. However, players who do so forfeit the ability to snatch other player’s matches.

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 6

Players - Roommate

Date - Thursday 09:00pm, 9th February

• Observation - The game lacks an equalizing mechanic. Once a player gets ahead, there isn’t much holding him/her back.
  Change - 100 must be reached by an exact number, unless they cross the number through a snatch. Hopefully this will cause players to pay careful attention to what dice they are choosing to shoot and then even more carefully for a match. The goal with this rule was to emphasize the role of the match as well as create an equalizer.

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 7

Players - Just myself

Date - Friday 09:00pm, 10th February

• Observation - The game has too many rules. It is unnecessary to differentiate between two odd/even and three odd/even numbers.
  Change - Remove multiplication bonus for three odd/even numbers. It’s overly complicated for no real reason. This leaves us with only two cases for each roll - match (multiplicative score) and no match (additive score).
• Observation - The equalizing mechanism is not sufficient or particularly engaging. Moreover, the equalizing is independent of the performance of other players.
  Change - When a snatch occurs, players can choose to either add to their score or subtract from an opponent’s. This not only emphasizes the snatching, but also allows the players to equalize by a combination of skill and chance.

PLAYTEST ANALYSIS AND CHANGES - ITERATION 8

Players - Game Design Group

Date - Sunday 07:00pm, 12th February

• Observation - The ending is boring. As in all games that impose the ‘must reach final destination with an exact number’ rule, it’s not particularly fun sitting around waiting for a needed configuration.
  Change - Player moves backwards based on the exceeded score. For example, if the player is at 94 and the score is 8, then his score becomes 98 (94 + 8 = 102 - 100 = 98). This also means that the player’s turn continues until he misses, thereby giving him a stake in the end state based on skill.
• Observation - Game win condition is slightly unclear. Suppose a player snatches successfully and his score crosses 100. Does he win even if other players have snatched and choose to subtract the player’s score instead of adding to their own?
  Change - The player wins only if his score exceeds 100 after all deductions. This makes the snatch important and adds an element of randomness to the snatch win condition. For example, if a player is at 95 and he successfully snatches 2 dice, while both the other players snatch one each. The odds of his multiplied dice - added score of other player’s dice is still heavily chance driven.

FINAL RULESET

• The game is played with 4 dice and two players or more. Note that the game is most engaging with 4 players.
• One player is also designated to track score through pen and paper. As each player scores during his/her turn, write down the cumulative score, not just the score for that turn. This will make it easier for the players to track their progress.
• Phase 1 (First turn) : Video Link to Demonstration
  

• Players start by tossing the dice and catching them on the back of their palms.
• They then flip the dice they caught back in the air and catch them in their palms.
• They place the caught die on the floor and multiply the numbers for their score.
• Phase 2 : In subsequent turns, players roll all 4 dice.
• If all 4 dice are even or odd, then we have a ‘match’
• When a match occurs based on any player’s roll, all players must snatch the dice!
• Players multiply the numbers on the dice they successfully snatched and add them to their score.
• All players now go back to Phase 1.
• If there is no match : Video Link to Demonstration

• Player picks one die from the larger category, i,e, odd or even.
• With his finger he flicks the die such that it hits another die of the same category.
• The two numbers are added for the score.
• If any die hits the die from the other category then the score is 0.
• Player may choose to continue playing and add their score. However, if they miss or a match occurs their score for the entire round is 0.

WIN STATE

• 100 must be reached by an exact number, unless they cross the number through a snatch.
• Player moves backwards based on the exceeded score. For example, if the player is at 94 and the score is 8, then his score becomes 98 (94 + 8 = 102 - 100 = 98).
• The player wins only if his score exceeds 100 after all deductions.