Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

Tips senet

2021-09-22T21:13:04Z

Vlmoorshead:

==Throwing of Sticks==
The chances of getting every number (1-5) is actually different. Some beginners have the misunderstanding that their probability is all 1/5.

* Chances of throwing 1: 1/4 25%
* Chances of throwing 2: 3/8 37.5%
* Chances of throwing 3: 1/4 25%
* Chances of throwing 4: 1/16 6.25%
* Chances of throwing 5: 1/16 6.25%

==What if you drowned?==
That's bad! But should you return or not?

If you have only one stone left, of course not. Getting back from field 15 costs you more time actually than attempting to escape.

But if you have at least 3 stones, it is better to return than to drown for several turns.

Tips patchwork

2021-09-22T21:10:11Z

Vlmoorshead:

Patchwork seems like a simple game of placing Tetris-like pieces into a grid by paying for them with buttons.

However, it's complex in that you have to balance the time vs. the cost to get a piece. Use up too much time you will have an unfinished quilt, costing you -2 points per empty space. Spend too much at the wrong time you could get button poor and be forced to jump when you don't want to.

Some key things to consider:

1) Getting patches with buttons early is CRITICAL - you get more buttons when you pass one of the 8 buttons spots on the board, so the early you get them the more buttons you will get over the course of the game. For example, if you get a two-button patch in your first turn it will pay off with 16 buttons! But getting it later will have diminishing returns.

2) Jumping over an opponent and losing time to get buttons is SOMETIMES a good thing. Early in the game, it allows you to get more buttons (money) early and buy better pieces (i.e., pieces with more buttons on them) earlier in the game. For why this is good refer to #1.

3) If you do jump over an opponent, try to do it between buttons spots on the board, jumping over an opponent between button spots so you can buy the patch with buttons is preferred. Jumping over button spot misses a chance to buy a piece and get the buttons from it.

4) Don't be afraid to leave an opening on the sides of the board, you can likely get a patch to fill it later, and you will not likely fill all your board anyway. This helps you avoid placing a piece in a bad spot because you are trying to fill every space - bad placement will then get you into trouble later when the board is tighter.

5) I prefer to start from the bottom up, or a corner up, as I find it easier to fill the board. Others work from the center out, figure out what works for you.

Lastly - getting the 7x7 bonus for 7 points is GREAT - HOWEVER - going for it at the cost of not filling your board or bad placement which will make it hard to fill your board later will likely result in a loss anyway. Remember, it's -2 points for empty spaces, so the 7 point bonus only pays for 3.5 empty spaces, so getting the bonus but ending up with 6 openings for -12 points is counterproductive.

Good luck and have fun, it's a great game live or virtually!

Gamehelpunclechestnuttablegype

2020-11-07T16:30:12Z

Vlmoorshead:

== Goal ==

Move all of your pieces to the Home Row opposite your starting position.

== Rules summary ==

On their turn, each player can:

# Roll one of his pieces and place it back where it was
# Move one of the pieces according to the rules for the face-up side

== Movement of the pieces: ==

* Flame: can move straight or diagonally in all directions
* Book: can move straight in all directions
* Swords: can move diagonally in all directions
* Tree: can move straight forward or backwards, and diagonally forward
* Ear: cannot move at all!
* Hat: can move two steps straight then one step on the side, in all directions (like the knight in chess)

A piece can jump over an adjacent piece if there is an open space on the other side of the piece being jumped in the direction of the jumping piece's movement. The first time a piece is jumped over during a turn, it has to be rolled. After a jump, all pieces (except for the hat) can go on jumping as long as there is another valid jump available from the landing space.

A piece can freely move within its Home Row as long as it did not leave it. After it leaves though, it can't reenter its Home Row.

A piece arrived into his destination Home Row cannot move afterwards. Nonetheless, it can always finish a series of jumps before coming to a rest.

== Playing online ==

'''Reordering your pieces''': before starting to play, each player can reorder his pieces in his Home Row. To accomplish this, you can drag and drop a piece over another to exchange their positions. When you are done, click on the 'I'm finished' link above the play space. When all players are finished reordering, the game starts.

'''Select a piece''': click on a piece. Available destinations for this piece (jumps comprised) are then highlighted.

'''Move a piece''': click on the destination you want to move to. After a jump, if it is possible to make another jump, corresponding destinations will be highlighted. You can also stop where you are by clicking on the 'I'm finished' link above the play space.

'''Path selection''': in order to move to a given destination, the hat can select between two moves. Either two steps forward then one on the side, or one step on the side then two steps forward. Distinct pieces may be rolled by following one path or another. Choosing the movement you want is done by clicking the link '1->2' or the link '2->1' (selected path is then highlighted), then by clicking the link 'I'm finished' above the play space.

== Available variants ==

'''Random start''': for a more random game, starting pieces are rolled (Ears are rolled again until getting only moving pieces).

'''Rule of Chaos''': to encourage more chaos, a player cannot cross the middle of the board with any of their pieces until their starting Home Row has been emptied: all pieces have to be put in play at the same time.

'''Random start & Rule of Chaos''': combination of the two previous variants.

'''Have a good game !'''

Gamehelpsenet

2020-11-07T16:26:05Z

Vlmoorshead: Tidied grammar and spelling.

== Summary ==

Senet ("''The Game of Passing Through the Netherworld''") is well over 5000 years old, and is therefore most probably the oldest board game ever known. It comes from Ancient Egypt, where it was used to amuse people and serve as a religious metaphor for the human soul's journey towards a blessed afterlife.

Senet is an elegant and quick blocking game for two players, who compete against each other by moving their own pawns across a gameboard of thirty squares. Despite its old age, Senet turns out to be an amusing and tense little game for today's gamers as well.

== Goal ==

Move your stones (one at a time) on a reverse "S"-shaped gametrack from the upper left to the lower right corner of the gameboard, where they can leave the gamearea.

Be the first to bear all your stones off the gameboard to win!

== The four "casting sticks" ==

The thrown sticks determine, how far you can move a stone during your turn.

How to read the sticks:
Count the sticks with their light sides up (results can be: 1, 2, 3 or 4).
If no light sides show up at all - that's counted as a result of 5.

Throwing values of 1, 4 and 5 grant Extra Turns. However, if you have to move a stone backwards you forfeit any extra turns.

== Movement rules ==

If your stone lands on the opponent's unprotected stone, they swap places.

You cannot land on a stone of your own colour.

Two or more adjacent stones of the same colour protect each other.

You always have to try to do a forward move. If this is not possible, you have to move one of your stones backwards.

If you have NO valid moves to make at all - you lose your turn.

Stones on the last 4 gamefields are never protected and cannot be moved - just borne off.

== Special gamefields ==

* Field 26 ('The House of Beauty'): All stones must STOP here on an exact throw, before they can go further. A stone standing here can be borne off the board on an exact throw of 5.

* Field 27 ('The House of Waters'): This is a pitfall! If you have a stone 'drowning' here, you have to decide whether to return the stone to Field 15 ('The House of Second Life') or to take the sticks and risk to throw a value of 4. (If you succeed to throw a 4 - the stone is borne off).

* Field 28 ('The House of Three Judges'): A stone standing here, can be borne off the board by an exact throw of 3.

* Field 29 ('The House of Two Judges'): A stone standing here, can be borne off the board by an exact throw of 2.

* Field 30 ('The House of Horus'): A stone standing here, can be borne off the board by ANY throw.

If a stone is attacked on the last 3 gamefields, it is dropped into the "water" (unless the House of Waters is occupied already).

Be the first to bear all your stones off the gameboard!

Gamehelpkingdombuilder

2020-09-23T13:54:12Z

Vlmoorshead: Spelling corrections

== Rules overview ==
Place three settlements per turn on the same terrain type shown on your card with the following constraint : if possible you '''must''' build adjacent to your existing settlements. Never forget this, managing adjacency is the key of this game.

By building next to a castle, the player will earn gold at the end of the game, but the most gold will be earned by meeting the conditions of the three Kingdom Builder cards; these three cards (from a total of ten in the game) specify the conditions that must be met in order to earn the much-desired gold, such as earning gold for your settlements built next to water hexes or having the majority of settlements in a sector of the board.

Building next to a location will grant you a corresponding tile (if there are any left, and if you did not already obtained a tile from this precise location) that you will be able to activate it from next turn on.
These extra actions can be activated at each turn either before or after your mandatory build of three settlements, and here is the action each location grants you :
- Oracle : build one settlement on a hex of the same type as your played card, build adjacent if possible
- Farm : build one settlement on grass, build adjacent if possible
- Oasis : build one settlement on a desert hex, build adjacent if possible
- Tower : build one settlement at the edge on the board, build adjacent if possible
- Tavern : build one settlement at the end of a string of at least 3 of your own settlements. The orientation of the string does not matter. The chosen hex must be suitable for building.
- Barn : move any one of your existing settlements to a hex of the same type as your played terrain card. Build adjacent if possible.
- Harbor : move any one of your existing settlements to a water hex. Build adjacent if possible. This is the only way to build settlements on water hexes.
- Paddock : move any one of your existing settlements two hexes in a straight line in any direction to an eligible hex. You may jump across any terrain type hex, even mountain, water, castle, location and/or your own and other players' settlement. The target must *not necessarily* be adjacent to one of your own settlements

== Losing a tile ==
The player keeps a location tile as long as at least one of their settlements is adjacent to the corresponding location.
If they move their last settlement away from such a location by using an extra action (Barn, Harbor or Paddock), they must discard this location tile and remove it from the game.
Notice that after losing a tile from a location, a player cannot re-obtain the tile from the same location since '''a player may seize only one location tile from a given location'''