CrunchyColeslaw: Initial version

2026-09-07T20:27:04Z

Initial version

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== Overview ==

A two-player tile-laying game of about ten minutes. You are assigned '''✖''' or '''⭕''', and each turn a terrain tile is drawn from the bag for you and placed with your symbol face up, matching the terrain it is laid against.

Three of your symbol in a row earns you a '''campfire''', and each campfire scores '''1 point per empty space around it''' at the end of the game. The game lasts 24 turns, 12 each. Most points wins.

== Components ==

* '''26 Terrain tiles''', double-sided — '''✖''' on one face, '''⭕''' on the other, same terrain on both.
* '''12 Campfires''', 6 per player. The ✖ campfires stand on logs, the ⭕ campfires on a stone disc.

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid #a2a9b1; background:#f8f9fa; width:auto;"
|- style="background:#eaecf0;"
! Terrain !! Count !! Colour
|-
| Mountain || style="text-align:center;" | 6 || lavender
|-
| Desert || style="text-align:center;" | 6 || orange
|-
| Grassland || style="text-align:center;" | 6 || bright green
|-
| Forest || style="text-align:center;" | 6 || dark green
|-
| '''Lake''' || style="text-align:center;" | '''2''' || teal — '''wild''', matches every terrain
|}

== Setup ==

All 26 tiles go into the bag, each player is assigned a symbol and takes their 6 campfires, and '''two tiles are drawn and placed side by side''' — one ✖ face up, one ⭕ face up. The opening pair does not have to match terrain, and both tiles are ordinary tiles that can form part of a row.

24 tiles remain in the bag: '''12 turns each'''.

== Taking a Turn ==

=== 1. A tile is drawn for you ===

It appears above the board showing your symbol. There is no choice of tile, and both players can see it.

=== 2. Place the tile ===

Legal spaces are highlighted — click one. The tile must go in an empty space '''orthogonally adjacent''' to a placed tile (corners do not count), and the placement is legal if '''any one''' of these holds:

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse:collapse; border:1px solid #a2a9b1; background:#f8f9fa; width:auto;"
|- style="background:#eaecf0;"
! Condition !! Detail
|-
| '''Terrain match''' || It touches a placed tile of the same terrain.
|-
| '''Lake on the board''' || It touches a placed Lake, which matches everything.
|-
| '''Lake in hand''' || The drawn tile is a Lake, so it may go anywhere along the edge.
|-
| '''First of its terrain''' || That terrain is not on the tableau yet, so the tile may go anywhere along the edge.
|}

If none of those yields a space — every matching tile is boxed in — the tile may be placed '''anywhere along the edge'''. A tile is never discarded and a turn is never skipped.

The tableau has no board and no size limit; it grows in any direction.

=== 3. Make 3-in-a-row ===

If the placed tile completes a line of '''exactly three consecutive tiles''' — horizontal, vertical or diagonal — all showing '''your''' symbol and '''none carrying a campfire''', you place a campfire '''on the tile you just played'''.

* Completing two lines at once still earns only '''one''' campfire.
* '''A tile carrying a campfire is spent''': its symbol cannot be used in any later 3-in-a-row.
* Lines may overlap, as long as no tile in the new line of three carries a campfire.

If you complete a row with '''all six campfires already out''', you may instead '''move''' one of them onto the tile you just played — click a highlighted campfire, or press ''"Leave campfires where they are"''. A vacated tile becomes usable in later rows again.

== Scoring ==

Each campfire scores '''1 point per empty space among the 8 spaces around its tile''', orthogonal and diagonal — 0 to 7 points. Empty spaces are counted for '''every''' campfire beside them, so a gap shared by two of your campfires scores twice. Campfires still in your supply score nothing.

Scores update live as tiles are placed, and every campfire shows its value on the board once the game ends.

The game ends the moment the '''last tile is placed'''. Tiebreakers: most points, then most campfires placed, then the player who took the '''final turn loses'''.

=== Example ===

<code>.</code> is empty, <code>X</code> and <code>O</code> are tiles, and <code>[X]</code> and <code>[O]</code> are tiles carrying a campfire:

<pre>
. . . . .
. [X] . [X] .
X X O X X
. X [O] X .
. . O . .
</pre>

* Each '''✖ campfire''' has five empty spaces around it — three above, one either side — for '''5 points each, 10 in total'''. The two empty spaces between and above them are counted by both.
* The '''⭕ campfire''' is surrounded by tiles on six sides, leaving only the two spaces below it: '''2 points'''.

'''✖ leads 10 to 2''': where a campfire is lit matters as much as how many you place.

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CrunchyColeslaw: Initial version