Snake Pit
-A tile-laying game of crazy snake building
for 2-4 players
1. Goal of the game
The goal of the game is to lay down puzzles
to complete snakes as many as possible for getting more score. And the longer
the snake shapes are, the more score you get. If players use snake head as a
variant, the ultimate goal of the game is to complete many snakes if one can, in
the same color of snake head which each players have.
2. Objects, Attributes, States
The Objects: 54 double-sided snake tiles
which contains four colors, 4 snake color counters, 4 ”2x” counters which is
used for variants. A bag to hide tiles for drawing, need something to act as a
screen for each player to hide his or her tiles.
Attributes: Double-sided snake tiles have
four sides, which play crucial role in this game. It contains information of
the shapes or parts of the snakes such as head, body, or tail. It also has two different
colors among four colors (yellow, red, green, purple) of the snakes in each
tile. 4 snake color counters are small and have four snake heads individually
with four colors, and “2x” counters are four doubling the final score in
variants.
States: Double-sided snake tiles could be
drawn from the bag and placed in the middle of the playing area, or hidden in
each players screen. The four color snake heads or “2x” counters are hidden
until the first snake in the same color is completed.
3. Operative/ Resultant Actions
The resultant actions would be many, due to
the variants. First, if other player tries to finish the snake in same color to
get the score, the opponent could finish it first to snatch the point. And also,
if the opponent tries to make long snake to get more scores, you can hinder
that by ending up or completing the shape of snake using a tile that has tail.
If other person has certain color of snake heads (ex. Red), you can hinder the
opponent by not making that color of snake, or make shorter. Moreover, as you
would have “2x” counters as variant, you can beat other opponent by applying it
to the highest partial score you got.
4. Operation/ Foundational Rules
If
they can only place one tile then they do so, and refill their hand to five.
Once the tile-bag is empty, players no longer refill their hands, but continue
to play until all players have laid all their tiles or until all players have ‘passed’
because they cannot play. The winner is the player with the highest score at
the end of the game.
A
player scores whenever they lay a tile that completes a snake. The score 1
point for the first tile in the snake, 2 points for the second, 3 for the third
and so on. The smallest legal snake scores 3 points in total as it is formed
from two tiles. If a player simultaneously completes two snakes, they double
their score for those snakes. For better understanding there is chart for
scoring.
2 3 5 15 8 36
3 6 6 21 9 45
4 10 7 28 10 55
5. Skills
First, for the physical skills, the players
could enhance their dexterity and coordination of hands and eyes by playing
with snake tiles. Also, physical endurance might need to play this game which
might take an hour. Second, Snake Pit is practically one of the types of puzzle
game, thus, players should memorize the types or color of the tiles they have.
Moreover, the players have to try to see the big picture of the game, by
observing the patterns and comparing the matching tiles.
Furthermore, the game
needs a sharp concentration for making the snake tiles as long and many as
possible. Third, Snake pit is also good social game that even two players can
enjoy like Chess, and spend their time. Players can enhance their social skills
by trying to read the opponent’s card or their future moves, and also, if there
are many players, people can make teams for the game. It is also fun to play
with all ages of family members.
6. The Role of Chance.
The role of chance would be found in the
variants. If players use snake heads for variant, players should shuffle the
four snake head counters face down. Each player takes one and keeps it hidden.
Whenever a player scores a snake with the same color as counter, one may reveal
the counter to take the points for oneself instead. For the remainder of the
game player receive all points for snakes scored in that color.
On the other hand, if players use “2x”
counter as variant, at the end of one’s turn, one may place “2x” counter on any
tile. Any subsequent snakes that pass through this tile score double. “2x”
counters cannot be moved once placed.
