Deconstruction of Game

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 basic action which players can take are, mixing all the tiles together in a bag, drawing a tile from the bag and placing it in the middle of the playing area. Each player then takes five tiles and hides them behind his or her screen. On his or her turn, a player plays two tiles, after playing two tiles the player refills his or her hand to five drawing tiles without looking.

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

Each players has five tiles in the beginning, and have to put two tiles in the middle of the playing area which already a pile has been placed. Each tile played must connect orthogonally to a tile already on the table, and the tiles being played must also match colors on all edges to tiles already in play. A player may not add a tail to a snake that already has a tail at the other end, and similarly may not add a head to a snake that already has a head. It is also not allowed to add a tile to the middle of a snake that would result in a snake with two tails or two heads being formed. If a player cannot place a legal tile, they ‘pass’ and miss their turn.

 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.

Tile Length   Score           Tile Length    Score          Tile Length   Score

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.