Untitled Game

The TicTacToe-inspired game I have created (Untitled at the moment) follows some of the basic rules and principles of it's predecessor, but substitutes it's rather predictable gameplay for something more controlled and a little creative.

Since we were limited in how many rules we could change I decided to keep the grid-obtaining objectives and aesthetics the same.

The rules of the game are:

- Requires two players
- Each player draws a 6x6 grid for themselves. Each player plots three words on their personal grid in vertical, horizontal, or diagonal orientation. One word must be three letters, one must be four letters, and the last must be five letters (The words are not allowed to share letters).
- A shared 6x6 grid is drawn between the two players.
- After deciding who goes first the players take turns marking territory (X's or O's) on the boxes of the shared grid as they choose. Play two rounds, switching who goes first the second round.

The objective of the game is to place your marker on the locations of the letters you wrote on your own concealed 6x6 grid onto the shared 6x6 grid. Each player receives 1 point for a successful letter obtained on the grid, and 3 points extra for each word completed. No points awarded for denying the other player a spot.

This is the 6x6 playing grid. Each player will have their own concealed versions of this grid with the words they place on them. A third grid will be shared for play.

Below is an example of a game between two players ready to play. They have each plotted their three words on their own grids. The middle grid shows the board and how it will be contested in this current setup. The red or blue markings show the locations-of-interest to each respective player, while the green markings show the locations that will be contested over. Only one person can occupy the space, so one of the players will definitely be denied spot(s) to their boxes.

Keeping the locations of your words in secrecy is the foremost strategy. Placing your letters in a string might let your opponent predict what direction it is heading in and effectively deny you spots. At the same time you must be able to predict your opponent's words as well, and what orientation they are placed on the board. For this reason I personally recommend at least one word be placed diagonally.

There are some other changes that might be considered for this game, such as multiplayer or how the point system is derived, but this is how the game stands presently! I enjoyed keeping some of the same flavors of TicTacToe while allowing players to create their own words and play a pseudo-Battleship experience. I wanted to keep the novelty of a Paper+Pencil game solely for it's playability in nearly any environment.

- Cam