Read Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share Online

Authors: Ken Denmead,Chris Anderson

Tags: #General, #Family & Relationships, #Games, #Science, #Activities, #Boys, #Experiments & Projects, #Fathers and Sons, #Parenting, #Handicraft for Boys, #Fatherhood, #Crafts & Hobbies, #Amusements

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SPECIAL SPACES:

Card Spaces: These spaces, either green or red, indicate that a player who lands there must draw a card of the appropriate color.

Numbered spaces: When a Roll Card is played, the recipient must roll the die and immediately move to the space with the corresponding number on his path.

Toll Spaces: Landing on the yellow Toll Spaces allows bridges to be set. They can be reached only by an exact die roll or through use of a card. If a player has a bridge ready when he lands on a Toll Space, he may set the bridge on the adjacent brown Abutment in preparation to cross.

Bridges: To cross a bridge, the player must have landed on the Toll Space on the outer side the previous turn, or by card prior to the die roll on a current turn. Each bridge represents three spaces: one for the outer Abutment, one for the bridge span, and one for the inner Abutment.

Once a player has crossed the outer bridge and landed clearly on an Inner Path space, he cannot be forced back over the bridge by means of a “Move Back” card. He can be sent back to an outer space only via a Roll Card or the “Move to the Previous # Space Card.”

STRATEGIES:

Use of the cards, either offensively or defensively, is very important, especially for reaching Toll Spaces or keeping other players from doing so.

Players may set their own bridges or wait for others to do so and then use theirs. Any player can use any bridge.

Bridges may be “damaged” through use of the “Lose a Build Piece” card, making them uncrossable. Bridges can subsequently be repaired only by the owning player, by adding one piece per turn at the start of a given turn.

Other Game Play Issues/Ideas

In the end, the game will be what you make it. You’ll need to settle on what’s fair for the size of bridges versus the size of the toys you use for player pieces. In general, I suggest the playing piece must be able to stand by itself on the three spaces each bridge represents. And the bridges must span the river, with a foundation resting on each Abutment space. Of course, when people are competing in a game, they will press the rules as hard as possible for an advantage, but fair play should always be encouraged to win out.

Possible ideas for themes/genres to customize the game:

Star Wars:
Come up with a microplot that fits into the
Star Wars
universe. Maybe the players are four groups searching for a lost world that holds ancient Jedi secrets that could help overthrow the Empire. The rivers are galactic barriers that must be overcome, and the bridge pieces are actually special technology. Customized cards could mention jumps to light speed, information gleaned from Bothan spies, and upgrades to your ships made by your trusty droid.

Lord of the Rings:
The game could be a quest from the deep and rich history of Middle Earth, where the four races—Hobbits, Humans, Elves, and Dwarves—are all trying to discover a way to the lost island of Númenor. Cards could represent magic bonuses or detrimental spells cast by Morgoth or attacks by the Orcs.

A Spy Game: Maybe each player is a superspy—James Bond, Jason Bourne, and so on—all trying to recover a vital piece of intelligence hidden in a secret place.