
DOUBLE BLIND
Winner of 2005 About.com Game Design contest
by Bruce Glassco
Introduction
Both players draw a hidden victory condition. They then alternate placing tokens until one player has fulfilled BOTH conditions.
Components
Board with small squares (as in Go or Pente)
Colored stones for each player (ditto)
(Graph paper and pencil may be used instead of the above components)
A set of cards labeled 1-5.
Setup
Each player draws one card. Then consult the chart below to see what your victory condition will be. The orientation of the pattern does not matter.
Key to diagram:
O = your piece
X = your piece or opponent’s piece
- = any piece or no piece
1. (LINE)
--O- ----
--O- ----
--O- OOOO
--O- ----
2. (SLASH)
O--- ---O
-O-- --O-
--O- -O--
---O O---
3. (SQUARE OR DIAMOND)
---- ----
-OO- -O-O
-OO- ----
---- -O-O
--O- --O--
-O-O -----
--O- O---O
---- -----
--O--
4. (X) (Zero or one of the four arms may belong to opponent)
----
-O-O
--O-
-O-X
​
5. (CROSS) (Zero or one of the four arms may belong to opponent)
--O-
-OOO
--X-
----
To Play
Choose a player to go first.
Players alternate placing pieces on intersections of the board, as in Go or Pente.
Whenever a player fulfills any of the five victory conditions, he or she must announce this to opponent. (It may be helpful to give each player a different suit of cards labeled 1-5. Then, each player may display cards to show which victory conditions have been completed.) It is possible to complete more than one condition on the same move, or to complete condition 4 or 5 on your opponent’s turn.
There is no benefit to completing the same victory condition more than once.
When a player completes his or her second different victory condition, he or she may ask opponent “Have I fulfilled your victory condition yet?” Opponent must truthfully answer yes or no. A player may ask this question again whenever he or she completes another new victory condition.
Winning the Game
If your opponent has answered “yes” after being queried about his or her victory condition, and you have completed your own victory condition as well, then you have won.