Stories
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Glass Bead Game? I had read the book by Hermann Hesse. Was it an influence,
I have no idea ? Where did my game idea come from ? Came from the sculpture of wrestlers I sculpted, two figures stood wrestling with one head. The idea for that from Summo Wrestlers of Japan, I saw on TV. If a wrestling match can be that simple, lasting as little as thirty seconds, why not a game ? Ostensibly I got into games because I wanted to make money. But on the unconscious level and in retrospect, it could now be seen as a study in game theory.
I set to work to construct a simple checker board game, from sixty-four squares reduced down to eight. The two player game was played diagonally from corner to corner, the object with just three pieces, to enter or capture the opponent's corner square. But it was like Tic Tac Toe, so I needed something more. I added two power circles adjoining and in front of the two opposite corner squares. Upon entering the power circle, one could jump to any square on the board except the opponents power circle or home corner square. However that was too easy so I introduced dice to the game and one had to throw say an odd number to enter one's home power square.
I gave the game to a friend who gave it to a friend of his for a critique and he said there were not enough rules. Now this was an interesting proposition since normally we like less rules and not more. We have governments constituted to create ever more and more rules. So I may have added more squares five to six for a total of thirty-six.
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