PISTARD
An open cycling game project by Anki Toner, 2005
This is an open game project. What does that mean? It means that I provide the board and the riders to download. I also offer a simple set of rules, probably not the best possible.
I expect you to download it, play it, make a new set of rules for these elements and send me the rules (the contact address is on the main page of this website).
What you download is:
1) a 40-field long, 4-lane wide track. The fields are coloured in 4 different colours. In the zip file it is divided in 4 parts, each of them roughly A4 size (thus printable). The resulting board is A2 size.
2) 16 cyclists in 4 colours and with the base in 4 different colours. The colours of the base match the colours of the track squares. The colours of the ridders do not.
This is just the starting point, of course. You may add dice, cards, counters, more riders, change the colours, etc...
My first set of rules is quite simple. All comments are welcome.
FIRST SET OF RULES by Anki Toner
Game for 2 to 4 players.
Preparation: You will need 4 dice per player (that makes 16 dice; you will also need a piece of paper and a pen to keep the scoring). Each player has a team of 4 riders (same coulour, different base) and 4 dice. All the riders are placed behind the starting line.
First move: All players throw their 4 dice in front of them (dont mix your dice with the other players'). Add up each players dice, since the player with the highest sum will have precedence in case of ties during this first move (and only during this first move). All riders who have thrown one or more sixes advance their riders six squares. If there are more than 4 sixes, the 5th rider will only advance 5 fields since there can't be more than one rider on a square. After the sixes are moved, riders move the fives in the same way, etc. The color of the track squares does not count diring the first move (and there is no protection from the wind either during this first move).
Subsequent moves: The riders move in the order of the race (first rider moves first, rider in the inner lane has precedence). When it's a player's turn to move his first rider, the player throws all his dice. Then he decides what dice he wants to use for that rider, moves the rider, discards this die and keeps the rest of the dice for the other riders. (Each player only throws his dice once in a turn). Of course the first player has to choose and move his first rider without seeing the dice of his rivals (which is not true the other way round). It's one of the problems of being ahead.
A rider may move ortogonally or diagonally ahead (never laterally or backwards). He may not travel through an occupied square (and of course he may not stop on it either).
When a rider falls in a square that matches the colour of his base, he may move othogonally (not diagonally) ahead one extra square (if the square is free). If this square is still of the same colour, he may move another extra square.
When a rider falls in a square that is directly (ortogonally) behind another rider, he may benefit by the protection from the wind and advance an extra square diagonally. If this square is behind another rider he may NOT benefit again from wind protection, but if this square matches the colour of his base, he may move one extra square (even two if the colour match continues and there is another free square to move to) DIAGONALLY in the same direction he started his move .
Elimination: When the leading rider catches up the last riders, he eliminates them. The riders are removed from the board and the player whose team those riders belong to loses one die for each removed rider (the players always have as many dice as riders).
Points: The first rider to pass the finishing line in each lap gets three points, the second gets two and the third gets one.
End of the game: The game end after one player reaches an agreed amount of points (adding the points of all his riders). I would suggest 12 points is a good try.
First Comments:
Ludo Nauws suggests to turn the game into an elimination race, the last rider being eliminated each lap or even each half-lap. He has written a nice comment on the game on his fantastic website (the second best cycling board games website in the world, actually) and has translated the rules into Dutch.
LICENCE: I do not believe in copyright. I believe in the free access to information. Therefore I put this game in the Public Domain. This means that you can do whatever you want with it, even for commercial purposes (I know you won't, but it's up to you). Beware, though: I do NOT own the rights to the black and white picture I use as background (I don't even know who took the picture or who owns the rights), so:a) If you are going to use this game or part of it for commercial purposes, you'd rather remove or replace the picture.
b) If you took this picture, I'll be glad to talk to you, give you credit, even buy you a beer. If you own the rights to this picture but you did not take it, I'll be glad to talk to you anyway.
Download the zip
file (around 500kB) here
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