Two days ago I put this out: @crrdlx/hostr-snaps-9i13ooa7ufp
Post: @crrdlx/hostr-snaps-9i13ooa7ufp
One of the comments said it "...looks like some sort of game as well." That was enough to tickle my curiosity and get me thinking. The round tomatoes and how they nestled into the grooves of the tiles reminded me of Chinese checkers. The grid brought Hex to mind (the game John Nash played) and I wondered if a square-grid version might be viable. A little searching revealed Hex is a "Connection game" and there are several. The one called Tak seemed really interesting and simple. I like interesting and I really like simple.
So, a square grid connection game wouldn't be new, however, you can't play Tak with tomatoes. Tak requires stacking "stones" or standing them on edge, that would be very, very tricky with tomatoes.
I looked around and happened to have some dried corn kernels and dry beans. I drew out a 5 x 5 grid of dots, lined up five corn kernels on one side in a "home row" and 5 beans on the other. We used to play a game where two sides of Army men met after a series of moves. In that game, we rolled dice to have a "combat" and see who would win the little battle. I wanted something like that in my game, some type of combat or conquest, somehow. So, I started messing around, moving kernels and beans, and totally just set out to make this game up on the fly. This is what I got...
The objective, like Hex or Tak, is to connect one side (your home row) to your opponent's side. The connection to the other side can be a straight line, or it CAN include a diagonal road. Any of the roads below would be a win for team bean (B).
As to the name, initially I wanted a tomato-ish name. But, I was using corn and beans. So, I'm naming this game "Succotash" after the corn, bean, and vegetable recipe. I considered calling it the "Texas Caviar Game" because it has tomatoes in it, but playing Succotash just sounds better. Plus, putting tomatoes in succotash sounds yummy.
A big goal here was to keep it simple. To that end, all that's needed is (a) a paper with a 5 x 5 grid drawn on it, and, (b) 5 pieces of something and 5 pieces of something else. Obviously I used corn kernels and beans, but it could easily be shells/legos, pennies/paperclips, nuts/stones, or whatever.
Initially, I had a "storehouse" of extra corn kernels and storehouse of extra beans (seen in the images). My thinking was that they would replace the corn or beans that get conquered by opponents. Upon playing the game, it was apparent that a storehouse is totally unnecessary. Once captured, the same corn/bean can just be the one that's placed back onto the home row. Five of each is fine.
Also, I'm sure the grid could easily be expanded to whatever size you wish. I played an opponent with the 5 x 5 grid, and that seemed a good size for a five minute or so game.
Why not sit down face-to-face with someone for a minute and give Succotash a try? If you do, I'd love to hear how it went.
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