Sim — don't make a triangle
Six dots, every pair joined by a line. Players colour lines in turn, and whoever first makes a triangle of their own colour loses. With six dots, a triangle always comes, so somebody must lose.
From Sim, a pencil-and-paper game by Gustavus Simmons.
What it shows a designer
A game about avoiding, not achieving. It shows a misère goal, and a mathematical guarantee: with six dots someone must make a triangle, so the game always ends.
Credits
- Made by
- Gustavus J. Simmons, 1969
- Sources
- gamescrafters.berkeley.edu/games.php?game=sim
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim_(pencil_game)
What you need
- paper
- two pens of different colours
How to play
- Draw. Draw six dots in a circle and join every pair with a light line: fifteen lines in all.
- A move. Take turns going over one uncoloured line in your colour.
- Lose. If the three lines between any three dots are all your colour, you lose at once. Crossings in the middle are not dots.
- Again. Play several games, taking turns to start.
After playing, talk about
- When did you run out of safe lines?
- Is it better to go first or second?
- How does a game where you avoid something feel different from one where you chase it?
Its blocks
Download it as a design (.md)In boardgameBuilder, Open game puts its blocks on the canvas. Changed, the same file can come back here from Propose a game.