# Sim — don't make a triangle

- From: Sim, a pencil-and-paper game by Gustavus Simmons
- Players: 2 players
- Time: 5 min a game
- Made by: Gustavus J. Simmons, 1969

Made with boardgameBuilder 0.14.4. To design from it, open boardgameBuilder and choose Open game: its blocks go on the canvas, and the feelings are left for you to pick.

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.

## 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.

## What you need

- paper
- two pens of different colours

## How to play

1. **Draw.** Draw six dots in a circle and join every pair with a light line: fifteen lines in all.
2. **A move.** Take turns going over one uncoloured line in your colour.
3. **Lose.** If the three lines between any three dots are all your colour, you lose at once. Crossings in the middle are not dots.
4. **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?

## Where the rules are written down

- https://gamescrafters.berkeley.edu/games.php?game=sim
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sim_(pencil_game)

## Its blocks

- Victory condition: one loser
- Chance or skill: mostly skill
- Theme: abstract
- Information visibility: full information
- Timing: take turns

## Saved state

boardgameBuilder reads this part back when the file is opened.

```json
{"mechanics": {"victory-condition": "one-loser", "chance-skill": "mostly-skill", "information": "full-information", "theme": "abstract", "timing": ["take-turns"]}, "chosenFeelings": [], "previousMechanics": {}, "previousFeelings": [], "turnNumber": 0, "locked": false, "turnHistory": [], "answers": {}, "tests": {}}
```