Dear new player,
Please find below an extract of the game rules and a sample game board.
If you want to join, please send me the information listed in rule I-01.
It would be a pleasure to welcome you as a new player.
Any questions? Just ask.
For those with ftp access, have a look at:
cajal.uoregon.edu, directory: /pub/rmpm
Regards Mark Siegrist
GM RMPM-game
RICH MAN - POOR MAN (RMPM)
===========================
This e-mail game has been invented with the following ideas in mind:
- it can be played by an arbitrary number of players,
- players can enter and leave the game at any time,
- slow responding players cannot hinder more active ones,
- players can own fields and set up a business on each of their
fields
The aim of the game is to make as much money as possible. There is no winner
in this game, only a "world champion" (the player with the most money).
The currency used is WCU (world currency unit).
THE RULES
=========
(I) HOW TO JOIN THE GAME
01) Send an e-mail to "siegrist@elde.epfl.ch" with the following
information:
- your e-mail address,
- an alias and its 2-character abbreviation (the latter may have to be
modified in order to guarantee uniqueness),
- a code word used to identify you for all future communications, *)
- two edge fields where you want to place the 2 chips (note: you can
only enter the game from the edge!).
02) You start the game with AN = 1 (see section IV) and a capital of
10000 WCU.
03) Placing your chips is considered to be your first move.
04) When a new player starts the game on a space already occupied, this is
not an encounter (see section VI).
(II) THE BOARD
01) The game is played on a square board of 25 times 25 fields.
02) Field 01-01 is the upper left, field 01-25 the upper right corner.
03) The field in the middle (13-13) is a parking (see later).
04) Each field carries a number in the range 2 to 6.
05) The edge of the board is marked with crosses. These should not be
mixed up with fence sections (see later).
06) The edge of the board is an absolute limit (no wrap around).
(III) THE MOVE
01) Each player has 2 chips which are identified by a unique 2 character
alias. The 2 chips are always moved together in the following way:
One of them can be moved by one field up, down, left or right. The
number associated with the field it ends up in specifies the number
of fields the other chip moves in one of the 4 directions.
02) The two chips of a player are not allowed to occupy the same field
(except for the parking).
03) When moving you cannot jump over a fence (crosses).
04) All fence sections (of length = 1 field) bordering on the field of one
of your chips can be moved around your chip, just before you move off.
Note that the crosses which mark the edge of the board are not fences.
05) At any time, before moving away from a field, you can exchange the
numbers in two neighboring opposing fields (either up-down or
left-right). These numbers stay like this until somebody else moves
them.
06) If you cannot move as many fields as you are obliged to in a parti-
cular direction because of a fence, you have to go as far as possible.
07) A fence blocks a diagonal move (see section VII), if a line drawn
through the center of the starting position and the center of the
end position touches a fence.
08) Of an invalid move as much as possible is executed. The order is:
fence movement and field number exchanges, movement of first chip,
movement of second chip. So if the movement of the second chip is
invalid, the first chip movement is still executed.
09) Moves which result in an ambiguous situation are simply ignored.
10) You do not have to move if you don't want to, but if you don't, you
are an easy prey for other players! For safety your chips can be
moved to the parking field 13-13, where no encounters are possible.
The capacity of the parking field is unlimited.
(IV) MOVE, ACTION AND PRIORITY NUMBERS
01) Associated with each move is a move number (MN).
MN = (fields moved-1)*4 + 0(up), 1(right), 2(down) or 3(left).
MN is the total of both chips and is not cumulative.
02) Associated with each player is an action number AN. The AN is updated
each time by adding MN to it. If AN exceeds 100, 100 is subtracted in
order to keep AN always in the range 1 to 100.
03) For each player there is also a priority number PN. It is the sum of
the field numbers of all fields his chips have ever visited, kept in
the range 1 to 100 in the same way as for AN.
(V) MOVE EXECUTION
01) You can make one move every week by sending an e-mail to
"siegrist@elde.epfl.ch"
which must contain your password in the format $$password$$
and the move in the format
16-4 -> 16-5
22-7 -> 26-7
If you want to move a fence section (see rule III/04):
F 15-4 [u,r,d,l] -> [u,r,d,l].
Hereby 15-4 is the position of the chip around which the fence is
moved and urdl stands for up, right, down, left. If possible, you can
move more than one fence section.
If you want to exchange field numbers (see rule III/04):
E 16-3 <-> 16-5
02) All moves which reach the game master by 03:00 h GMT each Saturday will
be considered for the particular week.
03) Moves will not be executed in the order in which they arrive (so as
not to disadvantage people sitting on slow links), but they will be
executed according to the players current PN. If your PN = 100 your
move will be executed first and since the state of the playing board
will be updated every week, this move can be made with full knowledge
of the current situation. Players with lower PN's have to speculate
what move you might do. Of course PN's change each week; from one
close to 100 you drop to a very small one next time. For players with
equal PN's the move of the player which has been in the game longer
will be executed first.
04) Each weekend (exceptions will be announced) the board will be updated
and a full account of the new state of the game will be sent to all
subscribed players via e-mail.
(VI) ENCOUNTERS
01) If a player moves to a field which is already occupied by another
player, this is called an encounter. Fields already occupied by two
players are blocked. The move which would bring a third player onto
this field is an invalid move which will not be executed. (Note that
it is illegal to move both of your chips on the same field).
02) The action during an encounter is decided by the AN of the second
player moving to the common field and an action table given below.
The first occupant of the field is called "victim" (V) and the second
one "aggressor" (A).
03) A player creating an encounter on a particular field can buy this
field. The price is 500 WCU (world currency units), paid to the Central
Bank. On fields you own a business can be set up (see below).
04) Neither a field already owned nor the parking can be bought.
Furthermore there are rules concerning:
(VII) SPECIAL MOVE CARDS
(VIII) SETTING UP A BUSINESS
(IX) THE VOTING PROCEDURE
(X) THE JURY
(XI) LEAVING THE GAME
TABLE OF ACTION CODES
AN Action
1-10 the aggressor gets 500 WCU from the victim.
11-20 the victim distributes 20% of his capital equally amongst all
players (excluding himself).
21-30 A and V share with one another the sum of 30% of both capitals.
31-40 A gets half of V's capital
41-49 A gets a MT card (see rule VII/01)
50 A robs the kiosk and gets all money in it (see rule VII/03).
51-60 V pays 500 WCU to the National Bank (fee! not deposit)
61-70 A gets 500 WCU from the National Bank
71-80 V pays 200 WCU to A and 200 WCU to the National Bank
81-90 A gets 50 WCU from each player
91-100 V and A exchange their capital
A SAMPLE GAME BOARD: (Note: since this is a sample only there is no consistency
between the board and the following tables)
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+$2|$2| 2|$2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2|$2| 2| 2+ 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2+
01+ |cw| | | | | | | | | | | + | |tb| | | | | | | | | +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3|$3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3+ 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 2+
02+ | | | | | | | | |**| | | + | | | | | | | | | | | +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2| 3| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4|$4| 4| 4| 4|$4| 4+ 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 3| 2+
03+ | | | | | | | | | | | {tg} | | | | | | |ka| | | | +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+$2| 3| 4| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5+ 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 4| 3| 2+
04+ | | | | | |zb| | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6+ 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 6| 5| 4| 3| 2+
05+ | | | | | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2|$3| 4| 5| 6| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5+ 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5| 6| 5| 4| 3| 2+
06+ | | | | | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2| 3| 4| 5| 4|$5| 6| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 2+ 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 4| 5| 6| 5| 4|$3| 2+
07+ | | | | |dp| | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | |cr| +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 5| 4| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 6| 3| 3| 3| 3| 3| 4| 5| 6| 5| 4| 3| 2+
08+ | | | | | | | | | | |bd| | | | | | | | | | | | | +
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|+++--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 5| 4| 3| 2| 2| 2| 2| 4+ 2| 2| 2| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 5| 4| 3|$2+
09+ka| | | | | | | | | | |cw| + | {tg} | | | | | |ir| |dp+
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
............
............
+--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|+++--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--+
+ 2|$2|$4| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2+ 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2| 2|$2+
25+ | | | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
A $ sign means that the field is owned by somebody,
** means two players have an encounter on this field,
++ is a fence (with the exception of the ++ around the board)
____________________________________________________________________________
MOVES DURING LAST BOARD UPDATE:
# alias old pos. interm. pos. new pos. MN AN PN
01 dp daleus 07-06 09-25 07-06 09-25 - 4 62
03 bd blue dragon 08-13 13-09 08-12 16-09 13 62 96
29 hc hagbard 18-19 16-13 18-18 13-13 11 93 11
celine
37 mb mibo 24-09 13-13 23-09 13-09 15 18 69
39 ir Irata 09-23 13-13 09-23 13-13 - 52 42
____________________________________________________________________________
FIELD OWNERSHIP (1. COLUMN IS PLAYER NUMBER):
# property
03 21-03 , 22-06 , 22-02 , 22-05 , 17-13 , 13-14
29 13-15 , 13-09 , 16-13
37 25-02 , 25-03
39 11-09 , 12-25
____________________________________________________________________________
INVENTORY OF THE PLAYERS:
player wcu item number text
code of items
------------------------------------------------------------
1 5159 14 1 SM (secret or submarine move)
13 1 RM (rabbit move) card
12 1 MT (move twice) card
------------------------------------------------------------
3 2799 14 4 SM (secret or submarine move)
13 2 RM (rabbit move) card
12 6 MT (move twice) card
11 2 DM (diagonal move) card
------------------------------------------------------------
29 5111 14 3 SM (secret or submarine move)
13 2 RM (rabbit move) card
12 5 MT (move twice) card
11 1 DM (diagonal move) card
101 10 stones
111 5 little cudgels
------------------------------------------------------------
37 7844 14 1 SM (secret or submarine move)
13 1 RM (rabbit move) card
12 4 MT (move twice) card
11 1 DM (diagonal move) card
------------------------------------------------------------
39 9118 14 3 SM (secret or submarine move)
13 3 RM (rabbit move) card
12 4 MT (move twice) card
11 3 DM (diagonal move) card
201 4 power pills
------------------------------------------------------------
Bank: 34095 wcu
Kiosk: 3000 wcu
KA-BOOM IS CHAMPION OF THE WEEK.
CONGRATULATIONS !
____________________________________________________________________________
AND FINALLY A SAMPLE BUSINESS DESCRIPTION:
Fence Vaulting Poles
====================
Owner: #22
Location: 14-11
Price: 50
Max Buyable: 5
Raw Cost: 12
Dev Period: 1
Description:
------------
I propose for Field 14-11 a business that makes poles like what
pole vaulters use. Players can use these poles to jump over fences
during a move without having to move the fence.
For example:
Move intention: 20-10 --> 20-15 but there is a fence blocking
the way between 20-12 and 20-13. If I designate that I want to use my
vaulting pole for this specific move, I will jump over that fence
without moving it! (The vault can be used for any size move (from one
to six)).
Once you have jumped the fence the pole will break into several
pieces, making it useless for future attempts! They are BIO-DEGRADABLE,
so they are simply thrown onto the playing field where they quickly decompose.
These vaulting poles cannot be used to jump over the brick walls
on the edge of the playing field (i.e. you can never leave the 25 x 25
playing field).
If you encounter two fences in the same move, you must use TWO
poles to jump both, since each pole lasts for only one jump over a fence!!!
___________________________________________________________________________
NOTE: This game has been going for more than an year now. But new players
can join whenever they want, without being disadvantaged (apart from not
having any experience, of course).
*) Your codeword in your mail makes it possible for several programs to
identify you. These programs provide the following features:
- automatic acknowledgement of your messages (in particular your moves),
- automatic distribution of selected portions of your messages to all
players,
- automatic acquisition of your votes,
- automatic pre-analysis of your moves (allowing you to correct moves),
- automatic transmission of certain files (business list, voting status,
game rules etc.)