Penguin Soccer

Penguin Soccer
Avri Klemer
A Slide-fest for 2 players
:Players	Players:	2
:Time	Length:	Medium
:Complexity	Complexity:	Medium
Trios per color:		1
Number of colors:		3
Pyramid trios:
Monochr. stashes:		3
Five-color sets:		1
- - - - - - Other equipment - - - - - -
Chessboard
Setup time:		2 min
Playing time:		20 min - 30 min
Strategy depth:		Medium
Random chance:		None
Game mechanics:		Movement
Theme:		Soccer, Penguins
BGG Link:		Penguin Soccer
Status: Complete (v1.0), Year released: 2007

Background

It is a truth universally acknowledged that everyone loves to see penguins sliding and spinning on the ice. And soccer is the world's game, right? So take some cute families of penguins, give them an icy soccer field and a ball, and watch the slippery goodness that ensues. . .

Penguin Soccer uses a Treehouse set and a Chessboard to represent the above hilarity.

Setup

The board is set at 45 degrees to "normal" orientation, with each player sitting at a corner, opposite another player. Each player controls a Family of three penguins, each Family of a unique color. Families consist of a Mama (3-point), a Papa (2-point) and a Baby (1-point).

All penguins begin the game off the board.

A 1-point pyramid of a color not used by a Family is placed on the intersection of the central 4 spaces - this is the ball. The first time a penguin reaches any of the 4 center squares, the ball is collected in that square.

The player with the best penguin impression (as voted by anyone and everyone present) goes first.

Goal

The winner is the first Family to get the ball into their Goal square, directly opposite their Home square. Home is the corner square nearest to each player, therefore the player whose Home is A1 is looking to score in square H8, etc.

The ball stacked on top of an opposing penguin in the Goal square counts as a Goal.

Gameplay

A Mama can slide 1 square or kick 3 squares.
A Papa can slide 2 squares or kick 2 squares.
A Baby can slide 3 squares or kick 1 square.

Each turn a player must make a move with one of their penguins. A move consists of one of the following - sliding, standing or kicking.

Sliding: From an upright position a penguin can slide in any of the 8 diagonal or orthogonal directions.

For each square slid, a penguin's orientation may be rotated 45 degrees. For Papas and Babies (who can move more than one square per turn) the direction of the slide continues in the original orientation. Remember, these are penguins sliding and spinning on the ice!

In other words, a Baby that slides from C1 to C2 continues into C3 and finishes in C4 regardless of any spin.

A penguin who starts his turn pointed in one of the 8 directions may again slide in that direction, spinning or not spinning irrespective of any previous move.

A penguin with the ball may not slide.

When a penguin reaches the square containing the ball, it immediately ends its slide and stands up with the ball stacked on top.

If a slide or a kick would take a penguin or the ball off of the board, that piece ends its move in the square before leaving the board and, in the case of a penguin, it is stood up.

Standing: Instead of sliding, a penguin that is oriented in any one of the 8 directions may stand up. This ends the turn.

Kicking: Only the penguin with the ball may kick.

To kick the ball, the upright penguin with the ball orients in its current square in one of the 8 directions, and the ball travels 1, 2 or 3 squares in that direction, depending on the penguin doing the kicking. Remember, a penguin with the ball may not slide and, when kicking, does not leave the square it starts the turn in.

The ball never leaves the ice (webbed feet, you see) so cannot be kicked over penguins. If the ball is kicked to a square containing any penguin, that penguin immediately stands up with the ball and the kicking player's turn ends.

There can only ever be one penguin in a square. No penguin may attempt to slide into a square containing another penguin who does not have the ball. This would be a foul, and penguins are far too polite for that!

A penguin may slide into the space occupied by an opposing penguin who has the ball. This is called a tackle. A tackle ends the tackling penguin's slide, and it is stood up with the ball stacked on top.

The tackled penguin is pushed one square in the direction the tackler was moving, and oriented in the direction of the push. This may result in a line of pushed and reoriented penguins, or even a penguin shoved off of the field entirely! Penguins who are shoved off the feild may be played as usual from their Home square on a subsequent turn.

You may not tackle a penguin on your own team - again, this is considered impolite!

All penguins start off the board and may only enter the field of play by sliding from off the board into the Home square. Penguins off the board are considered upright, and can enter their Home square facing the 3 directions leading "away" from that square. Therefore, a Mama penguin's first move will always end in the Home square, a Papa's in the second row and/or column, a Baby's in the third row and/or column. They may spin (or not) as usual.

No opposing penguin may ever enter another player's Home, even if pushed there!

Links

• Penguin Soccer is listed on BoardGameGeek
• Penguin Soccer can be played free online at SuperDuperGames.
• Penguin Soccer tournaments

License

http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/88x31.png
This work is distributed by Avri Klemer under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Entered in the Icehouse Game Design Competition, Summer 2007
Winner: Pylon 2nd: Subdivision 3rd: Zamboni Wars 4th: Geomancy
5th: Penguin Soccer 6th: Moon Shot 7th: Martian Coaster Chaturanga 8th: Trip Away