Data FortressA game by Nicholas Vitek

Play Test Rules – 08/01/2010

Data Fortress represents one of the two initial games that Living Worlds Games, LLC. will be releasing in the summer of 2013. Our plan is to release one to two main games a year along with an occasional other game. Data Fortress’ part in the initial phase of the release cycles represents my confidence that the game will appeal to a large number of people who enjoy thematic games with simple rules that yields complex game play through the mastery of maneuvering and analyzing the opponent’s moves. If you are a gamer who enjoys Heavy games and want a filler to match, or you are a gamer who enjoys light games but wants the occasional mind burner, Data Fortress will be able to scratch that itch. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at livingworldsgames@gmail.com. I will reply as soon as humanly possible to any and all rule quesitons.

Table of Context: Game Summary # Anatomy of a Tile # Trace # Objective # Game Play # Setup # End Game # Turn Sequence # Advanced Game # Components # Combat # Specials #Game Summary: Data Fortress is played in alternating player turns. A single player turn generally consists of the active player playing a tile, moving a tile, some Crashed pieces coming off the playing area and the active player refilling her hand. Each player has a separate objective to fullfill and it is accomplished by maneuvering tiles and stra-tegically placing tiles for maximum effect. Each time a tile moves or is placed, it triggers combat. Setup has the players creating the basic starting position of their tiles. As placement is such a large part of the game, the game has a Learning Game and a Full Game. Full Game setup is covered at the end of the basic rules. It helps for a player to have full knowledge of how the game plays before playing the full game. The Learning game has a structured setup while the Advanced game provides players with near perfect control of the game from the start and as such, is better suited to players whose grasp of the rules comes from playing the game a few times.

Objective: The two players in Data Fortress have different objectives throughout the game. The Hacker’s objective is to Crash the Admin’s CPU tile. The Admin can win by completing one of two objectives. 1. The Admin wins immediately if the Hacker is unable to play a tile during his turn (i.e. he has no more tiles in his draw deck or his hand and must play one). 2. The Admin may also win by forming an unbroken Trace Line (See Trace section) to the Hacker’s Jack Point (Not a Spoof Point) and while maintaining the Trace Line, crash(flip) the Jack Point.End Game: The game ends when either: 1. The CPU tile is crashed, 2. The Hacker is unable to play a tile during his turn, 3. or the Admin maintains a Trace Line on the Hacker’s Jack Point and crashes the Jack Point.Components: 54 2” x 2” tiles 9 Computer Tiles (Orange backs w/ circles) 3 Data Jack Tiles (Green backs w/ circles) 21 Admin Program Tiles (Orange backs) 21 Hacker Program Tiles (Green backs) 2 Reference Cards 1 Rule Book

2

3

4 71Poison Flatline

Special AbilitySpecial Move

Brute Defense Stealth Defense

Tile Name

Tile AttackIcon Attack

Power

Tile Type

Anatomy of a Tile:

Tile Name: This is the name of the tile. It has no use during the game except as a way to reference a tile. All tiles of the same name have the same attributes.Tile Type: The background color/texture determines its type. Green/Grey is for the Hacker. Yellow/Orange is for the Admin.Tile Attack Icon: The icon is either Stealth (Represented by a ninja) or Brute (Represented by a fist). Attack Power: This large number represents how much attack power it brings to the attack line. Note that the attack power is independent of the Tile Attack Icon in function.Brute Defense: The value a Brute attack must meet or exceed in order to crash (flip) the tile.Stealth Defense: The value a Stealth attack must meet or exceed in order to crash (flip) the tile.Special Move: An icon that illustrates any special move ability the tile has. Special Ability: An icon that illustrates any special non-move abilities the tile has.

Setup (Learning Game): The Board: The board is made up of an imaginary square grid. Each section of the board is called an Area. An Area may only have a single tile occupying it. The board stretches into infinity in all directions but in a typical game, the board normally does not expand past a 12 x 12 grid (24” x 24”) due to the evolving nature of the game. 1) Designate one player as the Admin and one player as the Hacker. The Admin player takes the System Tiles and the Admin Program tiles to his side of the table. The Hacker takes the DataJack Tiles and the Hacker Program tiles to his side of the table. 2) Place the 9 Admin System Tiles face up as shown in the diagram below. Notice that the CPU tile is in the middle, protected by 8 other System Tiles. (INSERT DIAGRAM) 3) Place 2 Admin Program Tiles face up as shown in the diagram below. These are the Program Tiles that the Ad-min already has on the board for use. (INSERT DIAGRAM) 4) Place 3 Hacker Program Tiles face up as shown in the diagram below. These are the Program Tiles that the Hacker already has on the board for use. (INSERT DIAGRAM) 5) The Hacker takes the three DataJack Tiles (2 Spoof and 1 Entry) into his hand. He secretly places the DataJack Tiles, face down, in the three spots indicated on the diagram below. Note, that only he knows which of the three is his actual Entry DataJack Tile. (INSERT DIAGRAM) 6) The Admin Player takes his remaining tiles, mixes them face down, and forms a stack of tiles known as the Admin Draw Deck. The Admin Player now draws 3 tiles to form his starting Hand. The Admin will always have a Hand of 3 Tiles. 7) The Hacker Player takes his remaining tiles, mixes them face down, and forms a stack of tiles known as the Hacker Draw Deck. The Hacker Player now draws 3 tiles to form his starting Hand. The Hacker will always have a Hand of 3 Tiles.

Turn Sequence: A turn is broken up into 4 actions. Two of these actions(Place and Move) can be taken in order while the other two (Remove and Draw) are always performed in a strict order.

1) Place a Single Tile (May be done second): The active player must place any one tile from their hand onto an empty Area on the board. 1.1 Any Special Ability effects take place immediately. 1.2 After Special Abilities are resolved, Battles are resolved in all Orthogonal directions from the placed tile. See “Combat” section for more information. 2) Move a Single Tile (May be done first): The active player may move any one tile they control. Control is dictated by the color of the tiles. Admin Players control (Image Here) Program Tiles and (Image Here) System Tiles while Hackers control (Image Here) Program Tiles and (Image Here) DataJack Tiles. AllTilesthatdonotshowanUnMoveableMovementAbilityIcon(Image Here)maymoveorthogonally oneArea. Tiles may not enter Areas already occupied by Active or Crashed tiles. Tiles may not move over Active or Crashed tiles unless a Special Move ability allows it.

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5

2.1 Instead of making their normal move, a tile may use its Special Movement ability. 2.2 After tile(s) move, Battles are resolved in all orthogonal directions from the tile that caused the movement. See “Combat” section. 3) Remove Your Crashed Tiles: The Active Player takes all Crashed Tiles that he controls and removes them from the board. Hacker tiles are placed back in the box. Admin tiles are placed face up to the side of the playing area in an area known as the XXX pile. 4) Draw Tiles: The active player draws tiles from their respective draw pile into her hand. 4.1 Hacker: The Hacker draws 2 tiles from her draw pile into her hand. She then takes any 1 card from her hand and places it on the bottom of her draw pile. 4.2 Admin: The Admin draws 1 tile from his draw pile into his hand.

Once the active player has completed all four actions, the active player shifts to the next player.

Combat: When a player finishes placing or moving a tile, battles are initiated in all four orthogonal (left, right, up and down) directions from the tile that was placed or that caused the movement. Because of this, it is possible that there may be as few as zero (0) to as many as four (4) battles will need to be resolved with the placement or move of a single tile. Please note that Battles occur simultaneously with all other battles that are initiated from a single move or place action, though they are resolved separately. Determining Battles to be Resolved: A Battle occurs on the edge of a tile if the placed or moved tile’s edge is adjacent to an Area containing one of the other player’s tiles. (See example below for a Tile Placement that initiates 2 battles). If the edge is adjacent to an empty area or an area that contains one of your tiles, no battle needs to be resolved.

Example: The Admin places a Program Tile in the center of the other tiles on the board. This causes Battles to need to be resolved. In the example below, note the two red B’s. These battles will need to be resolved due to the placed tile’s edge being adjacent to an opponent’s tile. The edges with the No’s will not need battles resolved as they are not adjacent to an enemy tile.

B2

B1

No

No

Tile Placed Here

6

Resolving a Battle: Remember that everything happens simultaneously and independently of other battles, even the other battles that still need to be resolved. In a Battle, both the placed or moved tile and the enemy’s adjacent tile will attack and defend simultaneously. Attacks from one Battle do not carry over to other battles.

For each Battle, follow the below steps:

1) In a straight unbroken line orthogonally from the battle (B1 below), add up the attack power of all tiles of the active player. 2) Identify the Tile Attack Icon of the placed or moved tile (T1 in the example below). This will either be a Stealth Attack (Identified by the Ninja) or a Brute Attack (Identified by the fist).3) This will give you the Power and Type of attack (5 Stealth in the example below).4) Identify the Defensive value of the opposing tile (T2 in the example below) by looking at the number next to the symbol that matches the Attack type (Stealth or Brute). Stealth 4 in the example below)5) If the Attack Power is greater than or equal to the appropriate Defensive Value, the defending piece is Crashed. This tile will be flipped face down at the end of all combat resolution.6) At the same time, the enemy tile counterattacks. In a straight unbroken line straight out from the battle, add up the attack power of all tiles of the enemy player in that line. 7) Identify the the Tile Attack Icon of the tile adjacent to the attack (T2 in the example below). This will either be a Stealth Attack or a Brute Attack. 8) This will give you the Power and Type of Attack (4 Brute in this example).9) Identify the Defensive value of the placed or moved piece (T1 in the example below) by looking at the number next to the symbol that matches the Attack type (Stealth or Brute).10) If the Attack Power is greater than or equal to the appropriate Defensive Value, the defending piece is consid-ered crashed. This tile will be flipped face down at the end of combat resolution.11) Repeat Steps 1 to 10 for all battles. (B2 in the example below).12) Flip all crashed tiles face down with the tiles remaining in their area. Note: Data Jack tiles are instantly re-moved instead of being flipped.

Once all Battles have been resolved and the crashed piles are flipped, the active player may continue their turn.

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Trace: Many Admin Program Tiles and all Computer Tiles display a solid green line that connects the four edges of the tile. The green lines represent the Computer’s trace algorithms as the Admin attempts to track the Hacker’s Jack Point.

If Admin can trace an unbroken (No ar-eas without a green trace line) trace line along the Admin tiles from the CPU to one of the Hacker’s Data Jack tiles, the Admin must flip the Data Jack tile face up.

The Jack Point tile may not be crashed unless the Admin has Trace to that tile.

CPUTile

CPUTile

Successful Trace Line:A green line can be traced from the CPU tile to the Jack Point Tile in the upper left corner.

Unsuccessful Trace Line:A green line cannot be traced from the CPU tile to the Jack Point Tile in the upper left corner.

JP

JP

CPUTile

If tile is placed here, a trace line exists. The JP tile will be turned face up and a battle will need to be resolved at the placed tile. This could crash the Jack Point and win the admin the game.

Tile is placed here.A trace line already exists here and the Jack Point tile is already face up.A battle will need to be resolved at the placed tile. This could crash the Jack Point and win the admin the game because a trace line exists and the Jack Point tile is being crashed.

CPUTile

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3) The Hacker picks three random Hacker Program Tiles and places them face up (with the numbers and icons showing) at three of the four corners of the 3 x 3 grid of Computer Tiles.

Note: The Hacker should study the board to exploit apparent weaknesses in the tile placement of the Admin. Tile Placement is an important part of the game.

4) The Hacker Player now secretly looks at the 3 Data Jack Tiles. Two of the tiles are labeled Spoof Points and one is labeled Jack Point. The Jack Point tile represents the Hacker’s base and the Hacker should protect this tile throughout the game without revealing which of the three Data Jack tiles is the Jack Point.

Set Up: Data Fortress currently has two levels of game play. It is recommended that you play using the Basic rules first. After you understand the basic rules and have become proficient with the game, the Advanced Game will bring your level up play up another notch.

Note: Setup is a misnomer as a portion of the game play occurs during the initial creation of the board. You might say that Setup ends at step 1 and game play begins at step 2.

0) Determine who will be the Hacker and who will be the Admin.1) Separate the 54 Tiles into piles. The piles are Computer Tiles, Data Jack Tiles, Admin Program Tiles and Hacker Program Tiles. The tiles can be identified by the color and design of their backs.

Hacker Program

Tiles

Hacker Data Jack

Tiles

Admin Computer

Tiles

Admin Program

Tiles

2) The Admin player randomly places the 9 Computer Tiles face up (With the numbers and icons show-ing) in the center of the playing area to form a 3x3 grid of tiles. 2.1 Important Note: The CPU tile must be the center tile.

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CPUTile

CPUTile

4.1 The Hacker secretly places the three Data Jack Tiles face down (Green background with circles showing) at corners of the Hacker Program Tiles furthest from the CPU Tile.

5) The Admin will randomly draw 2 of the Admin Program Tiles and place them face up on the board in between the three Hacker Program Tiles such that they are perfectly in the middle of two of the Hacker Program Tiles and are in a row/column with the CPU tile. See illustration below.

6) The Hacker randomly draws 3 Hacker Program Tiles from her pile. These tiles form the Hacker’s hand and represent the programs the Hacker has in his computer’s memory.

7) The Admin randomly draws 3 Admin Program Tiles from her pile (now known as the Admin draw pile). These tiles form the Admin’s Hand and represent the programs the Computer has loaded.

8) Set Up is now complete. The start player is the Hacker.

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CPUTile

CPUTile

Advanced Game: The advanced game play is identical to the basic game. It is only in setup that the two levels of play differ.

Computer Tiles (Step 2): When placing the 9 computer tiles at the beginning of setup, the Ad-min player may place the tiles in any location of the 3 x 3 grid, as long as the center tile is the CPU tile.

Hacker Program Tiles (Step 3): Instead of drawing the tiles randomly, the Hacker may pick any three tiles to lay down face up.

Hacker Data Jack Tiles (Step 4): No change. The Hacker still picks which area each of the three tiles is placed face down.

Admin Program Tiles (Step 5): The Admin may pick any 2 tiles from the Admin Program tile draw pile instead of drawing randomly.

Hacker Hand (Step 6): The Hacker may pick any 3 tiles from the Hacker Program Tile draw pile to form her hand instead of drawing randomly.

Admin Hand (Step 7): The Admin may pick any 3 tiles from the Admin Program Tile draw pile to form her hand instead of drawing randomly.

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Special Movement Powers

Tiles that have this symbol may not move or be moved. They are stationary and can only leave their area by being killed. These tiles may not use the normal 1 Orthogonal area move.

This tile may move up to two spaces orthogonally. These two moves need not be in the same direction. The second move may even move the tile back to its starting point.

This tile may move diagonally up to a number of spaces equal to the pips shown on the move icon. The tile may change directions during the move. All standard rules for movement must be followed.

This tile may jump over a number of areas (occupied or unoccupied) up to and equal to the number of pips shown on the move icon. The tile may not change direction during the jump. The area where the tile lands must be empty.

This tile may move any number of areas in an orthogonal direction. It may not move through or over living or crashed tiles.

This tile may swap areas with an orthogonally adjacent friendly tile capable of movement. This tile triggers the Combat at the end of its move.

Example: In a battle occuring at B, the green line would have a value of 5 (1+2+1+1) but because it has the ‘Bender’ tile, it can change the direction of its line 90 degree giving it an attack power of 7 (1+2+1+1+1+1)

1 2 1 1

1

1

B

13

Special Powers

During Step 1 or Step 6 of a Battle, if the attack line is adjacent to this tile, include this tile’s Attack power in the total Attack power for the combat. (It pulls itself basically)

When this tile is placed on the board, take any 1 crashed Program (Not Computer or Datajack) tile from your discard pile and place it face up on an empty area that is or-thogonally adjacent to this tile. This tile, not the one taken from the discard pile, triggers combat as normal.

When this tile is placed on the board, search your draw pile for any one tile and place it face up on the board following all normal placement rules. This tile, not the one taken from the draw pile, triggers combat as normal. Reshuffle your draw pile at the end of this turn.

During Step 1 or Step 6 of a Battle, you may change the direction of your attack line by making it take a 90 degree turn at this tile. All other rules for the battle remain normal.

Thank you for play testing Data Fortress for us. Living Worlds Games, LLC. appreciates the help and feedback you have provided to us and we look forward to hearing any future comments you may have on the game. As part of play testing, we realize that you may encounter bad situations during play and we value hearing the bad with the good. Please do not hesitate to point out flaws that may have been missed. We can be contacted at livingworldsgames@gmail.com.