Poolgame: Kill the King

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AzB Gold Member
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Okay, I think there could be mileage in the no-special-roles game. The chess-style gambits and forks etc. might work...

I'll try to sink your 2 with my 11 but miss: https://pad.chalkysticks.com/1fc77

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DaWizard

DaWizard

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Tried to do it on mobile, but I need desktop. On mobile it's a mess.

Im curious what the endgame will be like. You or I end up with the King and maybe 1 or 2 extra balls. But what is the point of the extra balls? I'm not sure if that's really an advantage if the Kings are the only one that can pot each other. My prediction would be that a decent player can easily defend it and it becomes king VS king (not sure how that plays out) or a stalemate.

Two possible new rules came to mind:
1) in a king VS king situation you must hit the other king each shot. Failure to do so is an instant loss.

2) if one player is down to just the King, all the remaining opponents balls get the role of assassin.

I think the last one is interesting because it makes the middle game more important. You are seriously rewarded for potting more balls than your opponent. In chess this would be an endgame of K vs K+pawn that promotes to a Queen. The only difference is that such an endgame in chess is lost. But in this poolgame a good player could still take out the opponents balls or even the King.
 
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AzB Gold Member
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DaWizard said:
Tried to do it on mobile, but I need desktop. On mobile it's a mess.
Click to expand...
No problem, just go with what's convenient.

DaWizard said:
Two possible new rules came to mind:
1) in a king VS king situation you must hit the other king each shot. Failure to do so is an instant loss.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I don't know whether it's needed or not. In theory, if the non-hitting player leaves their king safe, perhaps the other player can hit a stop shot and leave their own king in roughly the same area, while maybe banking the other king (even multiple rails) for a chance to win.

But on the other hand, that might not work well in practice. I suppose it needs testing. A four rail bank to win might not be much incentive for an average player!

There could be a stalemate rule - three air shots each and it's a tie.

DaWizard said:
2) if one player is down to just the King, all the remaining opponents balls get the role of assassin.

I think the last one is interesting because it makes the middle game more important. You are seriously rewarded for potting more balls than your opponent. In chess this would be an endgame of K vs K+pawn that promotes to a Queen. The only difference is that such an endgame in chess is lost. But in this poolgame a good player could still take out the opponents balls or even the King.
Click to expand...
I like it. It's a valid point that the extra balls in the endgame might not be useful. I suppose you could use them to block the other guy's shot on your king (or obstruct a pocket), but it's not a big reward.

Another idea could be you have to sink all the opponent's non-kings before you can shoot the king. It would be kind of like 8-ball.
 
DaWizard

DaWizard

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Hehe in the end we end up with 8ball 😄 personally I think you should protect your king at all times. Because that also allows for snatching away a win when you're behind.

A stalemate rule would be interesting. Just like in chess where players need to do something to avoid a draw. Or are happy to settle for a draw. On the other hand the K vs K where you must move the other king every turn, can be exciting. Needs testing.

Ive been asking around in Dutch Facebook groups and so far nobody is interested in playtesting 😕 I even offered to pay for table rent. The only poolhall in my town is a non competitive one. Only groups of drinking people come to play, so ill have to go to the next big city and find someone willing..
 
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AzB Gold Member
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I do like situations in 8-ball where neither player has a decent shot on the 8 and try to play safe. It would be interesting to see how it plays out in KtK.
 
DaWizard

DaWizard

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No worries. Im going to playtest next week! I spammed my old team. Some no longer play, one broke his ankle, but another wants to try. We'll be playing Kill the King and Hot Rail (previously Hot & Cold war). Nobody responded to Hot Rail, but I actually think it's going to be really fun and interesting. Definetly a game for average or advanced players, not for average drunk joe.

I play a safe: https://pad.chalkysticks.com/73873

73873.png
 
DaWizard

DaWizard

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Pin said:
I'll try to bank your king: https://pad.chalkysticks.com/4c773
Click to expand...
Wow I left a relatively easy bank there, with that 2 making the pocket very big. You let me off the hook there :)

I pot your 11 and draw back: https://pad.chalkysticks.com/562c7

562c7.png
So now we're in the endgame and we'll have to see if I have an advantage. In the current rules you can do anything. Roll up to the wall, tug behind the 8, anything.

Lets play like that, but a question for you. Looking at the current situation, which rule would you adopt:

1) draw by repetition: if we both make 2 shots without any of our balls touching, it's a draw. (I think 3 is too much. To keep track and 2 is more imminent)
2) all my balls are assassins now

For me the draw rule is interesting. Draws can be spectaculair. But they say a game should never draw. There should be a winner.
In the current ruleset my extra balls give me some advantage, all though very marginal? Ive got blocked pocket, that's nice. But how to attack you?
It takes quite some effort to get 1 or 2 balls ahead, so this feels like not a real reward. So in my mind rule 2 seems like the most fast 'n fun one.

Lets just try normal rules for now. But what would you think would work?
 
DaWizard

DaWizard

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Had a very good test night. He was very patient and willing to tweak rules, play again, think about strategy, etc. The perfect play tester, in short. We played 4 games of supersimple and 3 complex games. Well a bit more because we too photos of the starting positions and restarted if either of us blew the game with a bad shot.

Will it replace 9ball? 9ball is safe for now, but it should look over it's shoulder 😄 the game is pretty balanced and there are all kinds of tactical opportunities. He liked the role, it adds a bit of story. He was going to introduce it to a couple people that he plays with.

I was enthusiastic, it was fun to play, but also have some negative points.
It is really tactical and also quite difficult. Placement is difficult and requires quite some thinking. The difficulty is a pro and a con. A pro if you like it, but a con to many people, I presume
This is not chilling and shooting some shots, you need to take a look and think. But maybe after 10 games itll be easy.

On our level the games ended pretty abruptly. You make a bad shot and down you go. And that sucks if you just took 10 minutes to minutely place every ball.. Hence the restarts from photos. Bad players, like us, could play with multiple lives for their King though.

Edit: we did have some good games as well! I was quite satisfied with my shooting and some sharp safeties, with some blunders sprinkled in between.

But the game itself is pretty fun. It took a little but at some point we saw just fine what ball threatened another. We had various types of games: slow, quick, an assassination, 4 balls (all assassin, good rule) vs king but the other king won. The saboteur was fun.

Tired and off to bed, later maybe more.
 
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