ISOSAD: Yacht (Sea Dice) Tournament planning thread.

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ClayJar

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Okay, so the topic came up of what to do when you don't have local [thread=194599]ISOSAD[/thread] divers to play games with. That got me to thinking, "Is there any game that ISOSADers could play with each other that doesn't need us to actually be on the same dives?"

Well, chess-by-mail has a long-standing history, but at one move per dive, that would take... well... *forever*. It just takes too long to play a game where one player's moves depend on the other player(s). Even tic-tac-toe would take quite a good handful of dives, and it just doesn't seem like enough fun for the effort, at least not as a primary dive goal. Without some way of communicating *during* the dives, most games simply fall flat.

Most games, that is, but *not* all.

It occurred to me that there's one game already in the HowTo list that does not technically require communication for it to be played with multiple people: Yahtzee! For the standard game, you're not really playing *against* anyone (it's more like competitive solitaire), but it's still fun to play versus other people.

How would it work? Well, to play, you just need tagged dice (either colored dice or white dice after a date with some markers), a small dry box (Otter Box 1000 is great, and Pelican 1010 [not i1010] is nice), and something for writing. Everyone goes diving, with or without any other ISOSADers, and plays. After the dive(s), they get online and submit the score sheets from the games. Then we just act as if we were playing the games against each other to begin with.

So, we need to come up with the plan on how we're going to do it all. It's probably going to be pointless to try to get everyone to dive on the same day or weekend, so should we give a couple weeks' time? How about declaring a month for the "tournament"? (Are too many sites still closed in March? Perhaps April?)

Once the score sheets are in, how will the "competition" part of it go? Top score? Randomly-drawn head-to-head battles, with won/lost percentage deciding? A playoff bracket system? All of the above? (Why not give away a bunch of unrelated winners, after all?)

As far as submitting the score sheets online, I've actually already got that ready. The "ISOSAD: Yacht (Sea Dice) Tournament -- Score Sheet Submission System" is up and ready for anyone to goof off with, should anyone want to. The process is simple. For each game:
  1. Fill in the player and scores.
  2. Submit the score sheet.
  3. Note the "Game ID" from the receipt.
  4. Post the Game ID and player in the thread.
I can then tag those Game IDs as validated, and once the gaming is closed, I'll assemble all of the validated score sheets for us to look at to determine the winners. (For now, feel free to play around with the SSSS. If you want to play a few warm-up games, that ought to be fun -- I'll grab my dice box.)

So, what say ye? Shall we gather our sea dice to play a Yacht tournament? It ought to be quite fun, and it's certainly less logistically complex as the [thread=212110]ISOSAD: Monopoly Challenge[/thread]. :biggrin:
 
Okay, time to start getting this bubbling...

I made up some PDFs for playing Yacht. They're US Letter size sheets with room to write nine games (per side) in grease pencil. The non-counting score spaces (like Full House) even have the two scores already written in, so you just have to cross out the "wrong" one when you use the space. Take a look and give me any comments you may have.

Yacht Sea Dice score card

I didn't include the "bonus" Yacht area, but if you really want to play that way, you can always just put tally marks somewhere else in the column. The way the sheet is laid out, you could play three games with three people on one side (or two games of four, or whatever). Passing a community score card around seems easier than everyone having their own, but you could each mark one if you wanted.

If anyone wants pre-printed, laminated sheets, I can do that. For a buck each, I'll print (two sides) and laminate, with $5 flat-rate shipping to anywhere in the US (and reasonable rates elsewhere). You don't need to stick with just Yacht, either. I also have a Bubbleship game sheet PDF available (for playing basically "Battleship" underwater). You can mix-and-match (even Yacht on one side and Bubbleship on the other, if you want), and for $1 each, you can have any game sheets you need. (Oh, and if anyone comes up with more ideas for laminated game (or game-assisting) sheets, do let me know. I'll work up a PDF and add them to the collection.)
 
Okay, the paper-wrapped "china marker" grease pencil things... they don't hold up well enough. In experiments, the test pencil got soggy and expanded, so I tightly wrapped one in line before the test dive. It held together much better, but it became so waterlogged that it lost almost all rigidity. It was like trying to write with a section of thin rubber hose, and I *couldn't* get enough force on the tip to write consistently on the laminated scorecard.

Additionally, it should be noted that even nicely laminated scorecards require some sort of backing in order to write. You can set them on a platform and write that way. I figure it'll be best to make some "clipboards", but instead of a rusting spring clip, use large rubber bands to secure the sheet to a plastic board.

Anyway, I've ordered some retractable china markers. As long as I can disassemble them to rinse and dry, they have great potential. I'll let everyone know how they work.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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