"Pie Challenge" (working title) for the 15 Minute Board Game Challenge

Overview

Players compete in feats of strength and wits in order to earn the delicious spoils!

For 2 - 4 players, best played with 4.

Time To Complete

The time to complete this game will vary depending on the number of players and the players themselves, but I would imagine less than 20 minutes or so.

Components and Setup

- A large, cushy mat - essentially a gym mat

- 10 Space Pieces, which represent spaces on the board (mat)

- 4 Player Pieces, which are discs about twice the size of a hockey puck (or so)

- A timer, which counts down from 5 seconds to 0

- A delicious, delicious pie

To set the game up, the Space Pieces are set up by the players in any form of a line on the mat.  A modular board allows players to play the game different ways each time, which can allow for different strategies.  The Player Pieces are then placed on the starting Space, and the pie is placed at the final Space, which is the finish.  Stretching is recommended.

Goal

The goal of the game is to move your piece from the starting space to the finish and defeat your opponents,  which permits you to eat the pie!

Movement

The movement order is determined by the height of the players, with the shortest player going first.

A player starts their turn by starting the timer, and they then have 5 seconds to move their piece as many spaces as they can.  The other players may (and should) try to stop the player from moving their piece, by any means necessary (though violence is strongly discouraged).  If a player does not manage to move their piece at all, they move forward one space, as that is the minimum that a player can move on their turn.

If a player lands on a space occupied by another player, those two players enter a one-on-one battle of wits and speed.  The first player to tap the other on the head is declared the winner, and owner of the space.  The loser must move back two spaces.

Notes on movement:

- Players are not permitted to throw, toss, or roll their piece

- Should the loser of a battle of wits and speed move back onto a space occupied by another player, another battle occurs between those two players

- Players cannot move back past the starting space, and no battles take place on the starting space

Winning

When a player lands on the finish, they must immediately try to pin* one of the other players.  The player that is selected may also try to pin the player that chose them.  If the player on the final space wins the duel, he or she wins the game and gets to devour the pie in front of the defeated players.  If the other player wins, however, the player on the final space must move their piece back 5 spaces, and the game continues.

* A pinned player is defined (for the purposes of this game) as having both shoulders on the ground.

So thats it - I just kind of added whatever came to my mind first!  My drawing was basically a squiggly line with spaces and a pie at the end, so your imagination can probably do better!

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Update:

So we haven't actually tested this game, due to space and, let's face it, safety concerns.  I was thinking about it though, and I thought of some changes that might be helpful.

First, I thought it might be better if it was a team game.  Imagining trying to get to your playing piece while three other people try to stop you, I thought that might be a big problem for some players.  Having someone who can 'block' for you while you try to take your turn would probably help a lot.  Of course, that kind of limits the game to an even number of players, but it also opens it up to a larger number of players.  Also, I suppose someone looking for a challenge could play by themselves.

Also, I thought that maybe there should be a rule which states that a player can't have any (or much) previous momentum going before they grab their piece to move.  The idea being, a person could just get into a full run and grab their piece, bowling over whoever is in their path.  Not only is that kind of dangerous, but it is kind of against the spirit of the game, which is more using quick wits and reflexes.