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The Axe-Man Cometh!

Page history last edited by Nathan Russell 14 years, 9 months ago

     The Axe-Man Cometh

     A game for more players than less (3+ ?)

     Components: board, token for each player, token to represent the Axe-Man, a d6

 

A homicidal maniac is on the loose and coming your way! Get to safety before he gets you!

Players place their tokens on the start space. Place the Axe-Man token on the Axe-Man space.

Starting with the player most likely to be killed by an axe murderer, players take it in turns to roll a die and move a token;

The Turn

On your turn roll a die (standard d6). On a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 move your token that many spaces. On a 6 you do not move your own token – instead choose to either move the Axe-Man token one space forward or any other player’s token one space backward. If you land on a space occupied by another player’s token, move their token back one space.

Getting Caught

If the Axe-Man token is moved onto a player’s token, that player is caught by the manic! If a player’s token is moved backward onto the Axe-Man, that player is caught by the maniac!

A player who is caught by the maniac is not out of the game. When it is their turn they can choose to move the Axe-Man one space forward or any other player’s token one space backward, just as if they had rolled a “6”.

Winning

To escape the Axe-Man you must land on the “Escape” square. If you a number too high (that is, your token would be moved past the end of the board) do not move your token. First player off the table is the “winner”.

HERE IS THE PDF

Comments (2)

mike.reddy@... said

at 8:56 am on Jul 2, 2009

I think that moving the axeman forward or other players back only one square may mean that he never catches anyone! The board is rather short, given the average movement of the a player is 1+2+3+4+5-1/6 = 2 1/3 assuming that the player was ALWAYS the one who moved backwards.
The average move without moving backwards (i.e. you always chose someone else and noone chose you) = 1+2+3+4+5+0/6 = 2.5. So, the average number of rolls to escape would be 4/5 die rolls. The chance of you getting caught by the Axeman for only one player and you always moving back/axeman moving forward (same thing relatively, but the player moving back does make getting to the escape square harder) on a 6 would be:
I roll a 6 first move = death (1/6)
OR
I roll a 1, then a 6 then a 6 (1/6*6*6 = 1/216)
I roll a 2, then 6,6,6 (1/6*6*6*6 = 1/1296)
...
etc. You get the idea. The chance of him catching up is really very very small. So, I think that the Axeman needs to move a bit faster!

Nathan Russell said

at 8:53 am on Jul 3, 2009

I totally agree that the board is too short. In my rush to complete in 15 minutes or less I didn't have time to adjust the board to make it longer! I don't think that only haveing (on average) 4 or5 die rolls (or turns) is a problem on a board so short - it would probably only be intended for quick little games. However, I have already begun to think about lengthening the board and how that might look.

The "losing on the first turn" didn't leap into my head until well after I was done - and needs to be addressed! Woops! I would probably do this by starting the Axe-Man 6 spaces behind the players, but this then presents the problem of him not catching up. I have an idea to fix this too! Something like squares that when landed on advance the Axe-Man further along the board, so he (it?) can end up in the middle of the players. Hey maybe the Axe-Man could start in the middle... Further thinking is required.

Thanks for the feedback Mike.

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