DevVlog EP82: Gentleman’s Hockey (Board Game)

I made a video describing my Board (smirk) Game, “Gentleman’s Hockey”!

OK, so the written rules are as so:

Board Setup:

• Board must be an 11 x 5 grid.
• The two rows at the extreme edges of the board are hashed to signify a goal or a net.
• The central square is marked for easy reference.
• Grab a single six-sided dice.

Game Setup:

• The game is played with two humans; each human controls a team of 3 players (represented by coins). These coins should be larger (like dollar coins or quarters) and different for each team.
• The puck is signified by a smaller coin (such as a penny) which is placed in the center tile of the board.
• Each team places one coin in their goal (a goalie), and the other two coins next to the center row, diagonal from the puck.
• Both players should agree before-hand how many goals to play to; I recommend three for new players.

Starting the game:

• Each player should roll the dice.
• The higher roller moves a player of their choice to the center tile, and places the puck on top of their player.
• The player with the puck is first to move.

GamePlay:

• On your turn, roll the dice. This is how many movement points you have for your turn.

• You may move any player to any adjacent space (not diagonal) for the cost of 1 movement point.
• You must use all of your movement points per-turn.
• You may not end your turn with any of your players occupying the space of another player.
• You may not move your player through a space that contains another player without a puck.

Passing:

• Passing the puck costs 2 movement points.
• You may stop the puck at any point (eg: pass it to an empty space), but mostly you will pass it to one of your friendly players.
• The puck must travel along the grid and may not move diagonally.
• The puck must have a clear line-of-sight to it’s destination; any players standing in an intervening tile will stop the puck, friendly or not.

Shooting:

• Shooting the puck into the opposing goal costs 2 movement points.
• The puck must travel along the grid and may not move diagonally.
• As in passing, the puck must have a clear line-of-sight to the goal; any intervening players will stop the puck, friendly or not.
• You must be on the center row or closer to the opposing net before you may shoot (no shooting across the center-line is allowed)

Scoring:

• If the puck is in your net, you must spend your movement points on your goalie to attempt to grab the puck.
• The goalie moves as per normal (1 movement point per square), but must spend an additional 1 point to “save” the puck.
• If you save the puck, you made expend your remaining points as per normal, and your turn ends normally.
• If you do not have enough movement points to save the puck, the opposing team scores 1 point. Your goalie then magically teleports to the puck’s location, and you get to roll again and take another turn as per usual.

Stealing the puck:

• Players may not occupy other’s spaces, but they may pass through the space of the player that is currently controlling the puck.
• If you have passed a player holding the puck in this fashion, then at the end of your turn you may roll the dice to attempt to steal the puck. On a roll of a 5 or a 6, the steal was successful.
• Note that you do not know if the stealing was successful or not until after you have spent all of your movement points!
• If you currently control the puck and you pass over an opponent’s space, your opponent may likewise roll to steal at the end of their turn. I recommend not behaving in this risky fashion. :)

ADVANCED RULES:

[Not mentioned in the video!]

Once you have got to know the game and it makes sense, I strongly recommend adding these additional rules. It really adds a lot more thought to the game:

• Passing the puck is now allowed diagonally. You can “bounce” the puck off the boards; it will reflect if it reaches the edge of the board.
• Likewise, you can shoot the puck diagonally too; bounce it off the boards or shoot it straight to the other corner of the net.
• (Players are still restricted to the no-diagonal-movement rule though)
• If you’re feeling really adventurous, allow the goalies to leave the net. :)

Feel free to replicate, just not commercially. :) Let me know if you play! I’d love feedback!