Game Courier Tournament #4: An Introductory Semi-Potluck

For this fourth Game Courier tournament, I will do things differently than before. Instead of voting on the games to be played, this will be a themed semi-potluck. The theme is a game that is good for introducing Chess players to Chess variants. Suppose that someone has played Chess a lot but has never played any Chess variants, and you want to select a game that will spark further interest in Chess variants, which will be fairly easy to learn given his knowledge of Chess, which will feel Chess-like despite its differences from Chess, and won't be so intimidating that it might scare him off of Chess variants. To get a general idea of what I have mind, take a look at the "Small Steps from Chess" section of my Games for Game Courier page. The tournament will consist of up to six games and any number of participants. Games will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis by the people who sign up for the tournament. You can sign by stating your intention to do so in a comment on this page. Note that you will need to enter your comment with your userid. Comments entered without a userid will not count. Until all the games are selected, you have the option, when signing up, to select one of the games we will play. [All the games are now selected.] It should fit the criteria for a good introductory game, and it should be programmed on Game Courier before the start of the tournament. I am able to program the rules for games you may not be able to, but if I can't do it, and no one else can, then the game won't make it. It may be one of yours but doesn't have to be. So you don't have to be a game inventor to pick a game for the tournament. All you need is a commitment to take part in the tournament before you even know what the other games will be. After six games are selected, others may continue to sign up for the tournament. Anyone else who signs up will do so with full knowledge of what the games will be, and by signing up will be consenting to play the games already selected. In this way, this tournament will appeal to inventors who want their games in a tournament, and it will appeal to those whose primary interest here is just to play games.

I want to limit the games to six, so that each participant can play each game three times, giving each participant a total of 18 games to play. After the first round for each game, winners will play winners, and losers will play losers during the second round. During the third round, double winners would play double winners, double losers double losers, and one-time winners other one-time winners. The main purpose behind this is to give each player greater experience with the games than playing one game would. The second round will guarantee that about half the players win one and lose one, and the third round will increase the number of players who have both won and lost at the game. This will give a more well-rounded experience with the game than simply winning once or losing once would. Since the winner of the tournament will be decided by results in all the games, it isn't necessary to find a champion in each game. The main purposes behind this tournament will be to introduce players to new games and to introduce the experience of playing Chess variants to people who are new to Chess variants. So this should be a good tournament to join if you are new here and still relatively inexperienced with Chess variants.

Spare Time: 2 weeks
Grace Time: 12 hours
Minimum Time: 12 hours
Bonus Time: 6 hours for moving within 1 second (before 12 hours grace time is up)
Maximum Time: 4 weeks