2 Players
Standard 18x18 Board
A game has:
1-gold lotus
2-white lotuses
2-red lotuses
1-blue lotus
4-purple lotuses
4-pink lotuses
Tile Design:
Ever lotus has 8 petals
White
Red Shown from side, full petals, center isn't seen
Blue - partially open, the center isn't seen
Gold - outline of petals, shown from side, fully open
Pink - Shown from side, full petals, center seen
Purple - bud, 1/3/5 stems
| Tile |
Harmonies With |
Disharmonies With |
Placed on Board |
Movement(straight lines) |
| Red |
Blue and Purple |
White |
Left Side Port |
3(5 if if started in a yellow garden)
|
| Blue |
Red and Pink |
Gold |
Home White/Yellow Border |
3(5 if if started in a yellow garden)
|
| Pink |
Blue and White |
Purple |
Right Side Port |
1(3 if if started in a yellow garden) |
| White |
Pink and Gold |
Red |
Left Side Port
|
1(3 if if started in a yellow garden)
|
| Gold |
White and Purple |
Blue |
Center |
none |
| Purple |
Gold and Red |
Pink |
Right Side Port |
5(7 if if started in a yellow garden) |
To play the Gold Lotus is placed in the center, each player draws pieces out of a bag and plays them. Two ports on on either side on you, with a white garden facing you.
The goal of the game is to arrange a string of harmonies without forming any disharmonies within that string. Once a piece is in/borders the center board any player can move it, with the goal being to be the player that places the last tile in the string. Otherwise you control pieces in/or bordering the red ports next to you, and the yellow gardens in front of you and to your right.
The harmony order you want to reach is (In Progress) Purple, Red, Blue, Pink, White, Gold. With the White being on your Left Port and the Gold lotus doesn't move(it's still in the center) Harmonies occur diagonally and orthogonally and do NOT cross garden defining lines unless a piece borders both gardens.
Pieces MUST have more harmonies than disharmonies, but no strict rules govern piece movement, other than total limit. However, if a piece has more disharmonies than harmonies, it MUST be removed from the board if one whole round passes and it hasn't been balanced out or disconnected. This includes the Gold lotus and once a piece is removed it's out of the game.
The game ends when:
Tie - all of a kind of tile have been removed from play.
Win -you place the last tile in the/a harmony string
Loss-you forfeit
Symbolism
The lotus flower rises from the depths of a muddy river, blooms and thrives. This symbolizes the human who rises from the darkness of the world into a new way of thinking and living. It is a symbol of rebirth, growth and purification of spirit. The lotus flower also represents faith.
White: This color symbolizes being pure in body, mind and spirit. It symbolizes the heart, and also represents overcoming obstacles of the human nature.
Red: This color symbolizes emotional attachments of the heart. It represents love, compassion, passion and other heart-centered emotions. It is usually depicted with its petals open to represent the heart being open and filled with love.
Blue: As a representation of wisdom and common sense, the blue lotus flower is often seen as only partially open. It symbolizes knowledge, learning and intelligence. The blue lotus flower is never fully opened, and its center is not seen. This represents the continual need to gain wisdom, learn and expand the mind in order to reach enlightenment.
Pink: The pink lotus represents history and legends.
Purple: This is the color that represents mysticism and spirituality. It is shown in several ways such as one stem or three stems. Its petals are shown both opened and closed. It is sometimes a bud and sometimes fully bloomed. All of these differences represent the different mystical and spiritual journeys taken on the path to enlightenment.
Gold: A symbol of complete and total enlightenment. It represents having reached full enlightenment and having achieved all that can be achieved.
The meanings of the different colors of the lotus flower are meant to be used as a reminder along the journey to personal enlightenment.
Comments (15)
Java said
at 8:47 pm on Nov 13, 2015
Would someone help me balance the rules out a bit?
Cyril said
at 2:44 am on Nov 14, 2015
I haven't testes this myself, but from reading I noticed some things.
-If both players can move all tiles, it won't be possible for one player to win as long as the other person works against it. The "defending" player (trying to stop a ring from being formed) has a very easy time destroying the attacking players attempts to form a complete string. That is to say, too many tiles must be in precise order for it to count as a harmony ring, which makes it too difficult to happen. As long as both players try to build one, it will be easy, but why should I (as one player) continue to build the string as soon as I can see the my opponent will come out on top. At that point I will shift into a destructive playstyle that will make the game impossible to win for me, but for the other player as well.
-The tiles' movement range is relatively short in the context of a huge board like the Pai Sho Ban. This isn't in itself a problem, but the game (espeially early) will take a long time since the tiles move so slowly. I would increase these ranges a bit or add special ways to move quickly into the center area of the board where the action will be, or otherwise the game will be slow.
-As I understand it, a player drops tiles either in his home port, the port on his right, or a central white area (not into the enemy port, because that's where your opponent drops his home tiles, and not into your left port, since that is where your opponent drops his right port tiles). That's a nice idea, but I think in that case you can rotate the board around a bit in clockwise direction. That way every player can sit between two ports (the two that he can drop into) and in front of a white garden (where he can drop as well).
-What happens if all tiles of one kind have been removed? Is the game a draw? And does this also happen if the Gold tile is removed (since that instantly means that all golden tiles are removed)?
Java said
at 10:09 am on Nov 14, 2015
I have no equipment to test any of my versions. It could but here's the thing: the harmony string CAN'T have disharmonies within it, it can have a disharmony with a piece not being counted as part of it, but if, for example, the white and red in the chain are disharmonies, the string won't count. Along with the point of the game being to be the one who moves the final piece, I think it could be done. But it probably does need some balancing.
For the slow movement I'll add that they move 2 additional points IF they START in a yellow garden.
You board idea works well, I'll put that in.
It is a draw. Yes if all on ANY tile is removed it is a draw.
But there's a problem, that can't happen. the pieces that make disharmonies with each other both have the same number of pieces. So that needs some work as well.
Cyril said
at 4:33 pm on Nov 14, 2015
Judging from that you commented already, it's a pity to see you were online during the last few hours! You should have joined the live game between Nlc and myself, it was great fun. We will continue tomorrow, but that is nighttime for the US, so you probably can't watch. If you get another opportunity to watch a live game sometime in the future though, I really recommend it, no matter which ruleset.
Glad I could help with your set here. There is certainly lots of other points where you can improve it once you test around with it a little while.
Java said
at 7:44 pm on Nov 14, 2015
I'm awake from 9am-1am US Mountain time. Send me a link
Cyril said
at 1:15 am on Nov 15, 2015
If you had AIM installed like I advised in my introduction email to LG, I would be able to do so easily. The game will be around 3am-7am your time.
Java said
at 9:56 pm on Nov 18, 2015
hey, can you go over the new pages I've made and check them?
Cyril said
at 2:43 am on Nov 19, 2015
@Java: Why should I do that?
Java said
at 10:38 am on Nov 14, 2015
I was wrong about the harmonies, it's unlikely that the gold will be removed, but possible
Java said
at 9:21 pm on Nov 16, 2015
Can someone make tiles for this?!?
Java said
at 9:28 pm on Nov 16, 2015
tile images like for Wiki and Kutai Pai Sho. also ones on the sun, stars, moon(full,half,1/4,and new) and the elements.
Java said
at 1:57 pm on Nov 19, 2015
@Cyril because you've worked on this longer and have experience playing that will allow you to know if the rules make sense, are playable, and will make it a fun game.
Cyril said
at 4:31 pm on Nov 19, 2015
That's nice of you to say, but first of all you need to realize that this website has been dead for years. Your posts are all very interesting but nobody can hear you, so you might as well talk to me and Osuji directly, since we're more or less the only ones left. I will take a look at your sets if I get time over the weekend, but you should do the same with mine. Which won't be a difficult since you're already an LG member.
And most importantly, if you want your ruleset to be played, start by playing it yourself. Upload a game record or try it with friends. You will realize quickly what can be improved, without any help from me.
Osuji said
at 6:23 am on Nov 20, 2015
Weighing in on Cyril's comment. Let me start by saying I'm impressed by the amount of energy, effort, creativity, and imagination you clearly have put into your many recent posts on PSP. Well done. From my brief skim of the update emails I think a number of posts have merit and potential or are at the very least interesting. But I'd also like to offer some pespective. The great joy of Pai Sho is that it doesn't exist. This gives us the freedom to invent it for ourselves. I think the opportunity to finally apply our creativity and ingenuity to a task, and make something new and original has great appeal for both of us. But ultimately doing this for Pai Sho isn't really about Pai Sho. It's about game design. One of the failings of PSP is that everyone has a design idea but few are willing to work on any design but their own. This has lead to a lot of ideas that are left unfinished. LG was an attempt to unify the design and resolve the conflicts in many systems to establish a standard system. We soon discovered that some aspects just couldn't be incorporated or resolved, and so were abandoned. We found that we needed to discuss and evaluate a single system at a time, and make small iterative improvents. In some cases we had to backup and start over. Since there are only a few of us who have stuck with it for the whole journey we don't have the resources to help you develop yet another variation, interesting though it may be. What I can offer is a high level evaluation of potential conflicts in your system. But probably not for a while since I'm already doing that with LG projects. I would suggest that you read through ALL of LG so you can see what our process was like and what we abandoned along the way. I think it would help and in form you on you own journey in game design. And of course you are welcome to participate as well
Java said
at 10:37 am on Nov 20, 2015
OK, thanks for making that clear and for the thoughts, I understand a bit better now. I'm going to continue to work on my own version(s). And I'll try to help you test yours too.
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