potlatch dice rules contest

8/3/2019 Potlatch Dice Rules Contest

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POTLATCH DICE: Throw a Feast! Number of players: 3-5

Time: 20-30 minutes

OVERVIEW

The potlatch was a Pacific Northwest Coast indigenous

custom in which a large feast was thrown by a chief as ameans to claim status and cement influence amongst rivals.

The chief organized the production of large quantities of foodand goods which were then given away to neighbouring

bands. In return, these groups acknowledged the greatnessand prestige of the giver. The custom served as an effective

method of re-distributing resources across groups living inresource-rich but variable environments.

In this game, players vie with each other for status, which is

received by throwing feasts to lay claim to ancestral titles andland rights. These are then displayed on totem poles in front

of their play area. The player who has earned the most statuswhen the game ends is the winner.

COMPONENTS

25 dice

Each die is identical. Each face represents one animal:beaver, bear, salmon, orca, devilfish, or raven. Each animal

has one or two colors associated with it.

20 Raven tokens

They are abstract measures of status. These tokens can be traded between chiefs and used to re-roll certain dice. Theplayers with the most and second most tokens when the

game ends will earn 4 and 2 status points respectively.

1 wooden bowl

The tokens are kept in the bowl in the centre of the play area.

18 Totem cards

Each card bears a totem animal representing the ancestral

title or land right being claimed. There are six different totem

types: Matriarch, Shaman, Raven, Wolf, Frog, Thunderbird.

Each card has a requirement - the colors which must berolled to claim it - a status value, and a height value.

SET UP

Players are each given four dice, and two Raven tokens from

the supply. The remaining Raven tokens and five dice areplaced in the centre of the play area. With 3 players, only fo

extra dice are used.

The Totem Cards are placed in six face-up stacks, visible toall players. The Raven, Matriarch, and Shaman cards are

each placed in their own stacks, with the lowest value on toand the highest on the bottom. The other cards are sorted bcolor and stacked with the Wolf cards on top and the

Thunderbird cards on the bottom.

A starting player is determined randomly.



GAME PLAY

On their turn, a player must choose one of three actions:

A - Take a die.B - Roll for Ravens.

C - Throw a Feast.

Play then continues clockwise with the next player.

A - Take a die

The player may take one die from the centre of the table, if any are available. This completes their turn.

B - Roll for Ravens.

The player must announce his intent to roll for Ravens. Once

the dice have been rolled ( see sidebar on Rolling Dice), theplayer collects from the supply one token for each Raven

showing on the dice.

The player may not use tokens to re-roll dice when rolling for

Ravens.

C - Throw a Feast

The player must announce his intent to throw a feast. If a

player has six or more dice in his possession at the start of

his turn, he must throw a feast.

See sidebar on Rolling Dice.

Once the player has finished rolling, he may claim one face-up Totem card whose color requirements are met. Each die

may count towards meeting one and only one colorrequirement. The claimed Totem Card is added to the totem

pole on the player's mat, taking care to align the bottom of the card with the top of the pole.

Example:

With the following roll, a player could claim either one of the

Totem cards pictured below, since one requires four yellow

(found on the three beaver and salmon) and the other four

green (found on the three beaver and bear).

ROLLING DICE

This process is the same whether a player is rolling for

Ravens or throwing a Feast. The player must roll all the dicein his possession. After each roll, a player may stop,

accepting the result, otherwise he must choose one type of animal and set aside all dice showing that animal. The

remaining dice are the re-rolled. The process continues untiall dice have been set aside, or the player stops.

When choosing which type of animal to set aside, it is of no

consequence which animals were set aside previously.



C - Throw a Feast (continued)

Whether a Totem card is claimed or not, the player must give

away one die per type of animal showing on the dice. These

dice are offered to the players with the least number of dice

in their possession. Each player may only accept one die. Incase of a tie, proceed clockwise from the active player. Either

the receiving player accepts the die, in which case he mustgive a Raven token to the giver, or he refuses and the die is

offered to the next player. If no player can or will accept it, thedie is returned to the centre of the table. This process

continues until all the necessary dice have been disposed of.

Example:

Following the roll in the previous example, the player would

then have to give away three dice, because three different

animals are showing on the dice.

While throwing a feast, a player may use a Raven token to re-roll all set-aside dice showing the same animal. These dice

would then be added to any other dice being re-rolled.

Example:

A player who has set aside the following dice could use one

Raven token to re-roll the beaver, the raven, or both devilfish.

GAME END

The final round is triggered when a third Totem card stack is

emptied. Each other player takes one final turn. Status pointsare then tallied to determine the winner.

Each Totem card has a status point value, indicated on the

bottom right.

The player with the greatest number of Raven tokensreceives an extra 4 status points. The player with the secondgreatest number of tokens receives an extra 2 points. In case

of a tie, all tied players receive the extra points.

The player with the highest totem pole receives an extra 5status points. The player with the second highest totem pole

receives an extra 3 points. The player with the third highestpole receives an extra point. In case of a tie, all tied players

receive the extra points.

Each player receives extra status points for the number of different totem types they have claimed. For 1-2-3-4-5-6

different types, a player receives 1-2-3-5-8-13 extra points.

The player with the most status wins. If two or more players

are tied, the number of Raven tokens determines the winner.

If a tie persists, all tied players are determined to be equallygreat chiefs.

CREDITS

Game design and artwork : Yves Tourigny

Yves Tourigny is a member of

the Game Artisans of Canada.

(www.gameartisans.ca)

www.franticangstgames.com

Playtesters

Al, Alexandre, Alexandre, Anthony, Austin Power, Carl,Christian, Daryl, Derek, Eden, Fabian, John, Jonatan, Lara,

Laurent, Lucas, Lucie, Marie-Claude, Marion, Marquis, MartE., Martin V., Matt, Mélanie, Mike, Mounir, Nicolas, Orin,

Pamela, Paul, Romain, Sophia, Steve, Sylvain, Thiernault,Tom.

Special Thanks to

Roberta Taylor, and the Game Artisans of Canada.

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