The Grapest Thief

A game where most players just want to tend to the shared orchard, but some are secretly grape thieves trying to steal all the grapes.

This started as a joke between me and my little sister, then I looked for a way to make it an actual game. As usual, there are some good elements in here, but it’s just a vague untested idea now.

Setup

Place the “magic grape” in the center of the table. Distribute all the remaining grapes over the players as equally as possible.

(During my first test game, the distribution was: 5 yellow, 5 blue, 9 green, 4 brown. Don’t know if this is good.)

Create a deck of role cards: one grape thief per three players, the rest are default roles. Give each player a role—keep this secret at all times!

Objective

Grape Thieves win if they manage to steal the magic grape or non-thief players accidentally steal it. (So, if there are multiple thieves, they all win if anyone manages to steal the grape.)

All other roles win if they manage to surround the magic grape with a single type of grape. (In all the eight squares around it is only one type of grape or empty space.)

Gameplay

All players close their eyes. Players take clockwise turns, starting with the youngest player.

On your turn, you do the following:

Open your eyes
Take one action
Close your eyes and tell the next player to take their turn

During the whole game, keep your hand(s) on top of your inventory, so nobody can see which grapes you have.

Exception 1: grape thieves get 2 actions.

Exception 2: with 2 players, there’s no need to close your eyes, and all players get 2 actions.

Remark: this game was made to take extremely quick turns. If everyone takes 2 minutes for their turn, this game is basically “sitting on a chair with eyes closed, waiting”

Phase 1: Planting Trees

In this phase, you are merely building the orchard ( = playing field) together.

The only action you can do is:

Place 1-3 cubes from your own inventory onto the playing field. They must be adjacent to existing cubes and must fit within a 6x6 grid (see image)

Once everyone has placed all their cubes, say so, and the actual game starts!

Phase 2: How to steal a grape

Now you can take one of these actions:

Swap two adjacent grapes
Place a grape from your own inventory back on the table. (It must be adjacent to a grape that already existed before your turn started.)
Steal a group of grapes.
- Find a connected group of identical grapes ( = at least 2 grapes of the same color next to each other), take it off the board and into your own inventory.
- If this causes grapes to “come loose”, all those go to your inventory as well, except for the biggest remaining group.

Now you know how to reach your objective:

If a grape thief manages to steal the magic grape (by making it come loose), they win.
If a non-thief accidentally steals the magic grape, they lose.

Special Powers

All grapes have a special power, if used by a grape thief. They are optional. Non-thief roles do not follow these rules.

All these powers are invoked when placing the grape.

Blue = you may place it on top of another grape. This stack is now considered a single grape of the blue color. (When moving, the whole stack moves. When taking it off the board, you take the whole stack.)
- Exception: you may not place it on top of the magic grape.
Yellow = you may move the whole row/column (of this grape) one step in any direction.
- Exception: you may not move a row/column with a brown grape in it.
Green = you get an extra action.
Brown = a reverse grape. May only be picked up when not in a group.

Expansions / Ideas

TO DO:

Actually implement many different roles. Some roles have their own objective, which means you don’t know what they’ll do (and whether they will help you or not). When they reach this objective, they just stop playing (instead of winning the whole game and stopping it).

With 4+ players (or something), there are multiple magic grapes.

Unique types of grapes that only appear once, which do something very special in certain situations.

DOUBTS: There should be more ways to smartly block certain moves or set up long-term strategies.

DOUBTS: Maybe the grape thief is not allowed to move the magic grape?

POTENTIAL PROBLEM: The board clears very quickly. (Because people take whole groups of stuff of the board.) How can I make people less likely to steal/form formations, or more likely/quicker to return stuff to the board?

A game where most players just want to tend to the shared orchard, but some are secretly grape thieves trying to steal all the grapes. This started as a joke between me and my little sister, then I looked for a way to make it an actual game. As usual, there are some good elements in here, but it's just a vague untested idea now. ## Setup Place the "magic grape" in the center of the table. Distribute all the remaining grapes over the players as equally as possible. (During my first test game, the distribution was: 5 yellow, 5 blue, 9 green, 4 brown. Don't know if this is good.) Create a deck of role cards: one grape thief per three players, the rest are default roles. Give each player a role---keep this secret at all times! ## Objective **Grape Thieves** win if *they* manage to steal the magic grape or non-thief players _accidentally steal it_. (So, if there are multiple thieves, they all win if anyone manages to steal the grape.) All **other roles** win if they manage to _surround the magic grape with a single type of grape_. (In all the eight squares around it is only one type of grape or empty space.) ## Gameplay All players close their eyes. Players take clockwise turns, starting with the youngest player. On your turn, you do the following: - Open your eyes - Take one action - Close your eyes and tell the next player to take their turn During the whole game, keep your hand(s) on top of your inventory, so nobody can see which grapes you have. **Exception 1:** grape thieves get **2 actions**. **Exception 2:** with 2 players, there's no need to close your eyes, and all players get **2 actions**. *Remark:* this game was made to take extremely quick turns. If everyone takes 2 minutes for their turn, this game is basically "sitting on a chair with eyes closed, waiting" ### Phase 1: Planting Trees In this phase, you are merely building the orchard ( = playing field) together. The only action you can do is: > Place 1-3 cubes from your own inventory onto the playing field. They must be adjacent to existing cubes and must fit within a 6x6 grid (see image) Once everyone has placed all their cubes, say so, and the actual game starts! ### Phase 2: How to steal a grape Now you can take one of these actions: - Swap two adjacent grapes - Place a grape from your own inventory back on the table. (It must be adjacent to a grape that already existed before your turn started.) - Steal a group of grapes. - Find a connected group of identical grapes ( = at least 2 grapes of the same color next to each other), take it off the board and into your own inventory. - If this causes grapes to "come loose", all those go to your inventory as well, except for the biggest remaining group. Now you know how to reach your objective: - If a grape thief manages to steal the magic grape (by making it come loose), they win. - If a non-thief accidentally steals the magic grape, they lose. ## Special Powers All grapes have a special power, if used by a **grape thief**. They are optional. Non-thief roles do not follow these rules. All these powers are invoked when *placing* the grape. - **Blue =** you may place it *on top of* another grape. This stack is now considered a single grape of the blue color. (When moving, the whole stack moves. When taking it off the board, you take the whole stack.) - Exception: you may not place it on top of the magic grape. - **Yellow =** you may *move* the whole row/column (of this grape) one step in any direction. - Exception: you may not move a row/column with a brown grape in it. - **Green** = you get an extra action. - **Brown** = a reverse grape. May only be picked up when *not in a group*. ## Expansions / Ideas TO DO: Actually implement many **different roles**. Some roles have their own objective, which means you don't know what they'll do (and whether they will help you or not). When they reach this objective, they just stop playing (instead of winning the whole game and stopping it). With 4+ players (or something), there **are *multiple* magic grapes**. **Unique types of grapes** that only appear *once*, which do something very special in certain situations. **DOUBTS:** There should be more ways to smartly block certain moves or set up long-term strategies. **DOUBTS:** Maybe the grape thief is *not* allowed to move the magic grape? **POTENTIAL PROBLEM:** The board clears very quickly. (Because people take whole groups of stuff of the board.) How can I make people less likely to steal/form formations, or more likely/quicker to return stuff to the board?