Square Off

A game inspired by Jet Lag: The Game, bingosync, and Tom Scott Plus. The essence is a randomly generated 5x5 board containing 25 goals, each of which are achievable in a typical town centre. As long as you’ve all got devices with a good Internet connection, fairly decent (or at least equal) knowledge of the area, and time (and optionally money) to spare, you can play!

Win conditions can vary from round to round, but I recommend starting with a Standard Bingo, so you get a feel for what the goals involve, how to strategise and streamline your game plan, and test your knowledge of the area.

Remember, the challenge of the game is rarely from performing the goals themselves, but how to optimise the order and set of ones you go for, and how to out-think your opponents’ game plans. They are, by design, achievable in innumerable contexts, but will require some out-of-the-box thinking or out-of-the-way locations to do quicker. Also be prepared to move fast and embarrass yourself in public!

Rules

Beginning

• Players can play as individuals or in teams.
• Boards are generated from the supporting program (or the Discord bot for you privileged few), which also provides functionality for wildcards and limitations as described below.
• When generating a board, you can add limitations, which are effectively house rules that exclude any goals that require doing certain actions (which are also completely prohibited), either for accessibility or for extra challenge! I’d recommend asking other players if there’s anything they’d rather not do during the game, especially spending money, running, talking to strangers, or eating.
• Boards generated as JSON will be loaded onto bingosync.com and the board is not revealed until all players are in the online room and at the starting point
• To load a board into bingosync, select all and copy from board.txt (the first and last lines are all whitespace so you don’t accidentally see it before the other players get a chance), and when creating a room select “Custom (Advanced)” for the game (it’s right at the bottom of the list). There should be a box to paste in. Leave the seed blank. Make sure to tick "Hide card initially"
• The "Lockout" option makes goals only obtainable by one player/team at a time. You'll have to decide which variant you're playing to decide whether you want this or not. I’d recommend only doing this if you have two teams, maybe three.
• Once in the room, you can select your colour at the top. Different players/teams must be different colours! Tap a square to earn it, and tap it again to revoke it. Long-press on it to mark it (this is useful for planning and not shown to other players), and press the headers to highlight a line.
• You should also notice a convenient chat function on the website! You don’t have to use it but I’d recommend it, since you should have the website up the whole game and all players will see it.
• All players must start the game in the same place, ideally a landmark near the geographic centre of your area.

Playing

• All players must mark completed goals immediately after they are completed.
• All players who break a ban (a goal which begins with “Don’t”) must tell all other players as soon as possible, either by revoking it (for non-lockout) or in chat (for lockout). In a lockout, you need to keep track of how many players have broken each one. See the “Rules for Goals” section below for more info
• When playing in a team, each goal only needs to be completed by one player to be marked, and teammates can share progress towards a goal that requires a number of things. However, if any player breaks a ban, it is also lost for the whole team.
• For obvious reasons, do not attempt to break any laws or endanger yourself or anyone else while playing this game, no matter how tempting the goals make it.
• Since this game will be played outside and in motion, losing Internet connection is bound to happen. Just try to keep things in sync as best you can…
• If two players/teams complete the same goal in a lockout before the game syncs, the goal is awarded to whoever completed it first. If neither can prove who did it first, the goal is locked out to everyone. A timepiece could be handy.
• In the event of a draw, victory is given to the player/team who completed the most goals, or failing that, completes one more goal first.
• Players do not need evidence of completing a goal by default, but if cheating is suspected, it can be demanded. Plus, it's fun to watch!
• Sabotage is generally considered a dick move. Forcing other players to break bans, however, is a rare and valid strategy!
• To avoid an unfair advantage, any items brought with players at the start of the game must not be used to complete any goal, with a few exceptions:
• Any camera can be used for goals requiring a photo.
• Any form of payment is permitted.
• Any public transport tickets or travel passes may be used (thus I recommend all players have them from the start if playing in a big city).
• You can use any device for Internet access and messaging.
• If a goal states that it requires use of personal items, they may be used for that goal only.
• Strangers’ possessions are fair game, but ask for permission first!
• For the purposes of this game, anyone who is not a player is considered a stranger. But also, if a stranger shows bias to a particular team, they are invalid!
• Also for fairness’ sake, you may only go to publicly accessible areas.
• Messaging is a free action! The game is more fun when you communicate!
• If you call a timeout, or everyone just needs a break, please return to your last in-play location before resuming.