Annotated Games: Version 0.9, 4 players

This game was played during game testing of version 0.9 of Lucca. The players start with slightly different strategies but as the game progresses, tactical considerations become more important as they literally struggle to time the tower top positions and the end of the game.

The tiles are marked with their colors (yellow instead of white, blue, black and red) and a number of the round placed. The towers are marked with the color of the top tile and a letter. The same letter appears to the right of the board, showing all tiles in the tower. After each round, the number of tiles that the players have on their hands is listed.

Starting position

Yellow: 12
Blue: 12
Black: 12
Red: 12

Round 1 (placements 1-4)

B
2

			3
4	4	3

				A	B
A	1			1	2

Yellow (1) places a yellow tile in the left bottom corner and uses a red tile to build a yellow tower. Blue (2) does the same in the left upper corner with a blue and a yellow tile. Black (3) consolidates with a black and a blue tile in the center without building any tower. Red (4) places a red and a black tile on the left edge, aiming at connecting the two towers and let them struggle.

Yellow: 10
Blue: 10
Black: 10
Red: 10

Round 2 (placements 5-8)

B	6
2	7					8

		7		3
4	4		3
								B
		8					A	2	C
A	1				C	5	1	6	5

Yellow (5) builds a second tower with a yellow and a red tile, aiming at merging her two towers. Blue (6) places a blue tile, connecting a black tile to her block and allowing her to add a black tile to her tower. Black (7) continues to build a black presence with another black tile in the center and also adds a red tile to the block in the upper left corner, intending to promote her black tower tile to a future top position. Red (8) believes it's too early to merge the two blocks, since it would only benefit Blue. Instead, she consolidates her position in the upper right corner and adds a blue tile to the block of the weaker yellow tower.

Yellow: 9
Blue: 8
Black: 8
Red: 7

Round 3a (placements 9-12)

B	6
2	7					8

		7	11	3
4	4	12	C	10
							A	B	C
		8					1	2	10
A	1		9	9	5	5		6	11

Yellow (9) decides to merge her towers, although it's a narrow and vulnerable block. Blue (10) decides to start a black tower between the two blocks as a buffer. Black (11) is not happy with this but decides that it's best to join the arms race and extend her tower. Red (12) then decides that it's in her interest to start a struggle, hoping to be the master of the winning tower.

Yellow: 7
Blue: 7
Black: 5
Red: 6

Round 3b (placement 12)

B	6
2	7					8

			11
4	4	12	11	10
							A	B
		8						2
A	1			9	5	5	12	6

Yellow's tower is stronger than Black's tower thanks to the bigger block so Yellow gets to remove black bricks first (C and 7). The black tower turns blue and Blue gets to remove yellow bricks (A and, to split the yellow block, 9). Red now takes over the yellow tower and removes blue tiles (10 and 3) to end the struggle. Red then uses her 2nd placement to place a red tile in her new tower.

Yellow: 8 (1 black prisoner)
Blue: 8 (1 yellow prisoner)
Black: 6
Red: 5 (1 blue prisoner)

Round 4a (placement 13)

B	6
2	7					8
	13
		13	11
4	4	12	11	10
							A	B
		8						2
A	1			9	5	5	12	6

Yellow (13) decides to take back control by merging the two blocks. The idea is to merge two yellow towers afterwards.

Yellow: 7 (1 black prisoner)
Blue: 8 (1 yellow prisoner)
Black: 5
Red: 5 (1 blue prisoner)

Round 4b (placement 13)

B	6
2	7					8
	13
		13	11
4	4	12	11	10
							A
								B
A	1			9	5	5	12	6

However, Red thwarts her plans by removing blue 8 and break the two blocks. (This is actually a mistake, since blue 8 is part of her own block.)

Yellow: 7 (1 black prisoner)
Blue: 9 (1 yellow prisoner)
Black: 5
Red: 5 (2 blue prisoners)

Round 4c (placement 14-16)

B	6
2	7					8
	13
	15	14	11
4	4	12	11	10	14		A	B
								6
							12	14
A	1		16	9	5	5	16	15

Blue (14) hurries to add blue bricks to both the B tower and the block. Black (15) also adds a brick, expecting to end up controlling the tower after the next clash, and also consolidates the block to prevent it from split into several parts. Red (16) desperately tries to defend her tower by merging it with an empty block and adding a red brick.

Yellow: 7 (1 black prisoner)
Blue: 6 (1 yellow prisoner)
Black: 4
Red: 3 (2 blue prisoners)

Round 5a (placement 17)

B	6
2	7					8
	13
	15	14	11					B
4	4	12	11	10	14		A	6
								14
		17					12	15
A	1		16	9	5	5	16	17

Yellow (17) decides to merge the blocks to be able to merge the towers.

Yellow: 6 (1 black prisoner)
Blue: 5 (1 yellow prisoner)
Black: 4
Red: 3 (2 blue prisoners)

Round 5b (placement 18-20)

B	6					18
2	7				20	8			B
	13					19	A		6
	15	14	11						14
4	4	12	11	10	14			A	15
								18
		17						19
16	1		16	9	5	5		20	12

Yellow now has a tower of height 7 so the other players must hurry to build a competing tower. Since both yellow and black tiles in a competing tower would be risky due to the high placed yellow and black tiles in the high tower, Blue (18) decides to start a red tower. Naturally, Black (19) is keen to get a black tile into the competing tower before the merge. Red (20) has no choice but to make the tower as high as possible before the inevitable clash.

Yellow: 6 (1 black, 1 red prisoner)
Blue: 2 (1 yellow prisoner)
Black: 3
Red: 2 (2 blue prisoners)

Round 6a (placement 21-22)

B	6					18
2	7				20	8			B
	13					19	A	A	6
	15	14	11		22			18	14
4	4	12	11	10	14			19	15
								20
		17						21
16	1		16	9	5	5		21	12

Yellow (21) realizes that she can't attack the competing tower without losing control of her own tower. Instead, she decides to add a yellow and a red tile to the competing tower, hoping that a longer struggle will push her other yellow tiles closer to the top. Blue (22) sees that Black can potentially merge the towers if she gets to connect the two blocks (since a struggle would remove 1 tile from the higher tower and 2 tiles from the lower tower, leaving both towers with black top tiles) and decides to break the bigger block into two.

Yellow: 4 (1 black, 1 red prisoner)
Blue: 2 (1 yellow prisoner)
Black: 2
Red: 2 (2 blue prisoners)

Round 6b (placement 22)

B	6					18
2	7				20
						19	A		B
	15	14	11		22			A	14
4	4	12	11	10	14			19	15
								20
		17						21
16	1		16	9	5	5		21	12

Yellow removes Red 8 but can't prevent the struggle from continuing. Blue on the other hand can do so by removing Yellow 13. The higher tower is now controlled by Black but since its block has only five tiles, its strength is limited to five. This means that the lower tower is stronger thanks to its bigger block and it's now controlled by Blue...

Yellow: 5 (1 black, 2 red prisoners)
Blue: 2 (2 yellow prisoners)
Black: 2
Red: 3 (2 blue prisoners)

Round 6c (placement 22)

B	6					18
2	7				20
	22					19	A
	15	14	11		22			A	14
4	4	12	11	10	14			19	15
								20
		17						21
16	1		16	9	5	5		21	12

Blue connects the two blocks once more but this time tower A is the stronger one. The black top tile is taken prisoner and a black tile is returned from the block. Both towers are now blue and merge, leaving one invincible tower on the board. Since there are not enough space left to build a competing tower, the game is won by Blue. (There is only space for a block of 3 tiles, enabling a tower of height 2. Such a tower would be lost after the 1st struggle, leaving the blue tower intact.)

Yellow: 5 (1 black, 2 red prisoners)
Blue: 2 (2 yellow, 1 black prisoners)
Black: 3
Red: 3 (2 blue prisoners)

The test game ended quickly due to the tower race. An important rule improvement was the block size limit to a tower's strength. This let Blue deal a double blow to the higher tower and prevent a black merge. Without this rule, it would be too powerful to place tiles as the nth floor in a higher tower and the n-1th floor in a lower tower (as Black did by occupying the 2nd and the 3rd floor). Since new tiles are placed below those, their relative positions can't be changed and they will inevitably end up on top at the same time. 4 players games are probably better on bigger boards but the test game showed that the rules are solid.