The Great Tickling Contest - the rules

These are the rules for the Great Tickling Contest, posted with the permission of the Cranwell wargames club: 'As promised I have attached the rules for "The Tickling Game" and "Cadet Commander".' They are both originally based on Carl Brown's Open Combat. I have and a look at your blog this morning. Is Sandra a convert yet?! As we discussed I'm happy for you to put any of this onto your blog but am keen to ensure acknowledging its roots in Open Combat.'  Thanks Richard, link to original rules also there.

I'm also working at putting them on the Pages section so they're be available easier and will include the teams, etc. At the moment it's taking time converting the teams, etc, over - so I'll put the rules on first and sort the rest when it's ready. After that I'll do the same for Cadet Commander. Meanwhile I've ordered a 2'x2' board to set it up myself.

Game outline

Each player has 4 characters

The aim of the game is to collect the most tickling feathers. This is achieved by getting your characters close to the other player’s characters and tickling them. If you manage to tickle another figure too much they laugh and roll about so much that they have to leave the game and go into the tickle bin. Each time you tickle another character you win a tickling feather.

What you will need:

·         A playing board about 2’ by 2’ marked out in 3” hexagons with some scenery (this might include fields, some fences or walls, houses, woods etc). The limit is your imagination!

·         4 characters for each player. These can be any figures about 5 – 6 cm tall. These figures can be anyone you like (even animals!).

·         A character board on which to keep details of your characters and your feathers.

·         5 counters for each character

·         8 giggle counters

·         2 Tickling dice (one for each player)

·         The Giggling wheel

Setting up the game

Set up the scenery how you want. Once you have decided on your four characters put their names onto your character board and give each one five coloured counters. Put the giggle tokens and victory feathers by the playing board. Place your four characters on the playing table in one of the spaces along your table edge.

The wandering chicken

During the night before the game a chicken has been wandering around and left some mini eggs. These are for you to collect and eat! (Other “treats” may be available outside of Easter!)

Playing the game

Unless agreed otherwise the youngest player goes first.

 

The Turn

STOP GIGGLING!!

At the beginning of your turn you can move each of your characters who is giggling 1 space away from whoever is tickling them. They can then spin the Giggle Wheel to see if they stop giggling. If you roll “stop giggling” you can remove all your giggle counters from that character.

NOW GO!!

During your turn you can move one of your characters who is not still giggling.

They  can choose to:

·         Stay still and do nothing

·         Roll a tickle die if in the same space as one of your opponent’s characters

·         Move one or two spaces and roll a tickle die

Overcrowding

To give plenty of elbow room for tickling only two characters are allowed in each space at the end of a character’s turn. If there are more than this, the last character(s) to enter the space must leave and move into an empty space. This is a free additional move at the end of the turn.

Victory feathers 1 2 3 4 5 + + + + + 6 7 8 9 Hoorah + + + + + TICKLE POINTS + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

 

Tickling

To tickle another character you move your character up to one walk so that their bases are touching. Roll a tickle die.

·         If the result is “Tickle” you have successfully made them giggle. Take a feather. The giggling character removes one counter from their character board and places a giggle counter in its place.

·         If the result is “run away” the character manages to escape your tickle and moves away from you into any other adjacent space. If they bump into another of your characters, this character can have a free try at tickling them as well!  The character who has run away cannot move during their nest turn but may tickle if there is another character in their space.

·         If the result is “oh dear” then the two characters stay touching until the next turn. During this turn the character whose turn it is can choose to stay still and try to tickle back, or they might want to run away!

If you tickle another character and make them giggle, you win a feather. Place this feather in the Prizes section of your character board. If a character is made to giggle five times and has no counters left, they are considered to be giggling, laughing and generally rolling about so much that they have to leave the game. These characters go into the tickle bin and stay there for the rest of the game.

Winning the game

The winner is first player to collect five feathers (unless a different number has been agreed before the game).