The order of play shall be determined randomly by the Speaker. This must occur before any office can own any pieces. Each Player will be assigned a spot in the order, and it will be one of the following: Player 1, Player 2, Player 3, Player 4. The Speaker will use a method of random determination such that each Player has an equal probability of receiving any spot in the order. The Speaker will then post the results publically.
The first phase of the game, Piece Purchases, may not begin until all of the following has occurred:
A. All Players have publically announced: 'I am ready for battle. Let the Games begin!'
B. All other conditions described in the Rules for starting the Game have also been fulfilled.
The Game consists of Game Cycles, which consist of the following parts, which occur in the order they are listed, and are carried out according to the rules to which they refer.
A. Initial purchase of pieces. This is described in rule 604.
B. Initial setup of pieces. This is described in rule 605.
C. Play on the board. This is described in rule 606.
After the third part of the Cycle has been started, the Cycle ends as soon as there is exactly one King left on the board. At this point Play on the Board stops, and End-of-Cycle Awards are given out according to the Rules. Then the next Cycle begins immediately, unless there is a Between-Cyles-Waiting-Period prescribed by the Rules, in which the Waiting Period begins immediately.
604. Initial Purchase of Pieces
A. Each Player initially receives 615 F$, which he may use to buy Fourplay Pieces for his Office before any Pieces are placed on the Board. He must spend at least 85% of the F$ allotted to him during this part of the game; all F$ left in a Player's possession at the end of the buying period remain owned by that Player. Additionally, each player receives one King and one Dollarman.
B. Each Player must send his list of purchases by email to the
Collector. The subject of the email must be: Fourplay: Initial Purchase
of Pieces / Player x (where x is the number of the Player sending it).
The email must contain the following information:
(i) the name of the Player, the number of that Player, and an email
address the Collector should use to contact that Player.
(ii) a list of all Pieces he wishes to purchase.
(iii) the cost in F$ and the material value of each Piece purchased.
(iv) the total cost in F$ and total material value of the entire
army purchased.
(iv) which Piece is to be the Office's Mascot.
C. During this part of the game, it is illegal to purchase an army such that the Beethoven Set of that army is the same as or a subset of the Beethoven Set of any other army previously bought by that player.
D. If the Collector receives a purchase which is not valid in some way
(player is over budget, Piece does not exist, etc) then the entire
purchase email is invalid and no purchases are made by that email. The
Collector must then nofify that Pplayer by email the purchase is invalid
and why. The Player can then submit another purchase email.
If the Collector receives a purchase which is valid, then he will
must send an email to the Player that it has been properly received.
Each Player may only submit one valid email purchase to the Collector.
If he submits more than one, the Collector will ignore all but the first.
E. The Collector can not allow any purchase information sent to him by a Player to be known by any other Player until the Collector has received valid purchases from all four Players. He will then email them to the Speaker, who will announce them publically. The Initial Purchase of Pieces phase of the game will then be over, and phase 2 (the Initial Setup of Pieces) will begin immediately.
F. The Piece Purchase phase of the game lasts from the moment that it starts until exactly two weeks later, or until all four Players have submitted valid Piece Purchase proposals to the Collector, whichever is shorter. At the end of two weeks, anyone who has not submitted a valid proposal does not purchase any Pieces during that phase of the game.
A. Each Player is assigned a quadrant of the board: Player 1 is assigned quadrant 1, Player 2 is assigned quadrant 2, Player 3 is assigned quadrant 3, Player 4 is assigned quadrant 4. He then places his Pieces on squares in the quadrant assigned to him; he may not place Pieces in any other quadrant, nor in any neutral areas. He may only place one Piece per square, and must obey other rules of placement described in Piece Definition Rules. A Player may place all of his Pieces that he owns at that time. Each Player must place at least 85% of the material value of his army that he purchased in the Piece Purchase phase of the game.
B. Each Player must send his intial setup list by email to the Collector. The subject of the email must be: Fourplay: Initial Setup of
Pieces / Player x (where x is the number of the Player sending it). The
email must contain the following information:
(i) the name of the Player, the number of that Player, and an email
address the Collector should use to contact that Player.
(ii) a list of Pieces owned by that Player.
(iii) a list of which Piece shall be placed on which square in the
Player's quadrant.
(iv) which square the Player's King is placed on.
(v) which square the Player's Dollarman is placed on.
(vi) which square the Player's Mascot is on, and which Piece is the Player's Mascot. The Mascot can not be changed from the one chosen
during the Piece Purchase phase of the Cycle.
C. If the Collector receives a setup which is not valid in some way
(Player doesn't place enough Pieces, 2 pieces in the same spot, etc)
then the entire setup email is invalid and no placements are made by
that email. The Collector must then nofify that Player by email the
setup is invalid and why. The Player can then submit another setup
email.
If the Collector receives a setup which is valid, then he will must
send an email to the Player that it has been properly received. Each
Player may only submit one valid email setup to the Collector. If he
submits more than one, the Collector will ignore all but the first.
D. The Collector can not allow any setup information sent to him by a Player to be known by any other Player until the Collector has received valid setups from all four Players. He will then email them to the Speaker, who will announce them publically. The Initial Setup of Pieces phase of the game will then be over, and phase 3 (Play on the Board) will begin immediately.
E. The Piece Setup phase of the game lasts from the moment that it starts until exactly two weeks later, or until all four Players have submitted valid Piece Setup proposals to the Collector, whichever is shorter. At the end of two weeks, anyone who has not submitted a valid proposal does not place any Pieces on the board, and all their Pieces will remain in their possession off-board until they are placed on-board during Play on the Board, except for their King, which is placed on their Home Corner.
F. During the Setup phase of the game, it is illegal to purchase any Pieces.
Play on the Board consists of rounds. Each Round has a number; the first Round is number 1, and the number of each subsequent Round is the next higher integer. Rounds consist of the following occurrences, in the following order:
A. Player 1 makes his Turn.
B. The Speaker announces any between-turn occurences.
C. Player 2 makes his Turn.
D. The Speaker announces any between-turn occurences.
E. Player 3 makes his Turn.
F. The Speaker announces any between-turn occurences.
G. Player 4 makes his Turn.
H. The Speaker announces any between-turn occurences.
I. The Speaker announces any end-of-round occurences.
The Round the ends and the next one begins.
A. To play on a Player's turn, he publically declares his action. If it is illegal, the Speaker will notify him why this is so, and the Player may submit another play for his turn. A player who does not have a King on the Board for any reason automatically passes on his Turn.
B. B. When it is a Player's turn, he must do both parts (i) and (ii), in that order, and may do part (iii) if he so desires:
(i) Move the Neutron . All rules for movement of the Neutron
must be obeyed. A Player must move the Neutron on his Turn (he can't
skip this part), unless it is not on the Board.
(ii) Move Pieces. A Player may move up to p-1 Pieces per turn, where p is the number of Kings one the Board at the time of the Turn.
Moving a Piece means either placing a Piece or moving a Piece according
to its Definition. During one Turn, a Player may make at most one move
that is aggressive with respect to each of the other 3 Players in the
Game (it is possible for a single move to be aggressive with respect to
more than one Player). He may move anywhere from zero to p-1 Pieces
during any Turn, as long as each Piece is different from the others that are moved; a Player can not move the same piece more than once per Turn. If he is making zero moves, then he must publically
announce 'Pass' as his Turn. The moves are not considered to occur
simultaneously, they will occur in the order that the Player lists them
when he publically announces them. A Player moving multiple Pieces may
move them in any order he desires, (so, for example, if he is making
aggressive moves, he is not obligated to move w/ aggression towards
Player 1 first, and Player 2 second, etc) as long as he is not in Check
at any time between the moves. At the end of his turn, a Player may not
be in Check.
(iii) Purchase Pieces. A Player may purchase as many Pieces as he
wishes, as long as he has the F$ to do so, does not break any instant
limits, and does not break any other Rules regarding purchases and
Pieces.
608. Purchase of Pieces During Play on the Board
Once play on the board has started, a Player can only purchase Pieces during his Turn as described in the Rules. Purchases made at any other time are considered invalid.
It is the duty of the Speaker to keep a Record of the Game. This includes the Initial Purchases, the Initial Setups, and a complete list of all Player's Turns. Additionally, the Speaker shall keep an archive of all Game Records of completed Cycles.
When a Player submits his moves for his Round number and Cycle number.
b) If he moves the Neutron, his submission must have a line that
reads: Neutron: [starting square]-[ending square]. If he subsequently
captures the Neutron, he must state 'Neutron captured, [n] Neutron Gems
received, Neutron returned to center square' (if the Board is still odd;
'Board no longer odd, Neutron not placed on the Board.' if it is not);
if the center square is occupied by a Piece, the Player must state
'[Piece] destroyed by Neutron.'
c) The Player must list all his moves. If there is more than one,
he must list them in order, each one as follows: [Piece]:[starting
square]-[ending square], also listing intermediate squares if necessary,
and listing all captures, naming the Pieces captured. If the Piece
destroys another Piece, the Piece destroyed must be named. For each
move, the Player must name which Player's that move is aggressive
toward.
d) The Player should add any other necessary information of events
that occur as a result of the move ($F received, Neutron Gems received,
Mascot captured and put back on the Board, King captured, etc).
If at any time a Player submits the moves for his Turn, and any part of it is illegal for any reason, then the entire submission is illegal. The Speaker shall then declare it illegal and give reasons why, and it is still the Turn of the Player who submitted the illegal moves. If other Players have moved since the illegal move (or if the illegal move accidentally goes unnoticed for a period of time), and the Statute of Limitations for Illegal Moves has not expired, then the Game is reset to the Turn of the offending Player, and the subsequent moves are considered to not have occurred. (If the Statute of Limitations for Illegal Moves has expired, then the illegal move stands as if it had been a legal move).
612. Time Allotment for One Turn
During play on the Board, each Player receives exactly one week of time to publically announce a legal move. The beginning of the time allotted begins as soon as it becomes that Player's Turn. If the Player submits a move sooner than one week, then his Turn ends upon submission.
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