Week 4: Rules

As week four rolled around our group began working vigorously on finishing up the eight unique game boards. Jason and Steve continue to show off their photoshop skills by enhancing Neptune and its' shuffleboard, as well as Earth and its' charade mini game. Krishna and I began making a final draft of the rules of Journey Through the Stars. Here is our final draft of the rules:

Equipment

Eight individual game boards, each of which represents a planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. The equipment provided for Tabletop Basketball is the basketball court complete with hoop, launcher, and planet shaped balls. Sharpshooter includes the sharpshooter scoring box, marbles, and metal shooting tubes. The pieces needed for shuffle board are the shuffleboard scoring area, three bottle caps, and straws. The components of ring toss include glow stick rings and the ring toss stake. Miscellaneous game pieces consist of sixteen keys, four pawns, one die, a spaceship, and the hidden treasure.
Setup
The Boards shall be arranged as follows: Neptune......Uranus.....Saturn......Jupiter

Mercury......Venus........Earth..........Mars

Each player selects a pawn to represent their spacecraft. The player starts out on the space on Neptune marked "Start." The youngest player goes first and turns continue in ascending order. Unless specified otherwise, players will move across the game board by rolling a die.

Key Locations
The Pink Keys should be placed in the center of Neptune. The Blue keys should be placed in the middle of Saturn. The Purple keys should be placed in the middle of Earth. The remaining keys should be placed in the center of Mercury.

Spaceship Location
The spaceship should be filled with the hidden treasure and placed in the center of Mercury, next to the keys.

Neptune:
The game associated with Neptune is shuffleboard. In order to move around the game board and collect the first of the four keys, players need to play a mini version of shuffleboard. To start your turn, the player must take a shuffleboard disc and place it at the shuffleboard starting line. The starting line is approximately three straw lengths from the edge of the shuffleboard triangle. He then uses a straw to blow the disc into the scoring area. The player keeps shooting discs until one stops in the scoring area. Players move the exact number of spaces that corresponds to the space on the shuffleboard scoring area that their disc stopped on. For instance, if the player's disc stops on the area marked 3, then the player moves their pawn forward three spaces. Once the player reaches the last space of Neptune, they gain the ability to collect the first of the four keys needed to unlock the treasure chest on board the abandoned spacecraft on Mercury. After collecting the key, the player is then transported from the final space on Neptune to the first space on Uranus.

Saturn: The game associated with Saturn is Ring Toss. The glow stick rings are to symbolize the rings of Saturn, which the planet is known for. In order to move around the game board and collect the second of the four keys needed to unlock the treasure chest, players must play ring toss. The player must toss all four rings from an arm’s length away from the scoring area in an attempt to score a ringer around the stake. Based on the number of ringers thrown, that is the number of spaces the player moves across and around Saturn. For instance, if the player throws two ringers, then they move their pawn two spaces across the game board. Once the player reaches the final space on Saturn, they are rewarded the second of the four keys needed to unlock the treasure. After collecting the key, the player is transported from the final space on Saturn to the first space on Jupiter

Earth:

The game associated with Earth is sharpshooter. Sharpshooter is a game that mixes elements of skee-ball and shuffleboard. In order to move around the board on Earth, the player needs to successfully play a game of sharpshooter. To play sharpshooter, the player must shoot three marbles, using a metal shooting tube, across the gaming surface at a box with different holes in it. To determine how far away to shoot the marbles, the player should measure six pipe lengths from the sharpshooter scoring area and mark the area. There are five separate holes marked 1 2 3 2 1. Depending on the hole that the marble goes into, the player moves that number of spaces. For example, if you shoot a marble into the hole marked number three, then you move three spaces. Once a player reaches the final spot on Earth, they receive the third of the four keys needed to unlock the treasure located on Mercury. After collecting the key, the player is transported from the final space on Earth to the first space on Venus.

Mercury:
The game associated with this planet is a form of tabletop basketball. Tabletop basketball is a miniature version of basketball using a slingshot mechanism, planet shaped basketballs and a hoop. In order to navigate around the game board on Mercury, the player gets to shoot the asteroid-basketball a total of three times. For every shot you make, you move three. For every shot that hits the backboard you move one space. However, if you miss all three shots, you move back one space. Once a player makes enough shots to reach the final spot on Mercury, they receive the last of the four keys needed to unlock the fallen spaceship and recover the treasure.

Venus ,Mars ,Jupiter, and Uranus:
There are no games associated with Venus, Mars, Jupiter, or Uranus. The method by which a player moves around each of these boards is by rolling a die. Players take turns the rolling die until they get to the final spot on each planet. After completing the board on Uranus, the player is transported to the first spot on Saturn. After completing the board on Jupiter, the player is transported to the first spot on Mars. After reaching the final spot on Mars, the player is then transported to the first spot on Earth. After reaching the final spot on Venus, the player is transported to the first spot on Mercury, the final board of the game.

Winning the game:
The astronaut who reaches the final space on Mercury and therefore recovers the fallen spacecraft and unlocks the treasure is declared the winner. They are now known as the best astronaut in the Universe!