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Trip-n-Trap
Inventor: Juan Rosado-
Galarza, 2006
Ranks: Circular
Sowing: Multiple laps
Region: Puerto Rico

Trip-n-Trap was designed by Juan Rosado-Galarza (Puerto Rico) in 2006. It can be played by 2-6 people. The game was patented one year later (Patent Number: US 7,156,395).

Quote

"Trip-n-Trap is a table game that uses capital investment terminology like deposits, withdrawals, coins, banks and earnings. It is easy to play and can be enjoyed by players of almost any ages. In the complete version of play, it exercises logic, visual memory and basic math skills."

Juan Rosado-Galarza (2007)

Rules

Trip-2

Two-player Board

Depending on the number of players Trip-n-Trap is played on a board, which has 4 - 12 pits called "deposits" attached to a hexagonal center piece. A player owns the two pits in front of him.

Before the start of the game a player distributes the five rounded "chips" (also known as "coins") of his color (e.g. blue, green, red, yellow) in his two deposits however he wants them. The chips are and are numbered one through five, which is their value.

The color of the deposits of a player match the color of his chips.

On his turn a player empties one of his pits and sows its contents, one by one, in any order he wishes, clockwise or counterclockwise into the following pits.

Trip-3

Three-player Board

If the last chip falls into a pit, which contained at least one of his own chips and at least one of his opponent's chips, he starts a second lap. He picks up the contents of that pit and distributes its chips in the opposite direction. He continues to sow in laps until the last chip falls into a pit that contains only his own chips or those of his opponents.

A player captures any coins he placed into his own pits after two or more laps if these are singletons.

The captures are put into his own field's "pocket".

When each player has less than two chips, any player can claim at any moment to start the "vicious circle". The odd-numbered players (1st, 3rd and 5th) must then play in a clockwise direction from their right pit and counterclockwise from their left pit. The even-numbered players (2nd, 4th and 6th) must play in a counterclockwise direction from their left pit, but clockwise from their right pit.

Trip-6

Six-player Board

The game is finished when nobody can make multi-lap moves and consequently no captures are possible.

The player wins who obtains the highest sum of numerical values in the captured coins, collected and saved in his store. When two or more players tie, the winner will be the player that has the fewest earned coins.

Variation

The "easy mode" is an alternative version of the game, in which the player wins who captured the greatest number of coins without regard to its numerical value.

External Links

Copyright

© Ralf Gering
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.

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