VWF – “Marbles” Rough Concept

Marble Games

Ringers

Multi-PlayerSingle Player

Solitaire

Marble Run

Aim “Carpet” – Target Practice

Nine Holes

Shoot a marble and gain points based on where it lands. Play to 500 points, best if three or a single shot. Earn bonus points for extra distance, but be careful - shoot too hard and you could be out!

A marble run is a set of a number of pieces that fit together and are used to build different marble runs and watching the marbles cascade down. Can also be used to set up additional marble games such as “Nine Holes”.

This name is given to two different marble games. The first game is Miniature Golf played with marbles. Players construct a miniature golf course from materials at hand and take turns shooting their marbles around, through, and over the obstacles they've built. First player to complete nine holes wins.

Traditional/Classic Marble Game: 2-6 Players, 13 Standard marbles, 1 Shooter marble, 3’-10’ circle is created and players try to knock the marbles out of the circle with the shooter marble. The bigger the circle, the harder the game. Players play ‘for fair’ or ‘for keeps’.

The marbles measure about 1 1/2" in diameter, the board is 17" in diameter, 1 1/2" thick. To play, start with the central space open, and jump marbles over adjacent marbles into vacant positions, removing the marble you jumped over. The goal is to remove all marbles except one, which ideally should remain in the central position.

The “physics” of throwing the marble in this app will probably be better and more interesting if they are as realistic as we can make them for a game. Force, Trajectory, Angle, the size of the “shooter” marble….other factors (wind)?

Adding the complexity of having the player’s left or right hand actually shooting the marble, maybe should be considered at some point.

Rough Draft

1 meter = 3.28 ft1 sq = 2 meters or 6.56 ft

Ringers circle is 3’-10’

Marble run

Marble run

Player Selects Marble Style

Marble run Container for Marble Run Pieces

Marble playing field

Solitaire

Aim “Carpet”

Aim “Carpet”

S

S

S

Aim “Carpet” Target Practice

WALL

Main Details

1 meter = 3.28 ft1 sq = 2 meters or 6.56 ft

Ringers circle is 3’-10’For our demonstration the Ringers circle is 10’ with Lag lines

Main Details

Marble Selection

Play Ringer

Target Practice

Marble Run

Build Marble Run

Build Nine Holes

Play Nine Holes

Play Solitaire

Play w Marble Run

Start

Build

*MP

*MP – Must have multiple players to play

*SP

*SP – Can only be played by single player

Marble Selection

Player has marble selection, choice is currently set to 9 available selections. When a player makes a selection, the selected style is unavailable to the rest of the players for the associated playing field until the player leaves the site and the selection is checked back in. The Player is then assigned 1 Shooter and 13 Standard size marbles to their inventory, which is the minimum requirements to play “Ringer”.

Blueberry fre

eze

Milky waySun

Dragonfly

MummyIguana

Rooster

JungleOcto

pus

Marble Selection

Blueberry freeze

Marble Selection

Milky way

Marble Selection

Octopus

Marble Selection

Sun

Marble Selection

Iguana

Marble Selection

Jungle

Marble Selection

Dragonfly

Marble Selection

Mummy

Marble Selection

Rooster

Marble Selection

Primary User View “Example”

Player 01 – Assigned inventory

Player 01 View – Assigned inventory to Player 02

The marbles stay in the Players inventory, until they enter a game with another Player. After the Players lag to see who goes first, the game marbles are placed in position on the playing field. With the Shooter marble staying available to shoot.

As the Players shoot, when the Shooter marble, knocks out the marbles, they need to be added to the inventory of that Player.

When the Player shoots and the shooter marble is knocked out of the ring with x marbles, the Shooter marble needs to be collected back into the Players inventory.

If the Player wins the game, the marbles won stay in inventory (until the player leaves the game) and the player can be challenged by a new player.

When a Player enters the Simulation that their presence and position is physicalized by an object and their name, and not necessarily an avatar.

Marble Selection

Primary User View “Example”

When a Player enters the Simulation that their presence and position is physicalized by an object and their name, and not necessarily an avatar.

The Player right clicks on the presence of another player and the players associated name tag is displayed.

If a Player has not selected a marble choice that the object and name is white, and when they have selected a marble choice that the object and name tag can project the colors or personality of the marble choice.

Each marble choice would have uniquely identifying color characteristics.

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Ringer Example

RingerMulti-PlayerTraditional/Classic Marble Game: 2-6 Players, 13 Standard marbles, 1 Shooter marble, 3’-10’ circle is created and players try to knock the marbles out of the circle with the shooter marble. The bigger the circle, the harder the game. Players play ‘for fair’ or ‘for keeps’.

Tutorial/Game Mode Game Mode

How To Play the Classic Marble Game of Ringer

Ringer

The drawings show the most common plays, such as they frequently occur in marble tournaments

1.To start a game of Ringer, the players lag from a line, drawn tangent to the ring, to a parallel line across the ring, which in this example is 10 feet away.

RULE: A lag is when the players toss their shooters: whoever is closer to the lag line is the winner. This process is used to determine who shoots first for a particular game or set of games and may be used to determine a winner in the case of a tie.

TIP: Practice lagging, as the first shot may mean the winning of the game before your opponent gets a shot.

2. Player who wins the lag, prepares to knuckle down. It is necessary that the Players knuckle reaches the ground before shooting.

RULE: Shooting Player can take any position about the ring he chooses.

RULE: The 13 target marbles are placed in the middle of the ring and in the shape of an 'X', one target marble in the middle with three on each leg spaced three inches apart.

3. SCORING A POINT - After the player has released the shooter it may hit one or more target marbles. If any of these marbles at any point travels outside the circle then the player will be awarded one point per marble that has left the circle.

RULE: Players are not permitted to walk inside the ring unless their shooter comes to a stop inside the ring. Penalty is a fine of one marble.

Ringer Example

4. CONTINUING A TURN - If the player has knocked out any target marbles and on the same shot his or her shooter has not left the circle then the player may continue the turn. If the player’s shooter rolls outside the circle then points are awarded but the turn ends. Before continuing, all marbles must come to a complete stop. When taking the shot the player must be in or above the spot where it came to rest.

TIP: Expert marble shots try to hit a marble, knock it out of ring and make their shooter "stick" in the spot.

5. MISSING A TARGET MARBLE - If the player or fails to knock at least one target marble out of the circle then that player's turn is over and the next player's turn begins.

RULE: If the Players shooter stays inside the ring, he must leave the shooter there until the other Player has played.

6. ON THE LINE - If a marble has stopped on the circle line then a decision must be made as to whether it is outside or inside the circle. The referee will decide this by observing the position of the marble in question. If it is more than half is out of the circle it will be declared out; if more than half of the marble is in then it will be declared in. If it is resting directly on the line so that no determination can be made then it shall be considered in the favor of the shooting player, i.e. if it is a target marble it is out, and if it is the shooter it will be considered in.

7. A STICK - If the shooting player knocks out seven or more marbles in the first inning then he or she is determined the winner. This is called a 'stick'.

Ringer Example

8. RETRIEVING MARBLES - After completing their turns, players must pick up their shooters and may pick up any target marbles knocked out of the ring. To avoid accidentally kicking marbles, players must walk around the ring and not through it. The penalty for breaking this rule is: first offense – warning. If after a warning the player walks through again and kicks a marble the referee may impose a penalty of a forfeiture of one point.

9. WINNING - A player wins the game by shooting out the most marbles before the last inning is over. The player may also shoot out a total of seven marbles throughout the game and be determined the winner.

Rules of Ringer

Rules of RingerThese are the most recent Official Rules of the National Marbles Tournament, Inc.

http://www.nationalmarblestournament.org/Rules_of_Ringer.html

Rules of Ringer that may apply to the development of our demonstration

THE EQUIPMENT◦MARBLES - Marbles are the playing pieces. There are two distinct types of marbles.◦THE SHOOTER - Each player has his or her own shooter, which should be distinctively different from all other marbles in the game.◦ SIZE - The shooter shall be not more than ¾” in diameter and not less than ½” in diameter.•TARGET MARBLES - These 13 standard marbles are all identical to each other.•SIZE - The target marbles used shall be standard 5/8” marbles.•THE RING - This is the playing boardMATERIAL - The Ring shall be made of concrete with a wood border.◦SIZE - The Ring shall be 12 foot square with a border extending above the playing surface approximately one to two inches. Centered on the square surface will be painted a ten foot diameter circle. There will be a mark to indicate the center of the circle. The pitch and lag lines will be marked on this surface (see I.C.1)◦ THE LAG LINE -Two lines will be painted on opposite sides of the ring, tangent to the circle and parallel with a border.

THE GAME◦SETUP - The 13 target marbles are placed in the middle of the ring and in the shape of an 'X', one target marble in the middle with three on each leg spaced three inches apart. ◦LAGGING - A lag is when the players toss their shooters: whoever is closer to the lag line is the winner. This process is used to determine who shoots first for a particular game or set of games and may be used to determine a winner in the case of a tie.◦TARGET MARBLES - The target marbles shall be in their starting position inside the rack ◦STANCE - The players may either stand or kneel on the ring at the edge of the circle furthest from the lag line and he or she must have at least one foot touching the wood border.◦PROJECTING THE MARBLE - The players release their shooters towards the lag line at the same time. They may do this by either shooting, lobbing underhand, or rolling their shooter.◦DISQUALIFICATION - In addition to not following the above rules, a player is disqualified if his or her shooter hits the rack or the wood border or if the shooter is cupped during the lag. If both players are disqualified they will perform the lag again.

Rules of Ringer

SHOOTING - Shooting is when a player releases his or her shooter at a target marble.◦POSITION OF PLAYERS - There are two players in the game, the shooting player (the player whose turn it is) and the non-shooting player. At no time may either player may leave the shooting are nor may he or she walk through the ring except the shooting player who may walk into the ring to retrieve the shooter. The players may not leave the ring except to get into position for a shot or to retrieve a marble. Penalty will be forfeiture of one point. Neither player may walk through the ring to retrieve his or her shooter or that of the opponent or for any other reason. The shooting player may enter the ring only for a continuation of his turn (see II.D.10). The first offense will be a warning; the second offense and all others will be the forfeiture of one point.◦THE SHOOTING PLAYER - This player must stay outside the ring in a crouched or kneeling position (exception – see II.D.10) to begin his or her turn. The player may be kneeling on one or both knees.◦THE NON-SHOOTING PLAYER -This player must stay out of the way. He or she may not walk around or in any way distract the shooting player while the shooting player is preparing to shoot. If the shooting player feels that the non-shooting player is being a distraction he or she may inform the referee who will then ask the non-shooting player to stop.

POSITION OF HANDS - The player’s shooting hand must stay outside the ring with a minimum of one knuckle touching the playing surface. A knuckle is either or both of the first two joints on any number of the fingers on the player’s shooting hand.

POSITION OF MARBLE - The shooter must be positioned in the hand between the thumb and one or more fingers in such a way that, at the moment of releasing the shooter, it is not above or inside the circle. If, at the time of release, the referee determines that the position of the marble was not correct the player will forfeit his shot.

SCORING A POINT - After the player has released the shooter it may hit one or more target marbles. If any of these marbles at any point travels outside the circle then the player will be awarded one point per marble that has left the circle.

CONTINUING A TURN - If the player has knocked out any target marbles and on the same shot his or her shooter has not left the circle then the player may continue the turn. If the player’s shooter rolls outside the circle then points are awarded but the turn ends. Before continuing, all marbles must come to a complete stop. When taking the shot the player must be in or above the spot where it came to rest.

MISSING A TARGET MARBLE - If the player or fails to knock at least one target marble out of the circle then that player's turn is over and the next player's turn begins.

ON THE LINE - If a marble has stopped on the circle line then a decision must be made as to whether it is outside or inside the circle. The referee will decide this by observing the position of the marble in question. If it is more than half is out of the circle it will be declared out; if more than half of the marble is in then it will be declared in. If it is resting directly on the line so that no determination can be made then it shall be considered in the favor of the shooting player, i.e. if it is a target marble it is out, and if it is the shooter it will be considered in.

A STICK - If the shooting player knocks out seven or more marbles in the first inning then he or she is determined the winner. This is called a 'stick'.

RETRIEVING MARBLES - After completing their turns, players must pick up their shooters and may pick up any target marbles knocked out of the ring. To avoid accidentally kicking marbles, players must walk around the ring and not through it. The penalty for breaking this rule is: first offense – warning. If after a warning the player walks through again and kicks a marble the referee may impose a penalty of a forfeiture of one point.

FORFEITURE OF POINTS - Whenever there is a forfeiture of points one marble per point must be returned to the ring. Whenever marbles are returned to the ring it is placed in the center spot of the ring. If this spot already has a marble in it then the referee must place the marble as close to the center as possible. If there is a forfeiture of points and the offending player does not have any points scored then that player must forfeit his or her next turn.

◦ WINNING - A player wins the game by shooting out the most marbles before the last inning is over. The player may also shoot out a total of seven marbles throughout the game and be determined the winner.

Rules of Ringer that may apply to the development of our demonstration continued…

Rules of Ringer

Multi-Player

Marble RunA marble run is a set of a number of pieces that fit together and are used to build different marble runs and watching the marbles cascade down. Can also be used to set up additional marble games such as “Nine Holes”.

Certainly, there would be different ways to set this up.

The Player could open the chest and have the option to empty the chest into the courtyard, then build the blocks in the courtyard into any configuration they want. Having the Players able to add multiple sets to the building set in the courtyard would seem desirable.

When a player opens the chest the block set could be added as “Assets”, like the example with the Marbles , and choose which blocks to add to the build in the view before them.

Multiple players should be able to work together to build multiple sets.

In order to use the Marble Run to build a course for playing “Nine Holes”, additional pieces or different shapes would have to be built to enable ramp ups and downs, plus accessories like “flags” available to mark the holes. Could the Player have the option to make a hole in the ground for the block to fit in.

Being able to hold the block and spin it xyz 360 and put it down exactly in the position the Player wants it to be in, with ease, presents an interesting challenge.

“Nine Holes” should be available for both single and multiplayer.

When finished the players could have the option to scratch the build, or keep the build, then come back and add to an existing build.

Single Player

Marble Run

There is a myriad of options available when it comes to shapes available for the creation of a marble run.

With the example of the option provided: The “Cuboro” standard is a basic set and the duo adds additional pieces that build upon basic connections provided in the standard set.

The duo option provides pieces the players can set up to build marble runs where they can race their marbles should they want to do so.

http://www.cuboro-webkit.ch/index.php?language=en

Marble Run

Development Notes: All the size references I’ve found say the blocks are 5 x 5 x 5 cm, but 5cm is less then 2” and who am I to argue about the dimensions…maybe it would be easier to comprehend the size if I was able to physically see them. For our purposes, maybe I should make them about 5 x 5 x 5 inches with the hole for the marble about 1.5 inches to accommodate our 1” Shooter marble. I can always scale them down to size if we decide later. I think that the actual set uses the standard size marbles.

Very cool is that the cuboro site has a ton of development materials and they’ve developed a rendition of the game to build online using flash (I believe that’s what they are using.)

Marble Run

Aim “Carpet” – Target Practice

Shoot a marble and gain points based on where it lands. Play to 500 points, best of three or a single shot. Earn bonus points for extra distance, but be careful - shoot too hard and you could be out!

Multi-Player

Single Player

Players would have made their marble selection previous to starting target practice.

Target practice can be Single Player or Multi-Player mode.

Players would target practice using their Shooter marble only.

Play to 500 points, or change “Play to” point total selection. Collect the Shooter , without having to walk to its position to pick it up.

Multiplayer choose to play first to 500 points, best of three, or a single shot.

The “physics” of throwing the marble in this app will probably be better and more interesting if they are as realistic as you can make them for a game. Force, Trajectory, Angle, the size of the “shooter” marble….other factors?

Adding the complexity of having the player’s left or right hand actually shooting the marble, maybe should be considered at some point.

Marble Run

Solitaire

The marbles measure about 1 1/2" in diameter, the board is 17" in diameter, 1 1/2" thick. To play, start with the central space open, and jump marbles over adjacent marbles into vacant positions, removing the marble you jumped over. The goal is to remove all marbles except one, which ideally should remain in the central position.

Single Player

Player engages the Solitaire game.

Select the marble wished to be moved, selects the position to move it to, and the marble that is jumped is added to the well/moat around the edge of the table.

Game can be reset at any point and the marbles from the well are added back to the table.

Would be nice if the position of the marble could be shuffled randomly so that they are not always in the same starting position.

If the ideal solution is obtained, i.e. That of all the marble are removed, except one, in the central position, Bells and whistles should go off and the Player should be “Congratulated”.