WW 124: Genius – Episode 3: The Food Chain Game

“Where is the Orphanage you promised to build!” the crowd shout at their president.

“Under construction!” Spooky pleaded

“Where is the video Spooky? WHERE IS THE VIDEO???”

“You can’t rush great art!” she retorted. “Here, just have some campaign buttons!” she said, throwing them out at the crowd.

But the masses had rejected their chosen leader, and began throwing them back at her. It was the perfect chaos for the Bounty Hunter to land his shot.

Spookyfriend has been eliminated.

“No, no, no…” said campaign stockholder Nate the Lesser. “Alright, no need to panic. According to this spreadsheet, Wasp is next in line for office. Somebody, find Ms. Van Dyne!”

“I think I saw her around” a gruff voice answered from behind him.

Nate turned around to a slingshot in his face.

Nate the Lesser has been eliminated.

Ding. The Bounty Hunter checked his phone. 22 Garnets deposited to your account.

And so the populous movement that gave one player power suddenly turned against her, as opponents seem to have identified her as a major threat. And once again, we have another player who seems to have suffered for amassing great wealth. Those who have begun this game more slowly may have hope, that lying low like a prey hiding from its hunter could be an effective strategy in this tournament. Speaking off… 


The Rules of the Game

FoodChainDiagram1

Today, you will be playing the Food Chain game. To begin, each of you have randomly been assigned one of 14 animals. In your QT, you have been directly told the win condition of your animal. Below, I have the list of every role’s win condition and special abilities – you don’t need to study all of these to play, you can just focus on your own, but it could be helpful for strategy to check what other roles exist. Note that, as can be seen in the above image, their is a Food chain ranking the 4 top animals, with the rest of the animals at the bottom being equal.

[spoiler title= Roles]

Predators

  1. THE LION 

Habitat: Field (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: If the lion goes one round without eating, it starves and dies.

 

  1. THE CROCODILE 

Habitat: River (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: If the crocodile goes two rounds without eating, it starves and dies.

 

  1. THE EAGLE

Habitat: Sky

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: If the eagle goes two rounds without eating, it starves and dies.

 

  1. THE HYENA 

Habitat: Field (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Lion dies

Lose condition: Lion survives

Special characteristic: If the hyena goes three rounds without eating, it starves and dies.

 

(All Below Ranked equally on food chain, beneath the Predators)

 

Skilled Animals

 

THE CHAMELEON  

Habitat: Forest (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: The chameleon can pick one other animal to be disguised at when other players peek at its identity.

 

THE SNAKE

Habitat: Forest (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: At least 9 players are dead after four rounds

Lose condition: Fewer than 9 players are dead after four rounds

Special characteristic: Can’t die. Any animals that attack the snake die instead.

 

THE CROW

Habitat: Sky

Win condition: Pick an animal that is not the crow before the game starts. Win if that animal wins.

Lose condition: Lose if the chosen player loses.

Special characteristic: Can peek at two different players after choosing the winning animal.

 

THE DOVE

Habitat: Sky

Win condition: Picks an animal to become lovers with. Both animals must survive

Lose condition: Either Dove or Lover dies

Special characteristic: Can peek at two different players.

 

Assistant Animals

 

THE PLOVER

Habitat: River

Win condition: Crocodile survives

Lose condition: Crocodile dies

Special characteristic: Can peek at two different players.

 

THE MOUSE

Habitat: Forest (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Lion survives

Lose condition: Lion dies

Special characteristic: Can peek at two different players.

 

Animals of Prey

 

THE OTTER

Habitat: River (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: Animal of prey. If all surviving animals of prey are in the same habitat, they cannot be killed.

 

THE DEER

Habitat: Field (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: Animal of prey. If all surviving animals of prey are in the same habitat, they cannot be killed.

 

THE GOOSE

Habitat: Sky

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: Animal of prey. If all surviving animals of prey are in the same habitat, they cannot be killed.

 

THE RABBIT

Habitat: Forest (Sky prohibited)

Win condition: Survive

Lose condition: Die

Special characteristic: Animal of prey. If all surviving animals of prey are in the same habitat, they cannot be killed.

[/spoiler]

Your win condition is what it sounds like, it’s your roles’ specific rules for winning this game – for some it’s as simple as surviving, but other roles have wrinkles thrown in. Every player who meets their win condition will receive immunity. The player with the least Garnets who didn’t meet it will be sent to the Death Match.

You can choose to keep your role to yourself or not, but every player can look at at least one other player’s role at the start of the game. Tell me in your QT what player you choose to peek at the role of. You will see in your role description if there are other choices you need to make before we begin playing. Saturday, 5:00pm EST will be the deadline to make these choices. Miss the deadline, and choices will be made at random for you.

From there on, here is how the game will be played. There will be 4 rounds. Each round, you will have a deadline to choose (by telling me in your QT) a Habitat you want to inhabit (Forest, Field, Sky, or River). Check your role for specifics related to what Habitat you may go to. You can choose to go to a Habitat that isn’t your home Habitat, but you can’t leave your home Habitat for more than one round in a row.

When all players have chosen their Habitats, I will announce which players are in which Habitats (but not reveal the roles of those players). You can then tell me in your QT if you want to try to eat another player who is in the same Habitat as you. This will only work if you target a player below you on The Food Chain.  I will announce publicly if someone has been eaten (which would mean they are dead for the rest of the Food Chain game).

So, if you want to pursue immunity, you have to try to navigate through these four rounds in such a way that will lead to meeting your win condition. I know this game has the potential to sound very complicated, but I do think it’s one of the funnest games from the Genius show in theory, so I had tot try it out. There’s no Twilight set, it will depend on the pace we move through rounds, but this may be a fairly extended day to give people the chance to grapple with the rules of this game.

There are opportunities to receive Garnets. You will be rewarded with 10 Garnets upon completion of your win condition. Killing another animal will net you 5 Garnets. Surviving a round will net your 1 Garnet, two if you were in your Home Habbitat.

Once again, you have until Saturday, 5:00pm EST to turn in initial actions associated with your role. But I hope that those will come in quickly enough for us to move forward with the game sooner.


Players names will at the start of the day will come with their current amount of Garnets.

[spoiler titles= Players]

  1. Corporal Hicks – 34 Garnets
  2. Forget_it_Jake – 23 Garnets
  3. Owen1120 – 5 Garnets
  4. Spookyfriend – 0 Garnets
  5. The Wasp – 8 Garnets
  6. DW – 11 Garnets
  7. Hayes – 7 Garnets
  8. Nate the Lesser – 0 Garnets
  9. Emm – 3 Garnets
  10. Mr.ImMyOwnGrandpa – 1 Garnets
  11. Goat – 10 Garnets
  12. Josephus Brown – 0 Garnets
  13. Indy – 2 Garnets
  14. Sic Humor – 3 Garnets
  15. Ralph – 8 Garnets
  16. Grumproro – 20 Garnets
  17. Lindsay – 0 Garnets
  18. Donalbain – 4 Garnets
  19. ALKD – 0 Garnets
  20. Hoho ohno possum – 0 Garnets

[/spoiler]


Also check your QT’s for things like invites to join a QT discussion. You can ask me questions here or there. Please have fun!