Johari Bones: Scorecard

Johari Bones Score Card

Ones
Twos
Threes
Fours
Fives
Sixes
Full House
4 Run
5 Run
Chance
Total

Yeah... it is basically a simplified Yahtzee scorecard. Note some key differences: There are no bonuses, and no hand has a fixed point value.

Johari Bones: Rules

Johari Bones Rules
Uses one Double-Six set of dominoes.


Each hand begins by dealing 4 bones (dominoes) to each player.  Players then assemble those one bone in each of the following positions:

• Face Up (Everyone sees)
• Face Down (No one sees)
• Face In (Only the player sees)
• Face Out (Everyone but the player sees)

It is important that players do not look at their own Face Down or Face Out bones.

Once their hands have been appropriately assembled, players take turns choosing and swapping bones according to the following rules.

1. The player may choose to either draw a bone from the pile or swap a bone with another player.
2. If the player draws from the pile, that bone may be placed in his Face In or Face Up position or another player’s Face Out or Face Up position.  The bone that is replaced is removed from play until next hand.
3. If the player chooses to swap, he may only do one of the following swaps:
1. His Face Up with another player’s Face Up
2. His Face In with another Player’s Face Out.

After each player has 3 turns, the hand concludes.  At this time, all bones are turned face up and players choose which ends they are using for scoring.

Only one box on the scorecard may be used per hand.  To score, players choose which box they are going to fill, then add up all applicable ends, and write that total in the box.  If their hand cannot be used for any of the available boxes, the player must take a zero in one of those boxes.

2 blank ends can be used as 1 "wild."

After 10 turns, the game concludes, and the player with the highest total wins.

Scoring

Ones through Sixes:  A number of any suit.
   Example: three 2-Ends would yield 6 points in the “Twos” box.

Full House: Two of a Kind plus Three of a (different) Kind
   Example: Two 4-Ends and Three 5-Ends yields 23 points in the “Full House” box

4 and 5 Runs: A series of consecutive numbers of the appropriate length.
   Example: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Ends would yield 20 points in the “5 Run” Box

Chance: Sum of all Ends.

A Sample Scorecard can be found in the next post.

Johari Bones: Introduction

If you have been with this blog since I started it a few months back, or if you've trolled the archives, you may remember a game I posted called "Dragons."  It was a pen and paper pick-up game akin to Tic Tac Toe or Dots, and I felt like it wasn't really a marketable thing.

In the same spirit of public domain, I'd like to offer up another game I cooked up this weekend.  As a short caveat, this game is as yet unplayed, but the idea was novel enough in my mind that I wanted to just get it "out there."  The game is entitled "Jahari Bones."

Concrete versus Abstract

Philosophically, I find that there are many parallels between games and literature.  Some games are very explicit in their narrative (such as most role-playing games) while others are a bit more esoteric.  Chess, for example, has an implicit narrative, though it is not much explored in the scope of the game.  It is simply a given that kings war with one another, and the motivation therein is largely irrelevant.

The more abstract a game is, the more obscure the narrative... or the more non-fictional it becomes.  For example, poker seems to have no narrative at all, yet watching people play can be very engaging because the players themselves are the narrative.

Reindeer Games...

Apologies to anyone who might actually read this blog... and if you do, you are mighty quiet, my friend.  December has not been kind to my schedule, but fear not!  Posting will get back into some semblance of regularity once we get through the holidays.

In the mean time, peace and joy from me to you.