Scribe

Scribe

Designer: Mark Steere
Publisher: Mark Steere Games
Type: Abstract, Pen and Paper
Status: Free
Available from: http://www.marksteeregames.com/

Scribe is a brand new pen and paper game for two players. The board is easy enough to draw although a printable version is available at marksteeregames.com. Nine 9x9 mini grids together form one super grid. The two players, '+' and 'O,' take turns marking squares, one square per turn, until the entire super grid is filled. On his first turn, the player can claim any square on the super grid. The mini grid of his last move is treated as a map. The square he last claimed points to the mini grid in which he must make his next move. By marking the squares in the grid, players attempt to form one of the 19 'glyphs' that are outlined in the rules. Each glyph is worth the number of dots that compose it. When a mini grid is completely filled, the glyph points are tallied and the high score wins. Whoever wins the majority of the nine mini grids wins overall.

Scribe is perfectly balanced so that if played randomly, neither the first nor second move player will have an advantage. No draws of course.

'I haven't had a chance to play Scribe yet although I've been getting a lot of positive feedback. If anybody in the SF Bay area is interested, let's get together and play.' -- Mark Steere, marksteeregames.com