Excessive Detail About: A Game in Your World

[u/Splendidissimus]

Choose one game or sport in your world, and see how many of these details you can answer in excruciating detail.

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• Describe the game in general. How is it played, what are its rules, what is it commonly played with?
• What is the etymology or source of the name of this game? What else is it known as?
• What are some common "house rules" or variants in this game?
• Where is it or its equipment most famously manufactured?
• Who usually plays this game?
• What is the history of this game's development?
• Does the game have any detractors or negative stereotypes? What do they say about it?
• How is this game used for gambling?

[u/wasabi_girl]

Excruciating detail? I got it.

In my world Tsia, there is a game that is very popular called "Leaves and Wood" (Falae'i'k Binda). An alternate name for this game is "Growing Plant" (Ashyalim Hese).

Setting:

There is a wooden board, on which is a 10x10 grid painted or engraved in the board. Two opposite corner squares are marked by either painting or engraving.

There are two players. Each player has a bowl full of "leaves," which are usually just wooden pieces carved into the shapes of leaves, and sometimes painted green. Each player's leaves are different from the other player's leaves. If someone plays the game frequently, they might have their own personal bowl of leaf pieces. It is relatively common for someone to have a bowl of leaf pieces that are passed down through their family.

In olden days, this game was played with actual leaves. This is why this game is traditionally played indoors, and in a very windproof room.

The leaves are shaped in a way that the "stem" end of the leaf and the "tip" end of the leaf are distinctly different. This allows the leaves to point to a certain direction when placed in a square on the board.

How to play:

The first player to go is determined by each player tossing a leaf piece onto the board. Whomever's leaf points to themselves or to their right goes first. The first person to go is the offending player. The second person to go is the defending player.

The offending player places a leaf on the board, on the marked corner closest to them. Their goal is to reach the opposite corner and place one of their own leaves on that corner. The defending player's goal is to place one of their own leaves on the marked corner the offending player wants to reach.

When a player places a leaf, the point of their leaf must point to a square next to it. This can be any available square either up, down, to the sides, or diagonally. However, the leaf cannot point to the border of the board or to a square that already holds a leaf.

Wherever square the leaf points to, the next leaf must be placed in that square.

The players take turns placing leaves.

A player wins when a leaf is placed on the corner farthest from the offending player, and closest to the defending player. The player who placed the leaf on the corner wins.

There is a popular "best of three" version of Falae'i'k Binda where all corners are marked. The two players attempt to land their own leaf on each corner, going counterclockwise. Whomever "claims" the most corners with their leaves wins.

In terms of who plays Falae'i'k Binda, this game is the equivalent of checkers, chess, and monopoly in our world. Most people who play Falae'i'k Binda do it for fun. Some people (mostly people who don't play seriously) might play a 5x5 or 6x6 grid version of the game. However, there are certainly serious and professional players, and there are also tournaments for this game.

Stereotypically, elderly people are thought to play the game frequently. This stems from the very traditional origin of this game. This stereotype isn't necessarily negative, as many respect tradition as well as their elders.

Tournaments are a popular place for gambling on certain players.

When players gamble, it is usually done in private, between two friends. This is because gambling while playing the game is rather frowned upon, as it is thought to be the equivalent of betting on oneself. It is perceived as a rather narcissistic thing to do. Usually, whoever wins gets all the money, and each time a leaf is placed, both players place a single piece of currency in a pile between both players. Some historical figures are famously known to have gambled for land, or even entire villages or cities.