Torrent Pirates

You and the other players have started a new network of sharing pirated files. But an argument has arisen about what type of files this network will host. Some in the group believe the network should be restricted to just one file type, while others in the group believe the more file types the better. You must decide how you will proceed, and work to become the most influential server on the network.

Description of Board / Player Boards

The main board, an iPad, will graphically display the file-sharing network's information. Throughout the game as seed-files are offered, they will become visible to all players on the board. The player boards, iPhones/Touches, will graphically display an individual player's server information including their files and bandwidth available.

Overview and Gameplay

Torrent Pirates is a game for 3 to 6 players, played through three phases. In phase one, players secretly determine their file type preferences. During the second phase, players draft seed files to their server. During the third phase, players simultaneously offer one of their seed files to be shared across the network. Players will then select one or more of these files to be co-hosted by their own servers, keeping an eye on their server's bandwidth. Depending on how many players choose a file to host, the server's bandwidth will go up and down. Players will score points by having their seed files co-hosted by other players, by hosting files that fit within their preselected file type preference(s), and by having bandwidth available at the end of the game.

Phase 1: Determine File Preferences

During this phase, players decide which file types they prefer to host in the network. They must select one and may take up to all four of the following preferences: audio files, video files, software, and documents. Players who select one file type will score 6x the influence points of that type. Players who select two types will score 3x the points of both types. Players who select three types will score 2x the points of those three types. And players who select all four types will score 1x the points, however, they will receive a 5x point bonus if the combined bandwidth of all four types across the network is above 20 percent each.

Phase 2: Drafting Seeds

Drafting takes place over a number of rounds equal to two times the number of players (in a three person game, there will be six rounds). A number of files equal to one more than the number of players will appear on the main board (in a three player game, four files would appear). Files are represented by graphic boxes that contain information such as file type, percentage of bandwidth consumed (a number between 3 and 18), and influence points (a number between 1 and 6, correlated to the bandwidth factor. The higher the bandwidth the higher the points). A random player is selected to draft first. Going clockwise, players draft one file or pass. The last player will have the option to draft one or all of the remaining files. Any undrafted files are “discarded.” When selected, the file disappears from the main board and appears on the player board. The player's server bandwidth will be “consumed” by the percentage listed on the file. During consecutive rounds, the starting player will shift one person to the left.

Phase 3: Offers and co-hosts

One by one, players offer one of their original seed files to the main board. Players have the option to co-host one or more of these files or pass. Once everyone has made their selections, bandwidths are divided based upon the number of players who chose to co-host the files. (eg, if a 6-factor bandwidth file is selected by two other players, the bandwidth goes down to 2 for each player). Any server without bandwidth to host a certain file will kick out the largest of the selected files from that round. If no other player chooses to co-host a file, the bandwidth of the seed file remains the same on that player's server. Play continues with players offering one file simultaneously until all of the original seeds have been offered.

Scoring

• every seed file shared on another server receives an additional point for each additional server (if two others co-host a file, the original player receives two extra points)
• factor any of the multipliers based upon file preferences chosen at the beginning of the game (if a player chooses only one type, he would receive 6x the points for that one type)
• add points from the other file types
• add one point for every unused percentage of bandwidth
• the player with the most points wins