| Number of Blinks | Number of Players | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| 3-15 (7-11 recommended) | 2 | 5-15 min |
| 1 Mushroom + up to 7 on either side | scales with team size |
In a post-apocalyptic future, slugs have mutated into enormous beasts that humans were quick to tame and weaponize to survive the new wasteland. Luckily the slugs' favorite food, mushrooms also mutated and grew, so these massive mushrooms are often the site of legendary showdowns between battle-ready, mutant slug teams! Slug bodies are armed with manned A-Salt cannons, that fire huge rocks of salt at enemy slugs. In SlugFest, you play as a slug squad in one such battle!
Line up 3 to 15 blinks in a single file row. (It is recommended to play with an odd number between 7 and 11). Once all the Blinks are white and in a row, they are ready to start. Pick one Blink that you want to be the center of battle, and triple click it (Fig. 1). This Blink will serve as your Mushroom and the Blinks on both sides of it are the opposing slug forces. It's recommended that the two teams are the same size, but it's not necessary. Once you have a mushroom set, it will randomly select one team to go first by highlighting and activating them (Fig. 2). The other inactive side will have their cannons dimmed, and their pieces will be disabled until the active team resolves an attack. If you change your mind on where you want the central Mushroom, don't worry, you can reset the game by triple clicking any Blink with pieces on both sides.
When it's your turn, you manage the entire squad. Each turn, due to steam powered engine limitations, you only have enough power to fire one of your A-Salt cannons, so choose wisely! Firing the cannons isn't all you can do on your turn, either.
On your turn you can:
-
Fire a normal shot (ends your turn when resolved)
- Tapping an active piece once will initiate the attack sequence. You'll see the cannon barrel change in (white) brightness in a repeating pattern. Each brightness level represents the range you wish to fire on your opponent (the brighter, the further you'll fire). Tapping once again during this sequence will launch a normal shot which will do one point of damage to your opponent's slug at that range (Fig. 3). Note, firing on a dead piece will do nothing and give up your turn.
(NOTE: new image coming soon. This should read "range = 3, range = 2, and range = 1" also, the sequence animation is on 3 faces now, not 1)
-
Attempt a critical shot (ends your turn when resolved)
- Every third sequence of the attack animation will have an orange and MUCH faster sequence that if you tap once during it, it will launch a critical heavy blow to your opponent doing TWO points of damage! (Fig. 4) Be careful as these are much harder to time correctly!
-
Heal your slug (one Blink)
- Each segment of your slug has only 4 total health to begin with. Each point of health is shown as a green light on the sides of your segment, or red if you've taken damage. As you take damage, your attack sequences become much faster and more difficult as your cannons become damaged and less accurate! Not to worry, if one of your segments if heavily damaged (only 1 or 2 health remaining), you can long press a piece during your turn to heal them (Fig. 5). This action can only be done ONCE per game, per piece AND this action permanently removes the ability for that particular cannon to fire critical shots. Healing keeps you alive and your gun more accurate, but it prevents it from doing heavy damage, so use this ability with caution. You can only heal on your turn and you must do it before you have 0 health on a piece. Dead pieces can no longer heal.
-
Prime a different A-Salt cannon
- If you started an attack sequence on a piece and you would prefer to fire from another cannon (perhaps you didn't realize one was damaged) you can tap on another piece to redirect the A-Salt cannon priming sequence.
If you manage to reduce each of your opponents segments to 0 health, you win and the spoils of war and the glorious Mushroom are yours for the taking! Tales of this battle will echo through eternity! Also, you can just triple click to play again :)
