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Rules

- The game is played on a 10x10 grid.

Two different viruses are fighting each other on the grid, each virus is a team.

The game is played by a minimum of 3 people per team.

- Each team moves in a different way, one move in diagonal the other straight back and sideways.

The goal of the game is to infect the opposite team until they all turn into the virus you’re representing, once a player is turned he adopts the virus’s movement pattern.once everyone has been turned into the same virus the game is over.

- Each teams starts on the first and last line on the grid and players must be separated by at least one empty square.

Players move on the grid by throwing a ball around and moving one square once the ball in hand. Each team gets the ball once then has to throw it to a person of choice on the other team to their advantage.

 If any player from a team riches the other end of the grid he gets to turn a player of his choice.

- Once two viruses meet on the grid, the one reaching first to the other virus challenges the other by throwing a dice, each side of the dice has a different effect on players:

1.     Infect – Turns the player challenged into the virus attacking him

2.     Infect+2- Turns the player challenged and grants him two moves

3.     Backfire- Turns the virus attacking into the virus he challenged

4.     Switch- each player switches team.

5.     Back- moves the challenged virus back to the start of the grid

6.     Wall- challenger lays down on the grid in any direction to the advantage of his team by blocking others

Abstract

Outbreak is a radical game that brings Real Time Strategy (RTS) into a physical playing field. Players have to work together to “infect” opponents whilst looking out for themselves and their team mates. The novelty of this game is that no one has really tried to make this work.; a grid-like setup with rules, but also freedom of physically changing the game according to your agility. This makes players work together to try and convert the other team’s players to their own.

The contribution of this game is that it demonstrates that we can expand our view on strategy and board games.  Board games are a dying breed, and RTS games have always been exclusively online only. This is another way of looking at things, and demonstrating that it can be done.

We are trying to bring back exertion gaming, but digital elements could also be implemented. Examples include an interactive grid floor with colours representing which team you’re in illuminated underneath. Also, hazards that could appear on the playing field such as lava or cracks in the ground. The “wall” move would also be portrayed on the grid instead of the players having to physically lye down.