SCRIBE
INTRODUCTION Scribe is a pen and paper game for two players. Nine mini grids
together form one super grid. The 19 glyphs of Scribe are listed in the left margin.
Draws cannot occur in Scribe. Mark Steere invented Scribe on October 1, 2006.
BASIC MOVES The two players, “+” and “O,” take turns marking squares, one square
per turn, until the entire super grid is filled. Players are not allowed to pass on their turn.
On your first turn, you can claim any square on the super grid. The mini grid of your last
move is treated as a map. The square you last claimed points to the mini grid in which
you must make your next move. For example, it’s +’s turn in Figure 1a. Since his last
move was in the lower left corner of a mini grid, he must make his next move somewhere
in the lower left mini grid as shown in Figure 1b. If your last move points to a completely
filled mini grid, you can make your next move anywhere in the super grid.
Immediately after making his move, + must “slash” his previous move, by drawing a
diagonal line through it, as shown in Figure 1b. Likewise, O must slash his previous
move as shown in Figure 1c. Only the current + move and current O move should be
unslashed. All other moves should be slashed.
OBJECT OF THE GAME Each glyph is worth the number of dots that compose it. For
example the J is worth six points. A glyph also represents its own mirror image and
rotations. See Figure 2. Glyphs appearing as a subset of a larger group don’t count. So
for example O can’t claim the Double in Figure 3, and + can’t claim the Pipe in Figure 6.
When a mini grid is completely filled, the glyph points are tallied and the high score wins.
For example, in Figure 3 + has four Singles and O has two Singles. With a score of 4-2,
+ is the winner. The last player to move in a mini grid must draw the winner’s mark next
to the mini grid as shown. Standard Version: Whoever wins the majority of the nine
mini grids wins overall. Advanced Version: Players form super glyphs on the super grid
with their winning mini grids.
AUTHOR’S NOTE Feel free to copy, distribute, profit from, or do whatever you like
with this document and the game of Scribe. However please don’t change the name or the
rules, and please attribute the game to me, Mark Steere. For more information see
marksteeregames.com. Copyright (c) by Mark Steere, October 2006