Sluice
Original · a cascade duel for two
Every gate holds what its neighbourhood allows — and the spill claims whole gates.
Ready to play now.
A demonstration of Sluice, played by the computer against itself.
Sluice — playing itself
Ways to play
Alone, against the computer
Your own pace, no arranging anything. Take a move back whenever you like.
Play alone4 opponents, weakest first
- The DrifterAny legal gate, by the seed. It keeps 4.8 drops of the rack against the Reader and wins 12 racks in 100, and falls to the Piler 25–75 and to the Reader 10–90: a random pour on a cascade rack mostly pours for the rival.
- The PilerPours onto its fullest gate, always — drops in one place, never a plan. Seventy-five per cent over the Drifter, 75–25, 5.0 sigma; 7.5 drops kept a rack against the Reader, and 19 racks of 100.
- The ReaderPrices every pour by the RESOLVED CASCADE alone — drops gained, drops denied, gates claimed, the whole line read before it settles. Seventy-nine per cent over the Piler, 79–21, 5.8 sigma; ninety over the Drifter.
- The KeeperThe Reader with the rival’s best reply read one pour ahead — the six pours worth reading, against the six replies worth reading — and the settled rack solved exactly, memoised, when four pours or fewer remain legal. Seventy-three per cent over the Reader, 73–27, 4.6 sigma; ninety-four over the Piler. It keeps 27.6 drops of the rack and holds 69 racks of 100 near-whole, and it thinks in milliseconds a pour rather than the seconds it used to.
Together, in the same room
2 players. One device goes round the table, or everybody plays off the same screen.
Play in the same roomOnline, at a table
A room code, joinable from anywhere. Pause tonight and pick it up next week from your device.
Play online
About
A cascade duel for two — the shelf’s first. A five-by-five rack of gates, each holding as many drops as it has orthogonal neighbours: two at a corner, three on an edge, four within. Start with one drop on your corner; each turn pour ONE drop of your water into any empty or already-yours gate. A gate at capacity OPENS: it empties, one drop spills to each neighbour and claims those gates — their drops run your colour now, and a claimed gate at capacity opens in the same cascade, which runs to its end. One water swept from the rack loses outright: no score, no draw but the both-empty sweep, said plainly.
How it feels
- A gate one pour from opening, holding still
- The third gate in line going all at once
- A whole side of the rack running one colour in a single pour
What the design is for
The shelf’s first cascade
Overflow that begets overflow: a pour can open a gate whose spill fills the next, and the rack reads the whole line before it settles. No other title here has a move whose consequences run themselves.
The spill claims whole gates
A claimed gate keeps its drops — running your colour, with one more beside it. Territory converts by arithmetic, not by attrition, and a loaded rival spring taken at the right moment fires on your terms.
Capacity by neighbourhood
Two at a corner, three on an edge, four within: the geometry prices every gate. Corners are slow fuses; the middle is a hair trigger — the same drop means different dangers by where it lands.
No score, no hiding
Every drop and its colour, all public from the first pour. The duel ends only in annihilation — one water swept from the rack — and the both-empty sweep is the only draw, said plainly.
Taught drop by drop
Six steps: the pour, the capacity, the claim, the cascade, the loaded spring — and then a whole rack to yourself. Five of the six name one gate and accept nothing else.
- Best at
- 2
- Kind
- Strategy
- Table
- Competitive
- Studio
- Board.game Originals
The opponents
The Drifter
Any legal gate, by the seed. It keeps 4.8 drops of the rack against the Reader and wins 12 racks in 100, and falls to the Piler 25–75 and to the Reader 10–90: a random pour on a cascade rack mostly pours for the rival.
The Piler
Pours onto its fullest gate, always — drops in one place, never a plan. Seventy-five per cent over the Drifter, 75–25, 5.0 sigma; 7.5 drops kept a rack against the Reader, and 19 racks of 100.
The Reader
Prices every pour by the RESOLVED CASCADE alone — drops gained, drops denied, gates claimed, the whole line read before it settles. Seventy-nine per cent over the Piler, 79–21, 5.8 sigma; ninety over the Drifter.
The Keeper
The Reader with the rival’s best reply read one pour ahead — the six pours worth reading, against the six replies worth reading — and the settled rack solved exactly, memoised, when four pours or fewer remain legal. Seventy-three per cent over the Reader, 73–27, 4.6 sigma; ninety-four over the Piler. It keeps 27.6 drops of the rack and holds 69 racks of 100 near-whole, and it thinks in milliseconds a pour rather than the seconds it used to.
Achievements
0 of 5 earned
Every Drop
Win a rack of Sluice.
The Rack Held
Win holding twelve drops or more.
Four in One Pour
Win after a pour whose cascade claimed four gates or more.
A Short Shift
Win in fifteen pours or fewer.
Three Drops Down
Win after trailing by three drops or more.
Key art
Key art — Board.game art system
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