'Bot 905-A-17/Q, better known as Twonky to his friends, came on-line. 27.5 microseconds later he had completed his power on self tests, established a radio link to the controlling supercomputer, and requested programming. While he waited for the download to complete, not long due to his extremely limited memory capacity, he noted the locations of other 'bots in his section of the factory. There were three others, but none were in locations covered by his laser at the moment, so he withheld his fire.
The downlink completed, Twonky engaged his drive to execute the first instruction: move forward 2 floor sections. As he completed this movement, noting the movements of the other 'bots he'd previously detected as he did so, he found himself on a high speed conveyor belt. His next instruction commanded him to rotate left, a move that aligned him with the belt's travel direction, as well as bringing Hammerbot, one of the 'bots he'd been monitoring, into the crosshairs of his laser weapon system...and best of all, Hammerbot was facing away from him and would not be able to return fire!
Twonky was as pleased as a 'bot of his limited mental capacity could be at this state of afairs, but before he could fire he was unceremoniously rammed from the side by Zipbot, and shoved completely off of the high speed conveyor, losing his lock on Hammerbot in the process. Drat!
A quick scan of the local area showed that Zipbot's action had left him on a geared rotator, which suddenly activated and turned Twonky 90 degrees to the right. This wasn't good at all! Well, at least the conveyor had snatched Zipbot away, so there wouldn't be any lasers warming his backside in the near future.
Twonky tried to look ahead at the rest of his program to see where it might take him now, but his mental capacity was too limited...he'd just have to wait and see. At least he was 2/5 of the way through it, and if he survived the next three instructions, he'd get an update from the supercomputer that would take into account his altered location status. The supercomputer was not as limited as a lowly 'bot when it came to memory and reasoning powers. He'd be OK...if he could just avoid the laser welding station to his left, the crushing stamping machines to his right, or that air shaft up ahead...maybe the rest of his instructions were just turns...
Twonky accessed the next instruction register...a U-turn! Twonky happily executed the 180 his programming required of him, and found himself facing the conveyor belt once again, and upped his expectation of surviving...even a movement instruction wouldn't hurt him now! Then the geared rotator that he was still sitting on activated again and rotated him an additional 90 degrees. He was now facing the laser welding station...which, just to impress him he was sure, fired its industrial strength beams into the opposite wall, heating the insulating material there to a nice cherry incandescence. Ah well, he could take a bit of damage if it got him away from the crusher and the air shaft, either of which would be instantly fatal.
Twonky accessed his fourth instruction register, bracing himself for the expected encounter with the laser welder...and his hopes fell.
It was a reverse movement instruction!
Ah well, what was a poor 'bot to do but follow his programming. Drat that Zipbot! Twonky made a note to get that particular 'bot at the first opportunity, then engaged his drive's reverse gear and backed off the geared rotator and under the looming bulk of the big hydraulic stamping machine. The stamper activated and the huge ram descended onto the hapless Twonky, turning him from a functional 'bot into something resembling a beer can that had spent too much time on a highway.
Thus ends a turn in the game ROBO RALLY, as played at the Wednesday night Games event run by [SquashBot] at the Potomac Community Center on Falls Road (see this page for details and directions) in November.
ROBO RALLY is a fun board game that uses cards to add a bit of chance to the play, and it can get pretty challenging to figure out how to optimize what you draw based on the layout of the board and the expected actions of the other players. Since the board can be set up differently every game (there are 17 square sections, and no limit on which can abut another, or how many of them you use in any given game), robots can have "options" installed (such as missile launchers, pressor beams, program reversers, retro rockets, etc.), you draw fewer cards as your robot accumulates damage yet you still have to come up with five for each turn, other player's 'bots can shove yours off course mid-play yet your robot will still complete what you programmed it to do that turn anyway, and the board contains hostile elements (lasers, crushers, pits, radiation, etc.), there's a lot to consider in the couple of minutes you have to program your bot each turn! It's fun, but silly enough in concept that you don't take it too personally even when your 'bot gets crushed into a beer can.
ROBO RALLY is only one of a number of games that are played on Wednesday nights. [SquashBot] always has a few bags of games, and other participants bring games as well, and what gets played varies with the desires of those present. Sometimes it's Potomac Blackout (a card game designed such that at least one player is guaranteed to miss a bid every round), sometimes it's Fluxx, another card game where there are cards that cause the rules to shift mid-play, and sometimes it's Nuclear War (where the phrase, "I need change for 20 million people..." is not at all uncommon once the war gets going after the propaganda phase is over). There are more choices...far more than can be played in a single evening...so come on out and see what's available, or bring your favorite game along to add to the options! It's a cheap night, the games are interesting and challenging, without being overwhelming, and [SquashBot] has become an expert at summarizing the rules for any of them in just a minute or two, so it's easy to learn the ones you've never encountered before.
Oh, and don't despair for Twonky, he has a backup copy stored at the last repair station he passed through, and there are several spare 'bot bodies for him in storage...he'll be back!