Game Critique: Pounce

Publisher: homemade
Designer: unknown
Players: 3-6
Time: 10-20 minutes

Pounce is an incredibly silly but fun action game that I read about on the Internet. The game became popular at game conventions and events as a filler between longer games -- even geeky hardcore gamers need a break once in a while. Because Pounce was out of print when I discovered it, I made my own version and cobbled together the rules from various web sources.

The Rules

Each player has a mouse with a long tail. The players put their mice in a common circle drawn on a mat and hold on to the ends of the tails. Once player is designated the cat and removes his or her mouse, taking a plunger instead (an unused toilet plunger with a short handle). The cat repeatedly rolls a pair of dice. Whenever a 7 or 11 is rolled, the cat slams down the plunger in an attempt to capture as many mice in the circle as possible. The players with mice, of course, try to pull their mice out of the circle before getting plunged.

A score is kept with cardboard pieces of cheese. Each player begins with 15 pieces and must pay a piece to the cat when his or her mouse gets caught, or when the mouse is pulled from the circle at the wrong time (when anything but a 7 or 11 has been rolled). Players gain a cheese from the cat if they successfully pull out before getting plunged. Also, the cat must pay a cheese to every player if he or she plunges at the wrong time. Whenever a double is rolled, the player to the left of the cat becomes the new cat. The game ends when one player runs out of cheese. The player with the most cheese wins.

Comments

I've played this game with friends, coworkers, strangers and my family, and everyone loves it and immediately wants to play again. Why? Well, the simple answer is that it's easy to learn and it's hilarious. But let's analyze it using Greg Costikyan's elements of a game:

Decision making: In Pounce, decisions must be made in a split second and they are not as simple as "It's a five so I won't plunge/pull out." A critical element in the game is bluffing. If you're the cat, pretending to plunge on a bad roll may cause mice to scatter. Free cheese! If you're a mouse, pretending to pull out may cause your fellow mice to run for cover. You won't get any cheese, but your opponents will lose cheese.

Goals: Costikyan states that without a goal, decisions have no meaning and therefore playing the game will have no meaning. The decisions in Pounce directly affect progress toward the goal of the game, which is to have the most cheese at the end. Futhermore, since players can't choose another player to attack or aid directly, one's success in the game is entirely dependent on his or her performance (i.e. decision to plunge/pull out or not).

Opposition: This occurs on two levels: The mice and the cat are opposed during each turn, and all players are opposed to each other throughout the game. A positive feature of this game is that the person playing the cat changes, mitigating the repetition of the game.

Managing resources: Costikyan writes that "'managing resources' means managing game elements in pursuit of your goal." That might lead one to think that the resource to manage in Pounce is cheese. However, the cheese is merely a means of scorekeeping. The resource is really discrete instances of bluffing. You can't pretending to plunge after every roll; your actions will become meaningless and players will no longer look at your behavior as a clue to when to pull out. Like poker, you must choose wisely when to bluff and do so when people least expect it.

Game tokens: Tokens function by giving players input, according to Costikyan. The mice and the plunger certainly fulfill that function.

Information: The information in Pounce comes from three sources: the dice, the cat and the other players. Dice in themselves don't bluff, but either of the other two sources can provide false or misleading information. Being able to sort out the true information from the false in blink of an eye is an "ability or skill required for action," one of Avedon's 10 elements of games. (Being able physically to react quickly is another.)

Among Costikyan's "other things that strengthen games," position identification is certainly present in Pounce. People strongly indentify with their mice. As the plunger hovers threateningly over them, the mice look so adorably innocent and vulnerable that players want to rescue their mice from the bad, bad plunger. One of the mice I made lost an eye during a particuarly heated session. Now "One-Eye" is the most popular mouse. I guess it's because with his vision impairment he's the underdog (undermouse?). And, or course, people love to be the cat and devour helpless mice. It's the usual allure of evil.

Pounce has an incredibly high level of narrative tension, though it's a pretty brief narrative. It's a toss up which is more stressful, being the cat or a mouse. The tension stays high from the beginning of the game to the end, and even if one player has an insurmountable lead, each roll of the dice has players on the edge of their seats. This is important in keeping the game fun after repeated plays.

The socializing element is the why I like this game so much. It makes everyone laugh, young or old. In fact, when I first played this game, we we're laughing so hard we had to stop because we couldn't breathe. I suppose it depends on the group, but this game has never failed to entertain.

Notes on making Pounce

If you decide to make Pounce for yourself, be sure to make the tails out of stretchable material. If you don't, the tails will probably get ripped out of the mice in the first round. Also, make sure the mice are lightweight and have no sharp parts. It doesn't happen often, but players have gotten smacked in the face with their mice. I bought cat toy mice and hot-glued foot-long elastic strips for tails. For the mat, I used a cheese-patterned placemat and traced a circle in the center the same diameter as the plunger. The plunger is the regular hardware-store variety. I shortened and painted the handle, and -- very important -- punched a small hole in it so it wouldn't create suction.

Pounce was recently republished but the new version is poorly designed and perhaps dangerous. Don't bother! Make your own!