Closest game I could come up with is Backgammon where use of the doubling cube is optional, but is not rolled randomly as in "roll of the dice". The cube rather is turned sequentially, so it is optional, but it's not really a die with die being the proper singular term for dice.
Yahtzee on the other hand is lots of dice, again not optional, but rather quite mandatory.
Botchee begins like Backgammon and ends like Yahtzee and shares the luck to skill attribute of dice, but take way the die or dice and it more resembles a game of Scrabble, Checkers or Chess which are more dependent on skill. Sudoku is another skill set that gives order to Botchee.
Botch means to spoil through inept handling, but what if botching Sudoku is to ones advantage?
Sudoku is a 9x9 grid by most peoples experience, but 4x4, 6x6 up to 25x25 are valid sizes too. Botchee 4x4 is like an amped up version of tic-tac-toe, but the real discovery that drives my zeal for Botchee is the Xtreme edition of twenty four tiles in an unique symmetrical shape. 24 is considered a magic number with some significance when new and original Jerusalem co-exist.
Aggravation is another game that is quite fun, where you in effect botch your opponents progress when you land on one of his marbles. Growing up, game night was the closest thing there was to family home evening and Botchee has become my personal quest to share not my invention, but rather my discovery of the twisted 24 tiles applied to a new game for 2 - 9 players when 9x9 shares a two-sided gameboard.
Sorry for the strange intro, think of it as describing America as the place where the buffalo roam, land of the free, or home of the brave, etc.
If you do visit Botchee.com please keep in mind that it is a work in progress and be sure to save your login info as reminder/resets have yet to be implemented. Please advise if anyone you know is or has an interest in hosting or playing in tournaments at sites like igl.net or wgcenter.com
As always have fun with whatever your doing!
Hafa dai,
Gary Stout
http://Botchee.com . . . where the Dice are Optional™ . . .
P. S. . . Try the "Quick Game" where points are irrelevant as your goal is simply to be the fist one to complete one of four X patterns. Oh yeah, Melding of tiles is the final option to create about a dozen different modes of play!
This game is botched, can you see why?
