Some games are a long time in the works before getting published. The first steps of the project for publishing an online version of Djambi on Board Game Arena were taken in early 2013, so we are really happy to release this game today for everyone to enjoy!
Djambi, also called "Machiavelli's chessboard", is a game created by Jean Anesto in the 70's which holds a very special feel since it was designed to display the dark side of politics with all the negociation, dirty tricks and treachery leading to power! You are the leader of a political party, your objective is absolute power, and you are not above political assassination... That's just a means to an end, and your goal is clear: there can be only one leader left!
Djambi is played like chess, with specific pieces (Chief, Reporter, Assassin, Diplomat, Necromobile and Militants) and 4 contenders around the board instead of just 2. The center of the board is the seat of power, called the Maze. Getting your Chief there will allow you to play more often (once after each of your opponents) which can be a decisive advantage, but you should be careful as it's a very exposed situation... Also, when taking a piece, it doesn't leave the board like in most games but stays here as a corpse, that can be used for protection or to hinder the progress of your opponents! Did we say "politics"? A large part of the game relies on setting up public alliances with other players to get them to help you crush an opponent, but then of course, sometimes an ally outlives it's usefulness. Nothing personal there! When playing with friends, you should make sure that they understand this before starting a game of Djambi... 😉
The rules were written with a strong focus on the theme: they are pretty fun to read, but leave some space for interpretation on fine points of the game. Rather than making available a lot of possible options, we made some choices for maximum machiavellian play:
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you can kill your own pieces, except the leader (sometimes sacrifice is necessary);
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the Reporter has the choice not to kill (the Press is not above making some arrangements with political parties);
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a Chief is eliminated if fully entrapped by corpses with no Necromobile left in play;
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the master move of the Diplomat is available (removing a Chief from the Maze, then replacing him/her by another Chief when leaving the Maze);
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the master move of the Assassin is available (killing a Chief in power, then killing another Chief when leaving the Maze and setting up his/her corpse in the Maze as a puppet regime!)
The longer the game takes to get released, the longer the list of thanks to be given! We would like to thank:
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Alkazar who was the first developer interested in implementing Djambi, who got information about the game, started developing it but unfortunately could not finish;
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marcgenesis who took over to create a new and complete implementation;
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Didier Hallépée who was close to the publisher "L'impensé radical" when it existed and got back to us with answers about the game and the possibility to publish an online version;
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the illustrators Reno (http://reno-pixellu.com/blog/), Boulet (http://www.bouletcorp.com/) and Lucie Albon (http://www.luciealbon.net/) for their kind authorization to propose their illustrations of the pieces as an optional graphical theme for the game (visible on the right of the illustration image for this news, and available through the game preferences).
We hope that you'll have fun working your very convoluted way to absolute power in this game!
占碑 （馬基維利的棋盤）
有些遊戲需要長時間的準備才有辦法推出。
早在2013年初BGA就進行了占碑線上版本的第一階段計畫，所以我們真的很高興能在今天釋出這個遊戲給大家！
占碑，也被稱為"馬基維利的棋盤"，是一個在 70 年代由Jean Anesto設計的遊戲，遊戲的特別之處在於，它被設計來顯示政治的黑暗面，那些為了迎向權力隨之而來的談判、髒把戲，還有背叛！
你是一個政黨的領袖，你的目標就是絕對的權力，同時你並不介意政治暗殺...
那只是達到目的手段，而你的目標很明確︰一山不容二虎！
占碑玩起來就像下棋，有特定的棋子（領袖、記者、 刺客、 外交官、 運屍工及激進分子），不過圍繞著棋盤的是四位競爭者，而非僅只兩人。
板圖的中心就是權力的王座，稱為迷宮。
將你的領袖帶進裡面可使你有更多的機會執行動作 （於每個對手動作後再動一次） 這可是一個決定性的優勢，但你需小心謹慎，因為這同時也會使你處於一個非常暴露的位置......
再來，當吃掉一枚棋子時，它不會像大多數遊戲一樣被移出圖板，而是會留在原地成為一具屍體，可用於保護或阻礙你的對手 ！
我們剛剛有談到"政治"嗎？
這遊戲很大一部分依賴於跟其他玩家結成聯盟，讓他們幫你粉碎對手，當然...有時候背盟敗約也是難免的。
這可無關私人恩怨 ！
當和朋友一起玩時，應該確保他們在開始遊戲前能明白這一點......
遊戲規則在書寫時聚焦於強烈的主題︰ 讀起來很有趣，但也對於遊戲的細節留下一些解讀的空間。
為了讓規則能夠實現更多的可能性，我們設計了一些最馬基維利式（狡猾）的玩法選擇：
- 除了領袖之外，你可以殺害自己的黨內同胞（有時犧牲是必要的）；
- 記者能手下留情（媒體不會恥於與政黨進行協商）；
- 若領袖被屍體所圍困，並且其運屍工已不在了，他將被罷黜；
- 外交官可以來手絕妙好棋（將一位領袖從迷宮中挪開，當自己離開迷宮時再找其他領袖遞補）；
- 刺客也能刺下神來一刀（殺害掌權的領袖，當自己離開迷宮時殺害另一名領袖，再將其屍體設置在迷宮中作為傀儡政權！）
隨著釋出遊戲前的準備時間越長，我們的感謝名單也越來越長！
我們要感謝︰
- Alkazar是第一個對實行占碑很感興趣的開發者，得到了遊戲資訊後就開始開發它，但不幸無法完成;
- marcgenesis接手並完整的呈現;
-Didier · Hallépée和出版社"L'impensé radical"自創立時就很親近，並為我們帶回了關於遊戲是否可能發布線上版本的的答案;
插畫家Reno( reno-pixellu.com/blog/ )， Boulet ( www.bouletcorp.com/ ) 和Lucie Albon( www.luciealbon.net/ ) 為他們慷慨地授權其插圖作品，作為一個可選的遊戲圖形主題 （可見於這則新聞右邊的圖像，也可以透過遊戲偏好來使用）。
我們希望你好好享受在遊戲中用合縱連橫來確立王權的樂趣！
