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Curious about the fourth game-play variant that is listed in the Gryphon Games edition but not in the Face2Face edition, I wrote to the publisher to inquire about the source of this new variant. To my surprise, I was informed that it originates with Sid Sackson himself!
What is Sid Sackson's "Speed" variant?
From the rules of the new edition:
"For a faster game, when a runner is entered or moved forward, it can never be placed onto another player's cone. Instead, it must pass over opponent's cones and onto the first vacant square available."
What is the origin of Sid Sackson's "Speed" variant?
When the publisher Gryphon Games took over the rights to Can't Stop and other games from Face2Face, they also got access to other Sid Sackson materials, including many of his original notes. While reading through Sid Sackson's papers about the game, Rick Soued of Gryphon Games found some of Sackson's personal faintly typed notes (complete with Sid Sackson coffee stains and penciled notations!) that detailed this variant, which Sackson called a "Jumping Variation". Rick kindly sent me a scan of Sackson's original paper, and gave me permission to post it here to share with the BGG community. I've adjusted the colours slightly to make it more readable.
An actual scan of Sid Sackson's personal typed notes detailing variations for Can't Stop
How does Sid Sackson's "Speed" variant play?
This "Speed" or "Jumping" variant results in a quicker game, because effectively you can leap-frog other players. This also means that being ahead on the track can sometimes be a disadvantage, because others can use your more advanced position to springboard into the lead or to win a column. This generates a somewhat more casual feel to the game-play, although it has the advantage of giving players who are behind a chance of catching up. While serious players of Can't Stop who rely on playing the numbers and optimizing probabilities will probably prefer the original game, the speed variant is ideal for families and children, or people wanting a faster and more furious game.
Isn't it wonderful to see great new things like this from great old designers still being discovered?!
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Jim Cobb
United States
Alpharetta
Georgia
visit rollordont.com for a free computer game with a challenging AI player!
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I came across this variant a few years ago, and incorporated it into my computer version, "Roll Or Don't" (http://www.rollordont.com). I call it "Leapfrog". It definitely changes the feel of the game, and changes the strategy a bit as well.
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Jens www.spielefreun.de
Germany
Bad Berneck
Overtext is really cool. The best 100 GG I've ever spent. Well. I'm actually bored with overtext. Why did I give all that GG away?
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Speed variant?
It's not like CS takes an hour...
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Andy Andersen
United States
Newark
Delaware
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"Isn't it wonderful to see great new things like this from great old designers still being discovered?!"
In a word, yes. Thanks.
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Ishai BD
United States
Mountain View
California
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Jim, I think the Roll or Don't "Leapfrog" variant is different than Sackson's "Jumping variation" (what Ender is calling the Speed variant):
In the "Leapfrog" variant, if I enter the 7 column and another player advanced there, say, 5 steps, then I get a big boost and enter after that player. In Sackson's "Jumping variation" I still enter at the beginning but if I am able to advance multiple times in 7 then on the 5th advance I do not place the white marker on the other player's marker but skip it.
In other words, in Sackson's variant, you only skip other players' markers but still need to do pretty much the full advance. In Roll or Don't's variant, you skip other players' positions and all the previous steps they have already covered.
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Jim Cobb
United States
Alpharetta
Georgia
visit rollordont.com for a free computer game with a challenging AI player!
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ishaibd wrote: Jim, I think the Roll or Don't "Leapfrog" variant is different than Sackson's "Jumping variation"...
Hmm, sounds like yet another variant, then! I didn't realize his version worked like that. Thanks for the info!
Jim
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Scott Russell
United States
Clarkston
Michigan
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We had a pinning variant that we played for a while.
If another piece was on top of yours in a column, you couldn't use that number.
It added an interesting twist.
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Mark McEvoy
Canada
Ottawa-ish
Ontario
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New discovery?
They're detailed in this rule file:
http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/2875/cantstoprules-pdf
That's been here on BGG since 2003.
Quote: Sid Sackson has released some variants we wouldn't want to withhold from the old and new
friends of this game.
For more exciting games with two or three players, increase the winning condition to four or five
columns (the game will last a little longer, though).
The two following variants can also be used, but not both at the same time:
A. If your marker lands on a space that has another player's colored square on it, simply skip that
space and place your marker on the next available space. This accelerates the game, especially
with four players.
B. If your marker lands on a space that has another player's colored square on it, you must roll
the dice again whether you want to or not, until your marker leaves the space with the other
player's colored square, or you "blow it". In this variant, as in variant A, there are no stacks of
colored markers, but this one can be quite "dangerous", especially with four players, because you
are virtually forced to take risks.
That file claims "Variants are from 1998 Franjos edition rulebook"
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thatmarkguy wrote:
Good catch! That does indeed make it appear that someone else has come across Sackson's notes on this previously and that it has now been rediscovered, unless of course Sackson had documented it elsewhere as well.
Still, it's nice to see an actual document that originates from Sid, coffee stain and all, and which offers a variant that has gone largely unnoticed. Given that editions of Can't Stop published in the last decade haven't included this variant (to my knowledge), I'm glad to see that the newest edition from Gryphon Games (2011) has added it as part of the rulebook.
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Tim Shippert
United States
Richland
Washington
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Regular Can't Stop has a serious player order problem (earlier players get more turns), so a variant that gives later players a boost might actually lead to a more strategic game - at least, the start player spinoff won't be quite so important.
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Patrick H.
Canada
Pierrefonds
Quebec
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I'm pretty sure that variant was included in the Asmodee edition.
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Franz-Josef Herbst (franjos)
Germany
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You are right, it was.
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Franz-Josef Herbst (franjos)
Germany
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The variants have been in all franjos editions since 1991 (including the actual one).
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Franz-Josef Herbst (franjos)
Germany
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Sid Sackson has have published these variants already in the German games magazine FAIRPLAY.
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