Initiation Into Thought

Set's Ladder can be a game of chance, like a slot machine, or a puzzle game with specific rules and clues in the instructions.

Building a Set's Ladder

To initiate into the discipline of Thought you need to design a game of Set's Ladder and then get enough people to play it so that its poularity reaches 100. It is constructed on a 14 block pyramid which has been "rigged". Note that you do not have to build the pyramid or rig it yourself to pass the initiation. There are many people willing to lend or rent pyramids that are rigged with Set's Ladders for the purposes of passing the initiation; eg House of Bes Pyramid Rental guild.

If you do want to rig your own, the cost is:

• 100 gold wire
• 1 large gear
• 26 small gears
• 13 fine glass rods
• 4 Queen's tomb of each gem type.

The idea is to design a game that is interesting, fun, and/or rewarding so that people will want to play it several times. The steps in design is specifying the probabilities of which colors of blocks 'win' versus other colors of blocks, how many blocks someone playing will get to use to attempt to clear the pyramid, the ante/reward, victory conditions, and instructions for playing.

There's a nice example of how to design a Set's Ladder on the atitd.net forum.

Playing a Set's Ladder

Starting a new game will require an ante of a specific type of item specified by the builder. Most Set's Ladders are built more for fun than profit and since they are always located on sand, sand is a very common ante.

After beginning the game, you will receive a specific number each of various colors of blocks. The general idea is that based on where you are standing when you choose a block, the block you choose will climb its way up the pyramid attempting to destroy other blocks until it is stopped by one that cannot be destroyed. The objective to win is either to clear the top or sides of the pyramid (or both). Specific colors will destroy specific other colors of blocks, however some Set's Ladders will have random chances of a given color destroying another, so more than one attempt with the same color may be neccessary.