Treasure Drop

Treasure Drop is a two-player betting game. Players take turns dropping coins onto a series of levers. Points are scored when coins reach the bottom of the lever system. The number of points scored depends on the number of coins reaching the bottom and where they land&mdash;typically, the edges are worth much more than the center.

Treasure Drop is free to play two days a week.

Controls
Treasure Drop is played with the mouse. Players can choose any of the entry slots seen at the top of the board by hovering over one of them with their mouse. Clicking the mouse button drops the coin, and the game action commences. An hourglass next to each player's head shows how much time remains to play in that turn. If time runs out, a random slot is selected.

Falling coins and flipping switches
A single coin will fall in a straight line until it either:
 * hits the empty pad of a switch, where it will come to rest.
 * hits a coin resting on a switch pad, in which case it will bounce to the other side of that switch.
 * reaches a point slot at the bottom of the board, which will score that point value.

If a coin falls onto one or more other coins while falling (not counting coins resting on pads), the coins will combine to form multi-coins. It is possible to form doubles, triples, and even quadruples.

Multi-coins continue to fall until they:


 * hit the empty pad of a switch, where one coin will come to rest while the other(s) will roll over to the other side of the switch.
 * hit a coin resting on a switch pad, in which case the multi-coin will bounce to the other side of that switch.
 * reach a point slot at the bottom of the board, which will score that point value multiplied by the number of coins in the multi-coin.

When a coin (or a multi-coin) passes through a lever, the switch will flip exactly the number of times as the number of coins. So, a single or triple coin will cause the switch to flip an odd number of times; a double or quadruple will cause the switch to flip an even number of times.

Each switch has two sides: the pad, where a single coin can come to rest; and the lever, which changes the direction of the switch (swinging the pad to the other side). The mechanics of switching are as follows:


 * if a coin lands into the empty pad of a switch, the switch stays in the same position.
 * if a coin or multi-coin passes through the lever side of the switch, the switch will flip once for each coin. So, a triple coin causes three quick flips.
 * if a coin was resting on a pad of a switch that is switched, that coin is tossed into the air. However, it will only fall if the switch flips an odd number of times.

Rounds and scoring
Each game is played in four rounds. Each round has a point total that must be reached or exceeded by one player to move to the next round. Coins remaining on switches will start in the same position at the start of the next round. Round targets for the default rules are:
 * 10 points for round one
 * 40 points for round two
 * 20 points for round three
 * 80 points for round four

The point values for the bottom slots also fluctuate with each round. From left to right, they are as follows:
 * Round 1: 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
 * Round 2: 34, 21, 13, 8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 (Fibonacci numbers)
 * Round 3: 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
 * Round 4 (normal scoring): 64, 49, 36, 25, 16, 9, 4, 1, 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64 (Perfect squares)
 * Round 4 (4th round halved): 32, 24, 18, 12, 8, 4, 2, 1, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 18, 24, 32 (half of normal, rounded down, except for center two positions)

When either player reaches the target number, his or her opponent can drop one more coin that round before the next round begins. A coin meter below each player shows his or her relative progress towards the goal. When the game is over, the treasure chest above the coin meter of the winning player opens up to reveal a chest full of treasure.

Rule variations
Treasure Drop can be played in many different ways:


 * Time variations : The standard time per move is 30 seconds, but this can be adjusted by the player issuing the challenge or creating the parlor table to 1 minute per move or 2 minutes per move.


 * 4th round halved : In order to lessen the chances for a single drop determining the outcome of the fourth round, players can choose to play with the point values in the bottom slots halved for the fourth round only.


 * Variation in the number of drop slots : An option has been added to Treasure Drop for players to choose the number of drop slots: 6 or 10 instead of the standard 8. This option is only available on the Ice Ocean.


 * Turbo : When playing with Turbo turned on, players have only five seconds per move and the animation speed is greatly increased.


 * Holes : When playing with Holes configuration turned on, "warp holes" will appear randomly across the board. If a coin drops into one, it is warped to another hole and continues falling.  However, this is negated if the coin about to fall into the hole "doubles up" with a coin bouncing up from a switch triggered below.
 * In certain very rare cases, endless loops are possible with specific combinations of holes. One such loop may be seen in action in the image to the right.

Strategy
It is important to score with multiple coins from a single drop; preferably on the outer edges of the board. However, since round 1 scores are all 2 points, the first round is played differently from the rest. It is also important to consider what a move will allow the opponent to do. A large scoring drop that gives the opponent an even bigger drop is counter-productive. A higher level strategy involves forcing the opponent to create large scoring opportunities.

When playing holes, winning the first round gives one the first chance to hit "lucky" holes that appear at the beginning of the second round, which makes the first round much more important in holes than in normal play.

Historical notes

 * When Treasure Drop was first introduced, players could wager a small amount of money per piece that they dropped in the game. This was removed in the next update.


 * Several rules variations were added in.

External/other links

 * Treasure Drop guide
 * Commonly discussed ideas from Game Design
 * Official game documents