Blacksmithing

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A typical blacksmithing board. Click for larger view.

Blacksmithing is a crafting puzzle. It can be played in iron mongers. The puzzle is used to make swords and cannon balls.

Objective

The objective of the puzzle is to complete the board by striking each square three times. This is accomplished by following the movement tokens, either a number or a chess piece, on a square. When a square is struck three times, it is considered "complete" and may no longer be used. The crafting session is over either when all squares have been "completed" or when no move is available.

Gameplay

From left to right: hot, warm, cool, complete.

The player begins with a board of 36 red hot squares. Each square may be hammered on a total of 3 times over the course of the game. On the first hammering the square turns from bright orange to dark grey; on the second it turns silver; on the third the square disappears and is considered "complete."

The initial move may be made by hammering (clicking) on any one square. Which squares may be clicked next are determined by the symbol on the square just hammered as described below. Each time a square is hammered it is replaced by a new square stamped with a random symbol. This sequence continues until either all of the squares have been struck three times or there is no available move.

Movement Tokens

The blacksmithing indicators: 1, 2, 3, 4, Bishop, Knight, Rook, Queen, and Rum Jug.

The chess pieces may only indicate moves to the outermost squares shown in green. For example, the Bishop(blue) which may only move diagonally may next strike any of the 4 red squares.

There are two sets of movement tokens in blacksmithing: numbers (1, 2, 3, 4) and chess pieces (Bishop, Rook, Queen, and Knight). They indicate what squares may be struck next. If the destination square is already "completed" or is beyond the border, then a move can not be made. The destination square, if available, is signified by a pulsating light. The Rum Jug is a wild card, allowing movement to any square not yet "completed".

A number token indicates the distance between the original square and the destination square. For instance, if your last strike landed on a 2, then you may hit an available square that is exactly 2 squares away horizontally, vertically, or diagonally; a strike may not land on the square in between.

The chess pieces have the same movements as they do in chess: The Bishop moves diagonally; the Rook moves vertically or horizontally; the Knight moves in an "L" shape (2 x 1 squares or 1 x 2 squares); and the Queen moves diagonally, vertically, or horizontally. The difference of piece movement in blacksmithing as compared to original chess is that, with the exception of the Knight, the pieces always move to the border and cannot stop on any one of the squares in between. See the diagram to the right for a pictorial guide.

Scoring

Cascade List

Weld done! Get stoked! Forge ahead! Go hammer and tongs! Great cannonballs of fire! Saber Dance! Anvil Chorus! Excellent Caliber! Happy Hrunting! Vorpal! Master Stoke! Snicker-snack! Is Mjollnir your hammer? Skill of Wayland! Craftsmanship of Eitri! The sons of Ivaldi could not match your skill! This will be the envy of Hephaestus! A kraken-slayer!

Scoring is based on the degree of board completion and on two types of combos.

Board Completion

The degree of completion is measured by the number of completed squares, the number of remaining squares as well as the level of completion of these remaining squares. At the end of a session, a bonus message is given regarding the quality of the blade, which indicates the degree of board completion:

"Maybe use that one as a club"

"A hefty blade"

"Finely balanced"

"Keen edge"

"A masterpiece!"

Repetition

The first method is to hammer on the same type of movement token multiple consecutive times to form a repetition combo. For instance, hitting two 3s in a row will give a double, three in a row will give a triple, etc. This combo can be done with both numerical and chess movement tokens. Successfully executing these combos yields a message corresponding with the number of pieces of the same type hit consecutively: "Double", "Triple", "Bingo" (4), "Donkey" (5), "Vegas" (6), and "Vegas^x" (5+x).

Sets

The second combo requires clicking on four of each movement token type, either numbers or chess pieces, forming a set of the same type of pieces. For number tokens, if 1, 2, 3, and 4 is each clicked once in a single sequence, the game will give a notification saying "In the Rhythm." Correspondingly, by hitting each of the four chess pieces consecutively, the player will receive a notification of "Fancy Hammerin." The set does not need to be executed in any particular order, i.e. hitting 4, 2, 3, 1 also counts as a set. Hitting the numbers in order from 1 to 4 is usually referred to as a run.

Alternating Sets

Consecutive alternating complete sets of numeric and chess pieces with no other intervening pieces are awarded extra points. For example, completing an "In the Rhythm" combo followed immediately by a "Fancy Hammerin'" combo will generate "Weld done".

Progress Indicators

Blacksmithing has two types of progress indicators. The first one is overall completion indicator. Each square on the 6x6 board moves into different stages of completion each time it is struck. The color of the blade in the background gradually changes from red hot orange to smooth silver according to the overall percentage of square completion.

The second one is a combo type and completion indicator. It is displayed on the bottom left hand corner of the puzzle board, embossed into the anvil. This indicator reminds the player what type of movement tokens have been hit in the past few moves that may count towards a combo. This information is displayed in one of the following ways:

• A single piece that can be used in either a combo of repeated pieces or a set of numeric or chess pieces is displayed as the piece, an X, and the numeral 1.
• The same piece repeated many times as a repetition combo is displayed as the piece, an X, and the numebr of times that piece has already been hit.
• Multiple distinct numeric or chess pieces that form part or all of a set are displayed as each piece hit that is part of the set from left to right in the order in which they were hit.
  • When a set has been completed, a small hash mark is scratched below and to the right of the combo indicator. Each time a consecutive set of the opposite type is completed another hash mark is added. The scratches go away when the series of alternating set combos has been broken.

External/Other Links

• Commonly discussed ideas from Game Design
• Bia's announcement of the puzzle selected for "Blacksmithing"
• Discussion of the release of the Blacksmithing puzzle on Ice

Crafting Puzzles

Completed Puzzles: Alchemistry | Blacksmithing | Distilling | Foraging | Shipwrightery | Weaving Puzzles Under Development: Construction | Furnishing | Tailoring

See also: Labor