To decide on what our version’s board will look like, we need to compare the two boards we have seen: The Prototype and The published board.

The Prototype

These three images give us all the info we need on the board state of the Prototype. We can see that there are four levels of height divided into five segments of the board. Drawing them out, we get this:

these colors have nothing to do with the color affiliations

Counting that out, it’s 38 terrain hexes. 4 more then the Rulebook states is in the game. This is actually okay, since two of those hexes don’t actually have a terrain hex on them, but a black cone.

So where are the other two problems? Looking over it, it seems like there are only three hexes in the grey section. That, combined with not counting the end “Cone of Decision” space as a hex would give us exactly 34!

This is the finished map of the Prototype. It does not include the hex colors, but they’re not as important at the moment.

Published Version

We don’t have as good of a look at the Gryzzl board, but it’s easy to extrapolate from the design by using the pattern of the board: a spiral with water hexes in between.

I’m feeling pretty good about this one. We decided in an earlier part to say that the major differences between the published version and the prototype was that the published version included the “Expansion” noted in the rules. There are 40 expansion hexes and 34 base game hexes. Luckily for us, the grey main board and green offshoot add up perfectly to 34! But what of the expansion? The yellow and red areas add up to 31 terrain hexes, not 40. Where are those 9? Well, if you take a look back at the screenshots, you’ll notice three of the hexes in the red area have hexes stacked on top of each other. There are a grand total of… 8 hexes… But wait! if we look in the third image, just below the raised area, we can catch a glimpse of another offshoot! This one not printed to the board, but lain out! We can tell there are at least 5 there, which brings our total over 40, but let’s not count the stacked hexes, because they never move during the course of the game so the player will only ever step on one of them. We don’t know how far that offshoot goes, so lets pretend it is 9 hexes large to appease the number gods. If we add that to our board we get:

The Compromise

Fortunately for us, these two maps are very similar. The second map is a little more linear then the first, but also includes more fun pieces. I also have to think about what I am able to build realistically. I really enjoy the two tiered system that the Published game uses, but I think the mountain style of the base game would be more manageable. But I would like to use all the locations of both boards? If we turn the Grey and Green areas of the board into one area, the “Main Board”, that leaves us with Yellow, Blue, and Red areas. We can turn the Yellow and Blue areas into other offshoots, which we should name. The Yellow area in the published version is on a white board, so let’s call it “The Hinterlands”, which you can move into by entering a lucid dream. That way we can use that gag made in the Gryzzl episode as an actual rule. The Blue area we can call The Caves of Cal’thusil, which can be entered through tunnels marked in different locations on the main board. The green area, also technically an offshoot, we can call the “Isle of Illusion”, as it is partially separated from the main board. It is reached by travelling across a ferry, which can only hold one mini per turn. Lastly, we have the red area. Noticing how it perfectly fits the shape of the main board makes me want to do something with parallel universes. Perhaps it is called Erihsnud, the Mirror Dimension. You phase into it from any point on the main board where there is a corresponding mirror dimension hex. This would cost some sort of currency, but not much. Unfortunately, we will not be able to put Erihsnud on top of the Main Board. We’ll put it off to the side instead.

Essentially, we’re going with the layout of the Published board, in the style of the Prototype.

Sorry to cut this one short, but we’re going to have a part 2 on the board, as there is so much too it and yet Animal Crossing just came out. You know how it is. See you next time where we examine the actions we are able to do on the board!