Ball Direction Logic

[MarkSteere]

Ball directions are from the perspective of the player on turn. So for example, my 2 is to my left. Your 2 is to your left.

Reasoning: Players sit on opposite sides of the board, facing each other, as one might expect in a game of opposing armies, like Chess, Checkers, or a soccer game like Jokerball. Players aren't snuggled up next to each other like lovebirds, on one side of the board.

Your direction mapping should be the same every time you play. Your 2 should always be to your left whether you're facing north or facing south. This is just common sense. There has to be consistency.

[Jellby]

In a digital implementation, does it ever matter what the mapping for your opponent is? I mean, for your own, you would like to know, before moving your man, in which direction you'll have to move the ball. But for your opponent? Who cares where is 3 or, for that matter, what they rolled? In a physical game I may want to make sure they don't cheat, but as long as the computer "decides" how far they can move a man and in which direction they can move the ball, I don't care what that decision is, only what the final moves are.

[MarkSteere]

I agree that, with regard to just playing the game, it totally doesn't matter what your opponent's ball direction mapping is. But in a recent game, my opponent said, "Ball roll was a 3. You moved it as if it were 6." I had to explain that, "My 3 is your 6. Our directions are opposite. Directions are from the perspective of the player. So for example my 2 is to my left. Your 2 is to your left."

Early on, in discussions with developers, one of them thought that Jokerball should be more like Go Goa, with one fixed direction mapping that looks different depending on where you sit. (I was surprised to learn about Go Goa, and that it uses a somewhat similar distance and direction mechanism. Small world.) I explained Jokerball's direction mapping logic, but he remained unconvinced.

Another developer misintetpreted the rules. He's actually highly intelligent, but just really got latched onto the wrong thing. It took a Herculean effort to pry him off it. The confusion was equally my fault, as it's surprisingly difficult to explain the separate perspectives unambiguously. Almost anything you say can be misconstrued as the exact opposite.

So, on the one hand, yes. You only have to understand how the direction mapping works from your own perspective. On the other hand, it really doesn't hurt to completely understand the direction mapping rules, and the logic behind them. If you had to teach the game to someone in real life for example, you'd want to know how it works.