Einstein, do not get angry!

This is an online educational game for 2-4 players. Besides this another person should act as a leader. His role is to establish the environment and to put questions to players from time to time.

This game is a  derivative from well known Ludo game or its alternative the Flying chess. In contrast to these games the dice here has an additional side with the image of Einstein. If the dice falls to this picture, the leader should ask a question to the current player. In the case of the correct answer let him continue, otherwise he blocks him until the next round. The leader can invent the questions  directly or he can use a prepared quiz.. The quiz consists of several files, which should be uploaded to the server  at the beginning of the game.

The difference is also in  game rules. Since this is an educational game it can be limited by time and the winner is who achieves the major number of  points.

At the same time multiple "game-tables" can be open.

Game leader
Player

"Einstein, do not get angry" is translated into several languages:
Language WEB page WEB page
Slovenian Leader Player
English Leader Player
Italian Leader Player
German Leader Player

     



Game rules

Starting  the game

The leader starts the game by opening his webpage. The server assigns him a numbered table (M1, M2, M3, ...). He can then upload (all) files that make up a quiz.

 2 to 4 players access  their player's webpages, enter the name of the selected game-table and choose one of the free colors. Already selected colors  are marked yellow.

The leader starts the game by clicking on "Start Game" button and at the first player a button "Throw the dice" appears.

Close to the hangar is the runway. The fields on the playground represent  possible intermediate stations, ending with the final station, indicated as a triangle.

The usual objective of the game is that the player first get all of his planes on the runway and then as soon aspossible to the final station.
Given that the game is educational it makes more sense to agree to a specific time of the gameplay and at the end of the count, who is to score more points. Otherwise the game could  last too long and lose the educational meaning.


Running the game

To move the aircraft on runway, the player must throw number 6. If a player has outside the hangar at least one plane, he can choose which plane to move.
The aircrafts are moving across the path in a clockwise direction. The length of the shift determines the value of the dice. If a player gets  throw 6, he can throw it again, or moves a new aircraft on runway, and then throws again. The player can have more planes  at the same place (the box on the path) thus forming a "stack". If the plane of the player lands on the place that is already occupied by a plane of another player such (attacked) plane must be returned in its hangar.

If the plane lands on the stack of planes of another player,  all planes in this stack should  return to the hangar. If the plane lands on a place colored with his color,it jumps ahead to the next place of the same color.

 If the plane lands on the launch pad (of the same color) , it makes a long jump, following  the dotted line.

When a plane reaches the final segment with its color, it continues to go to the center of its final station. Its travel is completed when it reaches the final station. If the value of the thrown dice is too large for the landing in the final station, it "rebounces" the appropriate number of places.. The first player who puts his 4 aircrafts at the final station, ends the game. The game can b ealso  concluded  by the leader when a predefined time period expires.

While playing, all the participants can see the status in a table, as shown by the figure below:




Of particular importance is the score, which you can see in the last row. At the end of the game the winner is the one who reaches the maximum number of points. Points represent the sum of all the positions of the planes of the player, and to that are added to the points which the player achieved with his answers to the questions.


Asking questions

When a player rolls the dice with a picture of Einstein, the game returns to the leader. He asks a question (that  opens randomly). If he  is satisfied with the answer of the player he clicks the green button "Correct answer", otherwise, the red button, "the Wrong answer". Every correct answer incereases the score of the player by 10 points.

In the case of a wrong answer the leader assigns the  dice to the next player. In the case of the correct answer, however, is considered  as the player  throws a 6 and he can continue with the game (can  place on a new aircraft to the  runway or move a plane for 6 places and again roll the dice)


Creating and uploading a quiz

The quiz is represented by a file "index.xml", that contains (in xml  format) a collection of questions with corresponding illustrations and correct answers.  All pictures should reside in the same directory together with index.xml file. A compressed demo example (in Slovenian language) of such quiz can be found in the file  KVIZ_DEMO.zip  (This package should be decompressed on our local computer).

Building of xml files could be difficult. Therefore we can use a small editor program entitled "QuizEditor.exe" (or QuizEditor.jar),which facilitates writing of such quiz. QuizEditor can be downloaded on our local computer (without  installation).

Upload QuizEditor.exe or QuizEditor.jar

After the leader opens a game-table he can upload his prepared quiz (ALL its files) by clicking on the corresponding button (Upload quiz). 

When the leader closes the game-table (leaves his webpage) the server program removes all files of the uploaded quiz.

Additional information
Additional documentation (in Slovenian language) is here
Author of the game: Saša Divjak (sasa.divjak@fri.uni-lj.si)