Octobenchy Balance Game

Give all those perfect and imperfect benchys a second lease of life, with this octopus benchy balancing game!

Printing Instructions

Everything can be printed using adaptive cubic infill for speed, 0.2mm layer height, and your favourite colour. No supports needed!

Print the octopus. 

Print the stand for the octopus.

Print a bunch of hooks, one for each benchy you have lying around to play with.

Setup

Place the stand on a flat surface and place the octopus on the stand.

Put the hooks and benchys in a pile to the side of the play area.

Do not play under water, even though benchys don't float, they don't really sink either.

Game Rules

The game is over when only one player remains in the game, or all benchys have been hung on the octopus.

Games may also end when one person gets the huff and storms out the room in frustration.

Object of the Game

The winner is the last player remaining, or the player with the highest score after all benchys have been hung from the octopus.

In the event of a draw, both players must donate some money to a local charity. Catholics must donate slightly more, because of the guilt.

Taking Turns

A turn consists of a player hanging a benchy on the octopus, either directly on a tentacle or indirectly (using a single hook) attaching it to an existing hanging benchy.

Players may only use one hand at a time when hanging a benchy. You can use all the fingers and thumbs on that hand, even if you have six, because whilst life was cruel at least they get to be useful for you until a local The Princess Bride production needs you.

No benchy can be placed where it will rest on the ground, because… I can't believe I need to say why.

No player may pass on their go, or collect £200.

A player's turn ends only when they have either successfully hung a benchy (not like a picture frame, on the octopus), or is out of the game.

Scoring

1 point is awarded for directly hanging a benchy on a tentacle. It was literally so easy, you should be lucky you got a point.

In the following example, all of these three benchys were placed for 1 point each.

Any benchy indirectly hung (using a single hook) to an existing hanging benchy is awarded 1 point for each benchy directly in a chain of benchys. This is increasingly a hard thing to do, so you may as well get more for doing it.

In the next example, the red benchy was worth 1 point, but whoever placed the yellow benchy got 2 points, because there were 2 in the chain.

On the next go, the person placing the green benchy won themselves 3 points.

But in this next example, both the person who placed the green benchy, and the light blue benchy, each only could have got 2 points because there were just two benchys in the chain to the octopus' arm.

Any benchy that falls and hits the ground either during, or within 5 seconds of a player completing their turn, costs that player -2 points. You also lose a little of your soul.

If the octopus falls off the stand within 5 seconds of a player completing their turn, that player is out of the game. Comfort them, but don't let them back into the game.

If someone knocks the octopus off the stand, they are out of the game. Clumsy people are good to play with for this reason alone.

Any player who falls into negative points, is out of the game. This is a good life lesson.