Tiles

From Sedes Draconis

Contents 1 Tile Games 1.1 Some Individual Games 1.1.1 Simple Games 1.1.2 Medium Games 1.1.3 Complex Games 1.2 Tile Dimensions

Tile Games

Tile games are a common past time of gnomes and some others. There are many different games of different levels of complexity that exist for a standard tile set.

A tile set consists of 105 tiles, indististnguishable by shape or back, but each with unique faces. Tiles are usually made of wood, sometimes bone, enamel, or closionné. They are thin, usually about .5cm thick, and trapezoidally shaped. The trapezoidal shape gives "top" and "base" edges which are easily distinguishable, which is important in some games. The top is around 2/3 as wide as the base and the two sloping edges are the same length as the base (see below).

Each tile is the unique combination of three characteristics: shape, color, and number. There are 3 shapes, circle, triangle, and square; 5 colors, usually black, blue, green, red, white (the exact five colors used are one of the more variable aspects of a set); and the numbers 1 through 7.

So a tile face might depict four red circles or one black square, etc. These characteristics can be combined in 5x3x7 = 105 unique combinations, thus the number of tiles.

Some Individual Games

Simple Games

• Jep
• Roads

Medium Games

• Haralv
• Whend

Complex Games

• Effian
• Jehasîn

Tile Dimensions

The main constant in tile shapes is that the length of the sloping sides of a tile are equal to the width of the base, since this proportion is important in some games. There is some variation in the other measurements of the tiles. Tile sets are usually made to approximate one of four standards: two based on the ratio of the base to the top, and two based on the ratio of the base to the height.

Quickly made sets are often made from a few strips of wood, cut at angles into individual tiles:

http://sedesdraconis.com/images/tile/tilecut.jpg

Using this technique, it is often easier to control the base to height ratio than the base to top ratio, by simply controlling the dimensions of the strip the tiles are cut from. The two standards which are based on this ratio are called the 141 and 142 Standards. The 141 Standard gives a 141/144 ratio between the base and the height, and the 142 Standard, unsuprisingly, gives a 142/144 ratio between the base and the height.

Though this creates a set dimensions easy to produce quickly, the dimensions have no obvious signifigance after production. For higher quality sets, or sets where for some other reason each set is made from seperate pieces, rather than from a strip, tile are usually made to standards based on the ratio of the base to the top. The two common ratios are 2/3 and 0.618 (φ, a ratio of mathematical signifigance).

The 142 Standard approximates the 2/3 Standard extremely closely, and is usually considered to be substitutable with no loss of quality. The 141 Standard does not do as well at approximating the φ Standard.

Standard	top/base ratio	height/base ratio	base angle*
141 Standard	85.52/144	141/144	31.31° (78.28°)
142 Standard	96.17/144	142/144	32.18° (80.41°)
2/3 Standard	96/144	141.98/144	32.16° (80.44°)
φ Standard	89.00/144 (0.6180)	141.35/144	31.60° (78.99°)

• Angles are given first in the angle measurement system used by the gnomes (144 degrees in a complete circle), then in degrees familiar to the readers.