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The idea for Friedrich de Luxe was born in 2006, when I started to organize the 1st Friedrich World Championship. The basic question was: How can Friedrich be played without the army sheets? What method can be used to provide security against cheating during recruitment, troop transfer, and loss-taking while still maintaining secrecy, and, on top of that, be easy and comfortable for the players to use? |
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The answer were ordinary matchbox lids: For each general there was one; and the lid is put onto small wooden cubes. Each cube represents one troop. A player can check the number of troops of a certain general by lifting the lid a bit; his opponents will still not know how many troops are hidden under the lid. During combat both players will take away the lid and show the number of their committed troops. When transferring troops from one general to the other, the player shifts both lids adjacent to each other, lifts both slightly and can then transfer troops; his opponents will not see what is transferred; but they will see that troops are transferred between generals which are stacked indeed. When recruiting a player pays for the new troops, then his opponents close their eyes for a moment, and then the recruited troops are put under the lids of the recruiting player's choice. And, by the way, with the matchbox system no player is able to recruit troops beyond his nations permitted maximum, since the number of existing cubes is equal to this maximum. |
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This system was tested in 14 Friedrich World Championships. It is working wonderful. But it is even improved: Now, only up to 8 troops will fit under a lid, so that an unintentional overstacking with 9 troops is not possible. And, because the expansion works that well, it will also be available for Maria. |
Das Foto zeigt Material des Prototypen. |