This page links to a computer version of Avalanche.

Avalanche

Avalanche is a game for 2 to 6 players, manufactured by Parker Brothers. It is available from Toys R Us and other shops. It uses a mechanical apparatus and a set of marbles. However it is probably best regarded as a board game, as it requires almost no manual dexterity, and the result of any action is, at least in principal, predictable.

The BoardGameGeek site has a description of Avalanche, with a picture of the actual apparatus. You can read the Rules of Avalanche as a .PDF file, which is really just a set of scans.

The rules describe four games that can be played with the apparatus.

The Beginners Game is intended for small children, and is in my opinion uninteresting.
The Standard Game is similar to the beginners game, each player having a card or cards specifying what to collect.
The Expert Game I ignores the colours of the marbles, and is in my opinion dry and abstract.
The Expert Game II is, we have found, much the most enjoyable.

This site implements the Expert Game II.

If you find it doeesn't work with the sound on, try it with the sound off.

Rules of Avalanche – Expert Game II

The rules of Avalanche, Expert Game II, are as follows.

A player's turn consists of dropping one or more marbles, one at a time, in through the holes at the top of the apparatus. You cannot drop another marble until all the others have stopped moving. As soon as any marbles drop out at the bottom of the apparatus, they are all returned to the current player, whose turn ends, and it becomes is the next player's turn.

If, at the end of a player's turn, all their marbles are the same colour and there are at least five of them, then that player has won.

If a player runs out of marbles, and is therefore unable to to drop one in at the top when required by the rules to do so, then that player has lost, and the game is over.

If, at the start of a player's turn, they have few marbles, and there is no way that they can use them to cause any to drop out at the bottom, then they may pass. It then becomes the next player's turn.

If, however, there is a way that they can cause at least one marble to drop out at the bottom (other players may point out such a way), then they must take their move in the usual way.

This implementation of Avalanche – Expert Game II

Dropping the Marbles

In this implementation, the player whose turn it is is indicated by a yellowish background. If this background is flashing, the player should select a marble to drop, by clicking on it. Once the player has selected a marble, the holes at the top start to flash. The player may then click on one of these to drop the selected marble. If a player changes their mind about a marble before dropping it, they may click on another to select that one instead.

The PASS option

If, at the start of a player's turn, they have few marbles, and there is no way that they can use them to cause any to drop out at the bottom, then they may pass. To do so, they should click "Pass". It will then become the next player's turn.

If, however, there is a way that they can cause at least one marble to drop out at the bottom (other players may point out such a way), then they must click "Play" and take their move in the usual way.

PASS PLAY Help

Browser dependencies

The game should work on most recent browsers. To play, click here.

It uses javascript. For it to work, you will need javascript to be enabled in your browser. It does not need any other browser plug-ins.

It will continue to work when you are disconnected from the internet.

My own experience with different browsers, on my WindowsXP system, is as follows.

Browser	Does the game work?	Does the sound work?
Internet Explorer 5, 6, 7, 8	Yes	Yes. (I use Windows Media Player.)
Netscape/Mozilla 1.6	Yes	No. But installing a different WAV file player might fix this.
Mozilla Firebird
Mozilla Firefox
Opera 5, 7	No	The sounds play themselves, all simultaneously, at every opportunity.
Opera 9	Yes	No
Safari	Yes	No
Google Chrome	Yes	No

Differences between this implementation and the real game

This implementation	The real game
Players are forced to take their turns in order	Players are physically able to play out of turn
Players can only drop the marbles in through the holes	Players are physically able to drop the marbles in anywhere
The marbles sometimes pass through one another	The marbles are constrained by the laws of physics
The marbles never get jammed in the gates	The marbles can get jammed in the gates. This unpredictability, in my opinion, makes the real game more fun
A player who does not like what happened is unable to change it	Players are physically able to prod the apparatus with their fingers and change its state
You can select the 1-player game. It is possible to lose this, but not to win it.	The rules say "2-6 players".

This page is part of weddslist.
See also Nick Wedd's home page and his maps at maproom.org.