Greed - putting game for 4 players

[stratedge]

"Greed" is a game we've been playing at our indoor putting league for 2 seasons now. It's been a big hit, and a significant improvement over the common basic game which we refer to as 'horseshoes', so I thought I'd share it for other putting leagues to try. The down side is that it requires enough space to allow for 45 ft putts, but I think the game would work just fine with only 4 lines up to 40 ft. It also plays well with 2 players alternating putts with 2-4 discs each. We play this multiple times with random doubles teams each time.

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Synopsis: Greed is a doubles based putting game that allows players to choose the distance of their putt, scoring more points
for greater distances, but still rewards consistency over distance. The unique element to the game is that only the team that
makes the most putts in each round will score points, but the farther the putts they made, the more points they will score.

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Setup:
1.1 - Five lines are equally spaced away from the basket at 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 feet.
1.2 - Points values for each line are 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 respectively.


Round format:
2.1 - Teams alternate turns putting, with each turn being 1 player putting twice.
2.2 - The team that is currently winning putts first (and third, the losing team second and fourth).
2.3 - If teams are tied, the team that scored points most recently goes first.
2.4 - For the first round, teams flip a disc to decide who goes first.
2.5 - For each putt, players may choose which line to putt from, and score the point value of the line if they make the putt.
2.5.1 - One exception is that the team which is currently winning the game may not putt from the 1 point line.

Round scoring:
3.1 - Only the team that makes the most putts (not points) in a round gets to add their round points to their game score.
3.2 - In case of a tie in the number of putts made, the team that scored the most points adds the difference between the
teams points in the round to their game score.
- Example: If Team A makes 3 putts for 10 points, and Team B makes 3 putts for 12 points, then Team B would add 2
points to their game score.
3.3 - If both teams score the same number of points on the same number of putts, neither team adds points to their score.

Game format:
4.1 - A game is comprised of 10 rounds, with 2 putts per person per round.
4.2 - Teammates alternate who goes first for their team each round. One player will go first on odd numbered rounds, the other
even.
4.3 - Most points wins. If teams are tied after 10 rounds, 1 additional round is played. In the overtime round, players may
never putt from a line that that would result in an equal score to the other team should they make the putt at any point
in the round.

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Rules version 1.1, last updated Mar 20, 2019.

 

[Ryan P.]

Seems solid. rule 2.5.1 is essential. I immediately saw that loophole when I read the synopsis. I have some questions about slight variations

I could also see it being played with just two people (4 discs apiece). Have you tried that, and if so, how'd it work?

Have you tried playing to a specific point total instead of having 10 rounds?

Concerning 4.3, I think you could improve the format for ties, but I don't think it's bad. My question is: have you ever run into people being frustrated with the "overtime" format?

I'm a big fan of having a "target" point total in overtimes. You could have a set amount of points that a team must reach in overtime (or use 1/2 or 1/4 of the points scored in the 10 rounds, which would scale for all skill levels, but that involves math, and ... yeah not everyone likes math). Then you could take turns in snake order (player 1 gets 1 turn, everyone else gets 2 including player 1 on subsequent turns) and whoever hits the point total first wins.

 

[Ryan P.]

Also, ever had someone just take and make 30' putts consistently? Seems like they'd be scoring 8 points most rounds.

 

[stratedge]

Hey!

Seems solid. rule 2.5.1 is essential. I immediately saw that loophole when I read the synopsis. I have some questions about slight variations

Yeah we call this the "anti-defense" rule, so that you can't hold opponents off going 4/4 from in close.

I could also see it being played with just two people (4 discs apiece). Have you tried that, and if so, how'd it work?

Yeah we play tested the game a bit with just 2 of us, and it's great if the players are relatively close in skill. If there's a significant skill gap, then just like any other sport the better player will dominate. But when the players are close in skill, it's a lot of fun and it's all about dealing with the pressure of clutch putts (which is great practice for tournaments). I think the game lends itself to handicapping fairly well.

We use doubles in all of our putting league game formats to be the grand equalizer. We play 3-5 rounds in a night and in each round teams are re-randomized. It spreads out the hope of winning because you can wind up with any kind of teammates.

Have you tried playing to a specific point total instead of having 10 rounds?

Yes but this is something else we've adopted as standard framework for all our putting games for the league format. We originally played to fixed scores and there was too much variation in how long games took. So a fixed number of rounds limits waiting around for others to finish. It's also the reason for the strange OT rule (4.3), so that tie games are broken within one round.

Concerning 4.3, I think you could improve the format for ties, but I don't think it's bad. My question is: have you ever run into people being frustrated with the "overtime" format?

Naw, because of the above. We've been doing putting league for 6 years; our participants understand a lot of why things are the way they are and we have a focus on keeping things flowing quickly.

If you're just playing for fun, I would ignore 4.3 and just play additional rounds until someone winds, like curling. That said, people have a natural tendency to go for the win with their last putt anyway... like if they could tie with the 5 point line, they'll go from the 10 point and it's a win/lose putt. So you arguably don't really need the rule, but I find with beginners who tend to miss a lot from every line, and strongly prefer the 1 & 2 point lines, it helps. For them, once someone bags one from the 1 point line, the other team/person has to start shooting from 2.

Our putting league is very beginner friendly, so that's more of a concern for us that most. Surprisingly often, we get people who come out for indoor putting who have never disc golfed! Way more often than you'd think. They just come for putting with a disc golfer friend and it's just like going bowling for them.

I'm a big fan of having a "target" point total in overtimes. You could have a set amount of points that a team must reach in overtime (or use 1/2 or 1/4 of the points scored in the 10 rounds, which would scale for all skill levels, but that involves math, and ... yeah not everyone likes math). Then you could take turns in snake order (player 1 gets 1 turn, everyone else gets 2 including player 1 on subsequent turns) and whoever hits the point total first wins.

Do whatever. A lot of it depends on logistics and who you're playing with.

If I didn't have time constraints, I would experiment with a format where you won once you had a lead of a certain size, say 40 points for good players. It would fit with the greed theme with players trying to close out the game quickly with big putts, or patiently by repeatedly winning rounds.

Also, ever had someone just take and make 30' putts consistently? Seems like they'd be scoring 8 points most rounds.

People have tried everything. The thing about shorter putts I find is that at 30', you're going to miss once in a while, maybe twice. At that point, the trailing team can match you and then use the extra putt or two to try for a 20 pointer. Unless there's a significant skill gap, people who try to defend too much often get caught. I'm pretty good from 30' if I only have to hit a couple, but round after round it's hard to keep that focus.

We have this guy at league who infamously only ever goes for 20 point / 45 foot putts, and is generally close but doesn't hit too many. He wins sometimes, but if you play smart by taking easy putts to counter out whatever he hits, you should beat him.

 

[Dan Cooper]

Sounds like a great idea.

 

[little oz]

Thank god there is no 12'-18' foot range. I regularly bonk those...:doh:

 

[stratedge]

So I just want to keep this up to date, but I can't edit my original post. After a group discussion and debate one evening, we decided to reduce the value of the 20 point line to 15 points, and it's been a good change.

This serves two purposes. The difference in distance between the 40 and 45 ft lines wasn't enough to justify doubling the points, and so the 10 point line in particular was not seeing enough usage. As should be expected with a putting league and the practice it makes fun, over time everyone became more confident from the 45 ft line and success rates went up. Games were starting to become a competition of who could hit and count the most 45 foot putts, with everything else being relatively insignificant. The reduction has successfully served to make 5 and 10 point putts more significant and therefore appealing. The second purpose is simply to constrain the size of leads that develop early.