With World Cup qualification having just wrapped up, I've had it in the back of my mind to host a game (or a few) using a soccer ball for the map. Obviously it's not a serious variant but rather a whimsical one that may appeal to fans of both the Beautiful Game and the Bastardly Game (Dip). If I had 16 volunteers, I could even set up a playoff Not to mention I have visions of a penalty-kick style tie-breaker format...

With 32 spaces, the soccer ball has inherent qualities for a small, quick variant. And the uber-symmetry means that totally equivalent positions can be designed for 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, or 12-player games.

I'm thinking the map would have 12 centers. I am also thinking that the pentagons would be sea spaces (though nothing says they have to be).

The good news is that I have the maps half set up already. I could distribute them viewed from the 'north' pole, the 'south' pole, a world wrap-around map, and (my favorite) Google Earth (in which case, the players could manipulate the globe to look at the map as they please).

My problem is that I have no variant design background. And so I'm unsure which map to start with (I have four candidates with different SC locations), how many centers to start each player with, and (perhaps most difficult) how to arrange canals/rivers to connect the sea spaces.

Anybody want to help?

Anybody want to play(-test)?

Adam