Maps and Minions

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Maps and Minions

Maps and Minions is a board game that is heavily featured in the plot of Strong Badia the Free. Strong Bad is placed under house arrest for an unbeknownst tax evasion charge, and the King eats his map in an extra attempt to keep him from leaving. Once he is able to destroy the invisible fence keeping him inside, he leads everyone else to Strong Badia and declares independence from The Municipality, and everyone else promptly secedes from the King's rule. Realizing he'll need a map, Strong Bad finds Strong Sad's Maps and Minions game there and modifies it to plot his course to take over the land and gain revenge on The Of Town. He also takes the money from the game and uses it as the official currency for his country, which he calls quesos.

[edit] Strong Bad's Maps and Minions game

Strong Bad's map serves as the in-game map, allowing him to travel to any countries colored red as well as any adjacent uncolored countries. The map is arranged such that his country is on top, and the Castle is on the bottom. The Cheat and Tirerea is an enclave of Strong Badia. Adjacent to his country are Bleak House and Pompomerania. South of Bleak House is the Homsar Reservation, and south of Pompomerania is Country. South of these two is Marzistar (sometimes called Homezipan), and Concessionstan (sometimes called Concessionstantinople) is centrally located. Outside of the Homsar Reservation, Strong Bad drew a dragon and wrote, "Here be Trogdors". After Strong Bad conquers these nations, he is able to make it to the Castle.

[edit] The King of Town's Maps and Minions Deluxe game

Once Strong Bad makes it to the castle, The King of Town willingly gives up and lets Strong Bad have the throne. Strong Bad quickly becomes bored to death. Once he finally convinces the King of Town to come back, he realizes that the King also owns a copy of this game, though his is the deluxe edition which has pewter game pieces and more locations. Unlike Strong Bad's own map, The King of Town's game serves as a full minigame which must be completed to end the episode. Strong Badia and The Castle are in the same places relative to the board Strong Bad was using, and Bleak House and Pompomerania are both still adjacent to Strong Badia. After that, however, are the locations Dullsville, Poopslovakia, and Stink's Reach. South of these are The Nameless Lands, Scalding Lake, and Place. South of these are Rotten Egglünd and The Embittered Crag. South of these are Country, An Open Field, and The Cave. South of these are Coachnya, The Stick, and the Homsar Reservation. Due to political unrest, Homestar Runner and Marzipan decided to divide their country into East Marzistar and East Homezipan, which remain in the last level before the Castle. Notably different on this map is that the locations of Country and the Homsar Reservation have been switched. Also, Concessionstan is notably absent from this map. Rather than sticking with the Homestarmy, Strong Bad decides to help the King and his forces get back to the castle.

[edit] Game Play

In general, the game appears to be played with each team taking turns moving as many or as few of their players as they would like one location in any direction. Players all start in a different location. If a player lands in a location that is already occupied by an opponent, they fight until one of them wins, and the loser retreats to an adjacent location. If a battle ends in a draw, both players remain in that location, but they are frozen there for the rest of the game, and the location is unreachable by anyone else. The goal is to challenge the other player's king without having their own king met by an opponent. The purpose of the game's money is not shown during the gameplay.

Specific to the setup as played by Strong Bad in the Of Town's Castle, Strong Mad stays within one spot of the Castle so as to defend King Strong Bad. If anyone challenges him, he knocks them all the way back to Strong Badia. If The King of Town is either challenged or challenges someone, he will admit defeat, and the game ends. He can remain undetected by following the Poopsmith, who leaves a stench cloud in whatever location he was in in the previous round. In Strong Badia the Free, the game restarts until the King can successfully make it to the castle undetected, in which case the game ends in a victory for the King.

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