DVS Games

"Welcome, Senator," said the smiling biologist, extending a hand. "I trust you expect visiting this planet to be more interesting than most on your campaign trail."

"Er, yes," said the Senator, shaking hands while attempting to return a smile half as genuine as her host's. "The rodents you and your colleagues found on this colony world have become quite famous. How exactly did you discover that they were telepathic? The media reports are quite garbled."

"Sadly true," the biologist replied, "considering the amount of our time they waste with questions their lack of precision is a continual disappointment. More disciplines than science should require peer review before publication."

The senator looked uncomfortable but was silent. The biologist continued, "And after the press got ahold of that photo of one rodent with its mouth open the legend of the Thought Eaters fireballed." He sighed. "But as to your question, the rodents are small and cute and were initially kept as pets by some of my colleagues. We named them rotes, an abbreviation of 'rotund rats'. In fact they are more like hamsters, but the name 'rotunster' sounded ludicrous. In any case, the scientists who owned rotes noticed themselves frequently thinking that they desired to eat seeds. Apparently their pets were attempting to ask for food, but the animals are too primitive to project thoughts in the third person."

"Ah," said the Senator. It was one of her favorite phrases. It kept conversations going without offering commitment.

"Once we realized the cause of the strange seed-desiring phenomenon we developed many experiments to explore the extent of the rotes' abilities. Allow me to show you my favorite." The biologist led his visitor into the laboratory's corridors.

"The most successful experiment was a maze activity," continued the biologist as he walked through a twisting series of hallways and automatic doors. "Not only did it tell us a great deal about the extent of the rotes' telepathy but they enjoy it immensely and keep demanding more."

"How would you know?" asked the Senator.

"Two bits of evidence: my colleagues and I often find ourselves thinking how nice the maze activity is, and when the rotes win the game they do a little rodent victory dance."

"Ah," said the Senator.

"The rotes share an immature hive mind," the biologist explained, slipping into a lecturer's tone. "They share thoughts with each other but in an extremely clumsy manner. The maze game involves four of them trying to reach the center of the maze. They know the maze well, but have trouble planning their route because their thoughts intermingle. The rotes are cautious, only moving along their planned route if it includes three future turns or reaches the goal. If they cannot plan the next three turns they wait until their thoughts congeal into a more reliable plan. It is fascinating for us as spectators and apparently they enjoy the competition."

The Senator believed she understood what had been said, but still debated if saying anything other than 'Ah' was wise. Connecting with this colony planet's scientists might secure valuable votes. But if she spoke and made a fool of herself it would be disastrous.

The biologist apparently did not notice her indecision. His lecture continued, "At first we hypothesized that their thoughts conglomerated as one common pool. The maze activity proved that each animal does construct personal plans. But the thoughts involved in that plan are not stable, often being intentionally or accidentally modified by nearby animals."

They had arrived at a room with two other scientists administering the maze activity to four rotes. The Senator watched carefully, amused at how the small rodents would wrinkle their noses and wring their paws for a few moments before dashing forward a step or two. They were cute. The Senator remembered she had a bag of peanuts in her purse from the shuttle flight that brought her planetside. She took out the bag and snacked, suddenly hungry.

Thought Eaters is a quick, cute maze game. Each player is attempting to navigate a path to the center of the board. If all goes well this path involves seven turns. Players draw and play two "turn right" or "turn left" tiles each turn to represent their animal's own planning. Each turn players also can move one tile anywhere on the board. If your plan is good enough your animal moves along its path of tiles. You will need strategy and diplomacy to reach the goal first.