Wow, so very many messages! So very many ideas and thoughts to respond to!
Sorry to be slow in writing back but I'm a bit overwhelmed!
Before getting into specifics, I'd like to say thanks for all the feedback
and input. I've written a couple of other messages, which I'll be sending
along next, and I still have a lot of work to do in digesting all the
specific comments y'all have had about the wording on the packaging... I'll
get to that as soon as I can. Obviously, I want these rules to be as clear,
complete, and concise as possible, and it's also obvious that the space I
have is very limited. Some of your suggested rewordings are definitely too
wordy, but I'll do as much as I can.
That said, I'm a big believer in defining words by context and letting some
things go without explicit instruction when possible. For example, it has
been observed that the icons for Tip and Hop might leave some readers
thinking the moves can only be done to towers with just 1 or 2 pieces in
them. But do the thought experiment: If you actually tried to play that
way, you'd immediately realize this was an incorrect assumption, because
you could never do anything to your original Tree, other than swapping
pieces around within it. So I think that one is self-correcting.
Regarding Swap, that rule did actually change from the one version of the
rules to the next. I've been struggling with how that should work anyway,
and decided I liked best the way I found easiest to say: a piece only
reorients when it has to, which really is when it's going into a tower
after being on its side.
As for other topics, look for my next message...
Again, thanks so much for all your input!