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Forty Stories · episode 8 of 40

The Nine in the Middle

A hidden piece is powerful because it is a question. Answer the questions cheaply, and the game opens up.

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  1. Narrator: From Spark and Anvil and BluffForge — this is Pricetag, Decoy, Bluster, Matchley, Fairwell, Quillby, and Draftsy, in chapter 1 of the BluffForge cast.
  2. Narrator: This drama uses an AI-generated voice. Voiced via Gemini 2.5.
  3. Narrator: There is only one 9 in each army. This is the story of Blue's 9, in a forty-piece game around the Blueprint table.
  4. Blue Nine: I started the game by sending two Red pieces home. A 5, then a 6.
  5. Red Piece: It's their 10! It has to be!
  6. Quillby: Reason?
  7. Red Piece: It's winning everything.
  8. Quillby: It beat a 5 and a 6. So it's at least a 7. That's all we know. At least 7.
  9. Blue Nine: They didn't know what I was. I liked that.
  10. Pricetag: Then let's buy the answer cheaply.
  11. Narrator: A Red runner raced across and met the Blue 9. Both turned over. The runner went home.
  12. Blue Nine: And now they knew. A 9. Not the 10.
  13. Quillby: Reason: we saw it.
  14. Narrator: From then on, Red planned around the 9. They traded their 8s, kept their own 9 safe, and found Blue's Moonstone by reading which corner Blue kept guarding.
  15. Blue Nine: I was strong. But once everyone knew what I was, I was just a fact on the board.
  16. Narrator: A hidden piece is powerful because it is a question. Answer the questions cheaply, and the game opens up. That's the nine's story.
  17. Narrator: You've been listening to a Spark and Anvil chapter, written by the Spark and Anvil writing team for ages 9 to 14.
  18. Narrator: Apps stay free forever.
  19. Narrator: Curriculum aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
  20. Narrator: Released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 for educational reuse. Visit Spark and Anvil for the full transcript.

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