Options: Strategic Game of Numbers

Options was a game that 3M apparently planned to publish in their bookcase game series, but it never appeared. At least one prototype exists. The game is played on a 12x14 grid. Each player has an identical set of number tiles (two each of 0-9) plus two "proxy" tiles and two blocking tiles. The board is seeded with the proxy and blocking tiles and then players take turns playing a tile or replacing a proxy with a matching regular tile and placing the proxy somewhere else. When a tile is played it must be next to or one space away from an "object" tile, and must either be one lower or higher than that tile, or equal to it if the play is on one of the starred spaces in the center. Points are scored for getting scoring tiles (those numbered 1, 3, or 7) in scoring rows; a scoring row is an orthogonal row of three or four of a player's tiles, but if there are three they must be in sequence (with wraparounds allowed). Points are also scored for creating situations in which the opposing player cannot play.