APPENDIX C

 

C.1 SHORT DESCRIPTIONS OF SEVERAL GAMES

 

This appendix contains brief descriptions of some less well-known games mentioned in the text.  Rules for several popular games like backgammon, bridge, chess, checkers, hearts, Othello can be found at [http://www.playsite.com/games/].   

Rules for go can be found at [http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~wjh/go/rules/AGA.concise.html]. 

Rules for scrabble can be found at [http://www.math.utoronto.ca/~jjchew/scrabble/rules/nsa.html]

 

Awari

This is one of many variants of Awari.

 

f

e

d

c

b

a

 

4

4

4

4

4

4

North

4

4

4

4

4

4

South

A

B

C

D

E

F

 

Figure C.1 - The initial position of the Awari board, four stones per pit (48 stones in total)

Two players sit opposite each other.  On your turn, select a non-empty pit on your side of the board. "Sow" the stones in that pit around the board, dropping one at a time counter-clockwise into each pit.   If you choose a pit with enough stones to go completely around the board (12 or more), the original pit is skipped and left empty.   If the last stone is dropped into a pit on your opponent's side, leaving that pit with 2 or 3 stones, you capture all the stones in that pit. The capture continues with consecutive previous pits on that side, which also contain 2 or 3 stones.  If all the opponent's stones are captured, it is called a "Grand Slam", and ends the game.   If all your opponent's pits are empty, you must make a move that will give him a move. If no such move can be made, you capture all the remaining stones on the board, ending the game.  The game is over when one player has captured 25 or more stones, or both players have taken 24 stones each (draw), or a position is repeated, in which case each player captures the stones on their side of the board. The winner is the player with the most beans [Levy 1989].

 

Chinese Chess

Chinese Chess has two players.  Each player has rooks, knights and pawns, and each of these move in nearly the same way as their equivalents in Chess. However, Chinese Chess also has elephants, guards, and cannons.  The object of Chinese Chess is to checkmate the enemy king.

 

Chinese Chess is played on a board, which contains 64 squares. However, in the middle, there is a river. Also, the pieces are placed on the intersections of the lines, called points, and not in the squares, as in International Chess. Thus, Chinese Chess is played on effectively a board of 9 x 10 points, rather than on a board of 8 x 8 squares.

 

On each side of the board in Chinese Chess, there is a palace. Neither the king nor the guards are allowed to leave the palace. Also, the enemy kings are not allowed to "see" each other directly across the board.

[http://www.ishipress.com/cc-rules.htm]

 

Connect-four

Connect Four is a two players game which takes place on a 7x6 rectangular board placed vertically between them. One player has 21 yellow men and the other 21 red men. Each player can drop a man at the top of the board in one of the seven columns; the man falls down and fills the lower unoccupied square. A player cannot drop a man in a column that is already full (i.e. it already contains six men).

 

The object of the game is to connect four men vertically, horizontally or diagonally. If the board is filled and no one has aligned four men then the game is a draw (i.e. after 42 moves if no one wins).

[Levy 1989][http://attila.ce.unipr.it/~gbe/cn4rules.html]

 

Draughts

Draughts is similar to checkers.  However, it is played on a 10x10 board, and men can capture backwards.  Also, kings can capture pieces that are not adjacent and the king may land on any square on the line opposite the captured piece.  In addition, when available, a player must make a move that captures the most pieces.  For example if a player could capture one piece or three pieces, the player must capture the three pieces even if the result is a worse overall position in the game.

 

Go-Moku

Each player uses either black or white "stones." In this version, players use a 19x19 inch grid. The object of Go-moku is to create a row of exactly five stones (but no more) on this grid, while trying to deny your opponent the same accomplishment. This is done by blocking your opponent's stones with your own.

 

Getting more than five stones in a row does NOT meet the conditions for victory. In other words, completing a row of six or more stones does not cause you to win, and the game proceeds. You must form a line of exactly five stones to win.

[http://www.playsite.com/games/board/gomoku/]

 

Nine Men’s Morris

The board is made up of three concentric squares connected by intersecting lines in the center of each of the square's sides. Players start with nine pieces off the board. Each player takes a turn to place one of his pieces at one of the intersections. If a player forms a line of three, one of the opposing pieces is removed from play by taking it off the board. Wherever possible the piece taken should not be taken from an existing line of three.

 

When all pieces have been placed on the board, the players move the pieces around one intersection at a time. On completion of a line of three, an opposing piece is taken as before. Forming a line of three is called forming a 'mill'.  The winner of the game is the player who removes all the opponent's pieces.

[http://www.game-club.com/jav10-10/nmmrules.htm]

 

Qubic

Qubic is a three dimensional game played on a 4x4x4 cube.  Its well-known two-dimensional analogs are tic-tac-toe, go-moku and renju.  Players move alternately by occupying any empty location. The winner is the first player to get four in a row.  There are 76 different possible winning lines [Allis 94].

 

Renju

Renju is played between two opponents on a 15x15 board with 225 intersections. The players alternate placing black and white stones, much like the game Go-moku.  However, Renju has many more rules than Go-moku. The winner of the game is the player who is the first to attain five in a row.  There are several other ways for white to win.  More details can be found at [http://www.playsite.com/games/board/renju/]

 

Senet

The game is played on a 3x10 board between two players.  The player who moves their seven pieces off the board first wins the game.  Movement is determined by throwing four sticks, each of which are marked on one side.  There are five possible combinations:

            1110:   Move one piece and get an extra throw.

            1100:   Move two pieces. End of turn.

            1000:   Move three pieces. End of turn.

            0000:   Move four pieces and get an extra throw.

            1111:   Move five pieces and get an extra throw.

There are other rules dealing with forced moves, landing on opponent pieces and special locations on the board. Detailed description can be found in [Ferrer 96]

 

Shogi

Similar to chess, shogi uses a 9x9 board.  At the beginning, each side has one king, one rook, one bishop, two lances, two knights, two silver generals, two gold generals, and nine pawns, for a total of 20 pieces in all.  The most significant features of shogi are that when a player captures one of the opponent's pieces, that piece becomes a part of his or her army. The piece can then be dropped back onto the board.  The other major difference is that, in shogi, almost all pieces have the option of promoting to a stronger piece just by reaching the seventh rank.

 

C.2 Other Games

The rules for most Military War Games are far too lengthy to be reproduced in this paper.  For example the rulebook for Middle Earth: War of the rings is twenty-eight pages, the board is 37x44 and each player has over 100 pieces.  However, "Battle for Moscow", an excellent tutorial for Military War Games in general, was designed by Frank Chadwick and can be found at [http://www.grognard.com/bfm/index.html].