There is something strange in this game, this is not the game I played before
I played this game in Richard's Pbem server These are the rules, with a difference in the jump movements. Infact you have to jump with the "horse move" too. For example from A1 you can jump also in B3 and C2
Object of the Game The object of the game is to have the majority of your colour discs on the board at the end of the game. A Minute To Learn Black places two black discs and White places two white discs as shown in Figure 1. The game always begins with this setup.
A B C D E F G 1 o . . . . . x 2 . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . 4 . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . 7 x . . . . . o Figure 1
A move consists of either a "growth" or a "jump". A growth is when you select one of your pieces and place a new piece in an empty adjacent space, including diagonally. A jump is when you select one of your pieces and move it to an empty space that is two position away. This includes diagonals and "knights moves".
j j j j j j g g g j j g . g j g = valid "growth" destinations from the center j g g g j j = valid "jump" destinations form the center j j j j j
Once placed, any opponents pieces that are adjacent to the new piece (either through growth or jump) are flipped the to the moving player's colour.
If you are unable to move on your turn, you are skipped. There is a chance that your opponent may be forced to make a move that will let you move again.
pedrored: I've been doing a little digging. Every page I find with Ataxx rules specifies a square area that you can jump to, so it includes the knight-type jump. Seems like the rules were not entirely correctly interpreted when it was implemented here but that's for Fencer to say something about and correct if that's the case.
Since you've played this before, what's your oppinion about the difference in the rules? Does it make the game easier, harder, more biased towards one of the players...?
pedrored: I can see no reason why we can not have a version (maybe called Knight ataxx) where we can use the knight move. Who wants to suggest it on the Feature Request board ?
pauloaguia: Looks like I misinterpreted the sentence "Player take turns to move any one of their pieces to any square up to two steps away, including diagonally." I don't like what a rules page does not contain screenshots or diagrams, because there are more ways to understand the phrase "two steps away". However, I can add this rule to the current implementation of Ataxx here.
furbster: I also think that both versions could coexist. But the one with the knight-jump should be the one called Ataxx. Otherwise you'd just confuse people coming here for the first time, especially if they already know how to play the game. Name the current one Straight Ataxx or whatever, but don't give an alternate name to the standard rules. Fencer: To avoid regular mixups of rule changes in the middle of the game, and to avoid restarting all games all over again, maybe just rename the current one and create the real ataxx version as a new game, if you decide to do so. Of course that would imply retranslating some tokens... :/
joshi tm toimetatud (26. september 2006, 15:18:34)
Fencer: I would like to see one of the game have at different border color (already happened, but still not at Extinction Chess). By the way, would an Anti-variant on the ORIGINAL Ataxx game be interesting?
MadMonkey toimetatud (29. september 2006, 13:14:11)
furbster: I joined in the discussion on that last night in Tounaments. I think something needs clarifying in the Rules to be honest. The question is, Is it game over ? or should there be a pass ? The Rules state, that a player can not make any legal move. Now, it is the end of the game anyway, BUT you could still move and win so it would not of been a draw. If this had happened half way through the game (i.e. your opponent can not move) in theory this should be a pass, as such, because on your next move you could easily free a space by moving one of your pieces should you wish to do so.
joshi tm: So why carry on playing it ? In essense my opponent is just passing (playing a pointless move) until i win. If that was used in the game discussed below, the game would not have been a draw.
MadMonkey: Your opponenet would not get a chance to pass. They would have 1 more move, then after that the game would be over since they would no longer be able to play, and at that point - the player with the most pieces (you) will win.
I agree with the rule, it makes the game interesting - kind of like chess - you can be killing the person and have 10 pieces left, while the other player just has their king left - but if you mess up and not place them in check and they have no legal move, it is a stalemate (draw) since they are unable to move - even though you should win, just one of those rules you have to be carefull on... just like here - if you are going to block your opponent in, make sure you have more pieces then they do.
BIG BAD WOLF: I can see both sides of it. I just think its odd where when posted that, i still had about 12 spaces to fill and my opponent could NOT get anywhere near(at least 2 of my pieces between him and empty spaces). He still had about 7 places left, which if i wanted to i could jump to, but whats the point, the game was won, is all that was happening is we were wasting time just filling the board up. why would i jump threatening my own position when the game was in theory & practice over. Oh well, funny rules that can just waste time i guess.
joshi tm: lol, i know what a draw is, but also i feel that there could be a pass and white could play again. If you look at rule for Ataxx on other sites this is what happens, but there are sites where the rules are the same as here.
joshi tm: Random obstacles would be great, i have seen that version somewhere else on the web....hmmm, cant think where now I think we should have them in L of A & Scrambled variations.
Groeneveld: It is the same game, BUT it is black to play. Black can not go so the game ends. I did put forward the idea that it should be a pass, the white could play and win. Passing seems to be in all Gammon games & Ludo etc... but not in Ataxx or Assimilation. Seems odd to me. If they were going to allow draws in the game, surely the board would have an even number of squares.
Groeneveld: It's the way MadMonkey says, it wasn't my turn. My opponent'couldn't move, the game ends, and the score of twenty-four against twenty-four resulted in a draw.
Anti Ataxx (where capturing is compulvasory over other moves) or Ataxx 9x9(more time to prepare for the battle) or an Ataxx variant where you may only clone orthogonally, and jump L's or diagonally.
Well for Anti Ataxx, there would have to be some more special rules - otherwise at the end of the game, if I had the last move, I wouldn't just "clone" a piece to take the last spot, but I would jump - making my opponent take the next shot. (And if he was smart, he would do the same) - making an endless loop of each player making the opponent take the last/next move. Then would the rule be capturing the most, or any piece? If so, on my first piece, i would jump out in the middle to make my opponent capture it, and then try to do the same with my 2nd piece, and let the game end after 4 moves. Maybe I'm not playing it correctly in my head - but someone would need to sit down with a board and play some test games to see how anti-ataxx would work.
Ataxx 9x9 - no opinion.
Ataxx variant - clone orthogonally - jump L's or diagonally. Not sure what clone orthogonally - but can't we already jump L's or diagonally? I think i'm lost on this idea.
I've been thinking about this one for awhile, and think it would be a nice addition to the Ataxx game (A some-what popular game, in the top 25% of games played at this site!)
Dark Ataxx
You can only see the squares that are directly next to your own piece. This could allow a player to make some jumps to attack early without being seen, or setting back with a good defense without being seen.
Moves like normal - you can clone your piece into any surrounding space.
SPECIAL RULE - You can "Jump" like normal 2 spaces into a dark square. The special rule is if you jump onto your opponents piece, you lose the piece. If you jump into an open space, your piece stays there like normal, along with changing any surrounding pieces to your color.
special end-game rule: If there is no longer any visible spaces to move your pieces, game is over. Unlike in ataxx if you can jump to a free space you must, since all these will be hidden - the game will end.
joshi tm: Well I know I'm not the most skilled at many games - and having the board "dark" I feel gives me more of a chance against skilled players who may already know how to beat me on move 5.
A "dark" board will allow me a chance to make some unexpected moves in the hopes to throw the other player off.
coan.net: Any other opinions about Dark Ataxx? I think this would be a pretty unique variant.
You can only see the squares that are directly next to your own piece. This could allow a player to make some jumps to attack early without being seen, or setting back with a good defense without being seen.
Moves like normal - you can clone your piece into any surrounding space.
SPECIAL RULE - You can "Jump" like normal 2 spaces into a dark square. The special rule is if you jump onto your opponents piece, you lose the piece. If you jump into an open space, your piece stays there like normal, along with changing any surrounding pieces to your color.
special end-game rule: If there is no longer any visible spaces to move your pieces, game is over. Unlike in ataxx if you can jump to a free space you must, since all these will be hidden - the game will end.
I just happened upon this site. I was shocked to see any types of draws being considered. I learned on the Leland machine, which simply let the winning player fill up the board. I noticed the odd number of squares and though this was a specific design to avoid draws.
As Chess is my primary game, I am becoming disenchanted with Draws By Agreement. The draw-less nature of the LeLand version appealed because it would absolutely end in a decision.
If I had to play variants, I do not enjoy disallowing knight moves, etc. That simplicity-flexibility is what gives the game the large number of results per ply, and also taxes the calculation powers of the players.
I would be amused to see a "double-start" variant that gives players both corner pieces and near-middle pieces so that the chaos can begin immediately.
I also came to appreciate how the blocked squares alter the game boards.
i am in a game now where i can make a move giving myself 26 and my opponent 20 pieces, my opponent can only make 1 move after that making the score 24-23 in his favor .. my opponent cant make a move after that .. will the game stop there or can i still make 1 move (as its my turn) bringing the score to 24-24 ?
Hrqls: The game will end when a person is NOT able to make another move. So if your opponent moves, you will still get a move - since in theory you might open up a space for them to move. If you don't, and then the game will go back to them - see no move is possible - and the game will end.
This is how I BELIEVE it should work - 95% sure..... but not 100% sure.
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