Cubic

A very nice puzzle related to Sokoban. You drag stones horizontally, and when two or more of the same color are adjacent, they disappear. Gravity exists to pull your stones down.

Check http://www.agon.com/doodle/four.html and play online.

IQISHIQI example

[rules]

          J                 J   B
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu      ---------
     x x . . . .        1.  q6  h5
    x . . . . . .       2.  b5  h1
B  x . . . . . . x  B   3.  p5  j7
  . . . . . . . . .     4.  e2  k8
 x . . . . . . x . .    5.  d3  h7,ne
o . . . . . . : x . .   6.  r3  f1,se
 . . . x x . . x . .    7.  k10 p7,sw
  . . . . x . x . .     8.  n9  h9
J  . . x . . x . .  J   9.  m10 o8,w  
    x . . x x . .      10.  
     . . . . . .       11.  0-1
abcdefghijklmnopqrstu

A win with a 7 step move after a lousy play by J

Election Games (3/4)

Perhaps the best game with this concept is to use a larger hexagonal board and to simplify the turns into a 12* progressive mutator:

abcdefghijklmnopq    
    . . . . .     1
   . . . .   .    2
  . . . . . . .   3
 . . .   . . . .  4
.   .   . . . . . 5
 . . . .   . . .  6
  . . . . . . .   7
   . . . .   .    8
    . . . . .     9

Game sample:

     J's        B's
1:  --  e1    q5  e9
2:  h2  i7    i5  m9
3:  f4  m7    h4  n4
4:  b4  p4    d4  l4
5:  g1  k9    m1  i9
6:  i1  m3    n2  p6
7:  k3  g7    d8  h6
8:  i3  f6    k1  j2
9:  d2  f2    h8  k7
10  e5 k5     c3 g9
11  resign

abcdefghijklmnopq  
    j j j b b      
   j j j b   b    
  b . . j j j .    
 j b j b   b b j  
.   j   b j . . b  
 . . j b   . . b  
  . . j j b j .    
   b . b .   .    
    b b b j b    

Election Games (2/4)

Hexagonal boards are very nice to play these games, since they have 3 natural directions.

3-HEXAGONAL ELECTION (121)* progressive mutator

On each move fill any empty cell or cells with your symbol.

In a hexagonal board there are three directions (in the following board, one horizontal and two diagonals). The actual board has some cells removed so that all lines have an odd number of cells (to prevent draws in the ownership of those lines):

abcdefghi  
  . . .    1
 .   . .   2
. .     .  3
 .   . .   4    
  . . .    5

A majority friendly cells in a line win that line for that player.
A majority of parallel lines win that direction for that player.
A majority of directions win the game for that player.

Game sample:
                B's      J's
abcdefghi     ================
  j b j    1.  f2       c1  e5
 .   b b   2.  b4       h4
. b     j  3.  f4  h2   g5
 b   b j   4.  e1       g1  i3    
  . j j    5.  c3       resign


Election Games (1/4)

SIERPINSKI ELECTION

On each move fill a cell or cells with your symbol. The number of stones dropped follows a 121 cycle (ie, one stone, then two stones, then one stone, and so on). In short, we say it uses a (121)* progressive mutator.

Two friendly cells in a small triangle win that triangle for the player.
Two won small triangles in the same large triangle win that for the player.
Two won large triangles for a player win the game.

The notation is, top-triangle = 1; bottom-left = 2; bottom-right = 3;
and largest triangle = 1st co-ordinate down to smallest = 3rd co-ordinate.

Game example:
      J's      B's
1. 111       222 333
2. 213       311
3. 123 231   221
4. 312       211 233
5. 313       212
6. 323 121   131
7. resign

             j
            . .
                            
          j     b
         . j   . .
        ___________          
      b \         / b
     b j \       / j j    
          \     /  
   b     j \   / .     .
  b .   . b \ / . j   . b
            
The name is due to the way committee membership can be fiddled so that a strategically-placed minority can still win an election! The idea and these games by Bill Taylor.

This election principle can be extended to more games (check next posts).

Trabsact Sagme Diaries

Every action closes open doors. [T.Sagme, Meditations]

Royal Hand-Grenade Chess

Same as chess, except there is no direct take allowed, on each move all opposite pieces at King distance are captured, the one who captures the king wins

Sample Game:

1. e3    e6        9. b4:b5   Qc7
2. Bd3   g6       10. Nc3     Bb7
3. d3    Nf6      11. Nd5:de6 d6:d5
4. Nh3   Ng4:h3   12. Ba6:ab7 Qc2:cd1
5. h3:g4 Bd6      13. Rc1:c2  Ra7:a6
6. g3    b6       14. Rc3     Nd7
7. d4    c5:d4    15. resign
8. c4:c5 b5:c4

. . . . k . . r
r . . n . p . p
. . . p . . p .
. . . . . . . .
. O . . . . . .
. . R . O . O O
O . . . . O . .
. . . . K . . R

1-11 REVERSI

The scoring and moves of the game are exactly as at standard reversi,
with the four initial moves in the four centre cells.
From the second turn onwards, each player plays a move for himself, one for his opponent, and another for himself, to constitute his turn.

Game sample:

  =xx==oo=  
1. d4  e4
2. e5  d5
3. e3  d3
4. c4  f3
5. d6  d7
6. e2  b4
7. c5  d1
8. e1  f1
9. g2  h3
10 h1  f4
11 g5  g3
12 a4  g1
13 c1  e6
14 f5  h6
15 h2  b5
16 h4  a3
17 f6  a5
18 d8  g4
19 g6  c8
20 c3  f2
21 b8  g7
22 h8  h7
23 b6  h5
24 d2  g8
25 f8  c2
26 f7  e8
27 b3  b2
28 a1  a8
29 b1  e7
30 c6  a2
31 a6  c7
32 b7  a7

1-0 (35-29)

Final Position:

a b c d e f g h

x x x x x x x x  1
x x x x x x x x  2
x o x x x x x x  3
x o o x x o o x  4
x x o x o o o o  5
x o x o o o o o  6
o o o o o o o o  7
o o o o o x x x  8

Corners are much easier to grab, since players may drop an opponent stone on any valid empty cell. There are much more traps on each turn, and the possibilities for each move are quite large.

Trabsact Sagme Diaries

Sometimes we need to cross doors that may lead to defeat, just to close them behind. [T.Sagme, Meditations]