Rules for a new game - "Push"
Steve Bateman
(http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~tusk/pbmserv/index.html,
or email mailto:pbm...@vtsu.prc.com with a subject of "help")
when I had an idea for a new game, called "Push".
I have attached a copy of the rules, and would appreciate any feedback
on the game, especially on:
1. Has anyone ever heard of, encountered, played a game like this
before?
2. Is the game concept OK - would you want to play a game?
3. How well does it work in two-player, three-player or four-player
mode?
Thanks.
_______________________________________________________
Steve Bateman sbat...@mayfield.hp.com
(all my own opinions - not the opinions of my employer)
**********************************************************************
The Game of Push
================
Description
-----------
Push is a two-, three- or four-player game played on an 8x8 square
board, each player playing with counters of a single color. The aim
of the game is to have a line of your color appear on the board.
Rules
-----
1) The board is an 8x8 square, and is empty at the start of the game.
2) The game may be played by two, three or four players.
3) Each player has an unlimited supply of counters of a single color.
With two players, player one plays white, player two plays black.
With three players, the third player plays red.
With four players, the fourth player plays green.
4) Play begins with player one, and proceeds in turn through
player(s) two, three and four, then back to one again (and so on).
5) Each player must make one move on their turn (there is NO
passing).
6) A move consists of "pushing" a counter onto the board from an edge
position. The push may be horizontal, vertical or diagonal, but
must be away from the pushing edge toward another edge of the
board (so from the top, the push can be toward the right, the
bottom or the left - SE, S, or SW on a compass - but cannot be
parallel to the edge - E, W - nor away from any other edge - NE,
N, NW).
7) "Pushing" a counter onto the board may move other counters already
on the board as follows:
a) If the edge position is empty, then no other counters are
moved.
b) If the edge position is not empty, then all connected counters
in the direction of the push are moved one square in that
direction.
c) Only connected counters are affected by the push.
8) Any counter pushed off the edge of the board during a move is
returned to the player playing that color (there are no captures).
9) After each move, the board is examined for lines (horizontal,
vertical or diagonal) of a single color. With two players, the
lines must be five counters long, with three or four players, the
lines must be four counters long. A player wins when a line of
their color appears on the board, as follows:
a) If a player makes a line of their color as a result of their
move, that player wins.
b) If a line of another other color is made as a result of the
move, then the player playing that color wins.
c) If lines of two or more colors are made at the same time, then
the player whose turn comes next wins, starting with the
player who made the most recent move (so if player one moves,
and makes two lines, one for player three and one for player
four, player three wins - players one and two do not have a
line so do not win).
Push Notation
-------------
To record a game, the following notation is used:
The board is labeled as follows:
Top
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
+-----------------+
1| . . . . . . . . |1
2| . . . . . . . . |2
L 3| . . . . . . . . |3 R
e 4| . . . . . . . . |4 i
f 5| . . . . . . . . |5 g
t 6| . . . . . . . . |6 h
7| . . . . . . . . |7 t
8| . . . . . . . . |8
+-----------------+
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Bottom
Moves are given as <origin><direction> where
<origin> is <side><square> (<side> is TBLR, <square> is 1-8),
<direction> is a compass direction (N, NE, E etc.)
The following example moves are legal:
R4W - Push a counter on at the right side square 4, toward the
left side of the board.
B5NE - Push a counter on at the bottom side square 5, toward the
right side of the board.
The following example moves are not legal:
T5E - Push must be "away" from the edge - East is parallel to the
top edge.
N4W - There is no 'N' side.
R4E - Push must be toward another edge - East is away from the
right edge.
Moves are recorded as <turn> <origin><direction> where
<turn> is incremented each time a move is made
<origin> and
<direction> are as above.
Dylan O'Donnell
>I was looking through the games on Richard's PBeM server
> (http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~tusk/pbmserv/index.html,
> or email mailto:pbm...@vtsu.prc.com with a subject of "help")
>when I had an idea for a new game, called "Push".
>I have attached a copy of the rules, and would appreciate any feedback
>on the game, especially on:
>1. Has anyone ever heard of, encountered, played a game like this
> before?
>2. Is the game concept OK - would you want to play a game?
>3. How well does it work in two-player, three-player or four-player
> mode?
I played a very similar game to this on the Spectrum once upon a time
(damned if I can remember the name, though). The significant
differences were:
1. Played on a 7x7 board.
2. Could only push in from the S and E edges, not N and W.
3. Could only push orthogonally.
4. Grey counters meant that spaces were pushed as well.
5. Only for two players (one of which was the AI)
It was part of a four or five game compilation, and was by far the
best of the bunch (well, I liked it anyway)
Alas, poor Speccy...
--
DACOD (psm...@nix.mechnet.liv.ac.uk) : "It really doesn't matter if it's
[dyl...@demon.net if that fails] : only idle chatter
Demon Internet Ltd, slave deck. : Of a transcendental kind!"
A.k.a. Psmith (elsewhere). Badger? : - W.S.Gilbert, _Patience_
Brian Dysart
Dylan O'Donnell <psm...@nix.mechnet.liv.ac.uk> wrote:
>Steve Bateman <sbat...@mayfield.hp.com> wrote:
>
>>I was looking through the games on Richard's PBeM server
>> (http://www.daimi.aau.dk/~tusk/pbmserv/index.html,
>> or email mailto:pbm...@vtsu.prc.com with a subject of "help")
>
>>when I had an idea for a new game, called "Push".
>
>>I have attached a copy of the rules, and would appreciate any feedback
>>on the game, especially on:
>>1. Has anyone ever heard of, encountered, played a game like this
>> before?
>I played a very similar game to this on the Spectrum once upon a time
>(damned if I can remember the name, though). The significant
>differences were:
>
>1. Played on a 7x7 board.
>2. Could only push in from the S and E edges, not N and W.
>3. Could only push orthogonally.
>4. Grey counters meant that spaces were pushed as well.
>5. Only for two players (one of which was the AI)
There's a Mac shareware game very similar to this; having just discovered
the PBEM server I was going to suggest it as a possible new game. The
game's called Tara, programmed by Dijkstra and van Dijk (who I think are
also Egyptologists). It differs from the one Dylan described in a few ways:
1. The board is 5 by 5.
2. Pieces are pushed from N or W, N first.
3. Pieces can only be pushed in existing rows or next to an existing row;
N starts with piece in the upper left corner.
4. The board is initally blank, instead of the grey pieces. The presence
of such pieces would dramatically alter the gameplay (I'm assuming
the board would start full of grey pieces).
5. If you push an opponent's piece off the board, you cannot push in that
row on the next turn. You can freely push your own pieces off.
6. The victory conditions are different: instead of a straight line, you
try to make a path from edge to edge in the direction you're pushing.
This doesn't have to be in a straight line; pieces in the path can be
connected orthoganally or diagonally.
The game can be played with two human opponents or against the computer.
When playing against the computer there are many skill levels, and you
must progress through each, winning a certian number of games before
advancing. The game can probably be found at any Sumex mirror.
--
Brian Dysart | Ours is not to reason why...
bert...@netcom.com | "...and eight for the fruit bat."
Martin M|ller Pedersen
>I played a very similar game to this on the Spectrum once upon a time
>(damned if I can remember the name, though). The significant
>differences were:
>1. Played on a 7x7 board.
>2. Could only push in from the S and E edges, not N and W.
>3. Could only push orthogonally.
>4. Grey counters meant that spaces were pushed as well.
>5. Only for two players (one of which was the AI)
>It was part of a four or five game compilation, and was by far the
>best of the bunch (well, I liked it anyway)
>Alas, poor Speccy...
Spectrum LIVES!
Anyway a lot of theory of the game is in this book:
Computer games / David N.L. Levy, ed.
New York : Springer, 1988. - 2 bd. : ill.
lk = '681.3.019'
ISBN 2-90-0077
I think it is part 1 of the book but I am not sure.
Gary Duke
>I played a very similar game to this on the Spectrum once upon a time
>(damned if I can remember the name, though). The significant
>differences were:
>1. Played on a 7x7 board.
>2. Could only push in from the S and E edges, not N and W.
>3. Could only push orthogonally.
>4. Grey counters meant that spaces were pushed as well.
>5. Only for two players (one of which was the AI)
>It was part of a four or five game compilation, and was by far the
>best of the bunch (well, I liked it anyway)
>Alas, poor Speccy...
rather good, but had a tendency to fall into small repeating cycles until you
decided to vary. Also there was an option to use the computer board for
human-human play.
[Note: having just been on holiday I haven't seen this thread before this
posting...]
--
Gary Duke, Maths Dept, King's College London, Strand, WC2R 2LS
Email: G.A....@kcl.ac.uk, UDA...@kcl.ac.uk "Gods play games with the
fates of men. But first they have to get all the pieces on the board,
and look all over the place for the dice."(Soul Music, by T Pratchett)