Nipple

[nicko...@gmail.com]

Nipple:

An equal goals game without draws. I haven't tested it, so this is
basically just water-cooler chit chat.

For two players, played with black stones, white stones, and a single
red stone (called the Nipple), on a hexhex board. Player 1 owns the
black stones, player 2 owns the white stones.

1. The board begins empty, except that the Nipple occupies the
central hex.
2. Players take turns.
3. Each turn consists of two actions, which must be performed in the
prescribed order:

a) Move the Nipple to any empty space, with one restriction: you
cannot place the Nipple anywhere such that the largest white and a
black groups adjacent to it are the same size. If no legal Nipple
moves are possible, skip this step.
b) Place a stone of your color onto any empty space.

4. The game ends when the board is full.
5. The winner is the player with the largest group touching the
Nipple.

Also, because this game already has really stupid terminology, I
decree that any group of white or black stones touching the nipple
must be referred to as a Member. So the winner is the player with the
largest member touching the Nipple. I hope my mother never reads
this. Gulp.

However well this game turns out to play, it might be improved further
by placing further restrictions on Nipple Movement. I like the the
general idea though because the Nipple provides a nice psychological
focus.

[Don Woods]

nicko...@gmail.com writes:
> a) Move the Nipple to any empty space, with one restriction: you
> cannot place the Nipple anywhere such that the largest white and a
> black groups adjacent to it are the same size. If no legal Nipple
> moves are possible, skip this step.
> b) Place a stone of your color onto any empty space.
>
> 4. The game ends when the board is full.
> 5. The winner is the player with the largest group touching the
> Nipple.

Can't this lead to a draw where (say) white moves the Nipple next to
a white group of size N and a black group of size N+1, then adds a
white stone that grows that white group to N+1? I.e., the rule that
disallows the largest adjacent groups being of equal size seems only
to apply when moving the Nipple.

-- Don.

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-- Don Woods (don...@iCynic.com) Note: If you reply by mail, I'll get to
-- http://www.iCynic.com/~don it sooner if you remove the "hyphen n s"

[nicko...@gmail.com]

Yes, you are right, an additional restriction on how stones are to be
placed is required. Oversight on my part.

[nate]

(excuse me - cant resist)
one modification....

On Apr 21, 1:21 pm, nickobe...@gmail.com wrote:
> Nipple:

>
> For two players, played with black stones, white stones, and a single

> red stone (called the Nipple), on a hexhex board........[].......

Make it pink.

:-o

- nate