NETWORK

Copyright (c) 19?? Sidney Sackson

This game is played on an empty 8x8 square board (each player has 10 stones offboard):

GOAL AREAS - Black has the six middle cells of the top and bottom row as his goal areas. White has the middle 6 cells on the right and left column. The corner cells cannot be used. NETWORKS - A network must contain at least 6 stones which are connected (unobstructed path) to each other along straight lines, either orthogonal or diagonal.  Only one piece in each goal area can count as part of the network A piece cannot be used twice in a network A network may not pass through a stone without turning. An enemy stone placed in a line between two friendly stones breaks the connection. DROP PHASE - At each turn, each player drops a stone on an empty cell. A stone can only be (orthogonal or diagonal) adjacent to just one friendly stone. A stone cannot be in the enemy goal areas. A stone cannot be in the 4 corner cells. MOVE PHASE - When all stones are dropped (And the game didn't end yet), each player moves a stone into an adjacent empty cell, subject to the same restrictions presented in the drop phase. A stone cannot make a move which would result in both players completing a network at the same time. GOAL - Wins the first player that completes a network joining his two goal areas.

 

An example The black stones do not complete a network, they use one stone more than once (the marked stone). The red marks show the open connections.

In his Gamut of Games, Sid Sackson wrote that the first player as a "decided advantage". I would suggest using the PIE rule after 3 or 5 drops.

David Ploog comments: We've played this game a lot; the decided advantage for the starting player certainly exists. Thus the second player will find himself defending throughout the drop phase. Therefore he tries to combine this with attacking moves. This is the fun of the game. [...] Perhaps the board should be 10x10 or 12x12 (and the connection longer) in order to offset the advantage a bit.