Copyright (c) 2001 Wei-Hwa Huang
The game is played on a 11x19 half Go board, with the following initial setup:
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| An example If a player drops at cell [1] the ball moves to [2] reaching the goal line. The opponent must protect himself, by pushing the ball away from his first line, but he has a desperate position. For e.g., if he plays [3] then a drop at [4] wins the game. |
Wei-Hwa Huang also proposes some variants:
1. (Original PP) Players may pass at any time. If both players pass, it is a draw.
2. A pressor may be placed anywhere on the board, and not just adjacent to the ball. In those cases, there is no bumping.
3. Seed the board with a random arrangement of pressors.
The author published the game at r.g.a, in Nov 20, 2001:
Hi. While I was attempting to teach one of my friends,
Laning Polatty, how to play Conway's Philosopher's Football
(Phutball), he came up with a misinterpretation that
led to a strange game.At first we thought the game was uninteresting and lacked
depth, but tried it for a while, and could not find an
obvious winning strategy. Perhaps the denizens of this
group can try it out and see if it is a viable game.------------------------------
Polatty Pressure (Huang Variation)
Two players, taking turns.
The game is played on a 11x19 board (half of a Go board).
It uses one black token (which we'll call the "ball") and
an unlimited supply of white tokens (which we'll call
"pressors"). Players sit across from each other, with
one length-11 edge facing each player. The closer edge
is called the "goal line".Goal: To use pressors to push the ball to the opponent's
goal line.Rules: On your turn, you may do one of the following:
1. Place a pressor on an empty space adjacent to the
ball (including diagonally).
2. Pass your turn, but only if your opponent has not
just passed. (Therefore, by passing, you force
your opponent to play.)When a pressor is placed on an empty space adjacent to the
ball, the ball is "bumped" one space away from the pressor.
If that space is occupied by another pressor, then that pressor
is "bumped" one space further, and so on.
If a pressor on a goal line is bumped, it is bumped "off the
edge" and leaves play.
If a pressor on the edge of the board is bumped diagonally,
it "reflects" off the edge and bumps diagonally at 90 degrees
to the original direction.
If a pressor on the edge of the board is bumped horizontally,
it is pushed to the side (at 90 degrees to the original direction),
away from the player whose turn it is.---------------
Variants:
1. (Original PP) Players may pass at any time. If both players
pass, it is a draw.
2. A pressor may be placed anywhere on the board, and not just
adjacent to the ball. In those cases, there is no bumping.
3. Seed the board with a random arrangement of pressors.
