QUADRAPHAGES
Copyright (c) 2007 Bill Taylor, Joćo Pedro Neto
The game is played on a 9x9 square board.
- MOVE - On each turn, each player must do the following sequence of actions:
- moves his stones rookwise, the previous number of cells;
- announces a new number (between 1 and 8);
- moves his stones the new number of cells.
- When a stone leaves a cell, it marks it with its own colour.
- A stone may not land on a marked or occupied cell, or leave the board.
- Given a number, stone must move if it can; if not, it remains stationary.
- If possible, a player must choose a number that allows at least one stone to move.
- Intervening own-pieces or marks of either type do not block a move, but opponent pieces do. The first turn begins with operation (2) & (3) only.
- GOAL
- The game stops when all four stones in succession fail to move; then the winner is whoever has the most marked cells.
Here are two sample matches:
_Bo_ _Jx_
1. .... .... 1 c1b1 g9h9 a7b7 i3i2 3 b7b4 i2f2
2. b1e1 h9e9 3 e9b9 e1e4 ---- f2c2 4 b4b8 c2g2
3. b9f9 e4a4 8 a4i4 f9f1 ---- ---- 6 g2a2 b8h8
4. f1f7 i4c4 2 c4c6 f7h7 ---- h8f8 4 f8f4 a2e2
5. h7d7 c6g6 2 g6g8 d7d5 ---- f4h4 3 e2e5 h4h1
6. g8d8 d5d2 7 d2d9 d8d1 h1a1 ---- 4 a1a5 e5i5
7. ---- ---- 5 d1d6 d9i9 a5f5 ---- 4 f5b5 i5i1
8. ---- d6h6 3 h6h3 i9i6 b5b2 ---- 6 i1i7 ----
9. ---- h3b3 3 b3b6 i6f6 ---- ---- 6 b2h2 i7c7
10 ---- ---- 3 f6f3 b6e6 h2h5 ---- 5 h5c5 ----
11 ---- f3a3 3 a3a6 e6e3 ---- ---- 3 c5c8 ----
12 ---- ---- 2 e3c3 a8a6 resign
x o o o o o . x x 1
x x x o x x x x x 2
o o O . o o . o x 3
o x o . o x . x o 4
x x x o x x . x x 5
O o o o o o o o o 6
x x X o . o . o x 7
o x X o . x o x . 8
. o . o o o o o o 9
a b c d e f g h i_Jx_ _Bo_
1. .... .... 8 a7i7 i3a3 c1c9 g9g1 6 c9c3 g1a1
2. i7c7 a3a9 3 c7c4 a9d9 a1d1 c3f3 7 d1d8 ----
3. ---- ---- 5 d9i9 c4h4 d8i8 f3f8 2 i8i6 f8h8
4. h4h2 ---- 4 h2h6 i9e9 ---- i6i2 7 i2b2 h8a8
5. e9e2 h6a6 6 e2e8 a6g6 a8a2 b2b8 6 a2g2 ----
6. ---- ---- 5 g6b6 e8e3 b8g8 g2g7 5 g7b7 g8g3
7. b6b1 ---- 4 b1b5 e3e7 ---- ---- 2 g7g5 b7d7
8. b5d5 e7e5 1 d5d6 e5e6 ---- g5g4 3 g4d4 ----
9. ---- ---- 1 d6c6 e6f6 ---- d4e4 3 e4b4 ----
10 ---- f6f9 4 c6c2 f9f5 b4f4 d7h7 4 h7h3 ----
11 ---- ---- 3 c2f2 f5i5 ---- f4i4 4 h3d3 ----
12 ---- ---- 8 ---- i5a5 ---- i4a4 2 d3b3 ----
13 a5c5 f2d2 5 ---- c5h5 resign
o x o o . . o . . 1.
o o x X x x o x o 2.
x O o o x o o o x 3.
O o x o o o o x o 4.
x x x x x x o X x 5.
x x x x x x x x o 6.
x o x o x . o o x 7.
o o . o x o o o o 8.
x . o x x x o . x 9.
a b c d e f g h iHexaphages is the hexagonal variant, which also works:
abcdefghijklmnopq
x o o o x 1
o o x o x o 2
. o o . x o o 3
. o o x x o o o 4
x O x x x x o x x 5
o o o o o x o X 6
X o o x x O x 7
. X o o x x 8
x . O o x 9
abcdefghijklmnopq
_Jx_ _Bo_
1. .... .... 1 e5g5 k7l8 g7h8 m5n6 6 n6b6 h8n2
2. k3e9 ---- 4 g5o5 l8h4 g3o3 b6j6 1 o3n4 j6h6
3. h4j4 o5q5 4 q5m9 e9a5 h6d2 n2f2 7 d2k9 ----
4. ---- ---- 4 a5e1 m9i5 ---- n4j8 5 j8e3 k9f4
5. ---- ---- 4 j4f8 e1m1 ---- e3m3 2 f4d6 m3k1
6. ---- ---- 1 i5k5 m1l2 k1j2 f2g1 5 d6i1 j2e7
7. ---- ---- 2 l2h2 k5i7 ---- e7c5 3 i1l4 g1d4
8. i7o7 ---- 6 o7c7 i2n8 ---- ---- 2 d4f6 l4p4
9. ---- n8l6 2 ---- l6p6 l4p4 d4f6 3 p4m7 f6i3
10 ---- ---- resignMuch of these games' interest lies in the tension between the different usefulness of having men in the centre (more directions and at the edges (can go further). This restriction of moves on a hexboard seems to work better.