SEND IT
Copyright (c) 2004 João Pedro Neto
The game is played on a 8-sided hexagonal board:
- GROUP - A set of connected stones of the same color.
- A group has no liberty if there is no stone within the group adjacent to an empty cell.
- CONTROL - A player controls a cell if the adversary cannot drop a stone there.
- TURN - On each turn, a player drops up to 4 pieces on empty cells. Such cells must be on an orthogonal line of sight of a friendly piece already on board (the cells in between being empty).
- Drops are sequential, not simultaneous.
- None of the new stones may be part of the same group.
- Groups with no liberty are captured.
- Initial turn: On the first move the first player drops one friendly stone on an empty cell. Then the second player drops three friendly stones on empty cells. Then, the game proceeds as stated.
- GOAL - When both players pass, the winner is whoever has more controlled cells plus pieces (like the Chinese Go scoring).
The rule that says that drops are sequential implies that a player may drop a first stone and then use it as line of sight to drop the next stone.
An initial game Black started. This is the game after three complete turns.
The last Black and White moves are marked.
This game is a restricted variant of Go (a player can only drop stones where he is able to 'see') which is compensated by the possibility of dropping four stones per turn. This provides a tool for quick invasion of almost surrounded areas, leading to complex tactical battles. The another drop restriction (one stone per group per turn) prevents the quick formation of living groups (i.e., groups that cannot be captured because it controls at least one cell). For example, the marked white stone at d7 and the white c8 stone are virtually connected, because Black cannot drop in a single turn two stones at c7 and d8 because they would be in the same group, violating a drop restriction.
Send It can also be played on a square board, using the same rules (adjacency is only orthogonal not diagonal). However, it is easier to make safe structures (to control a cell only needs four stones, instead of six). So, this variant was tested with the following extra rule: "An isolated enemy stone with just one liberty can be pushed into that empty cell while the player drops a friendly stone on that now vacant cell".
Next are shown some matches, played by João Pedro Neto and Bill Taylor:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABC Billx Joao
=============================
o . . x x . . . 1 w6 gw10 p13
. x x o x o x . . 2 n3 h5 v11r13 nz7 x11 q14
. x o o x o x x . . 3 g4 l5 t3 w12 q12 f7 y6 j5
o x . o x x . . x . . 4 px5 j7 g8 r5 i6 e10 k8
x x x o x o x o . . x x 5 i2 o4 k6 d7 u12 k4 n5 i8
. . o o x o x x x x x o o 6 h7 o6 t15 v13 m26 p3 u10
. x o x x o o x o o o x o . 7 p1 k2 m4 x9 v7 hv9 r11
o . x x o o . o x o x x o . x 8 p7 u68 t11 cs10 o8 r7
x x o o . . . o o o o x o o 9 s6 qw8 A10 ptz9 t7
o o o . . o . x o o o x x 10 q6 C8 y10 s12:1 l7 s8 n15 B9
. . . . . . . o x x o o 11 z5 q10 r15 y12 r9 m10 A6 m14
. . . . . . o x . x x 12 s2 s14 x7 h3 p15 e4 g6 a8
. . o . . o x x x . 13 n1 u4 f5 b9 h1 q2 l3 z11
. . . o . o x . . 14 o2 r4 d5 f9
. . . o o x x . 15 1-0 (95-72 with 2 seki points)
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABC Joao Billx
=============================
. . . . . . . . 1 h11 v5 g6 p13
. o o . . . . . . 2 hn3 w10 s14 f5 g8 iu4
o o x o o . o o o o 3 i2 l3 h5 n11 g4 fz9 w12
o x x x x o . o x X x 4 k2 v3 h7 e10 nh13 f7.11
o x . x o x X o o x x o 5 b7 d9 r3 o4 y10 v13 t11.15
. o x . x o o o x x . o . 6 r5 d7 s12 x11 g10 f13 o12 r11
o o x . . x o x x o x x x . 7 m6 dp11 u12 rv9 q12 u6
. . o x x x o o x o . x x o o 8 s4 l5 tx9 t7 u10.14 o14
. o x o o o x x x o x o x x 9 ou14 u10 t7 s6 x5 m14 p15
. o x x x o . o o o o x o 10 q6.10 s8 r15 q8 n9 i10 q14
o x o o o o o x x x o . 11 o68 s10 l9 i8 l7 w14 p9
o x . o x x x o o x x 12 e12 j7.11 m10 k6 p7 g12 v15
x x x x x x . o x . 13 z5 x3 i6 m8 k8 y4 m12 x7
. . . x o x o o x 14 k12 f3 d5 n7 v7 m4 y12 j5:4
. x . . x o x x 15 ey6 A8 l11 z7 n5 l13 j15
16 e4 C8 j9 A10 k4 B9
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABC 17 t5 h9 p5 w4
18 resigna b c d e f g h i j k l m Joax Billo
==================== (x-pieces: c3/k11, o-pieces: k3/c11)
. . . . . . x . x . x o . 1 i3 cgk7
. . . . . . . . x x o . o 2 bg3 g11 b7 il7 i11 l12
. x x x x . x x x . o x o 3 g1 i2 e3 b11 cfk12 c8
. . . . . x o x x x o . o 4 d3 b8.12 k10 k5 c6 i10 l9
. . x x x x o x o x o x . 5 b6 cf5 g9 g8 e10 f9.11
. x . x o x o x o x o x x 6 d11 g10 k9 j5 h8 l10 j7 f10
. x . x o o o o o o o o o 7 d9 km8 m11 m7 l11 i9 d10
. x . x o . o o . . x . x 8 b10 c9 d7 f8 k2 e68:1 f9
. . x x x o x . o . x o . 9 b13 d58 f6 j1 k4 e7 d12
. x o o o o x . o . x o . 10 d6:3 jm6 i1 g6 k6 c10 j12
. x o x . o . o o . x o x 11 km1 f4 j2: l1 m2: ch13
. x o o o o o . . o o o o 12 h36 j4 e5 gi5 gm12
. x o . . . . o . . . . . 13 l6 e9 h5 i4 gm4 i6 h11
14 h4 l35 e12 h7 m3 1-0 (93-76)