STACKS

Copyright (c) 1999 Derek Hohls

This game is played on an empty 4x4 board. Each player starts with 24 pieces off board. 

 

TURN - On each turn, each player must do one of the following actions:  Drop a stack of 1, 2 or 3 stones into an empty cell. Drop any number of stones on top of a friendly stack. Move a stack into an adjacent (orthogonal or diagonal) empty cell. However, after the move the stack loses one stone (stacks of size 1 cannot move). Move into and capture an adjacent enemy stack of smaller size (so stacks of size 1 cannot capture either). The attacking stack loses the number of stones equal to the captured stack plus one.  All stones return to the players reserves. A player cannot make partial attacks, he must move all the stones of the attacking stack. GOAL - Wins the player that makes a 4 in-a-row containing friendly stacks with the same size (like 4 stacks of size 3) or an equal, step-wise increment from start to end of the row (e.g., 1-2-3-4, 1-3-5-7, 2-5-8-11).

 

An example White's turn. White must move something to cell [1], otherwise he would lose, because Black could drop a stack of size two, or move the stack at d3 to [1] (it would lose one stone, and win by a 1-2-3-4 4 in-a-row). However, White cannot move the stack at b3 to [1] (it would be a stack of size 2 which could be captured by d3, leaving a black stack of size 1 at [1] which Black could win next turn by adding another stone there). So, White must drop a stack at [1] of size 3 there (a white stack of size 1 or 2 would also provide a losing position).