The Taylor-Neto Games
João Pedro Neto
April-May 2025João Pedro Neto (me) and Bill Taylor maintained an regular email conversation from c.1996 to 2021 (when Bill passed away).
After Bill's passing, I have made an effort to collect and organize all remaining emails from this period in a ~14000 page email archive (most earlier emails were lost, unfortunately). This archive includes many games and variants, developed and playtested by us, some already published here at WAG, others still unpublished. I decided to start re-reading the emails, more or less in chronological order, to salvage these unpublished games from oblivion, and present them in a curated catalogue, as a homage to our friendship, and as a contribution to the online community of abstract games.
§
This page will have links to those games recently inventoried:
- Dagger Gomoku -- gomoku variant with a dagger that changes hands
- Lisbon -- game similar to Havannah, with a new approach to edges, and using of a slow progressive mutator
- Medusa, Hydra -- slimetrail variant for square and hex boards, with multiple slimes (heads)
- Torax - an asymmetrical Quax variant on a torus, with an initial auction
- Flag Grid - capture-the-flag game, using Lines of Action move and capture mechanics
- Chicken Gomoku - uses an auction to decide who plays two asymmetric roles
- Scoring Hex-Moku - score points for every 4 in-a-row, win by points or with a 5 in-a-row
- Quad-Motu, Hex-Motu - playing Gomoku, but adding an optional stone move to an (orthogonal or diagonal) adjacent empty cell
- Hixt, 2-Twixt - two variants of the classical Twixt, one for hex boards, the other with more options to move
- Neumoku - applying the neutral mutator to Gomoku.
- Quintun - a game where groups need to connect growing and shifting targets
- Diabalex - a small army must transport their King to the opposite row ~(hex variant of Diaballik)
- Weituweiqi - auction variant with the rules of Iqishiqi: one player is a blocker, the one an escaper
- Tricouleur Hexxagon - a Rock-Paper-Scissor approach for Hexxagon
- Abanondas - like Epaminondas but phalanxes may also make orthogonal sidesteps
- Triangular Y - each player drops a triangle group of three pieces (two of his own color)
- Pentello - Moku variant with custodian-flip captures
- Penguins - penguins try to eat as many fish as they can on a vanishing board
- Several Cul-de-sac-like games: Endless Barriers, Endless Fences, Assassin, Four-Way Walls, SAS Walls, Rambo Walls, SAS Fences, Progressive Fences
- Dozer Hex - Hex variant where stones can be pushed off the board
- Ringworm - rings of six stones burst into lines, capturing stones and creating new bursts
- Tromazons - mix of Amazons and Cul-de-Sac
- Sesqui - drop and move games
- Quadrex - connection game on square boards with chain-reactions. Variant: Triangle Quadrex
- Quadraphages - players leave walls and decide how farther the adversary can move
- Orouborus - a slimetrail-like game where the left stones have color, and plyers try to make a 3 in-a-row
- Caduceus - slimetrail meets Tron, the movie
- QuikQuax - a connection game ona square board, where a diagonal join is automatic
- Tri Y - a 2-out-of-3 simultaneous games of Y, where players must choose where to play
- Hexagonal Election - a majority game over all lines of an hexagonal board
- Super-Pente - with restrict 12* moves and general custodian captures, make a 4 -in-a-row
- Accumulation - move groups to unify all remaining pieces
- Hex-Pushpin - push a ball until it is surrounded
- Push and Pull - move two balls in the same turn
- Sabotage Malthus - a progressive variant of Bentley's Population Pressure
- Hex Rampart - a modification of 2012 Corey's Clark Rampart.
- Crunching Y - a phalanx-based connection Y game
- Linchen - groups with feeders and movers trying to eat one another
- 12* Hex - playing 19x19 Hex is fast mode
- 3-Connection - play in two out of three small connections per turn
- Quickwin Hex - a race mutator, where two matches with asymmetric roles are played
- Restricted Connect5 - applying 12* of Connect6 with a linear restriction
- Sow and Reap - a stack/unstack capture game
- Tartan - four colors battling on a hexagonal board for auto-colorings
- Four-Couleur - a non-transitive hierarchy of attackers
- Slime Mould - a growth game, trying to eat the adversay
- Toils and Coy Lips - two games to places tetrominoes and pentominoes as fast as possible
- 12* Gale - recovering a broken classic game
Already added in the past, games either by me, by Bill, or both, that were discussed and played during the years:
- Gem - a Y variant over a five edge board
- Bipod - connect your two types of pieces to the board edges
- Blockdance - capture by group pivot moves
- ZeN - a Hex-like and Twixt-like game in a toroidal board
- Un - a Nim-like game
- Tricouleur - capture the enemy army by replacement or by whistling (a new way of capturing)
- Send It - a restricted Go game, with progressive dispatches in line-of-sight
- Quax - great game connecting Twixt and Hex
- Galice - a game between Alice and Go
- Dispatch - dSispatch pentominoes over the board to achieve territory
- Progressive Poker - win by getting a majority of better poker hands (abstract game using a deck of cards)
I did not consider chess variants in this list. Many were already posted at Sagme's blog between 2005 and 2007.
§
the next entries are referred games that are not included in stand-alone pages
- 12* moves
- Initial placements are made according to the board size, all non-adjacent to any other.
- Subsequently, a turn is EITHER to drop two stones on empty cells adjacent to other friendly stones, OR remove a dead enemy group.
- If and only if no move is available, the player may pass.
- A group is dead if any stone within it has no adjacent empty cells.
(6 per side. Initial plays 6 stones each)
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
| Initial Joao: h3 h9 n3 n9 e6 q6
| Initial Bilx: f3 e8 q8 q4 i2 k10
|
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstu __BillX______JoaO__
| . . . . . . 1. ... g2 p3 d7
| . x x X x x x 2. f9 g10 m10 p9
| x x . x . x . x 3. r5 i10 j9 g8
| . o x x x x x x . 4. j3 g4 g6 l11
| x o . x . x o o x X 5. o8 r9 d5 q10
| . x o o o o o . o x . 6. c8 s6 r7 s8
| x o . o . o o o o x 7. o4 t7 r9:
| x x o . o . o . o 8. q2 r3 n5 p5
| . x o o o o o o 9. k4 o2 i6 m6
| x x x x o . o 10. b7 c6 h7 l9
| . x . o o o 11. l5 b5 k6 e4
| abcdefghijklmnopqrstu 12. d3 h5 m2 i4
| 13. p3: n11 p11
| 14. m4 e10 r9 k8
| 15. h3: p7 n7
| 16. n3 m2 o8 l7
| 17. k2 t5 resign
Linchen - A 2016 game idea by João Pedro Neto
- There are two types of pieces, feeders and movers.
- Def: A group is made of connected friendly pieces of either type. Its size is defined by the number of feeders it contains.
- Def: An ayu-move is taking one stone from a group and placing at a cell adjacent to the same group; this cell can be empty, or occupied by an enemy piece (but only feeders can so capture);
- however, a group can not attack bigger groups
- it is lawful to split a group into two this way
- only groups with movers can ayu-move
- In one turn, the player makes any two moves, chosen from:
- a drop of a piece onto an empty cell;
- a slide, or queenwise move by a mover;
- an ayu-move (notation '>')
- The game ends with no isolated vacant cell left.
- The player with more pieces wins.
- If equal, the one with more feeders. Otherwise it is a draw.
This game still needs improvement, the movers are not that relevant (one per group is enough). Perhaps the number of movers could provide multiple ayu-moves and captures (one capture per different feeder).
Sow and Reap - A 2011 game by João Pedro Neto and Bill Taylor:
- The player must either Sow or Reap in his turn.
- SOWING: The player unloads one of his piles in any of the six directions, starting with some adjacent cell, and playing one stone successively into each cell along the line.
- If there is an opponent pile in one such cell, it is killed; if a friendly pile, the stone is added in.
- REAPING: A line of adjacent friendly piles is gathered up to be added to one of its two end piles.
- This may be done regardless of further stones beyond the ends.
- Win by removing all the opponent's stones.
Bill 12345 / Joao abcde
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY __Bill______Joao__ __Bill______Joao__
. . . . . . . 1: K1 > M3 U3 > V4 16: W9>V10 D4 > H8:
. . . . a a , . 2: M3...G9 G5 > K5 17: F8:G7 E5 > G7:
a . . . . . . . . 3: J6:K5 I5:k5 18: E9..C9 G6 > H8
. . . . . . 1 . a . 4: L4:K5 E5 > K5: 19: F10>N2: N4:L4
. . . . 1 . . 1 . . a 5: N2 > K5: I5:K5 20: H8:G7 P2:N2
. . . . . . . . 1 1 . . 6: L4:K5 F4 > I7: 21: M3:N2 L4:K5
. . . 1 1 . . . . 1 . . . 7: H8:I7 G5 > K5: 22: J6:K5 S3>R2
. . . . . . . . . 1 . . 8: I7:H6 I5:H6 23: U11 > V10 R2 > N2:
5 . 1 . . . . . 2 4 . 9: D10>H6: C5 > E5 24: V10 > P4: resign
. . . . . . . . 3 . 10: G9...E11 M11..O13
. . . . a . . . . 11: M1...O1 O13 > M11
. . . c e . . . 12: O1 > T6 V4 > L4
. . e . . . . 13: S5 : T4 U5 > R2
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY 14: E11>L4:: R4 > Q3
15: M3..F10 Q3 > P2
Loopy - A 2011 game by Bill Taylor:
- Played on an hexhex11 board (!)
- 24* moves
- The winner is whoever makes a loop of any size, regardless of what is inside
Some matches:
_______BillO_________________JoaoX_____
1. --- --- s11 u11 t10 v10 p12 r12
2. s13 u13 r10 s9 p10 w11 q13 r14
3. n12 v12 q15 w9 q9 o11 x12 y13
4. j10 m11 A11 m9 r8 l10 x14 k11
5. t8 v8 n10 k9 A13 B14 A15 y15 & winsabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
. . . . . . . . . . . 1.
. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.
. . . . . . . x O O . . . . . . . . 8.
. . . . O o . x o . o . . . . . . . . 9.
. . . . o x O x o x x . . . . . . . . . 10.
. . . . . x o x . o o x . o . . . . . . . 11.
. . . . . . o x x . o x . . . . . . . . 12.
. . . . . . . x o o . x X . . . . . . 13.
. . . . . . . x . . x . X . . . . . 14.
. . . . . . o . . . X X . . . . . 15.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.
. . . . . . . . . . . . 20.
. . . . . . . . . . . 21.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
______BillO__________________JoaoX_____
1. --- --- x11 u11 t10 s9 t11 v11
2. q11 x12 w13 B4 B6 z12 u13 A13
3. q13 A11 A3 z4 x4 D4 o11 y3
4. s3 u3 C3 p12 resign
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
. . . . . . . . . . . 1.
. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.
. . . . . O O . x o O . . 3.
. . . . . . . . x o o x . . 4.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.
. . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . 6.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.
. . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . . . . . 10.
. . . . . . . x o x o o . o . . . . . . . 11.
. . . . . . . O . x x o x . . . . . . . 12.
. . . . . . . o . x o . x . . . . . . 13.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.
. . . . . . . . . . . . 20.
. . . . . . . . . . . 21.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
______BillX_________________JoaO_______
1. --- --- u11 w11 v10 x10 z11 x12
2. A11 q11 s11 A9 p9 p12 s13 w13
3. o11 z12 r14 t14 n10 r12 u15 A13
4. m9 o9 n12 o13 p8 q9 n14 u13
5. n8 s9 l10 m11 o7 k13 l12 k9
6. j8 l8 i9 j10 & wins
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
. . . . . . . . . . . 1.
. . . . . . . . . . . . 2.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.
. . . . . O . . . . . . . . . . . 7.
. . . X X x o . . . . . . . . . . . 8.
. . . X O x x o x . . x . . . . . . . 9.
. . . . X x o o . . o o . . . . . . . . 10.
. . . . . . x x x x x x o x . . . . . . . 11.
. . . . . O x o o . . o x . . . . . . . 12.
. . . . O . x . o o o . o . . . . . . 13.
. . . . . o . x x . . . . . . . . . 14.
. . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . . 15.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.
. . . . . . . . . . . . 20.
. . . . . . . . . . . 21.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNO
Tartan - A 2012 game by Bill Taylor:
- Each player has a set of dominoes with two different colors (so, two colors per player, for a total of four colors)
- A turn consists of passing or adding a domino piece of one's own color-pair to the board.
- No two adjacent cells may be the same color.
- Cells which have neighbours in exactly three colours, are immediately coloured in the 4th; this procedure applying recursively (mover's choice for alternatives), all as part of the move just made.
- There are three winning criteria -
- (a) to create the most unfillable cells;
- (b) to finish with the most cells on the board;
- (c) to force the most auto-colorings.
- The overall winner is the winner of the majority of these three.
A sample match (João 'colors' ar J & N, Bill colors are B & T; uppercases are auto-colorings):
abcdefghijklm __JN_________BT___
. t N . 1 f5-h5 h7-j7 TJ
n . b j n 2. d7-e6 : c4-a4 TBN:
. j T N B J 3. d3-c2 : g2-f1 TB::
T B N B . t b 4. i2-k2 NN: m4-k4 BJBJN: & game ends
. T j n B J 5.
B n t j N 6.
j . b t 7.
abcdefghijklmon (a) B wins 4-3
on (b) draw 15-15
on (c) B wins 12-2, Bill wins
Slime Mould - A 2009 game by João Pedro Neto and Bill Taylor:
- Played on a hexhex9 with the following setup:
. . x . . . o . .
. . . . . . . . . .
o . . . . . . . . . x
. . . o . . . . x . . .
. . . . . . x . . . . . .
. . x . . . . . . . . o . .
o . . . . . . . . x . . . . x
. . . . . o . . . . . . . . . .
. . . x . . . . . . . . . o . . .
. . . . . . . . . . x . . . . .
o . . . . o . . . . . . . . x
. . x . . . . . . . . o . .
. . . . . . o . . . . . .
. . . o . . . . x . . .
o . . . . . . . . . x
. . . . . . . . . .
. . x . . . o . .
- In each turn, up to 4 moves may be made, (2 on first player's first move).
- The moves are sequential, and no stone may move, that in the same turn, was previously moved or which is part of a group of which some stone was previously moved in that turn.
- An isolated cell may move to an empty adjacent cell.
- A group of size N>1 may bud off two cells from one existing cell (which dies), each to move a distance N in one of the six directions.
- No mould may land on a friendly cell.
- If a mould lands on or adjacent to an enemy mould, it kills it.
Two sample games:
1. p12 m9 (Bill starts as o, odd turns)
2. y3 s5 y15 h8
3. i3 m9l10 p12o11 z10
4. s5t4 D8 t10 u9
5. l10<r10:i7:: z10y11 i15 k15
6. v4<t2:x6: m17l16: x4 s9:
7. z12<D12:x14:: m11<q11i11: k15: i3j4
8. t2s3 x4w5 r10: B8
9. A11 C11 p10: j4<h6l2:
10 resign
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
. . : . . . . . . 1
. . o . . . . . . . 2
. . . . . . x . . . . 3
. . < o . . . x . . . . 4
. . . . . . . . . x . . . 5
. . o . . . . . . . x . . . 6
o . . o . . . . . . . . . . . 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . 8
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
. . . . . . . o : . . . . . . . 10
o . . o . . , . . . . , o o . 11
. . . . . . . . . . . . . , 12
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
. . . . . . . . . o . . 14
. . o . . . . . . . . 15
. . . . . . . . . . 16
. . . . . . o . . 17
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
1. n12 p12 (Jo starts)
2. v10 u9 r4 t4
3. n12<n14j12: j4 i3 h14
4. v10<z10:x12: r4<t2:p2: m1o1 i5:
5. i3: l14<n16:n12 hi13 s17
6. t2u3 p2<r4t2 vw13 zy11
7. k9 j12<h10:l10 p12<n10l12 g5
8. w9 n2 w13<z10z16 t2<l2x6:
9. l12<j14j10 n16m15 f6 e7
10 t4<z4w7 n2<j2p4 z10<C7F10 A15<y17y13
11 n10<s5:x10: m15<o17q15 i13<n10m13 s17r16
12 w7<u5:y5 C7<A9E9 x12<z14z10: y17<w15A15
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
. . . . . . . . . 1
. x x . . . . . . . 2
. . . . . . . x . . x 3
. . . . . x . . . . x . 4
. . . . . . . : x . x . . 5
. o . . . . . . . . x . . . 6
. o . . . . . . . . < . . < x 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
. . . . . o . . . . . . . x . x . 9
. . . o o o . . . . . : x . . x 10
o . . . o . . . . . . . . . x 11
. . . . . o . . . . < . . . 12
. . . . o . . . . . x . . 13
. . o . o . . . . . x . 14
. . . . . o . . . . x 15
. . . . . o . . . x 16
. . . o . . . x < 17
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
13 q15<m15o13 f6<d8h8 k11<p16f6 j14l14
14 j2<n2l4 z4<D8r4 u3t4 y13<C9q13:
15 k9<o5:g13 r16<x16::o13: f6<i3c9 n12<i17d12
16 z10<r2j10::: z14<B12x16: u5<x8o5: x6<z8z4
17 i3k3:: m15<h10:w15: c11<e9g11 o17<k17m15
18 x8<q17:f8:4 n2m3: A15y15: A3<D6u3
19 g11<e9:e13 m15<w15:r10 k17<o17:m15 c9d10
20 m3o3 o5p4 y5<u5w3 r2t2
21 e9<i9g11 e13<b10h16 m13<h8r8 n14o15
22 B12A13 u5<m13::C13 z8<h8::q17: z4y3
23 o15<q17:m13: h10<j8:l10 d10<f12h10 i17<k15g15 (keeping score)
24 p4<w11i11:: A9<s17:k9:: z4y3 A13<C11y15: b10
25 m15<k13o13 h16<j14l16 r8s9 g13<j10::j16 b5
26 A15 B14 y3<m3s9:: C9<u17u1 b9
27 l16<s9:z16: f12<j12h14 j10k11 b10c11 b5
28 o3<k3m5 r4<x10l10: E9<q9:x16: u17<q17y17 b12
29j12<s3:::B12: c11<g11e13 b6
30 m3<k5q3: E11<C9A11: x10<B10v12 x16<v14t16 b12
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
. . . . . . x . . 1
. . . . . . . . . . 2
. . x < . X : . x . . 3
. . . . . . . . . . . . 4
. . . X x . . . . . . . . 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . x 6
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . x 7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . 8
. . . . . . . . x . . . . . X . . 9
. . . . . x . . . . . < . X . x 10
. . O . . . . . . . x . X . < 11
o . . . . . . . . X . . : . 12
O . . o o o . . . . . . . 13
. o o . . . . . X . . x 14
o . o . . . . . . . . 15
. o . . . . X . < . 16
. . . . x x . . x 17
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
31 h14<x14:p6 d12<f10h12 b9
32 k5<m3o5: q17<k17:n14:: E7<s7y13 v12<x10z12 b18
33 j14<m11:p14: k15:l16 h12<e9k15 e13f14 b13
34 m5<o3q5 z12<t6n12: x10<z12v12 t16<x16r14: b19
35 k15<m13:m17 g15<e13i13 g11<d8m11 b15
36 t6<r4r8 z12<t6n12:: v12<x14z12 y17<w15A15 b21
37 m17<q17k15 k13<m11:m15 f14<j14d12 f10<c7l10 b15
38 k3<y3d10: r8<v12n12: y13<p4g13:: A15<y13y17 b23
39 c7<e9:g7 l10:m11 j14<r14:n10 d12:f12 b17
40 z12<o1g12: r4<y11k11: p10: y3<w1u3 b23
41 e9<g11:c7 m15<j12:s15 g7f8 q17r16 b19
42 w15<r10m15:: o5<u11i11:: u3<s1s5 D6C7 b24
43 resign
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
. . . x . X x x . 1
. . . . . . . . . . 2
. . . x x x . < x . . 3
. . . . . x . . . . . . 4
. . . . . < x X . . . . . 5
. . . . . . . . x . . . . . 6
o . . . . . . . x . . . . X . 7
. o o . . . . . . . . . . . x . 8
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . 9
. . . . . . . x X . . . . x . x 10
. . : X . . . . . X x x x . . 11
. . . : . . . . . x . . . . 12
. . . . . . . . . . x . . 13
. . . . . . o . . x . x 14
. . : X . . o . < . . 15
. . : . . o . . x . 16
. . . . . . . . x 17
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFG
Toils - A 2012 game by Bill Taylor:
- 24* move sequence, group restricted (no two stones in the sequence must be on the same group)
- The stones are played on empty cells, with the stones played in one turn finishing up in different ortho-groups.
- Passes are always legal, and two consecutive four-passes end the game.
- To score, a tetromino must not have any friendly pieces touching it orthogonally.
- The winner is the first player to complete a set of tetrominos in his own colour; or with most completed if the game stops before this happens, or the first to achieve this final number if equal.
- note: there are five tetrominos, T, O, I, L, and S
Two sample matches:
Bill-O Joao-X
===========================
1. .. .. c6 g2 c7 b6 g6 c2
2. b2 b7 c5 f7 b5 b3 f3 d7
3. b4 d5 g5 g3 d8 h6 g4 c3
4. d6 c1 e1 e3 g1 c8 a6 f4
5. e4 e7 h7 b1 a7 f6 h4 c4
6. resign
a b c d e f g h
. . x x . . . . 8 Bill still has to make: T I L S
X o x x o o . o 7 Joao still has to make: I
x x o o . X x x 6
. x o o . . o . 5
. o X . o x x X 4
. x x . o x o . 3
. o x . . . o . 2
. o o . o . x . 1Joao-O Bill-XXX
===========================
1. .. .. c6 f3 b2 b7 g2 g7
2. a7 b3 e4 g1 c7 d5 c2 f2
3. f1 a6 c3 d6 b6 h7 b1 e5
4. d7 c4 f4 c1 e7 e2 g5 h4
5. b8 e6 b4 g3 a2 c8 f7 h5
6. a8 e8 g8 e1 h1 e3 g4 .. & wins
o o x . o . o . 8 Bilx still has to make:
o x x o x x x x 7 Joao still has to make: I
o x o o o . . . 6
. . . x x . x x 5
. o o . o o X x 4
. o o . X o o . 3
x x x . x x x . 2
. x o . o o o X 1
a b c d e f g h
Coy Lips - A 2014 game by Bill Taylor that is a twin of Tartan:
- 24* moves, group restricted
- The stones are played on empty cells, with the stones played in one turn finishing up in different groups.
- Passes are always legal, and two consecutive 4-passes end the game.
- To score, a tetrahex may not have any other friendly stones touching it.
- The winner is the first player to complete a set of tetrahexes in his own colour; or if the game ends before this happens, the player with most completed, or if both players have the same number the most recent player to have had the most.
Two sample matches:
____BillO_______________JoaoX_____
1. -- -- h2 r12 r2 h12 c7 w7
2. k5 g9 n8 s5 p2 l6 d8 q11
3. R4 V8 E9 J6 o1 k7 s7 c9
4. g3 q5 u9 p12 q1 f8 m5 h4
5. g1 k9 n10 v10 t10 o11 k11 i13
6. i9 x8 o13 j2 r10 j12 i3 e3
7. t4 f4 s11 o9 i5 p8 i7 y7
8. k3 f6 g11 q9 i1 m3 e5 e11
9. n2 n4 b6 e7 resign
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
o x X . x x . 1
. o o . o x x . 2 Joao to make: C L PS
x o x o x . . . . 3 Bill to make: O LIP
. o x . . o . o o . 4
. x . x o x . o o . . 5
o . o . o x . . . . . . 6
. x o . x x . . . x x x x 7
. x x . . . o x . . o o 8
x o o o o . o o . o . 9
. . . . . o . x x o 10
x o . x . x x o . 11
. x x . . o o . 12
. x . . o . . 13
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy___JOAO______ ____BILX______
1 -- -- h2 r12 p2 d6 v8 j12
2 j2 r2 m7 t12 o3 f6 l8 t8
3 q3 n8 d8 h12 k7 s7 m3 k11
4 p4 e7 o7 i11 n2 t6 h6 m9
5 s1 i3 e9 j10 b6 l12 q11 t10
6 x6 g7 x8 q13 t4 w5 s11 g11
7 u7 f2 u11 f12 w7 p10 l6 g9
8 u5 u9 r8 r10 resigns
Joao wins by a miai at v6 & s9 made possible
because of the group restriction
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
. . . . . . o 1
o o o . x x o . 2 Joaox still has to make: Y
. . o . x x o . . 3 Billo still has to make: Y PS
. . . . . . o . x . 4
. . . . . . . . . O x 5
x x x x . x o . . x . o 6
. . o o . x o o . x o x . 7
. o . . . x o . O x x o 8
. o x . . x . . . O . 9
. . . o . . x O x . 10
. x o x . . x x o
o o x x . . o o A
. . . . . o .
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
12* Gale - Gale, aka Bridg-It, is a 1950s connection game that was commercialized. In the early 1960s there was found a winning strategy that broke the game. Here, in this 2015 proposal, the idea is to apply the 12* move mutator to the original game, disallowing both dropped pieces to in the same group (so, group restriction). Now, no winning strategy exists, and the game is quite fun.
Two matches:
__Bx__________Jo___
1. -- f2 f8 j10
2. h0 j7 h8 h12
3. f12 d8 d10 i9
4. f4 e9 f10 i11
5. b10 l10 b8 k9
6. b12 g9 c9 d6
7. g11 b6 c7 l8
8. e7 h6 f6 h4
9. j4 g7 g5 j2
10. i5 l2 resigns
Bill-x
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
. . x . . x 1
, , , x , o o o x , 2
. . x . x x 3 Bx joins dots and must connect NS
, , , x o o o x , , 4 Jo joins commas & must connect EW.
x . x o x x x . 5
, x o o o o o x , , , 6
x o x x x x x x . 7
o o o x o o o o o x o o o 8
x o x x x x x o x o x 9
, x o o o o o x o o o x , 10
x . x x x o . x 11
, x , , x o o o , , 12
x . x . . . 13
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
Bill-x
_Jo_________Bx__
1. -- h6 f6 f8
2. f2 h2 d2 d4
3. e5 f12 d13 d10
4. d6 e9 l2 l12
5. j6 i5 b6 l6
6. b8 l4 i3 k3
7. f4 h4 c7 l8
8. j4 c5 resignBill-x
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
. x . . . x 1
, , x o o o o o , x , 2
. x o . x x x x x 3 Bx joins dots and must connect NS
, O x o o o o o O o o o 4 Jo joins commas & must connect EW.
x O x o x . o . x 5
, x o o o x o o o o o x , 6
x x x , x . . x 7
o o o , o x , , , x , 8
. x o x . . x 9
, , x o , , , , 10
. x . . . x 11
, , x o o o , , x , 12
. x . . . x 13
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
Bill-x