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Topic: Rekushu (Read 15756 times) |
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The_Jeh
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Arimaa player #634
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For a long time now, I have been fascinated by board game mechanics. I also have found pleasure in being an extremely amateur programmer. These two interests are what led me to Arimaa in the first place.
Before I started participating in the Arimaa community, I had invented a board game I named Rekushu. The game bears a few similarities to Go, but it is legitimately distinct. At this time, I believe that the rules, in their simplicity, are transcendental and beautiful.
It is not remotely close to Arimaa in quality. Although the game tree is astronomical, I can see how computers might easily master it. Although it depends on your taste, I think most would find Arimaa much more interesting to play. Nevertheless, I still find a certain mystery in it.
I spent a great amount of time perfecting an application to play my game. It has a pathetic AI, but it is still a notable accomplishment for someone of my age and minuscule programming ability. The game and application, in their current state, are the product of many years of intermittent revisions.
I hope it is not rude to advertise on Arimaa's site, but you are the only people I know who might be interested. As it is, the game just rests indefinitely in my hard drive.
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| « Last Edit: Jul 24th, 2007, 10:32pm by The_Jeh » |
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99of9
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Gnobby's creator (player #314)
 
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #1 on: Jul 25th, 2007, 3:41am » |
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 I hope it is at least backed up!!
I for one am always interested in learning about a new game.
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chessandgo
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Arimaa player #1889
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #2 on: Jul 25th, 2007, 5:25am » |
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yeah, tell us more about this game ! 
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The_Jeh
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Arimaa player #634
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #3 on: Jul 25th, 2007, 1:08pm » |
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The rules are embarrassingly simple, but here they are (verbatim from my application). I'd like to upload a screenshot. Can anyone tell me how? And yes, I've got many backups, which is good since my old hard drive just crashed a few weeks ago.
How to Play:
To win:
A. Have the higher score at the conclusion of the game.
or
B. Attain a score of over 180.
To play:
The game of Rekushu is played on a 20x20 board. The crossings are called "points" and the squares that the lines make are called "tiles."
On a player's turn, he must first place a piece on an unoccupied point on the board. The point must have at least one unclaimed tile beside it. This move is mandatory. If there is nowhere for the player to move, the game ends and the player with the higher score wins.
After the move described above is made, the player may, if he wishes, and if possible, identify a rectangle for scoring. To do this, he must first identify four of his pieces that form the vertices of an unblemished rectangle.
An unblemished rectangle...
A. has four pieces as vertices that match each other to form a rectangle. (The rectangle may not have diagonal edges.)
B. has no pieces, of either side, occupying points on its edges or interior.
C. has no claimed tiles, of either side, in its interior.
If the three conditions above are met, then the rectangle is eligible to be claimed by the player. To claim the rectangle:
1. All the interior tiles of the rectangle are claimed and marked for the claiming player.
2. The four pieces used to make the rectangle are removed from the board.
3. The claiming player's score is increased by the area of the rectangle in tiles.
The game ends when a player cannot make his initial move or a player's score exceeds 180 points, and is won by the player with the higher score.
Mirror Moves:
There is one special rule that eliminates an obvious forced draw by the second player. A player is not allowed to make the same type of mirror move consecutively. There are three types of mirror moves: playing horizontally opposite your opponent (h), playing vertically opposite your opponent (v), and playing at a 180 degree rotation from where your opponent just played (r). Thus, every point has three other points that are considered "mirror" points. For example, the mirror points of B3 would be B18, S3, and S18. You are allowed to make more than one mirror move in a row, but you cannot make the same type of mirror move twice in a row. If you cannot make your initial move because playing on the last point would be a mirror violation, then the game immediately ends as prescribed above.
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| « Last Edit: Jul 26th, 2007, 11:51am by The_Jeh » |
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chessandgo
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Arimaa player #1889
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #4 on: Jul 25th, 2007, 1:47pm » |
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interesting ! Have you already played this game live ?
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nbarriga
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Almost retired Bot Developer
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #5 on: Jul 25th, 2007, 3:23pm » |
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Souds fun, I will try it one of this days, even though i will be using a 19x19 board, which for obviuos reasons iseasier to come across
I'll tell you how it goes.
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The_Jeh
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Arimaa player #634
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #6 on: Jul 25th, 2007, 4:14pm » |
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on Jul 25th, 2007, 1:47pm, chessandgo wrote:| Have you already played this game live ? |
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What do you mean "live"? I've played it against my computer opponent and myself. My program allows for direct internet play, although I've only been able to test a connection between two apps running on the same computer. I haven't played it with physical material.
It may be hard to simulate the game on any board, because you have to mark both the tiles and the crossings. It's a large assignment. That's why I prefer my program, which is more aesthetic. Yes, as a physically playable game it leaves something to be desired.
I also prefer 20x20 because it creates an even number of crossings and an odd number of tiles.
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| « Last Edit: Jul 25th, 2007, 4:16pm by The_Jeh » |
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nbarriga
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #7 on: Jul 26th, 2007, 3:07am » |
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on Jul 25th, 2007, 4:14pm, The_Jeh wrote:
I also prefer 20x20 because it creates an even number of crossings and an odd number of tiles. |
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It really would be nice if it would be 19x19 to be able to play it on a Go board. Like arimaa was chosen to be in 8x8 to be able to play it on a chess board.
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chessandgo
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Arimaa player #1889
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #8 on: Jul 26th, 2007, 4:59am » |
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on Jul 26th, 2007, 3:07am, nbarriga wrote:
It really would be nice if it would be 19x19 to be able to play it on a Go board. Like arimaa was chosen to be in 8x8 to be able to play it on a chess board. |
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yeah, and for the problem of the "tiles", you could just use go stones placed on squares ... even though they really don't look like tiles
And how strong is your program, The_Jeh ?
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99of9
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Gnobby's creator (player #314)
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #9 on: Jul 26th, 2007, 8:28am » |
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Thanks for letting us know about your game. I'm looking forward to trying it out.
I have only thought about it for 20sec, but I am worried that there might be more mirror moves you haven't considered. A square has more symmetries than you have identified:
* horizontal mirror plane
* vertical mirror plane
* 2 diagonal mirror planes
* 90 degree rotation right
* 90 degree rotation left
* 180 degree rotation
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| « Last Edit: Jul 26th, 2007, 8:29am by 99of9 » |
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UruramTururam
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Arimaa player #2537
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #10 on: Jul 26th, 2007, 9:27am » |
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Since a turn is occupying only a single point than any 90 degree rotation is equivalent to either horizontal or vertical mirror and 180 degree rotation is equal to diagonal mirror. That makes only 3 distinguishable point/point symmetries.
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The_Jeh
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Arimaa player #634
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #11 on: Jul 26th, 2007, 11:33am » |
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Assuming I use a 20x20 board, there are only 3 types of mirrors I need worry about.
If the second player starts copying by playing diagonally opposite, the first player can foil this by playing on a point lying on the diagonal itself. Then the second player is forced to abandon the symmetry.
As for your 90 degree rotations...
Let's say that the second player starts copying by always playing on the point 90 degrees clockwise. All the first player needs to do to foil this is to play on a point 90 degrees counterclockwise from an occupied point. Again, the symmetry is forcibly abandoned.
However, the first player cannot foil an attempt by the second player to continuously play vertically or horizontally opposite, or at a 180 degree rotation. This is because the points involved in these mirrors only come in mutual pairs - B is the mirror/rotation of A, and A is the mirror/rotation of B. In the 90 degree rotations, B is the rotation of A, but A is not the rotation of B.
That is why these special rules are needed. However, these rules are rarely important in a real game, and they never forbid more than one point on the board at a time.
If you must use a Go board, I would request that you use an 18x18 point area, to keep my game principles and rules intact. You would also have to change the 180-win rule to a 144-win rule. Since I have the program, I can keep the 20x20 board, without having to bow my head to the game of Go.
And how strong is my AI? Let's just say it can identify obvious defensive moves and very obvious offensive moves. Other than that, it's pretty pathetic.
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| « Last Edit: Jul 26th, 2007, 11:54am by The_Jeh » |
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The_Jeh
Forum Guru
Arimaa player #634
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Posts: 460
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #12 on: Nov 17th, 2008, 7:36pm » |
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Update:
Arty Sandler has recently added my game, Rekushu, to his website www.iggamecenter.com. This is the same website that was improved this year by the addition of Arimaa.
So far, only Arty himself has provided a decent challenge to me. If any of you would like to show up sometime and teach me a lesson in humility, I would be most grateful.
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| « Last Edit: Nov 18th, 2008, 10:41am by The_Jeh » |
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RonWeasley
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Harry's friend (Arimaa player #441)
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #13 on: Nov 18th, 2008, 5:24am » |
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Wow. Somehow, I never saw this thread until today. The_Jeh has caused a game to exist where there was no game before. That's a hard spell to master. I'm guessing The_Jeh is a Ravenclaw?
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Adanac
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Arimaa player #892
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Re: Rekushu
« Reply #14 on: Nov 18th, 2008, 6:21am » |
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Interesting, thanks for bumping this thread. I took half-days off work today & tomorrow for appliance deliveries. If anyone wants to try this out 4 hours from now, I’ll be at www.iggamecenter.com beginning at 13:30 North American Eastern Time Zone both today and tomorrow (4 hours from the time of this posting).
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