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        Arimaa >> Say Hello >> Hello from belgium
        
(Message started by: mig42 on Mar 29^th, 2013, 1:58pm)

Title: Hello from belgium
Post by mig42 on Mar 29^th, 2013, 1:58pm

Just made an arimaa board together with my son. So absolutely new here ! We have a question about the rabbits. Can they move 4 steps forward (on free spots) passing higher unfriendly animals next to them? Thanx very much, because we could not find it in the general rules.

Title: Re: Hello from belgium
Post by robinz on Mar 29^th, 2013, 2:24pm

Rabbits are no different from any other piece in this regard - if they are adjacent to any stronger enemy piece (so any non-rabbit piece, in the case of rabbits), then they are "frozen" and cannot move, unless there is another friendly piece also adjacent. (The strength of this adjacent friendly piece does not matter - any will do.)

And welcome to Arimaa - it's a great game, and there is a great community here as well :)

Title: Re: Hello from belgium
Post by mig42 on Mar 30^th, 2013, 5:09am

Thanx Robinz. But I guess I didn't ask exactly what we wanted to know. I meant : A rabbit is free to move and only needs 4 steps to reach the goal line. Can the rabbit pass stronger animals who are on the left or right of the free path. I hope I put it right this time :)

Title: Re: Hello from belgium
Post by robinz on Mar 30^th, 2013, 6:05am

It can, but only if there is a friendly piece adjacent to each square along the path on which it would be adjacent to a higher-ranked "unfriendly" piece. Perhaps an example will make it clearer. Here, "r" is a gold rabbit, "x" can be any gold piece, and "X" can be any silver piece that isn't a rabbit. (and - is an empty square.)

Code:

---
X-x
X-x
X-x
Xrx

Here, the rabbit can happily move 4 steps forward in the move, as it is unfrozen at every step by the gold pieces marked "x". If you remove any one of them, though, the rabbit becomes frozen and unable to move at the corresponding square. Eg, here:

Code:

---
X--
X-x
X-x
Xrx

the rabbit can move forward 3 spaces, but becomes frozen after these 3 steps and can't then take the 4th step right away.

Really, there is no special rule for rabbits here - it comes under the general rules for frozen pieces (which is why I thought my initial answer was adequate).

Title: Re: Hello from belgium
Post by browni3141 on Mar 30^th, 2013, 1:03pm

Examples can be much easier to understand, so here are a couple.
Here the rabbit can simply step four steps to goal on d8 and gold wins the game. Pieces of the same strength can not freeze each other.
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/notconv/old/boardimg.php?orient=n&size=300&imgtype=png&ranks=/4r///3R
Here, however, the silver elephant is indirectly blocking the rabbit because the rabbit will be frozen when it reaches d7. Stronger pieces can freeze weaker pieces.
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/notconv/old/boardimg.php?orient=n&size=300&imgtype=png&ranks=/4e///3R
Finally, here the rabbit CAN advance to goal, because although the elephant on e7 would normally freeze the rabbit, gold's elephant is adjacent to d7 so when the rabbit reaches that square it will not be frozen.

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/notconv/old/boardimg.php?orient=n&size=300&imgtype=png&ranks=/2E1e///3R

If it is still confusing, then I suggest playing some games online againts bots and experiment you should get familiar with the rules quickly, and it will be easier to teach your son.

Title: Re: Hello from belgium
Post by mig42 on Apr 1^st, 2013, 1:33am

Thanx very much, both of you, rules are all clear now. We already tried some puzzles, and are now ready to play against the bots to learn more. We noticed that the game of Arimaa is much easier for a 10-year old boy than for his dad :). Lots of fun are coming up !

Title: Re: Hello from belgium
Post by omar on Apr 4^th, 2013, 1:46am

Welcome to the Arimaa community. Hope you are enjoying the game with your son. In case the games are too long I also have posted some sub game variations that can make it go faster.

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/rules/fastRules.pdf

I also recently wrote the Arimaa rules with a Football/Rugby theme, so maybe your son might find this interesting.

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/rules/FootballTheme.pdf