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        Arimaa >> General Discussion >> Repeating board positions
        
(Message started by: NIC1138 on Mar 11^th, 2007, 9:54am)

Title: Repeating board positions
Post by NIC1138 on Mar 11^th, 2007, 9:54am

Where in the Rules of the Game is written the a board position cannot be repeated 3 times? And why not 2??... Any chances we should create a rule like in go? :)

Title: Re: Repeating board positions
Post by chessandgo on Mar 11^th, 2007, 10:13am

take a look at : http://arimaa.com/arimaa/learn/rulesIntro.html
"If after a turn the same board position and side to move is repeated three times, then the player causing this to occur the 3rd time loses the game. "

I like 3 rather than 2, as it allows to make a "repeat mistake" once, but maybe I didn't get your question.

Title: Re: Repeating board positions
Post by Fritzlein on Mar 16^th, 2007, 1:01am

NIC, you may be interested in seeing the discussion on this issue which got entangled in a different thread here:
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=talk;action=display;num=1144695637;start=0

I was initially in favor of your idea of banning even the second repetition, and I think the idea got support from several people. However, one argument in favor of leaving it at three-fold repetition was persuasive to me. It maybe be that a series of moves leads you to a position where your only good move is to repeat a previous board position, but you didn't see it coming. Yes, it should be your responsibility to deviate, but what if you would prefer to deviate somewhere else in the series? I like the feature of being able to create the position for the second time, knowing that you must deviate somewhere before it comes around a third time, but having the option to deviate at a different place in the cycle.

That said, I would support a rule which forbids undoing the opponent's last move. Undo moves are always a waste of time and should be banned.

And no matter what the repetition rule is, it would be nice if the server interface enforced the rule. The server should say, "You can't do that move," rather than, "You lose! Ha ha!"

Title: Re: Repeating board positions
Post by NIC1138 on Mar 16^th, 2007, 9:27am

Thanks, folks!... The only place I looked for this was in the Match Rules page. http://arimaa.com/arimaa/learn/matchRules.html It doesn't mention repetition... It would be nice if it had a link to this other page with the game rules!!... How do I get to there from the gameroom?

I lost a game because of this, because I conciously moved into the same state again and again, to see if the computer would enter into a cycle! :) So I can't say it was a mistake...

Title: Re: Repeating board positions
Post by RonWeasley on Mar 20^th, 2007, 8:53am

The arimaa_master and I just passed such a position in one of our owl games. He had two places where he could have deviated and chose the second. Prohibiting the repeated position would have forced him to choose the second (earlier) and not given him the option of choosing the first. So I like the rule the way it is now.

Title: Re: Repeating board positions
Post by chessandgo on Mar 20^th, 2007, 10:43am

on 03/16/07 at 09:27:35, NIC1138 wrote:

How do I get to there from the gameroom?

through "how to play" then "game rules"

Title: Re: Repeating board positions
Post by arimaa_master on Mar 21^st, 2007, 4:40am

on 03/20/07 at 08:53:49, RonWeasley wrote:

Yes, I like the rule in this form too, although I must always check it twice (like in our game) coz at first sight I thought that it is you who is going to repeat the position three times. ::)

Title: Re: Repeating board positions
Post by NIC1138 on Mar 22^nd, 2007, 12:05am

on 03/20/07 at 10:43:37, chessandgo wrote:

through "how to play" then "game rules"

I got it now, thanks!...