Sportsmanship for Arimaa Players

If you are a regular Arimaa player, you will begin to notice that Arimaa is the kind of game that can be considered a sport. Some features that make it sport like are:

• Very low chances of a natural draw. Although it is possible, it's so rare that seeing one is quite spectacular.
• It is not uncommon for a player to make a comeback from a seeming lost position and win the game. Thus making the games very exciting and suspensful to the end.
• Extreamly high number of options on each turn, allows the players to come up with creative moves and develop their own unique styles and strategies.
• Practically impossible to thoroughly analyse a finished game due to the extreamly high number of possibilities.

To preserve the sport like nature of Arimaa, players should observe the following:

No mutual draws

You should never mutually agree to end a game in a draw. Chances of a natural draw are very slim in Arimaa. When you start a game of Arimaa just think that you have only two options: either win or lose. If it turns out to be a natural draw, the game will be very exciting to watch.

Try to avoid resigning

Although it is possible to resign a game of Arimaa, you should only use this option for practice or non-rated games. When you enter a serious game of Arimaa, think of it as a duel to the finish and never give up. Do not resign even if it looks like you are going to lose the game. Play it to the end. There are many examples of games where a player has actually won even though they were short on material. If you can pull off such a victory, it's even more exciting to watch.

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