From: wgreview@aol.com (Wgreview) Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract Subject: Attaxx Date: 4 Mar 1995 08:04:29 -0500 The Game of Attaxx Attaxx is a board game which apparently began as an arcade game. It later appeared as a video game on both Nintendo and IBM systems; Tracy Cobbs introduced me to the game through the Nintendo version. There is now a (shareware) hexagonal version available for IBM's. The game itself, however, is a simple and elegant abstract board game with some similarities to reversi and Domain. The board is 7x7; 49 reversi-style pieces (e.g. black on one side and white on the other) are needed. Initially the player going first has pieces at a7 and g1; the second player has pieces at a1 and g7. Players alternate moving one piece per turn. There are two kinds of moves : (1) A piece adjacent to an empty square (orthogonally or diagonally, like a king in chess) can create a new piece in the empty square. E.g. if there is a piece at c3, and d4 is vacant, a new piece can be created in d4. Since it doesn't really matter which adjacent square was involved, we notate this move with the landing square only : e.g. d4 indicates that a piece was created on d4 from one of the adjacent squares occupied by a friendly piece. (2) A piece can jump into an empty square two squares distant (orthogonally, diagonally, or by a knight's move -- this is like the fairy chess piece called the squirrel) -- intervening squares may be leaped whether empty or occupied by friendly or enemy pieces. No new piece is created. A piece at c3 may jump to a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,b5,c5, d5,e5,e4,e3,e2,e1,d1,c1,or b1 -- in any case c3 will be vacant after the move. We notate such a move (e.g.) c3b5. After a move, enemy pieces adjacent (kingwise) to the new piece's square in case (1) or the landing square in case (2) are flipped over as in reversi. The number of pieces flipped over as a result of each move is noted in parentheses. The game ends when the board is full; the winner is the player with a larger number of pieces (ties are impossible because of the odd board size). Here is a sample game (played by post and e-mail, 1994-1995) White Black Cobbs Keller 1 b7 b2 2 f1 c3 3 g2 f6 4 e1 d2(1) 5 e2(2) b2d1(3) 6 f2(2) e3(2) 7 f3(3) d3(2) 8 f3d4(3) e2e4(3) 9 e2(4) f3(4) 10 c3e5(3) g7f5(3) 11 d4f4(5) f6d4(4) 12 b7d5(3) d3c5(2) 13 d3(3) c4(2) 14 c3(3) a1c2(4) 15 a7c6(2) b4(2) 16 b5(3) b3(2) 17 g3(2) b4d6(4) 18 e6(3) b4(1) 19 d6b6(3) b4d6(5) 20 f6(2) b4(1) 21 d7(2) d5e7(4) 22 d5(4) f6g4(4) 23 b6a4(3) c3a5(3) 24 c3(4) c1(2) 25 f6(2) d7f7(3) 26 b2(2) a3(3) 27 c1a2(3) c1(2) 28 b1(3) b6(2) 29 c7(2) d7(3) 30 g6(2) g5(3) 31 a6(2) Resigns Position 7 - - X X X O - 6 O O X X X X X 5 O O X O O X X 4 X X O O O X X 3 O O O O O X X 2 O O O X O O O 1 - O O X O O O a b c d e f g Michael Keller, World Game Review, 1747 Little Creek Drive, Baltimore, MD 21207-5230,