[Ad] Richard's Play-By-eMail Server <pbmserv@gamerz.net>

From: Richard Rognlie <rrognlie@gamerz.net>

Date: Wed, 10 Dec 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Richard's PBeM Server (pbmserv@gamerz.net) exists so that we can play
a variety of games by eMail. The games currently supported are:

Abalone Amazons Andantino Ataxx and Hexxagon Backgammon Chess,
QuickChess, Capablanca and GrandChess Chex Connect4 and Connectris
Connect4x4 Connexxions Dots and Boxes Entropy Go Gomoku Hex Jungle
Lines-of-Action Neutron Oddthello Othello, Reversi and Reverse-Othello
Pente and Keryo-Pente Philosopher's Football Plotto Quadrature Qubic
Renju Rings Score4 Shogi and MiniShogi Spangles Survival Susan Tanbo,
Tanbo3D and Hexbo Terrace Trax, 8x8Trax and LoopTrax Tug-of-War TwixT

For full information on how to play games via pbmserv@gamerz.net,
send a mail message to pbmserv@gamerz.net with 'help' (sans quotes)
as the SUBJECT line.

Games supported:

Abalone

On a hexagonal board (radius 5) two to six players have armies of
marbles. Players take turns "pushing" 1, 2 or 3 linearly connected
marbles, attempting to push their opponents' marbles off the board.

Try to be the last player with a legal move as the board fills up with
arrows blocking your way.

The players take turns attaching pieces of their color to two or more
other pieces (in a hex-like lattice) in an attempt to form a line of 5
or more pieces of their color in a straight line, or to fully enclose
a group of one or more opponents pieces.

Ataxx and Hexxagon

On a 7x7 board, the two players of ataxx fight to control a majority
of the board via growth and jumps that flip opponents pieces to their
color.

Hexxagon is Ataxx played on a hexagonal board of radius 5.

Backgammon

A classic. Backgammon via eMail.

Chess, QuickChess, Capablanca and GrandChess (Copyright (c) 1984,
 Christiaan Freeling)

Chess is the classic game. QuickChess is a variant played on a 5x6
board. Capablanca and GrandChess are variants with 2 extra pieces on
8x10 and 10x10 boards respectively.

Unlike standard Chess, Chex is played on a dynamic board which grows
and shrinks to enclosed the pieces currently in play. The board is not
limited to 8x8. It may grow to any width and/or height.

The players' pieces do not start on the board. Rather they are off the
board, and "drawn" randomly to be added to play.

Connect4 and Connectris

On a 7x6 board, two players alternate dropping their pieces from the
top of the board, down a column, attempting to form four in a row.

Connectris has the same rules and commands as Connect4. The only
difference is that when the bottom row is full, all of the pieces in
it disappear, and all of the other pieces move down one row, similar
to the computer game Tetris.

Connect4x4

On an 8x8 board, two players alternate inserting their pieces from the
edges of the board, across a row or up/down a column, attempting to
form four in a row.

Connexxions (Copyright? David Gale)

On a 13x13 board, players take turns connecting posts of their color
in an attempt to connect their sides of the board the board while
preventing your opponent from doing the same.

Dots and Boxes

On a 7x7 board, players take turns connecting the dots to form boxes.

Entropy is played on a 5x5 grid. Each player starts with 7 linked
pawns and races to be the first to "de-link" them.

On a 19x19 board, the two players of go try control the majority of
the board...

Gomoku

On a 15x15 board, the two players of gomoku try to be the first to
create a line of 5 or more stones in a row of their color.

Hex

On a 11x11 diamond board, players take turns placing stones of their
color on the board. The object is to connect your sides of the board
while preventing your opponent from doing the same.

Jungle

Jungle is sort of a cross between Chinese chess and Stratego. It's
popular in China as a children's "stepping-stone" to Chinese chess.
It's also an interesting game in its own right.

Lines-of-Action (LoA) (Copyright (c) Claude Soucie)

The object of the game is to move all your pieces into a configuration
where they are in a single group connected horizontal, vertically, or
diagonally. Pieces may move horizontally, vertically, or diagonally,
but they must move exactly the number of spaces as there are pieces on
the row they are moving in. You may not jump over opponent's pieces,
nor may you land on your own piece. If you land on an opponent's
piece, it is captured and removed from the game.

On a 5x5 board, the two players of neutron fight to either move the
neutron to their back row or trap it so the opponent cannot move it.

The winner is the player who is able to trap the neutron or gets the
neutron to his or her own back row. It does not matter if it is your
opponent who moves the neutron to your back row -- you still win.

Oddthello

On a dynamic hexagonal lattice, two players play othello without a
fixed board. And with 6 directions for tile flipping.

Othello (Copyright (c) 1973,1990 Pressman Toy Co.), Reversi and
 Reverse-Othello

On a 8x8 board, the two players of othello fight to control the
majority of the board by outflanking and flipping their opponents
pieces.

Reversi is the same as othello, but allows for an alternate opening
set up.

Reverse-Othello (ROthello) uses the same command structure and
movement notation as othello, but the object is to control the fewest
points on the board.

Pente

On a 19x19 board, the two players of pente try to be the first to
create a line of 5 or more stones in a row of their color *or* try to
capture 5 pairs of their opponents stones. You capture a pair of
stones any time you sandwich the stones between a pair of your stones.

Keryo-Pente

On a 19x19 board, the two players of keryo-pente try to be the first
to create a line of 5 or more stones in a row of their color *or* try
to capture 15 of their opponents' stones. You may capture 2 or 3
opponents' stones any time you sandwich the stones between a pair of
your stones.

Philosopher's Football

On a 19x15 board, players take turns either adding men to the field,
or moving the football. The football moves by jumping lines of
adjacent men (and removing them from the board). The object is to move
the football to (or past) your goal line.

The players take turns placing one hex shaped piece in turn onto an
open space (no board). Pieces are numbered either 1, 2, 3 or 4 and you
may play a piece of any number at each turn. The object is to place a
pair of pieces with your number in a straight line with two pieces in
between.

Starting on opposite sides of an 11 by 11 board, players take turns
moving their checkers a single space forward, diagonally forward or
sideways. Quadrature employs a unique aggressive maneuver called
"squaring". To "square" your opponent, you move to form a rectangle on
the board with four checkers: three of your own checkers and one enemy
checker. Upon doing this you "convert" the enemy checker to one of
your own, by removing it from the board and replacing it with one of
your surplus off-board checkers.

Qubic

On a 4x4x4 grid, two players alternate placing their pieces,
attempting to form four in a row in any direction.

Renju

On a 15x15 board, the two players of renju try to be the first to
create a line of 5 stones in a row of their color.

On an unusual hexagonal board, the players of Rings, place pieces on
the board in an attempt to convert other pieces to their color and to
control the more rings than any other player.

Score4

On a 4x4 grid of pegs, two players alternate dropping their pieces
from the top of a peg, down a column, attempting to form four in a row
in any direction.

Shogi and MiniShogi

Shogi (sometimes called Japanese Chess) is similar to western Chess.
It is played on a 9x9 board with 20 pieces per side. Captured pieces
can be returned to play be dropping them on unoccupied squares.
MiniShogi is played on a 5x5 board.

The two players of Spangles take turns adding triangular pieces of
their color to the board in an attempt to create a 4 piece triangle
with their pieces as the three corner pieces.

Survival is played on a hexagonal board made up of 19 numbered
hexagons. Two players take turns placing pieces on the board with the
"arrow" of the piece dictating the direction in which the next piece
played by that player must be played. The first player who can not
move loses the game.

On a hexagonal board (radius 5) two players take turns placing or
moving a marble in an attempt to completely surround a opponent's
marble with a combination of marbles.

General Susan Interest: The SUSAN Page

Tanbo, Tanbo3d (Copyright (c) 1995 Mark Steere) and Hexbo (Copyright
(c)
 1996 Rognlie/Steere)

Played on a 19x19 Go board, Tanbo crudely models a system of plant
roots. Roots which are growing, competing for space, and dying. In
beginner play, the roots grow much as the roots in a garden. Over
time, the roots become shrewd and calculating.

To win, a player must eliminate all eight of his opponent's roots. One
player will always win. It's impossible to repeat a board
configuration in Tanbo. Therefore a game cannot result in a draw.

Tanbo3d extends the game of Tanbo into three dimensions.

Hexbo is Tanbo played on a hexagonal board.

Terrace is played on an 8x8 board consisting of 16 'L' shaped
terraces. Two corners of the board are "High" and the other corners
are "Low". Each player has pieces of 4 sizes ('A', 'B', 'C' and 'D').
'A' pieces are the smallest, 'D' pieces are the largest. 'T' pieces
are the same size as 'A' pieces and are each player's "key" piece.

The object of the game is to capture your opponent's "T" or move your
"T" to the lowest square on your opponent's side of the board.

Trax is a game played with square tiles. Each tile is identical to all
other tiles, one side has a white line connecting opposite edges and a
black line connecting the other edges, and the other side has a white
line connecting 2 adjacent edges and a black line connecting the other
edges. The object of the game is to create a loop of your color while
preventing your opponent from doing the same. An alternate winning
condition is to create a line extending from one edge of the board to
the opposite edge of the board when the board is at least 8 tiles wide
(or tall). 8x8Trax limits the board to 8x8. LoopTrax is simply Trax
with no line wins. Only a loop wins.

Tug-of-War (ToW)

Up to four players take turns placing "bids". High bidder gets 1 goal
point from each other player. First player to take an average of 5
points from each other player wins.

TwixT (Copyright (c) Avalon Hill)

On a 24x24 board, players take turns placing pegs of their color on
the board. Any time a peg is placed a "knight's move" from another peg
of the same color, a strut is placed, connecting them. A strut can not
cross over (through) another strut. The object is to connect your
sides of the board while preventing your opponent from doing the same.

--
 /  \__  | Richard Rognlie / Sr. Internet Developer / Erol's Internet
 \__/  \ | E-Mail: rrognlie@gamerz.net
 /  \__/ | URL:    http://www.gamerz.net/~rrognlie/
 \__/    | Join the fight against SPAM!   http://www.cauce.org