Richard's PBeM Server (Monthly Post)

From: Richard Rognlie <rrognlie@eiss.erols.com>

Date: Tue, 07 Jan 1997 00:00:00 +0000

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

Chess, QuickChess,
 Abalone Andantino     Ataxx and Hexxagon Backgammon     Capablanca and
                                                         GrandChess

Chex    Connect4 and  Connect4x4         Connexxions    Dots and Boxes
         Connectris
 Entropy Gomoku        Hex                Jungle         Lines-of-Action
                       Othello, Reversi
 Neutron Oddthello     and                Pente and      Philosopher's
                       Reverse-Othello    Keryo-Pente    Football
 Plotto  Quadrature    Qubic              Renju          Rings

Score4  Spangles      Survival           Susan          Tanbo, Tanbo3D and
                                                         Hexbo

Terrace Trax, 8x8Trax Tug-of-War         TwixT
         and LoopTrax

To get information on how to play games via the PBeM Server, send mail to
pbmserv@eiss.erols.com with 'help' (without the quotes) as the SUBJECT
line.

In Case of Fire, contact:

* Richard Rognlie <rrognlie@eiss.erols.com>

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.

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 controll 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 pawns and tries
to scatter them about.

A player wins if all 7 of his or her pawns are uncharged and unisolated,
unless the 7 opposing pawns are also uncharged and unisolated, in which case
the game is a draw. If neither player can move and no one has won, the game
is a draw.

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)

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.

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.

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 / Internet Developer / Erol's Internet
 \__/  \ | E-Mail: rrognlie@eiss.erols.com
 /  \__/ | Phone:  (Office) (703) 321-8000 x2222
 \__/    | WWW:    http://eiss.erols.com/~rrognlie/

rec.games.pbm

Richard's PBeM Server (Monthly Post)

Referenced By