Pathing Dots & Boxes
In this Death Match, aim to win games of Dots & Boxes on one board while avoiding the opponent making 4 in a row on the other.
| Designer(s): Zero | Match Type: DM (for 2 players) |
| Featured in: Zero's Gambit, DM Colosseum, The Genius Puzzler | |
This game is played simultaneously on 2 boards. These are called the Pathing Board (left), and the Support Board (right). The boards look as follows:
The aim of the game is to create a straight path of 4 squares of your colour on the Pathing board. from one side of the board to the other. Each turn you will give the coordinates of 2 squares, and swap them. The squares must be adjacent.
Submission Format: Swap A4 and B4.
At the same time, the line connecting the matching squares on the support board is filled in with your colour. This is equivalent to making a line in a dots and boxes game. You may not swap 2 squares that have already have been swapped in a round, and hence there is already a line connecting those 2 boxes on the support board. If your move completes a square, that boxes is coloured in your colour and you get another turn. The round ends once every possible swap between square is made, or equivalently, every line has been filled in on the support board.
Once the round is over, the support board is evaluated. The player who has completed more boxes, wins the support board. The other player must then select a white square on the Pathing board and convert it to their opponents colour. If there are no white squares remaining, they must select one of their own squares to be changed to white. The next round begins with the person who took the last move in the previous round.
The winner is the first player to complete a straight line of 4 of their colour, horizontally, or vertically.
In the event of a tie (both players create 4 in a row at the same time), the player with more coloured squares on the pathing board wins, in the case where the players have the same number of squares, the player who made the move creating the tie, wins.
The time limit for each action is 2 mins (if you complete a box, this time resets), with a reserve time of 5 mins
The player with advantage may choose the starting player
If you run out of reserve time, you lose the DM.
DM5: Pathing Dots and Boxes
This game is played on a dual-purpose board, shown below.
The goal of this game is to create a 4 in a row made from your pieces, while following Dots and Boxes rules to gain an advantage.
The game is played in a number of rounds. The game can end at any time as soon as 4 in a row is made, it doesn’t have to be the end of the round.
Each round is split into turns. Players alternate taking turns until all possible turns are made. This marks the end of the round. The player that made the last turn in this round will start the next round. The DMO will pick the starting player for the first round.
On your turn, submit 2 orthogonally adjacent spaces, connected by an empty edge. The contents of these spaces gets swapped and the edge between them gets filled.
If your turn causes a box to be completely surrounded by edges, the box gets filled by your color and you get an extra turn. You can chain your extra turns until you fill an edge that doesn’t create a box, or you fill the last edge of the board.
The round ends when the last edge is filled. The player that has filled less boxes must select an empty square to fill with opponent’s color. If all squares have been filled, they must pick one of their own squares instead. Then all edges and boxes are unfilled and the player that made the last turn in a round begins the next round.
The game continues this way until a 4 in a row out of pieces of a player’s color is made. The player whose color it is wins.
If lines of both colors are made at the same time, the player who made the last turn wins.
Example
In the following example, Red makes the first move, and the following moves are made: A1-B1, A1-A2, A2-B2, B1-B2.
As a result, Blue completes a box and gets an extra turn.
Administration
You get 1 minute to make your move in the game room channel, plus 5 minutes of reserve time. If you run out of reserve time, you lose.
First legal move will be taken. If a player makes an illegal move, it is announced and the timer keeps going.
Clarification: The winning 4 in a row has to be vertical or horizontal, not diagonal.
Tags
Connect in a row (The game involves players connecting pieces in a row, like gomoku.)
Grid-based (The game involves play on a grid.)
Strategy (The game tests the players' strategic & tactical abilities.)