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
Awards: Best Strategy DM 2019

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.

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.)

⚔ Pathing Dots & Boxes ⚔

This game appeared in Zero's Gambit, hosted by Zero, as Death Match 6. There are a few rule changes from the original game; read the rules carefully.

The goal of the game is to get four of your tiles in a row by swapping tiles. However, a simultaneous Dots & Boxes game will make matters confusing.

RULES

The game is played on the following board. The board is made of an array of 4x4 cells. Some cells start out occupied by pieces of two colors (brown and blue, marked X and Y), belonging to the two players, while other cells are empty. Adjacent cells are connected by edges, which can be either empty or filled. Between the cells is an array of 3x3 boxes, bounded by the edges.

The game is played in waves. At any time, when a player reaches the win condition, the game immediately ends.

Decide the starting player for the game. Players alternate turns.

On your turn, you must swap two cells connected by an empty edge. The contents of the two cells are swapped, and the edge gets filled.

If your swap causes a box to be completely surrounded with filled edges, the box is marked with your color and you get an extra turn. A swap that completes two boxes colors both boxes, but you still only get one turn.

The wave ends when all edges are filled. The player that wins less boxes must pick an empty cell and put a piece of the opponent's color. If all cells are filled, they must pick one of their own pieces to convert into the opponent's color. Then, all edges are emptied and the next wave begins. The player that made the last move begins the wave (they completed a box so they have an extra turn).

The game ends when there is a line of 4 horizontal or vertical cells occupied fully by pieces of one color. (Diagonal lines don't count.) The player whose color makes this line of 4 wins. In case there is a line for both players, the player that made the last move loses.

EXAMPLE

In the following game, the first four moves (starting by X) are A1-B1 (swapping Y and X), A1-A2 (swapping two X's), B1-B2 (swapping Y and empty cell), and A2-B2 (swapping X and Y, also completing a box). Since Y made the last move, Y gets the box and makes the next turn.

ADMINISTRATION

Make your moves in the public game room. State the two squares you wish to swap.

Information revealed in public game room: current board.

Private channels are not used.

Time controls: 5 periods of 1 minute. I will take the first unambiguous legal move you make each turn. If you attempt to make an illegal move, I will announce it and you must make a different move.

Rule change: You get 1 extra period at the end of each wave (after the loser of a wave places a new opponent piece).

FINALS CHANGES

The board looks like this:

There are four additional edges, connecting the corners. They also form boxes; each additional edge, plus the three edges on the same side of the board, forms a box. Therefore there are a total of 13 boxes to contest.

The starting position has been changed, but otherwise there is no other rule change.

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.)

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.