Pointsweeper

Players claim tiles across three chess boards to score as many points as possible.

Each board consists of 10 mines and 54 claimable tiles, valued from -2 to +5 points.

On boards 1 and 3, the DMO will choose whether to play first or second. On board 2, the EC will choose whether to play first or second.

For each board, each player has a full set (16 pieces) of chess pieces.

On their turn, each player may "scout" or "claim" using one of their pieces. On the first three turns of each board, players may only "scout".

When a piece "scouts", its owner places it on a square on the chessboard. The player who scouted is privately told the sum of all tiles that piece could legally move to (including the square it is placed on). For example, a bishop placed on A3 would receive the sum of the following squares: [C1, B2, A3, B4, C5, D6, E7, F8]. In addition, the player will be told the total number of mines on the scouted squares. Pawns are considered to be able to move as though moving forward or capturing. The player who plays first is considered to be playing white for the purposes of pawn movement.

When a piece "claims", its owner places it on one space and moves it to another space. If no mines are passed through, the owner claims every tile passed through including the starting and ending points. (A claim of "Rook, A1, A3" would claim the tiles located on A1, A2, and A3.) Claimed tiles are publicly revealed and the claimed points are added to the player who claimed them. If a piece passes through one or more mines, however, all other tiles are unrevealed and the mines are the only tiles claimed by the player. Knights do not pass through any spaces, and claim only their starting and ending points.

Any given piece may only be used to scout once and claim once. A piece that has already claimed may not scout.

If a player feels they cannot score any more positive points from the current board, they may elect to "pass". A player who has passed will take no further turns on that board.

Players have one minute per move, plus a 2 minute time bank per board. A player who exceeds their time bank is considered to have passed.

Each board ends when any of the following conditions are met:

a) All 54 non-mines are claimed

b) All 10 mines are claimed

c) Both players are out of pieces

d) Both players have passed

After all three boards are complete, each player loses points equal to the triangular number of mines they have claimed. (e.g. 6 mines claimed = lose 21 points). The player with the higher score after this deduction is the winner and advances to episode 2.

FAQ

Can a piece claim only a single square?

No, a piece must move when claiming. (The move may include one or more emptied spaces, however)

Can pieces scout/claim where another piece is standing?

Pieces do not remain on the board after taking their actions; the only piece actively on the board is the piece you are using on your current turn

How are mines counted during scouting?

Mines are not included in the sum, your scouting information will say something like "23 points, 1 mine"

How do pawns work?

Pawns cannot be placed on rows 1 or 8 to scout or to start their movement. A pawn placed on row 2 can be moved two spaces forward for the player who played first on the current board, and the player who moved first must increase row number when placing a pawn. The reverse is true for the player who played second - the pawn can be moved two spaces if placed on row 7; and the row number must decrease when moving.

Is there any guarantee on the distribution of the tiles in question (i.e. could every tile be -2 or every tile be +5?)

The boards were generated semi-randomly with a relatively flat probability distribution between the 8 possible values for each number tile