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Introducing a new game Druid (help file appended below).

Please challenge me to a game if you think it looks interesting, it needs 
some testing.

   druid challenge you camb
   druid challenge camb you

Cameron

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Help For the Game Of Druid

Introduction

    Welcome to the network Druid server. The challenge command is
    described here. Other commands are the same as for all pbmserv games.

        druid challenge [-size=number] [-nogaps] userid1 userid2

    Starts a new game between userid1 and userid2. The -size parameter
    sets the board size within the range 3..12, with 8 being the default.
    The -nogaps option specifies whether gaps are allowed.

The Story

    Two sects of Druids want to build a great monument on the same sacred
    site, however there is some conflict. The followers of Horizontus
    believe that the monument should track the sun from the East horizon
    to the West horizon to worship the passing days, while the followers
    of Verticalus believe that the monument should track the sun from the
    North to the South to worship the passing seasons.

    To make matters worse, they don't have much time as the Summer
    solstice is fast approaching and their sacrificial victims are getting
    a bit fidgety. Construction must begin right now!

Rules

    V and H take turns adding a stone of their colour to the board. V
    starts and must place the opening stone on an edge square. Stones are
    either sarsens (1 unit) or lintels (3 units).
         +-----+
        /|     |
        ||     |                  Sarsens are single unit cubes.
        |+-----+
        /-----+

         +-----+-----+-----+
        /|                 |
        ||                 |      Lintels are three cubes long.
        |+-----+-----+-----+
        /-----+-----+-----/

    Sarsens can be placed directly on the ground, or on top of any
    same-coloured stone.

    Lintels can only be placed so that they lie flat and are supported by
    a same-coloured stone at each end. Lintels therefore cannot be placed
    directly on the ground. The following example shows a V lintel being
    placed on two V sarsens.
                                           +-----+-----+-----+
       +-----+     +-----+                /| v v   v v   v v |
      /| v v |    /| v v |               /|| v v   v v   v v |
      || v v |    || v v |     ---->     ||+-----+-----+-----+
      |+-----+    |+-----+               |/-----+-----+-----/
      /-----/     /-----/                /-----/     /-----/

    There can be gaps left underneath lintels, however only the topmost
    stone at each square counts in any connection. In other words, upper
    stones cut all lower connections that they cross over. If the -nogaps
    option was used, then there would also have to be a stone (of either
    colour) between the two sarsens before the lintel could be placed on
    top.

    V wins by connecting the top and bottom sides with a continuous V
    chain. H wins by connecting the left and right sides with a continuous
    H chain. Two stones of the same colour are connected if they are
    orthogonally (squarely) adjacent, and do not have to be the same
    height.

Notes

    The following board shows a sample game won by V.

       A   +-----+ C     D     E     F     G     H
    +-----/| v v |----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
  8 |     || v v |                                  | 8
    |     |+     +                                  |
    +     /| v v |    +     +     +     +     +     +
  7 |     ||+-----+                                 | 7
    |     |/| v v |                                 |
    +     /|| v v |   +     +     +     +     +     +
  6 |     ||+     +                                 | 6
    |+-----/| v v |----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
    /| h h ||+-----+-----+-----+ h   h h   h h   h h |
  5 || h h |/| v v   v v   v v | h   h h   h h   h h |5
    |+-----/|| v v   v v   v v |---+     +-----+-----+
    /-----/||+-----+-----+-----+--/| h h |----/-----/
  4 |     ||/-----/-----/-----/   || h h |          | 4
    |     |/-----/    |/-----/    |+-----+          |
    +     /-----/     /| v v |    /-----/     +     +
  3 |                 || v v |                      | 3
    |                 |+     +                      |
    +     +     +     /| v v |    +     +     +     +
  2 |             +-----+-----+-----+               | 2
    |      +-----/| v v   v v   v v |----+          |
    +     /| h h || v v   v v   v v |h h |    +     +
  1 |     || h h |+-----+-----+-----+h h |          | 1
    |     |+-----/-----/-----/-----/-----+          |
    +-----/-----/-----/-----/-----/-----/-----+-----+
       A     B     C     D     E     F     G     H

       A B C D E F G H             A B C D E F G H

    8  . v . . . . . .  8       8  . 1 . . . . . .  8
    7  . v . . . . . .  7       7  . 1 . . . . . .  7
    6  . v . . . . . .  6       6  . 2 . . . . . .  6
    5  h v h h h h h h  5       5  1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1  5
    4  . v v v . h . .  4       4  . 3 3 3 . 1 . .  4
    3  . . . v . . . .  3       3  . . . 1 . . . .  3
    2  . . . v . . . .  2       2  . . . 1 . . . .  2
    1  . h v v v h . .  1       1  . 1 2 2 2 1 . .  1

       A B C D E F G H             A B C D E F G H

    Below the main board there are two board summaries showing: 1) the
    current owner of each square, and 2) the current height at each
    square. These summaries can be helpful if any part of the main board
    gets obscured by excessive monument growth.

Syntax

    V moves first and must place a sarsen at an edge square on their
    opening move. The move syntax is:

        druid move board# userid password c3     (place a sarsen at C3)
        druid move board# userid password b2-b4  (lay a lintel between B2
    and B4)

References and History

    Druid rules copyright (c) Cameron Browne, Jan 2004.

    Implementation and help file by Cameron Browne, Feb 2004.