[pbmserv] looking for blackbox games

[Douglas Zander <darthdoug_1999@yahoo.com>]

Do you remember playing Black Box?  I'm sure many of you played this game as a
child.  Now re-live the excitment!  And if you are too young to have played
this game in the 1970's then find out what all the excitment is about!  I am
accepting challenges to blackbox, as many as you wish.

blackbox challenge dzander <you>
blackbox challenge <you> dzander

The rules are not yet posted to the webserver but they are available by email;
I've included them below.

--- pbmserv@gamerz.net wrote:

> Date: Thu, 29 Dec 2005 07:31:58 -0500
> From: pbmserv@gamerz.net
> Subject:  Help blackbox
> 
> Help for Blackbox
 
 Welcome to the Blackbox Server. The rules of Blackbox are below.  The
 challenge and move commands are described here.
 Other commands are the same for all pbmserv games.
 
 Blackbox Command Summary
 
 blackbox challenge userid1 userid2
 	Start a new game between userid1 and userid2
 
 blackbox move board userid password move
 	The first move of each player is to secretly place the four atoms in your
 opponent's blackbox.  
 	To do this simply give the row column (or column row) coordinates of your
 atoms separated by commas.
 	examples: b3,d3,8h,13n -or- 3b,3d,h8,n13 -these are the same initial setups-
 	examples: a1,a2,d4,d5 -or- c2,f2,k8,k9
 
 	After the first secret initial placement of the atoms then each move is as
 follows.
 	Make a move.  Each move may consist of several elements separated by commas.
 	* shoot one probe into board
 	* add or delete atom markers from your board
 	* take a guess
 	Each element is optional but usually a player would always shoot a probe
 into the board on every turn.
 
 	>shoot a probe: simply give the number or letter at the location where you
 wish to shoot the probe from.
 	examples: 1 -or- a -or- j -or- 14
 	range of probes are 1 to 14 and a to n (case insensitive)
 
 	>add or delete an atom marker: when you think you know where an atom is
 located, you may place an atom marker at
 	a location on the board by giving the plus sign followed by the row and
 column coordinates of the atom marker.
 	examples: +a1 -or- +1a -or- +d7 -or- +8h
 	to delete an atom marker simply use the forward slash or hyphen. NOTE: the
 hyphen will not work if the deletion
 	is the first element on the move string so it would be better to always use
 the forward slash.
 	examples: /a1 -or- /8h -or- /d7 -or- /14m
 	you may add or delete as many atom markers as you wish in a turn separated
 by commas
 	examples: +a1,/b2,+m13,+7g,/k3
 	placing atom markers do not count against you as a guess, they are merely
 place markers so you can keep track
 	of where your opponent may have hidden his atoms on your board.  (when you
 take a guess then you will need 
 	exactly four (and only four) atom markers on your board as to locate your
 guesses of where your opponent
 	placed his atoms.)
 
 	>take a guess: simply include a question mark in the command line.  you may
 only take one quess per turn 
 	and you only get three quesses total per game.  if you take three quesses
 and fail to find all your opponent's
 	atoms then your opponent will automatically win.  when a player takes a
 guess he should have exactly 4 atom 
 	markers located on his board (add four atom markers to your board).  you may
 add or delete atom markers on the
 	same turn as your guess and the board will be updated before the guess is
 calculated.
 	examples: ? -or- +a1,+d5,+8k,+3f,?
 	The first player to correctly guess the location of the four atoms on their
 board before taking three incorrect			guesses is the winner.
 
 Rules of Blackbox.
 	There is a black box before you and you cannot see where the atoms are
 located inside.  YOu may send in probes
 	from any of the 28 locations around the outside of the board to help you
 guess where the atoms are located.
 	If a probe (think of it as a laser light probe) hits an atom dead on then it
 registers with a hit sign (#). 
 	If the probe bounces back to the same location it entered then it registers
 with a reflection sign (%).
 	Otherwise the probe may bounce off atoms and come out at another location. 
 This is signaled by corresponding	
 	letters of the alphabet at both ends of the probe (a to a or b to b and so
 on).  It is your job to deduce where
 	your opponent hid the 4 atoms in your black box.  
 
 	Here is how a probe bounces off an edge of an atom (the atom is designated
 with an @). Think of a laser shooting
 	a beam of light from one letter then bouncing off the atom in the middle of
 the board (making a 90 degree turn)
 	and exiting the board at the location of the corresponding letter (a to a, b
 to b, c to c, or d to d)
 
 	     |a |  |b |
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	   a |  |  |  |b
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	     |  |@ |  |
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	   d |  |  |  |c
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	     |d |  |c |
 
 	Here are examples of reflections of the probe.  If the atom is located on
 the very edge of the board then
 	notice how a reflection is signaled for a probe shot in right next to the
 atom.
 
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	     |  |  |  |%
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	     |  |  |@ | 
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	   % |  |  |  |%
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	     |  |  |@ | 
 	   --|--|--|--|--
 	     |  |% |  |
 
 	Here is a game in progress. Player dzander1 has marked three locations on
 his board where he thinks atoms are
 	located (+b2,+b4,+12m).  These first two boards are from dzander1's point of
 view.  The board on the left is
 	his board that he is attempting to solve.  The board on the right is his
 opponent's board with the secret atom
 	locations that dzander1 placed in his opponent's board along with the
 guesses his opponent has made (+c2,+m13)
 	(The atom markers are marked with a question mark.)
 
 Player dzander1's board on left.  Player dzander2's board on right.
       A  B  C  D  E  F  G             A  B  C  D  E  F  G       
      |d |  |  |b |  |% |  |          |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |     
      |====================|          |====================|     
  1|d |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |8  1|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |8 
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  2|  |  |? |  |  |  |  |  |% |9  2|  |  |  |?@|  | @|  |  |  |9 
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  3|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |% |10 3|a |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |10
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  4|  |  |? |  |  |  |  |  |  |11 4|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |11
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  5|a |  |  |  |  |  |? |  |  |12 5|# |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |12
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  6|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |c |13 6|  |  |  |  |  |  |?@|  |# |13
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  7|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |14 7|  |  |  |  |  |  | @|  |  |14
      |====================|          |====================|     
      |a |  |  |b |  |  |c |          |  |a |# |  |% |  |  |     
       H  I  J  K  L  M  N             H  I  J  K  L  M  N       
 Player dzander1 has 3 guesses left.  Player dzander2 has 3 guesses left.
 
 ************************************************************
 
 	These two boards are views of dzander2's email.  Notice that dzander2 has
 sent 6 probes into the board so far
 	and has marked 2 of the 4 atoms in his board, while dzander1 has sent 7
 probes into the board so 
 	far and has correctly marked the locations of 3 of the 4 atoms in his board.
 
 
 Player dzander2's board on left.  Player dzander1's board on right.
       A  B  C  D  E  F  G             A  B  C  D  E  F  G       
      |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |          |d |  |  |b |  |% |  |     
      |====================|          |====================|     
  1|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |8  1|d |  |  |  |  |  |  | @|  |8 
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  2|  |  |  |? |  |  |  |  |  |9  2|  |  |?@|  |  |  |  |  |% |9 
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  3|a |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |10 3|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |% |10
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  4|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |11 4|  |  |?@|  |  |  |  |  |  |11
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  5|# |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |12 5|a |  |  |  |  |  |?@|  |  |12
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  6|  |  |  |  |  |  |? |  |# |13 6|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |c |13
   |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
  7|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |14 7|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |14
      |====================|          |====================|     
      |  |a |# |  |% |  |  |          |a |  |  |b |  |  |c |     
       H  I  J  K  L  M  N             H  I  J  K  L  M  N       
 Player dzander2 has 3 guesses left.  Player dzander1 has 3 guesses left.
 
 ************************************************************
 

___
Douglas Zander  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
As of September 13th, 2005 I became a Great Uncle for the first time.
As of November 2nd, 2005 I became a Great Uncle for the second time!


		
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