Help For the Game Of Conhex

Introduction

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

    conhex challenge userid1 userid2

Starts a new game between userid1 and userid2.

Rules

Conhex is an abstract strategy game for two players, Vert and Horz. Vert aims to complete a contiguous chain of Vert cells between the top and bottom edges of the board, while Horz aims to complete a contiguous chain of Horz cells between the left and right sides. Draws are not possible.

The board consists of 41 cells, each with a number of holes marked '+'. The centre cell has five holes, the edge cells have three holes, and all other cells have six holes each. A cell is conquered by the first player to occupy at least half of its holes.

All cells and holes are initially empty.

    A     B C  D E  F G H  I  J K L  M N  O P     Q

  1 +---------------------------------------------+ 1
    |       |         |         |         |       |
    |       |         |         |         |       |
  2 |       +----+----+----+----+----+----+       | 2
    |      /     |         |         |     \      |
  3 |-----+      |         |         |      +-----| 3
  4 |     |      +----+----+----+----+      |     | 4
    |     |     /     |         |     \     |     |
  5 |     +----+      |         |      +----+     | 5
  6 |     |    |      +----+----+      |    |     | 6
    |     |    |     /     |     \     |    |     |
  7 |-----+    +----+      |      +----+    +-----| 7
  8 |     |    |    |     -+-     |    |    |     | 8
    |     |    |    |    /   \    |    |    |     |
  9 |     +----+    +---+  +  +---+    +----+     | 9
    |     |    |    |    \   /    |    |    |     |
 10 |     |    |    |     -+-     |    |    |     | 10
 11 |-----+    +----+      |      +----+    +-----| 11
    |     |    |     \     |     /     |    |     |
 12 |     |    |      +----+----+      |    |     | 12
 13 |     +----+      |         |      +----+     | 13
    |     |     \     |         |     /     |     |
 14 |     |      +----+----+----+----+      |     | 14
 15 |-----+      |         |         |      +-----| 15
    |      \     |         |         |     /      |
 16 |       +----+----+----+----+----+----+       | 16
    |       |         |         |         |       |
    |       |         |         |         |       |
 17 +---------------------------------------------+ 17

    A     B C  D E  F G H  I  J K L  M N  O P     Q

Each turn the current player places one of their pieces on an empty hole '+', which may conquer one or more cells. Cells conquered by Vert are coloured '|' and cells conquered by Horz are coloured '-'.

For instance, Vert has conquered the top left cell and Horz has conquered the other three coloured cells in the following example. The lower Horz cell is occupied by three pieces of each colour, so we know that Horz must have placed their third piece there before Vert did.

    v---------------------------------------------+
    |||||||||         |         |---------|       |
    |||||||||         |         |---------|       |
    ||||||||+----+----+----+----h----h----+       |
    |||||||/     |         |---------|     \      |
    |-----v      |         |---------|      +-----|
    |     |      +----v----v----h----+      |     |
    |     |     /     |---------|     \     |     |
    |     +----+      |---------|      +----+     |
    |     |    |      h----h----v      |    |     |
    |     |    |     /     |     \     |    |     |
    |-----+    +----+      |      +----+    +-----|
    |     |    |    |     -+-     |    |    |     |              

Notes

The following board shows a game won by Vert, who has completed a contigous chain of Vert cells between the top and bottom edges of the board.

    A     B C  D E  F G H  I  J K L  M N  O P     Q

  1 +---------------------------------------------+ 1
    |       |||||||||||         |         |       |
    |       |||||||||||         |         |       |
  2 |       v----v||||v----+----+----+----+       | 2
    |      /     |||||||||||         |     \      |
  3 |-----+      |||||||||||         |      +-----| 3
  4 |     |      +----+||||v----h----+      |     | 4
    |     |     /     |||||||||||-----\     |     |
  5 |     +----+      |||||||||||------h----+     | 5
  6 |     |----|      +||||v----v-----------|     | 6
    |     |----|     /||||||     \----------|     |
  7 |-----h----v----v|||||||      +----h----+-----| 7
  8 |----------|||||||||||-h-     |    |----------| 8
    |----------||||||||||/---\    |    |----------|
  9 |-----h----h||||v---h--h--+---+    +----h-----| 9
    |-----|    ||||||--------/    |    |    |-----|
 10 |-----|    ||||||------+-     |    |    |-----| 10
 11 |-----+    v||||+------|      +----+    h-----| 11
    |     |    ||||||\-----|     /     |    |     |
 12 |     |    |||||||h----h----h      |    |     | 12
 13 |     +----+|||||||---------|      +----+     | 13
    |     |     \||||||---------|     /     |     |
 14 |     |      v||||v----v----+----h      |     | 14
 15 |-----+      |||||||||||||||||||||      +-----| 15
    |      \     |||||||||||||||||||||     /      |
 16 |       +----+----+----+----v||||v----h       | 16
    |       |         |         |||||||||||       |
    |       |         |         |||||||||||       |
 17 +---------------------------------------------+ 17

    A     B C  D E  F G H  I  J K L  M N  O P     Q

Syntax

Vert moves first. The move syntax is:    

    conhex move board# userid password coord

Where "coord" specifies an empty board hole marked '+' in the form F7. All cells conquered by a move are automatically coloured.

    conhex move board# userid password swap

Swaps the opening move (available to the second player on the second move only). The swap option stops the first player making an overly strong opening move; without it it the opening player could make a strong start and maintain the initiative throughout the game, putting them in a very advantaged position.

References and History

Conhex board and rules copyright Michail Antonow 2002.

Implementation and help file by Cameron Browne, November 2003.