Help For the Game Of Stymie

Introduction

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

    stymie challenge [-size=number] 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.

Rules

Two players, Vert and Horz, take turns placing pieces of their colour on the board. Vert plays first and places a single V piece on any empty cell as the opening move.

Thereafter players may place either:
  1) One piece of their colour on any empty cell, or
  2) Two pieces of the colour on an empty octagon and an adjacent empty square.

If the opponent's last move was a singleton (not counting the opening move) then the current player may instead make a special three-piece move, occupying an empty octagon and two empty squares adjacent to the octagon or an empty square and two empty octagons adjacent to the square.

Vert wins by connecting the top and bottom sides with a continuous chain of V pieces. Horz wins by connecting the left and right sides with a continuous chain of H pieces. One player must win.

Even with the first move forced to be a single move there is a first player advantage and the usual (for connection games) "pie rule" is therefore in effect: on the second player's first move he can swap sides in order to steal the opening move.

Notes

The following board shows a sample game won by H.

           A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O 
          .-.   .-.   .-.   .-.   .-.   .-.   .-.   .-. 
         /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ 
     15 |     |     |     |     |     |  V  |     |     | 15
         \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / 
     14   )-(   )-(   )-(   )-(   )-(   ) (   )-(   )-(   14
         /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ 
     13 |     |     |  H     H     H  |  V  |     |     | 13
         \   / \   /     / \   / \     \   / \   / \   / 
     12   )-(   )-' H .-( V '-' V )   H ) (   )-(   )-(   12
         /   \ /     /   \       /     /   \ /   \ /   \ 
     11 |     |  H  |     |  V  |  H  |  V  |     |     | 11
         \   / \   / \   /     / \   /     / \   / \   / 
     10   )-(   ) (   )-' V .-(   ) ( V   (   )-(   )-(   10
         /   \ /   \ /     /   \ /   \     \ /   \ /   \ 
      9 |     |  H  |  V  |     |  H  |  V     V  |     | 9
         \   /     / \   / \   /     /     / \     \   / 
      8   )-' H .-(   ) (   )-' H .-' V .-' H '-. V '-(   8
         /     /   \ /   \ /     /     /         \     \ 
      7 |  H  |     |  V  |  H  |  V  |  H     H  |  V  | 7
         \   / \   /     / \     \   /     / \   /     / 
      6   )-(   )-' V .-(   )-. H '-' H .-( V ) ( V   (   6
         /   \ /     /   \ /   \       /   \ /   \     \ 
      5 |     |  V  |     |     |  H  |     |  H  |  V  | 5
         \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \     \   / 
      4   )-(   ) (   )-(   )-( V '-' V )-( V '-. H '-(   4
         /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \       /   \     \     \ 
      3 |     |  V  |     |     |  V  |     |  V  |  H  | 3
         \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / 
      2   )-(   )-(   )-(   )-(   ) (   )-(   )-(   )-(   2
         /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ /   \ 
      1 |     |     |     |     |  V  |     |     |     | 1
         \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / \   / 
          '-'   '-'   '-'   '-'   '-'   '-'   '-'   '-' 
           A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O

As the board fills up, isolated single cells will often occur at key points. However the importance of taking these points must be weighed up against the fact that the opponent will be allowed to make a special triple move next turn.

Syntax

Vert moves first and must open with a single move. The move syntax is:    

    stymie move board# userid password f6             (single move to F6)
    stymie move board# userid password f6,g5        (double move to F6 and G5)
    stymie move board# userid password f6,g5,h6   (triple move to F6, G5 and H6)
    stymie move board# userid password swap        (on move 2 only, Horz may swap directions to steal Vert's opening move)

In order to see the time used by players you can always add -t or --time to a move command.

References and History

Stymie rules copyright (c) Randall Bart 2003.

Implementation and help file by Cameron Browne, Jan 2004.