Ataxx
| Ataxx | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Publisher | Leland Corporation |
| Senior Developer | Dave Crummack and Craig Galley |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1988, 1990 |
| platform | Amiga , Atari , MS-DOS , Windows , Linux , Android ... |
| genre | Arcade game , board and thinking game |
Ataxx, also known as Infection , SlimeWars , Frog Cloning or Dominate, is a board game for two people and, from the point of view of the goal of the game, is considered an adaptation of Othello and Reversi , but has rather slight similarities with Go in terms of regulations and strategy .
Although it was never published as a board game by a well-known game publisher , it can easily be represented with a reverse game. Most of the time Ataxx is played on the screen against computer-generated players.
The Hexxagon variant , which is played on a hexagonal game board with 5 fields edge length, but with the same rules , has also become very popular . As a stand-alone board game (hands-on), Hexxagon is also not available for purchase.
regulate
The game is played on a square board with 7 × 7 fields. But larger board sizes (8 × 8) and hexagonal fields such as with Hexxagon are easy to play. If you play on a real board, two-colored Reversi stones are used.
The aim of the game is to occupy more playing fields than the opponent.
In the classic starting line-up, the two players each have two corner squares opposite one another. All other fields are still vacant. Deviating from this, there are a wide variety of starting positions. Often these are combined with blocked, i.e. not playable, fields.
Each move always starts from its own - freely selectable - stone . There are two types of trains. On the one hand you can - starting from the selected stone - place a new stone on an adjacent empty space. Diagonally adjacent fields are also neighboring fields. In this way new pieces are placed on the board.
On the other hand, you can jump onto a neighboring field (straight, diagonal or in the Rösseleck ) with the move stone . Every free field on the edge of a 5- × -5 square around the starting field is a possible jump target. The starting field is lost, i.e. i.e. it is empty after the train. The absolute number of all stones on the board remains the same when jumping.
In both variants of the move, all of the opponent's squares adjacent to the target square are assimilated, that is, they become their own squares. On a real board, two-sided (reversi) stones are usually used, which are then turned. Assimilating increases the number of squares for the moving player, sometimes significantly. You can assimilate up to eight stones in one go.
The game ends when a player can no longer make a legal move, which is the case at the latest when the board is full. In some variants the game always ends with a full board. If a player can no longer bet here, he must pass. The winner is always the player who owns the most spaces. If both pieces have the same number of pieces on the board, the game is a tie.
The game is very dynamic. Since up to 8 stones change color at the same time during a move, the balance of power between the players often changes from move to move at the beginning. For example, if player A has 24 spaces and player B 20 and it is the latter's turn, it can happen that at the end of the turn player A only has 16 spaces and player B has 28 spaces . not diagonal, no knight jump) you have to make sure that enough free spaces are still accessible for your own stones. In this respect there is a similarity with Go here.
history
Ataxx is a 1990 published Arcade - Computer game the US Leland Corporation . It was invented in 1988 by Dave Crummack and Craig Galley, they initially called it Infection . Initially it was programmed for the Amiga , Commodore 64 and Atari ST . The simple game idea was adapted from various games under different names with slightly changed rules and board designs on a wide variety of platforms.
The computer game Hexxagon , which appeared in 1992, is played with the same rules, but with hexagonal fields . The basic shape consists of a hexagonal game board with 61 fields. An additional attraction are game boards of different sizes and often different shapes with blocked fields and a different starting line-up.
In the early 1990s, a free computer game version that quickly spread via floppy disks triggered a violent hexxagon boom. The old MS-DOS version cannot run on modern computers, but online versions and adaptations for smartphones (e.g. Android) are available today.
Dominate , a shareware variant of the square board , was released for Windows in 1993 . The game is played on a board with 8 × 8 fields. The jump move is restricted (only straight, not diagonal, no knight jump ). The game ends with a full board. Like other variants, Dominate also offers changed game boards, which bring some variety with blocked fields and a changed starting line-up. Many variants have emerged under similar or completely different names over the years.
Web links
- Ataxx in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English)
- Hexxagon in the game database BoardGameGeek (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.edu4java.android.Hexxagon&hl=de
- ↑ http://www.pressibus.org/ataxx/var/gbdominate.html
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
