Dilemma (game of the mill)

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Example of a dilemma formed by five red pieces

A dilemma ( listen ? / I , in Upper Swabia also called Fickmühle, in Switzerland Figgi and Müli ) is a game position in the mill game consisting of five (red in the picture) game pieces , where one move opens an existing mill and another open mill is closed. A corresponding pull in the opposite direction causes the previously opened mill to close. With each move, red can remove one token from blue. Blue is “in a quandary” because - however he moves - he loses a stone with every move of red. Audio file / audio sample

Example of a dilemma formed with three yellow stones in the final phase

A corner combination in the final phase with only three stones left (yellow in the picture), in which these two open mills that can be closed by jumping, is called a dilemma. Here yellow has two options for action or jump, where he can choose to close one of the two open mills in his next jump. The formation of this dilemma has the consequence for the opponent (turquoise) who is now on the move that he has no way of blocking both open mills (constellation of two pieces of one color) with a single move or jump and will inevitably lose one piece .

From this meaning the figurative sense of Zwickmühle has developed as a synonym for dilemma . In Switzerland, too, the terms Figgi and Müli are used in a figurative sense: To have Figgi and Mühli means to have two equivalent alternatives.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Swiss Idioticon . Volume I, Column 712 f., Article Figge n  I ( digitized version ); see also Christoph Landolt : Figgi and Müli haa. In: Word history. March 21, 2018, ed. from the editors of the Swiss Idiotikon.