Game Design Competition
There were 13 entries all together for the Unequal Board Spaces Game Design Competition. We covered two of them in AG21, Tip Top Toe and Hox. We would like to present all of the remaining games in this issue and the next. In this article, we cover Rosenkreuz, Chameleons, EVL, and Dag en Nacht. The descriptions of the games are by the authors themselves. Another entry, Zola, is described in the Retrospective of Mark Steere Games in this issue. Lastly, Jed is covered in the next article, along with Jade and some commentary on the origin of Jed. Jade was an entry to the Shared Pieces Game Design Competition of 2003. Jed is Jade modified by the movement protocol of Hox. The remaining games will be covered in AG23. I would like to say a very sincere "Thank you!" to everyone involved in the contest, game designers, judges, and advisors. Special thanks to Stephen Tavener for implementing all the games in Ai Ai, making it much easier to evaluate the games effectively. A big thank you also to Dave Dyer, who has already implemented Dag en Nacht on Boardspace.net. ~ Ed.
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Rosenkreuz
by Kanare Kato
Rosenkreuz (Rosy Cross in English) is an abstract strategy game for two players. It was designed based on Turkish checkers, also partially inspired by Oust by Mark Steere and Dameo by Christian Freeling.
Components
Setup
Place the pieces on the board as shown in the diagram. Decide which player will play with which symbol.
by Kanare Kato
Rosenkreuz (Rosy Cross in English) is an abstract strategy game for two players. It was designed based on Turkish checkers, also partially inspired by Oust by Mark Steere and Dameo by Christian Freeling.
Components
- 7×7 Checkered board with dark squares at the four corners.
- 28 game pieces: 7 dark-coloured pieces with “Rose” symbols and 7 light-coloured pieces with the same symbols; 7 dark-coloured pieces with “Cross” (or “Lily”) symbols, and 7 light-coloured pieces with the same symbols.
Setup
Place the pieces on the board as shown in the diagram. Decide which player will play with which symbol.
Definitions
In this game, "adjacent" refers to adjacent in the orthogonal direction. Therefore, diagonals are not included in adjacencies.
A "group" is pieces of the same colour that are adjacent to each other (any combination of symbols).
Gameplay
The player with Rose symbol is the first to move, then players alternate turns moving a piece with their own symbol. All pieces move by “Step” or “Jump.” Passing is not allowed.
Step: All pieces can move to an adjacent empty square in the eight directions. However, a piece may only move sideways, straight backwards, or diagonally backwards if its movement would allow it to capture an opponent’s piece or pieces (by any type of capturing).
Jump: All pieces may jump over a friendly piece or an unbroken straight line of friendly pieces (any combination of colours) that the pieces are next to, in any of eight directions, landing on the empty square immediately after. No piece may ever jump over opponent’s pieces. Also, multiple jumps are not allowed.
As with the step move, jump to the side, straight backward, or diagonally backward can only be made if the jump allows capture of an opponent’s piece or pieces (by any type of capturing).
Minor capturing is an exception to the rule whereby a piece can step or jump only to an empty square (see below).
Capturing
There are three types of capturing: "Major Capturing," "Minor Capturing," and "Attainment Capturing."
Major Capturing: If your move results in a group that contains two types of symbols and in which the number of your symbols is greater than the number of opponent's symbols, then all opponent's pieces directly adjacent to your pieces in that group are captured and removed from the game. This can be done by a step or jump move.
In this game, "adjacent" refers to adjacent in the orthogonal direction. Therefore, diagonals are not included in adjacencies.
A "group" is pieces of the same colour that are adjacent to each other (any combination of symbols).
Gameplay
The player with Rose symbol is the first to move, then players alternate turns moving a piece with their own symbol. All pieces move by “Step” or “Jump.” Passing is not allowed.
Step: All pieces can move to an adjacent empty square in the eight directions. However, a piece may only move sideways, straight backwards, or diagonally backwards if its movement would allow it to capture an opponent’s piece or pieces (by any type of capturing).
Jump: All pieces may jump over a friendly piece or an unbroken straight line of friendly pieces (any combination of colours) that the pieces are next to, in any of eight directions, landing on the empty square immediately after. No piece may ever jump over opponent’s pieces. Also, multiple jumps are not allowed.
As with the step move, jump to the side, straight backward, or diagonally backward can only be made if the jump allows capture of an opponent’s piece or pieces (by any type of capturing).
Minor capturing is an exception to the rule whereby a piece can step or jump only to an empty square (see below).
Capturing
There are three types of capturing: "Major Capturing," "Minor Capturing," and "Attainment Capturing."
Major Capturing: If your move results in a group that contains two types of symbols and in which the number of your symbols is greater than the number of opponent's symbols, then all opponent's pieces directly adjacent to your pieces in that group are captured and removed from the game. This can be done by a step or jump move.
Minor Capturing: When an opponent’s piece is on a square of the opposite colour, you can capture it by moving your own piece of the same colour as the square onto it and remove it from the game. This can be done either by step or jump. Thus, a piece can be moved to a non-empty square provided Minor Capturing is possible.
Attainment Capturing: When one of your pieces arrives at the far row on the opponent's side, you can capture one opponent's piece (any colour) of your choice and remove it from the game. The piece of yours that reaches the end is repositioned to any empty square of the same colour that is closest to your side. So, if the four or five squares closest to your side are occupied by pieces, it is placed in one of the second-rank squares, and so on.
Suicide move
If your move causes the situation that a group contains two types of symbols and in which the number of your symbols is smaller than the number of opponent's symbols, then that move is considered a suicide move, and all your pieces adjacent to the opponent's in the group are captured by Major Capturing and removed from the game.
It is possible that after your piece captures an opponent's piece by Minor Capturing, then it is captured at the same time by major capturing as a suicide move. (Of course, a Minor Capture may creates a group permitting a further Major Capture, rather than suicide.)
If a piece is captured by a suicide move on the far row, the piece cannot perform an Attainment Capture.
Game end
The player who removes all enemy pieces of either dark or light colour wins the game immediately.
If a player cannot move during a turn, the player loses the game.
Strategy
Major Capturing can capture several opponent’s pieces at once, however, it may not be a good idea to collect together too many of your pieces of the same colour for this purpose—a collection of pieces of the same colour makes you very vulnerable to your opponent's Minor Capturing. In the first half of the game, aiming for a combination of Major and Minor Capturing will be the key to the game.
Of the three types of capturing, Attainment Capturing is the most powerful—it not only reduces the number of enemy pieces, but also has the potential to break up an opponent's formation and create your own formation.
In the endgame, the game will be decided by whether you have a formation from which is easy to achieve Attainment Capturing. A "spear" formation like the one held by the Cross player in the diagram below is immensely powerful. Cross can perform a series of Attainment Captures and pull
off the victory at once. ◾️
Suicide move
If your move causes the situation that a group contains two types of symbols and in which the number of your symbols is smaller than the number of opponent's symbols, then that move is considered a suicide move, and all your pieces adjacent to the opponent's in the group are captured by Major Capturing and removed from the game.
It is possible that after your piece captures an opponent's piece by Minor Capturing, then it is captured at the same time by major capturing as a suicide move. (Of course, a Minor Capture may creates a group permitting a further Major Capture, rather than suicide.)
If a piece is captured by a suicide move on the far row, the piece cannot perform an Attainment Capture.
Game end
The player who removes all enemy pieces of either dark or light colour wins the game immediately.
If a player cannot move during a turn, the player loses the game.
Strategy
Major Capturing can capture several opponent’s pieces at once, however, it may not be a good idea to collect together too many of your pieces of the same colour for this purpose—a collection of pieces of the same colour makes you very vulnerable to your opponent's Minor Capturing. In the first half of the game, aiming for a combination of Major and Minor Capturing will be the key to the game.
Of the three types of capturing, Attainment Capturing is the most powerful—it not only reduces the number of enemy pieces, but also has the potential to break up an opponent's formation and create your own formation.
In the endgame, the game will be decided by whether you have a formation from which is easy to achieve Attainment Capturing. A "spear" formation like the one held by the Cross player in the diagram below is immensely powerful. Cross can perform a series of Attainment Captures and pull
off the victory at once. ◾️
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Chameleons
by Chris Huntoon
The board and opening setup are shown below.
by Chris Huntoon
The board and opening setup are shown below.
The object to the game is to completely eliminate your opponent's Chameleons, either through capture or colour change.
Chameleons can move in all eight directions. There are two types of movement: a step and a jump.
Step: Move to an adjacent empty space.
Jump: A piece can jump over an opponent's piece and remove it from the game, if that opposing piece is adjacent and the space beyond it is empty, as in Checkers. And just like Checkers, jumps are mandatory and multiple jumps are possible. If given a choice of possible jumps, a player need not pick the one with the most captures. Only the first capture in Chameleons is mandatory; any subsequent captures by the same piece in the same move are optional.
Colour change: If a player ends her turn with one of her Chameleons on a space of the opposing colour, she has until the beginning of her next turn to move it to a space of her own colour. If she does not, that piece changes colour to match its space and effectively switches sides. (When I was first play-testing this I used Othello pieces.) If a player moves that Chameleon from a space of the opposing colour to another space of the opposing colour, then it changes colour when landing on that space. If a player starts a turn with a Chameleon on a space of an opposing colour, but then uses another Chameleon to perform a series of jumps, the Chameleon on the opposing colour will flip after the first jump, as the player has signalled that he will not be moving it.
The central, spiralled space is always considered the opposite colour of the Chameleon that occupies it. Thus if a Chameleon is left on that space, after the original player has had a turn to move it, it will begin changing colours every turn. It will then match the colour of the player whose turn it is. ◾️
Chameleons can move in all eight directions. There are two types of movement: a step and a jump.
Step: Move to an adjacent empty space.
Jump: A piece can jump over an opponent's piece and remove it from the game, if that opposing piece is adjacent and the space beyond it is empty, as in Checkers. And just like Checkers, jumps are mandatory and multiple jumps are possible. If given a choice of possible jumps, a player need not pick the one with the most captures. Only the first capture in Chameleons is mandatory; any subsequent captures by the same piece in the same move are optional.
Colour change: If a player ends her turn with one of her Chameleons on a space of the opposing colour, she has until the beginning of her next turn to move it to a space of her own colour. If she does not, that piece changes colour to match its space and effectively switches sides. (When I was first play-testing this I used Othello pieces.) If a player moves that Chameleon from a space of the opposing colour to another space of the opposing colour, then it changes colour when landing on that space. If a player starts a turn with a Chameleon on a space of an opposing colour, but then uses another Chameleon to perform a series of jumps, the Chameleon on the opposing colour will flip after the first jump, as the player has signalled that he will not be moving it.
The central, spiralled space is always considered the opposite colour of the Chameleon that occupies it. Thus if a Chameleon is left on that space, after the original player has had a turn to move it, it will begin changing colours every turn. It will then match the colour of the player whose turn it is. ◾️
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EVL
by Kevin Kane
EVL is a territory capture game played on an unusual board of heptagons (7-sided) and pentagons (5-sided), using a stacking and unstacking mechanism. EVL forces are trying to invade you; deploy your forces and defend your territory!
Objective
The first player to capture 10 pentagons wins the game.
Components
Board, 24 markers (12 of each colour, tall skinny pieces), 56 pieces (28 of each colour, flat stackable cones)
Game Play
The board begins empty. Each player chooses a colour. Black goes first. Underlined terms will be defined later in the rules.
On a player's turn, a player must either:
Note: Legal stacks are a maximum of four pieces high; the colour on the top of a stack controls the stack.
Pentagons can only be captured by the active player on an unstack, not by placing.
The Board
The board is made up of four rows of heptagons surrounding 18 pentagons.
by Kevin Kane
EVL is a territory capture game played on an unusual board of heptagons (7-sided) and pentagons (5-sided), using a stacking and unstacking mechanism. EVL forces are trying to invade you; deploy your forces and defend your territory!
Objective
The first player to capture 10 pentagons wins the game.
Components
Board, 24 markers (12 of each colour, tall skinny pieces), 56 pieces (28 of each colour, flat stackable cones)
Game Play
The board begins empty. Each player chooses a colour. Black goes first. Underlined terms will be defined later in the rules.
On a player's turn, a player must either:
- Place one piece from your hand onto the board, either on any empty space or on an occupied space containing a piece or stack that you control.
- Unstack a stack of pieces that you control.
Note: Legal stacks are a maximum of four pieces high; the colour on the top of a stack controls the stack.
Pentagons can only be captured by the active player on an unstack, not by placing.
The Board
The board is made up of four rows of heptagons surrounding 18 pentagons.
Stacks
A stack consists of two, three, or four pieces, stacked on top of one another. Stacks are created by placing one piece on top of one or more pieces that are already on the board. You cannot create a stack taller than four pieces in height. The player who occupies the top of the stack controls the stack.
Example: Black has placed a piece, and White has placed a piece next to it. On Black's turn, Black places a second piece on top of the existing piece, creating a stack. Placing on top of White’s piece would be illegal.
A stack consists of two, three, or four pieces, stacked on top of one another. Stacks are created by placing one piece on top of one or more pieces that are already on the board. You cannot create a stack taller than four pieces in height. The player who occupies the top of the stack controls the stack.
Example: Black has placed a piece, and White has placed a piece next to it. On Black's turn, Black places a second piece on top of the existing piece, creating a stack. Placing on top of White’s piece would be illegal.
Unstacking
To unstack, pick up the entire stack (a single piece is not a stack). You may move the stack up to the number of spaces equal to its height. With the exception of the space the stack occupied at the start of the turn, whenever a stack exits a space, it leaves behind exactly one piece from the bottom of the stack.
The stack height limit can be temporarily violated during an unstacking, but at the end of the turn no stack may be taller than four. In effect, this makes a stack of four an impassable wall, since there is no way to unstack over it without increasing its height.
Unstacking occurs via connected heptagons. You cannot jump over pentagons while unstacking.
In the diagrams below White unstacks the white stack, one piece at a time from the bottom, up to three spaces (the height of the stack). Note, any of the three resulting positions would be legal (unstacking one space is essentially the same as moving the stack one space).
To unstack, pick up the entire stack (a single piece is not a stack). You may move the stack up to the number of spaces equal to its height. With the exception of the space the stack occupied at the start of the turn, whenever a stack exits a space, it leaves behind exactly one piece from the bottom of the stack.
The stack height limit can be temporarily violated during an unstacking, but at the end of the turn no stack may be taller than four. In effect, this makes a stack of four an impassable wall, since there is no way to unstack over it without increasing its height.
Unstacking occurs via connected heptagons. You cannot jump over pentagons while unstacking.
In the diagrams below White unstacks the white stack, one piece at a time from the bottom, up to three spaces (the height of the stack). Note, any of the three resulting positions would be legal (unstacking one space is essentially the same as moving the stack one space).
Unstacking does not need to be straight along a row (but you may not reverse direction and double back on the same path). The sequence below also shows a legal unstacking path. Any of the three resulting positions is valid.
Capturing pentagons
The goal of EVL is to capture the most pentagons. Pentagons are captured by “surrounding” them with your pieces on any two non-adjacent heptagons.
You can only capture pentagons with an unstack, not by placing a piece.
In the diagrams below, White unstacks the White stack to the right. At the end of the unstack move, White surrounds the pentagon that falls between a and b, and between b and c, because each pentagon is now surrounded by a White piece on two non-adjacent sides. White places a marker on each pentagon (replacing the existing Black marker).
Note that even though the unstack resulted in Black surrounding the pentagon between d and e, no capture for Black takes place. You can only capture pentagons for yourself.
The goal of EVL is to capture the most pentagons. Pentagons are captured by “surrounding” them with your pieces on any two non-adjacent heptagons.
You can only capture pentagons with an unstack, not by placing a piece.
In the diagrams below, White unstacks the White stack to the right. At the end of the unstack move, White surrounds the pentagon that falls between a and b, and between b and c, because each pentagon is now surrounded by a White piece on two non-adjacent sides. White places a marker on each pentagon (replacing the existing Black marker).
Note that even though the unstack resulted in Black surrounding the pentagon between d and e, no capture for Black takes place. You can only capture pentagons for yourself.
You do not lose a pentagon if you move a piece away and no longer surround it. Your marker stays until your opponent takes it from you. However, you cannot hold a pentagon just because you still have pieces surrounding it. An opponent can take it if they surround it with an unstack on the opponent's turn.
Let us examine a similar, but slightly different situation. In this case, when White unstacks to the right, White is still able to capture two pentagons. That is because the pentagons marked c and d are both surrounded on two non-adjacent sides by a White piece (a and b) at the end of an unstack.
Let us examine a similar, but slightly different situation. In this case, when White unstacks to the right, White is still able to capture two pentagons. That is because the pentagons marked c and d are both surrounded on two non-adjacent sides by a White piece (a and b) at the end of an unstack.
Winning the game
The first player to capture (and keep) 10 pentagons wins the game! You can play to more or less than 10 for game-length variety.
Notation
Placing a piece: +B6
Unstacking down the same row: B1-B4
Unstacking across rows: B2-B4,A4-A5
Credits
Designer: Kevin R. Kane
Artwork: Kevin R. Kane
Special thanks to J.C. Tsistinas, Dave Dyer, Chris Adzima and Jennifer S. for their great suggestions and playtesting assistance, and to Roman Ondrus for creating the online sandbox version here.
Legal
© 2021 Nexus Games LLC, Oregon USA All rights reserved
The first player to capture (and keep) 10 pentagons wins the game! You can play to more or less than 10 for game-length variety.
Notation
Placing a piece: +B6
Unstacking down the same row: B1-B4
Unstacking across rows: B2-B4,A4-A5
Credits
Designer: Kevin R. Kane
Artwork: Kevin R. Kane
Special thanks to J.C. Tsistinas, Dave Dyer, Chris Adzima and Jennifer S. for their great suggestions and playtesting assistance, and to Roman Ondrus for creating the online sandbox version here.
Legal
© 2021 Nexus Games LLC, Oregon USA All rights reserved
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Dag en Nacht
by Chris Huntoon
["Dag en Nacht" is Dutch for "Day and Night."]
The board is an nxn squared board, where n is an odd number between 11 and 19. A 15x15 board is considered average. The board is laid out in a checkered pattern of black and white spaces. The white spaces are the most numerous, with the four corners all being white. The board starts off empty.
The players are Black and White, with Black going first. Each has a supply of stones in her colour that fit the board spaces.
On a turn, a player takes one of the following two actions:
The winner is the first player to get five of her stones in a row horizontally or vertically, or four stones in row diagonally on white spaces. Stones on black spaces cannot win with a diagonal line.
by Chris Huntoon
["Dag en Nacht" is Dutch for "Day and Night."]
The board is an nxn squared board, where n is an odd number between 11 and 19. A 15x15 board is considered average. The board is laid out in a checkered pattern of black and white spaces. The white spaces are the most numerous, with the four corners all being white. The board starts off empty.
The players are Black and White, with Black going first. Each has a supply of stones in her colour that fit the board spaces.
On a turn, a player takes one of the following two actions:
- Drop a stone of her colour onto a black space—a stone may never be entered to a white space.
- Shift a stone of her colour already on the board a single space orthogonally—in other words, move a stone from a black space into a neighbouring white space.
The winner is the first player to get five of her stones in a row horizontally or vertically, or four stones in row diagonally on white spaces. Stones on black spaces cannot win with a diagonal line.
Optional rule
Players may decide to help mitigate Black's first move advantage by adopting a rule prohibiting Black from winning with the easier B-W-B-W-B orthogonal line and only allowing Black to win with the harder W-B-W-B-W orthogonal line. White has no similar restriction, and can win with a B-W-B-W-B line.
Background
Growing up, my brother used to have a copy of M. C. Escher's black and white print Dag en Nacht up in our basement. Thinking back on it—with its transition between black and white—led me to think of this game.
I started off just having some vague concept about moving pieces between black and white spaces. I got out the old checkerboard and started playing around with the idea to see if I could make something of it.
It was then I realized that all the n-in-a-row games I have seen were on a plain grid. If you moved them to a checkered grid, then orthogonal lines had to be a combination of light and dark spaces, and diagonal lines had to be all spaces of one colour. That was the breakthrough I needed.
I have named this game in honour of that Escher print that was the inspiration for the game. ◾️
Players may decide to help mitigate Black's first move advantage by adopting a rule prohibiting Black from winning with the easier B-W-B-W-B orthogonal line and only allowing Black to win with the harder W-B-W-B-W orthogonal line. White has no similar restriction, and can win with a B-W-B-W-B line.
Background
Growing up, my brother used to have a copy of M. C. Escher's black and white print Dag en Nacht up in our basement. Thinking back on it—with its transition between black and white—led me to think of this game.
I started off just having some vague concept about moving pieces between black and white spaces. I got out the old checkerboard and started playing around with the idea to see if I could make something of it.
It was then I realized that all the n-in-a-row games I have seen were on a plain grid. If you moved them to a checkered grid, then orthogonal lines had to be a combination of light and dark spaces, and diagonal lines had to be all spaces of one colour. That was the breakthrough I needed.
I have named this game in honour of that Escher print that was the inspiration for the game. ◾️
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This issue was almost complete when the results came in for the Unequal Board Spaces Game Design Competition. I rewrote the editorial and added the few notes below, and these were the only changes we made. As you know from my Editorial comments, the winner is Dag en Nacht. Chris Huntoon's game is a very worthy winner, in my opinion—remember, I did not vote! When I first saw Dag en Nacht, my reaction was, "Wow! Can this really work?" Dag en Nacht is original conception, an addition to the small genre of alignment games perhaps as significant as Connect 6.
My only concern was that it was balanced. For example, when placing a stone on a black square, your number of stones on the board increases and you have additional flexibility about which white spaces to occupy. You have to take white spaces eventually in order to construct a winning line, but, you don't increase your stones on the board when you take a white space. Is it possible that the optimal strategy for both players is to take up all the black spaces on the board first, waiting for the opponent to move to a white square before responding in kind to defend? If so, Dag en Nacht is not very interesting. I don't think this is the case, and it might be obvious that the black-square strategy is faulty.
A second aspect of balance is whether Black and White have reasonably equal opportunities to win. The designer's mechanism to balance the chances for Black and White seems to be very simple and workable. I wonder if it is really needed, and if so whether it actually results in a balanced game? Recall, for example, Go Moku, and the difficulties of achieving equal chances for Black and White. On the other hand, is it possible that Dag en Nacht is too balanced, and good play by strong players will always result in a draw? These questions are for the future. As we have played the game so far, it seems balanced.
Concerning a third aspect of balance, Dag en Nacht has a brilliant and elegant solution: the centre square, usually the most advantageous location in this type of game, cannot be reached immediately, because it is white. A player must first place a stone on a black square adjacent to the central white square, and only next turn move in to occupy the central white square. Black can do this at the outset of the game. However, it will allow White to take the lead in number of stones on the board, with greater flexibility over which white squares to take next. I do not know for certain whether or not the strategy to occupy the central white square at all costs is best for Black. If the central-square strategy is not good for Black, it means a balancing mechanism is built into the the architecture of the game, which would be a beautiful way of equalizing the opportunities for Black and White, while maintaining distinct strategies for the two. It means the pie rule is not needed.
Either way, Dag en Nacht is an original invention and an important new alignment game. I hope that we can run future articles exploring this game further. Dag en Nacht is now playable on on Boardspace.net. under the name "Day and Night." ~ Ed.
My only concern was that it was balanced. For example, when placing a stone on a black square, your number of stones on the board increases and you have additional flexibility about which white spaces to occupy. You have to take white spaces eventually in order to construct a winning line, but, you don't increase your stones on the board when you take a white space. Is it possible that the optimal strategy for both players is to take up all the black spaces on the board first, waiting for the opponent to move to a white square before responding in kind to defend? If so, Dag en Nacht is not very interesting. I don't think this is the case, and it might be obvious that the black-square strategy is faulty.
A second aspect of balance is whether Black and White have reasonably equal opportunities to win. The designer's mechanism to balance the chances for Black and White seems to be very simple and workable. I wonder if it is really needed, and if so whether it actually results in a balanced game? Recall, for example, Go Moku, and the difficulties of achieving equal chances for Black and White. On the other hand, is it possible that Dag en Nacht is too balanced, and good play by strong players will always result in a draw? These questions are for the future. As we have played the game so far, it seems balanced.
Concerning a third aspect of balance, Dag en Nacht has a brilliant and elegant solution: the centre square, usually the most advantageous location in this type of game, cannot be reached immediately, because it is white. A player must first place a stone on a black square adjacent to the central white square, and only next turn move in to occupy the central white square. Black can do this at the outset of the game. However, it will allow White to take the lead in number of stones on the board, with greater flexibility over which white squares to take next. I do not know for certain whether or not the strategy to occupy the central white square at all costs is best for Black. If the central-square strategy is not good for Black, it means a balancing mechanism is built into the the architecture of the game, which would be a beautiful way of equalizing the opportunities for Black and White, while maintaining distinct strategies for the two. It means the pie rule is not needed.
Either way, Dag en Nacht is an original invention and an important new alignment game. I hope that we can run future articles exploring this game further. Dag en Nacht is now playable on on Boardspace.net. under the name "Day and Night." ~ Ed.