Gamehelprunbuster

2025-10-23T04:22:05Z

MarkSteere: Created page with "== '''RUN BUSTER''' == ==== '''INTRODUCTION''' ==== Two players, Red and Blue, sit across from each other at an initially cleared table. They each begin with a dice cup containing six dice of their own color. ==== '''DEFINITIONS''' ==== '''Straight''' - Collection of one or more dice, numbered sequentially, such as (2, 3, 4), (3, 4, 5, 6), and (1). [A straight is always as long as it can be. It’s never a sub-straight of a longer straight.] '''Full straight''' - (1,..."

== '''RUN BUSTER''' ==
==== '''INTRODUCTION''' ====
Two players, Red and Blue, sit across from each other at an initially cleared table. They each begin with a dice cup containing six dice of their own color.

==== '''DEFINITIONS''' ====
'''Straight''' - Collection of one or more dice, numbered sequentially, such as (2, 3, 4), (3, 4, 5, 6), and (1). [A straight is always as long as it can be. It’s never a sub-straight of a longer straight.]
'''Full straight''' - (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
'''Complement (or Run Buster)''' - The set of dice which, when combined with a non-full straight, completes a full straight. For example, the complement of (2, 3, 4) is (1, 5, 6).

==== '''PLAY''' ====
Starting with Red, players take turns rolling their dice, '''one roll per turn''', and adding some of their newly rolled dice into their own hand (if they can. See below.) Players sometimes kill their opponent's hand.

==== '''OBJECT OF THE GAME''' ====
To win, your hand must be a full straight. It's possible to win on your first turn, with a probability of 1.54%, or about 1 in 65 plays.

==== '''RED'S FIRST TURN''' ====
Red rolls the dice in his cup, and, selecting from his rolled dice, forms his hand. His hand must consist of exactly one straight. [Hands are always comprised of exactly one straight.] For example, if Red rolls (2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6), his hand option are (2), (4), (4, 5), (4, 5, 6), (5), (5, 6), and (6). After forming his hand, Red must deposit his remaining dice back into his cup, concluding his turn.

==== '''BLUE'S FIRST TURN''' ====
Blue rolls the dice in his cup. If Blue's rolled dice contain the complement of Red's straight, Blue must remove Red's hand from the table and drop it into Red's cup. For example, if Red's hand is (1, 2, 3, 4), and Blue rolls (1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6), Blue's roll contains (5, 6), which is the complement of Red's (1, 2, 3, 4). Blue must then place Red's hand in Red's cup.

Then Blue (whether or not he killed Red’s hand), selecting from his rolled dice, forms his own hand, consisting of exactly one straight. In this example, from his (1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 6), Blue’s hand options are (1), (3), (5), (5, 6), and (6). Blue must then put his remaining dice back in his cup, concluding his turn.

==== '''ALL REMAINING TURNS''' ====
Begin your turn by rolling the dice in your cup. If your newly rolled dice contain the complement of your opponent's straight, you must remove his hand from the table and deposit it in his cup, as described above. Then (whether or not you've killed your opponent's hand) you must '''extend your straight''' with at least one of your newly rolled dice, '''if you can'''. For example, say your hand is (4, 5) and you've rolled (3, 4, 4, 6). Your new, extended straight options are (3, 4, 5), (3, 4, 5, 6), and (4, 5, 6). But say that, instead, you've rolled (1, 2, 4, 5). In this case, there's no way to extend your (4, 5) straight. As always, put your remaining dice back in your cup, concluding your turn.

==== '''MONOCOLOR RUN BUSTER''' ====

==== '''MULTIPLAYER RUN BUSTER''' ====
Run Buster can actually accommodate any number of players. Remove all of your opponents’ hands for which you have complements in your newly rolled dice. Randomly choose Player 1 and proceed clockwise. In successive rounds, the new Player 1 is to the left of the previous Player 1. The round winners drop out, one by one, and the last remaining player buys the next round of drinks.

==== '''DESIGN NOTES''' ====
The challenge was to design a simple dice game with a certain symmetry: Six faces on a die, six dice, and a goal of six different numbers. It took me a few weeks of trance-like concentration. Inventing concepts. Morphing and recombining them. Eventually the solution came together in the form of this very satisfying mechanism.

Gamehelpstrategicreserve

2025-10-20T11:53:19Z

MarkSteere: Added BGA notes

=== '''INTRODUCTION''' ===
Strategic Reserve is a two-player game of skill and luck. It's played on a 6x6 square board, initially set up with 6 red and 6 blue checkers, arranged in a square of alternating colors.

=== '''RESERVE''' ===
You begin with 6 checkers of your own color in your "reserve" - basically a bunch of checkers on the table on your side of the board. Checkers that you place on the board come from your reserve.

=== '''DICE''' ===
Two dice are used - one purple and one green. A dice roll defines one square on the board. The purple die value is the horizontal coordinate. The green die value is the vertical coordinate. Horizontal coordinates span from your left column to your right column. Vertical coordinates span from your near row to your far row.

=== '''PLAY''' ===
Begin your turn by rolling the dice. Remove zero or more enemy checkers, based on the dice roll (explained below), and return them to your opponent’s reserve. Then place a checker on the board.

=== '''GROUP''' ===
A group is a group of at least one orthogonally (horizontally or vertically) interconnected, like-colored checkers. A group is never a subgroup of a larger group.

=== ''' HITS''' ===
1. If your dice roll hits an enemy group, remove that group, return it to your opponent's reserve, and place a checker onto any unoccupied square on the board.
2. If you hit a friendly group with your dice roll, remove all enemy groups adjacent to your friendly group, return them to your opponent's reserve, and place a checker orthogonally adjacent to your friendly group.
3. If you don't hit any groups with your dice roll, place a checker onto any unoccupied square on the board.

=== '''OBJECT OF THE GAME''' ===
Empty your reserve. When you remove the last checker from your reserve, you win.

== '''BGA ADAPTATION NOTES''' ==
Strategic Reserve is a very unusual game, and there has been some confusion about the rules. I always try to do what has never been done in my designs. Apparently, I really batted it out of the ballpark with Strategic Reserve.

Apologies in advance for the all caps, but I really want to add emphasis.

PLACEMENTS NEVER CAUSE CAPTURES.

ONLY DICE ROLLS CAUSE CAPTURES.

Your turn begins with a dice roll.

ANY RESULTING CAPTURES ARE AUTOMATIC AND IMMEDIATE.

Your turn concludes with a placement.

What happens is that IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING YOUR PLACEMENT, it's your opponent's turn, and their dice roll and possible captures happen automatically. This can create the illusion that, somehow, your placement caused the captures.

IT DIDN'T.

Again, sorry about the all caps. Just trying to get the point across.

I understand the reluctance to read rule sheets, especially from indie abstract designers like me. Around 95% of such rule sheets are very poorly written. The writer is very familiar with their own game, and they assume that you will read their mind, and understand. They're unwilling or incapable of making their rule sheets clear, comprehensive, and unambiguous.

I'm the exception. If you read my rule sheets carefully, and study the diagrams (which were designed to answer your possible questions), you will understand. Sure, it's possible to take a sentence or two out of context, and wonder about their meaning. But taken as a whole, any one of my rule sheets will virtually guarantee that your picture of the rules is totally accurate.

What I'm getting at here, is that if you read the rule sheet for Strategic Reserve, you'll know that placements don't cause captures.

Gamehelpfourtwenty

2025-10-13T21:45:32Z

MarkSteere:

== '''420''' ==
==== '''INTRODUCTION''' ====
Players sit across from each other at an initially cleared table. The two players, Red and Blue, take turns maintaining a hand of four dice of their own color. Mark Steere designed 420 in September 2025.

==== '''PLAY''' ====
Starting with Red, players begin by rolling all four of their own dice, forming their hand. On each of your subsequent turns, you must reroll 1, 2, 3, or 4 of the dice in your hand, and add them back into your hand - '''one roll per turn'''. (See REROLL RESTRICTIONS below.)

==== '''OBJECT OF THE GAME''' ====
The goal is for the dice in your hand to total exactly 20. No more, no less. For example, (6, 5, 5, 4) is a winning hand. It's possible to win the game on your first turn, with a probability of 2.7% - about 1 in 37
plays.

==== '''REROLL RESTRICTIONS''' ====
* ..'''4 dice:''' You can always reroll 4 dice.
* ..'''3 dice:''' You can only reroll 3 dice if the remaining die has a value of at least '''5'''.
* ..'''2 dice:''' You can only reroll 2 dice if the remaining 2 dice sum to at least '''10'''.
* ..'''1 die:''' You can only reroll 1 die if the remaining 3 dice sum to at least '''15'''.

==== '''GO OVER AND RESET''' ====
If your hand sums to 21 or higher, on your next turn you must reroll all four of your dice (reset).

==== '''MONOCOLOR 420''' ====
Each player must have their own hand but not necessarily their own color. All of the dice can be standard white dice with black pips for example. Just try to keep the hands separated if they're all the same color.

==== '''MULTIPLAYER 420''' ====
420 can actually accommodate any number of players. Randomly choose Player 1. Succeeding turns proceed clockwise. In successive rounds, the new Player 1 is to the left of the previous Player 1. The round winners drop out, and the last remaining player buys the drinks.

==== '''DESIGN NOTES''' ====
I wanted to invent a simple dice game. No score sheet. No poker chips. Just dice. And then simple rules. No combinations to memorize. No bids, no bluffs... No showdowns or tiebreakers. But I also wanted strategy, which 420 has. I had never heard of pub games, but to my surprise, 420 turned out to be a classic pub game. Easy to learn, easy to play. A lot of luck, and a little strategy. Short duration. Nobody wants to think too hard or wait too long for their next drink. I’m really glad to have a pub game, now that I know what they are.

==== '''STRATEGY''' ====
You have to balance your risk against the quality of your opponent‘s hand. For example, say your opponent has (6, 5, 4, 1) - an ideal hand with a foundation of 15, and a single die. She would keep rerolling the 1 until either winning or going over. And say you have (6, 5, 5, 1) - not an ideal hand. It has a foundation of 16. Should you reroll your 6 and 1 to try to form an ideal hand? Or just reroll the 1? Just the 1. You don’t have time to go back and try to form an ideal hand, because your opponent already has one. Now consider the same problem, but this time your opponent has (4, 3, 3, 2). Now you '''would''' reroll your 6 and 1, because now you have time to try for an ideal hand. And there may be more complex problems involving a choice between rerolling two dice or three dice.

==== '''REROLL NOTE''' ====
Select the dice to reroll by clicking on them. The unselected dice will remain.

2021-07-01T04:35:31Z

MarkSteere: Minor edit

Update: Nick Bentley's Take On Dodo:

"1. move straight forward, rather than obliquely forward, especially for stones that start in the middle of your initial formation
2. It's better to move up the center of the board and make your opponent flank around you, than the reverse.

"If so, it's possible that the dominant strategy is:

"1. move the pieces at the center of your formation straight forward, starting with the ones at the front of your formation
2. then moving the pieces behind them straight forward as well.
3. If the other player doesn't adopt this strategy, you win.
4. If the other player does adopt this strategy, all the pieces will first gather at the center of the board, at which point there will be cold and fairly obvious a 'who has to move obliquely first' battle, and the outcome of that determines who wins. prob P1.

"This is just an operational hypothesis. Not convinced it's right. Just putting it out there for study."

Another player confirmed that this strategy "absolutely crushes" humans and AI alike. I tried it and it didn't work for me at all. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I still can't beat any AIs. Only thing I can think of to explain the discrepancy is that my computer is faster and does more in a second than the tester's computer does in 10 seconds. Hard to imagine though - this crappy Dell I bought in Mongolia 2 years ago is superior to anything. But, if your computer is 12 years old, that could explain it.

I'm not really fit to comment on strategy, but that being said... The AIs always beat me and they always make plenty of oblique moves. Logically, if you're using Nick's "tight formation" strategy by advancing your front row of checkers directly forward, then hugging your next row in right behind them, etc., you'd do better to hang back (by making oblique moves) and let the enemy come to you. You can keep your formation tighter if you're not on the march. But then if the opposing army approaches with an open channel, your "tight formation" won't be tight for long. I think there is something to it - keeping your army tight, as one of many possible tactics, but it's a long way from a game buster. [Thinking out loud here. Nick stimulated my feeble thought process.] There may be a tactic of rushing some of your checkers forward, trapping a couple of enemy checkers, and later freeing them at the last minute. It's the yin and yang aspect of Dodo. It may be a game of strategy, counter-strategy, counter-counter strategy...
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The consensus on Dodo is that it's hard to know what to do. For most of us, Dodo strategy will be elusive. Hopefully someone will write a strategy guide. One guy beat an AI app, so I know it’s possible to have a clue. I can never beat AI, even set at 1/10 second thinking time. It always stalemates at least one step ahead of me, like magic.

I called it Dodo because the rules are very easy to learn. It didn't occur to me that it would be a hard game to play. Maybe I should have called it Einstein. Someone suggested Cascade, which would have been a good name. It's like two way pachinko.

For the time being, Dodo seems to be a good game for children, and a good game for gifted players. There's not a lot of middle ground right now, though a strategy guide might open that up a little.

There's yin and yang in Dodo. If you rush forward to blockade yourself, then in doing so you also blockade your opponent. If you open a channel for your opponent to pass through, then via a cascading effect, he opens channels for you. This results in a lot of close finishes. It may be unsettling for some, though it’s not a flaw.

I'm a decidedly below average player of games, but after playing Dodo 50 times or so, I feel like I'm starting to develop a vague inkling of what's going on. With familiarity, it becomes easier to see further ahead, and to at least attempt strategy. As with quicksand though, strategies can sink and resurface.

One analytical description of Dodo (by Mike Zapala, the same guy who beat the AI): "Hex4 Dodo is 'bigger' than Checkers in terms of board size, army size, state space, game length, branching factor and game tree complexity. Indeed, its game tree complexity is comparable to International Draughts." It’s a big game on a small board.

Dodo is kind of an essential game. As with all games, the ability to peer ahead into possible futures is important. But without known tactics or strategy, lookahead is all you have. Not to say that Dodo is opaque. It's all there in plain sight right in front of you. It's just a lot to process.

Dodo is a very fair game. Player 1 won 50.5% of 10,000 random playouts. Hex was clocked at 52.45%. Most games have significantly higher than 50.5% random play, move order advantage. Especially opposing army games. I've had to scrap a number of such designs because an overwhelming first move advantage quickly developed.

So there's no need for the pie rule in Dodo (Player 2 having the option of switching colors on his first turn).

I attribute Dodo's fairness to the wide range of possible total moves per game. There can be no passthrough, or complete passthrough, or anything in between.

Dodo isn't vulnerable to mirroring (either by Player 2, or by Player 1 moving to center and then rotationally mirroring Player 2). And it doesn't seem to be vulnerable to any other sort of tricks.

All in all, Dodo is a high quality game, though that won't necessarily translate into popularity. Let's wait and see.

I'm fairly confident that someone much smarter than I will make headway in Dodo and develop concrete tactics and strategy. Stay tuned. I will post any such developments here. Dodo was only born in May, and it's gonna take a little time. It won't be like Reversi where sides are good and corners are even better. It'll be more involved than that.

Tips dodo

2021-07-01T04:34:43Z

MarkSteere: Minor edit

Update: Nick Bentley's Take On Dodo:

"1. move straight forward, rather than obliquely forward, especially for stones that start in the middle of your initial formation
2. It's better to move up the center of the board and make your opponent flank around you, than the reverse.

"If so, it's possible that the dominant strategy is:

"1. move the pieces at the center of your formation straight forward, starting with the ones at the front of your formation
2. then moving the pieces behind them straight forward as well.
3. If the other player doesn't adopt this strategy, you win.
4. If the other player does adopt this strategy, all the pieces will first gather at the center of the board, at which point there will be cold and fairly obvious a 'who has to move obliquely first' battle, and the outcome of that determines who wins. prob P1.

"This is just an operational hypothesis. Not convinced it's right. Just putting it out there for study."

Another player confirmed that this strategy "absolutely crushes" humans and AI alike. I tried it and it didn't work for me at all. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I still can't beat any AIs. Only thing I can think of to explain the discrepancy is that my computer is faster and does more in a second than the tester's computers does in 10 seconds. Hard to imagine though - this crappy Dell I bought in Mongolia 2 years ago is superior to anything. But, if your computer is 12 years old, that could explain it.

I'm not really fit to comment on strategy, but that being said... The AIs always beat me and they always make plenty of oblique moves. Logically, if you're using Nick's "tight formation" strategy by advancing your front row of checkers directly forward, then hugging your next row in right behind them, etc., you'd do better to hang back (by making oblique moves) and let the enemy come to you. You can keep your formation tighter if you're not on the march. But then if the opposing army approaches with an open channel, your "tight formation" won't be tight for long. I think there is something to it - keeping your army tight, as one of many possible tactics, but it's a long way from a game buster. [Thinking out loud here. Nick stimulated my feeble thought process.] There may be a tactic of rushing some of your checkers forward, trapping a couple of enemy checkers, and later freeing them at the last minute. It's the yin and yang aspect of Dodo. It may be a game of strategy, counter-strategy, counter-counter strategy...
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The consensus on Dodo is that it's hard to know what to do. For most of us, Dodo strategy will be elusive. Hopefully someone will write a strategy guide. One guy beat an AI app, so I know it’s possible to have a clue. I can never beat AI, even set at 1/10 second thinking time. It always stalemates at least one step ahead of me, like magic.

I called it Dodo because the rules are very easy to learn. It didn't occur to me that it would be a hard game to play. Maybe I should have called it Einstein. Someone suggested Cascade, which would have been a good name. It's like two way pachinko.

For the time being, Dodo seems to be a good game for children, and a good game for gifted players. There's not a lot of middle ground right now, though a strategy guide might open that up a little.

There's yin and yang in Dodo. If you rush forward to blockade yourself, then in doing so you also blockade your opponent. If you open a channel for your opponent to pass through, then via a cascading effect, he opens channels for you. This results in a lot of close finishes. It may be unsettling for some, though it’s not a flaw.

I'm a decidedly below average player of games, but after playing Dodo 50 times or so, I feel like I'm starting to develop a vague inkling of what's going on. With familiarity, it becomes easier to see further ahead, and to at least attempt strategy. As with quicksand though, strategies can sink and resurface.

One analytical description of Dodo (by Mike Zapala, the same guy who beat the AI): "Hex4 Dodo is 'bigger' than Checkers in terms of board size, army size, state space, game length, branching factor and game tree complexity. Indeed, its game tree complexity is comparable to International Draughts." It’s a big game on a small board.

Dodo is kind of an essential game. As with all games, the ability to peer ahead into possible futures is important. But without known tactics or strategy, lookahead is all you have. Not to say that Dodo is opaque. It's all there in plain sight right in front of you. It's just a lot to process.

Dodo is a very fair game. Player 1 won 50.5% of 10,000 random playouts. Hex was clocked at 52.45%. Most games have significantly higher than 50.5% random play, move order advantage. Especially opposing army games. I've had to scrap a number of such designs because an overwhelming first move advantage quickly developed.

So there's no need for the pie rule in Dodo (Player 2 having the option of switching colors on his first turn).

I attribute Dodo's fairness to the wide range of possible total moves per game. There can be no passthrough, or complete passthrough, or anything in between.

Dodo isn't vulnerable to mirroring (either by Player 2, or by Player 1 moving to center and then rotationally mirroring Player 2). And it doesn't seem to be vulnerable to any other sort of tricks.

All in all, Dodo is a high quality game, though that won't necessarily translate into popularity. Let's wait and see.

I'm fairly confident that someone much smarter than I will make headway in Dodo and develop concrete tactics and strategy. Stay tuned. I will post any such developments here. Dodo was only born in May, and it's gonna take a little time. It won't be like Reversi where sides are good and corners are even better. It'll be more involved than that.

Tips dodo

2021-07-01T03:43:03Z

MarkSteere: Minor edit

Update: Nick Bentley's Take On Dodo:

"1. move straight forward, rather than obliquely forward, especially for stones that start in the middle of your initial formation
2. It's better to move up the center of the board and make your opponent flank around you, than the reverse.

"If so, it's possible that the dominant strategy is:

"1. move the pieces at the center of your formation straight forward, starting with the ones at the front of your formation
2. then moving the pieces behind them straight forward as well.
3. If the other player doesn't adopt this strategy, you win.
4. If the other player does adopt this strategy, all the pieces will first gather at the center of the board, at which point there will be cold and fairly obvious a 'who has to move obliquely first' battle, and the outcome of that determines who wins. prob P1.

"This is just an operational hypothesis. Not convinced it's right. Just putting it out there for study."

Another player confirmed that this strategy "absolutely crushes" humans and AI alike. I tried it and it didn't
work for me at all. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I still can't beat any AIs. Only thing I can think of to
explain the discrepancy is that my computer is faster and does more in a second than the tester's computers did
in 10 seconds. Hard to imagine though - this crappy Dell I bought in Mongolia 2 years ago is superior to
anything. But, if your computer is 12 years old, that could explain it.

At any rate, this is something - maybe a good start.

And... maybe not. I'm not really fit to comment on strategy, but that being said... The AIs always beat me and
they always make plenty of oblique moves. Logically, if you're using Nick's "tight formation" strategy by
advancing your front row of checkers a little, then hugging your next row in right behind them, etc., you'd do
better to hang back and let the enemy come to you. You can keep your formation tighter if you're not on the march.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The consensus on Dodo is that it's hard to know what to do. For most of us, Dodo strategy will be elusive. Hopefully someone will write a strategy guide. One guy beat an AI app, so I know it’s possible to have a clue. I can never beat AI, even set at 1/10 second thinking time. It always stalemates at least one step ahead of me, like magic.

I called it Dodo because the rules are very easy to learn. It didn't occur to me that it would be a hard game to play. Maybe I should have called it Einstein. Someone suggested Cascade, which would have been a good name. It's like two way pachinko.

For the time being, Dodo seems to be a good game for children, and a good game for gifted players. There's not a lot of middle ground right now, though a strategy guide might open that up a little.

There's yin and yang in Dodo. If you rush forward to blockade yourself, then in doing so you also blockade your opponent. If you open a channel for your opponent to pass through, then via a cascading effect, he opens channels for you. This results in a lot of close finishes. It may be unsettling for some, though it’s not a flaw.

I'm a decidedly below average player of games, but after playing Dodo 50 times or so, I feel like I'm starting to develop a vague inkling of what's going on. With familiarity, it becomes easier to see further ahead, and to at least attempt strategy. As with quicksand though, strategies can sink and resurface.

One analytical description of Dodo (by Mike Zapala, the same guy who beat the AI): "Hex4 Dodo is 'bigger' than Checkers in terms of board size, army size, state space, game length, branching factor and game tree complexity. Indeed, its game tree complexity is comparable to International Draughts." It’s a big game on a small board.

Dodo is kind of an essential game. As with all games, the ability to peer ahead into possible futures is important. But without known tactics or strategy, lookahead is all you have. Not to say that Dodo is opaque. It's all there in plain sight right in front of you. It's just a lot to process.

Dodo is a very fair game. Player 1 won 50.5% of 10,000 random playouts. Hex was clocked at 52.45%. Most games have significantly higher than 50.5% random play, move order advantage. Especially opposing army games. I've had to scrap a number of such designs because an overwhelming first move advantage quickly developed.

So there's no need for the pie rule in Dodo (Player 2 having the option of switching colors on his first turn).

I attribute Dodo's fairness to the wide range of possible total moves per game. There can be no passthrough, or complete passthrough, or anything in between.

Dodo isn't vulnerable to mirroring (either by Player 2, or by Player 1 moving to center and then rotationally mirroring Player 2). And it doesn't seem to be vulnerable to any other sort of tricks.

All in all, Dodo is a high quality game, though that won't necessarily translate into popularity. Let's wait and see.

I'm fairly confident that someone much smarter than I will make headway in Dodo and develop concrete tactics and strategy. Stay tuned. I will post any such developments here. Dodo was only born in May, and it's gonna take a little time. It won't be like Reversi where sides are good and corners are even better. It'll be more involved than that.