I've long been trying to come up with an elegant, simple set of rules which succeeded in making Go into a naturally finite game, without the need for superko rules. That hypothetical game would no longer be Go, of course, but it should feel as close to Go as possible and preserve most of its virtues.
Till now, my only (published) attempt at this particular task was
Paper and Pencil Go, which was interesting but still far from ideal, as making life was too easy.
Now I'm presenting Goncrete, which is a much more balanced game and, hopefully, closer to Go in its play.
GONCRETEThe rules are those of Go, with the following exceptions:
- After each placement, surrounded enemy groups are not removed from the board, but just flipped, i.e. converted to the player's color. Then, the player must remove one stone from as many of the groups just flipped as possible without splitting the newly formed group.
- The game ends when both players pass in succession or when one player loses all his stones as a result of a capture.
- Suicide is illegal.
- Area scoring is used.
Sample positions
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W After White 1...
$$ -----------
$$ | . . . . .
$$ | . . 1 . .
$$ | . O X O .
$$ | . . O . .
$$ | . . . . .[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B ...the single flipped stone\ncan't be removed, because\nthat would split the new\nWhite group into four groups.
$$ -----------
$$ | . . . . .
$$ | . . O . .
$$ | . O O O .
$$ | . . O . .
$$ | . . . . .[/go]
========================================
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W After White 1...
$$ -------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . O O . O O . .
$$ | . O X X 1 X X O .
$$ | . O O O . O O . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B ...four Black stones are flipped. Then...
$$ -------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . O O . O O . .
$$ | . O O O O O O O .
$$ | . O O O . O O . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B ...the group on the left allows the removal\nof one stone without splitting the\nnewly formed group, but the one on\nthe right does not. When possible, such removal\nof one stone per group is mandatory.
$$ -------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . O O . O O . .
$$ | . O . O O O O O .
$$ | . O O O . O O . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]
==========================================================
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W After White 1...
$$ -------------
$$ | . . . . . .
$$ | . . O 1 . .
$$ | . O X X O .
$$ | . O O X O .
$$ | . . O O . .
$$ | . . . . . .[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B ...any of the three flipped stones\ncan be removed. In such cases,\nthe result will be exactly the same\nno matter which stone you choose.
$$ -------------
$$ | . . . . . .
$$ | . . O O . .
$$ | . O . O O .
$$ | . O O O O .
$$ | . . O O . .
$$ | . . . . . .[/go]
==========================================
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$W White 1 ends the game, as\nall the Black stones are \ncaptured. If the game were\nallowed to continue, an endless\nseries of captures and recaptures\nwould take place. Allowing suicide\nwould cause a similar problem.
$$ ---------
$$ | X X X |
$$ | X X X |
$$ | X 1 O |
$$ ---------[/go]
- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Final position.
$$ ---------
$$ | O O O |
$$ | O . O |
$$ | O O O |
$$ ---------[/go]
What do you think about this Go variant?