Shogo (a memory-less alternative to superko)

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luigi
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Shogo (a memory-less alternative to superko)

Post by luigi »

At the start of the game, there is an empty box next to the board.

When you make a capturing placement, place the captured stones in the box. If this causes the box to hold more than n stones of the same color, the move is illegal.

When you make a non-capturing placement, if there are any stones of your color in the box, the stone you place must be a stone you have just taken from the box. Stones from the box are never used for capturing placements.

The ko rule is used, but the superko rule is not. Cycles are not possible.
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Re: Shogo (a memory-less alternative to superko)

Post by Polama »

Seems like this interacts awkwardly with seki? Whatever we set for N, eventually we play enough cycles that capturing a reasonably large group is illegal, at which point the other play can turn a seki into a self-atari and capture the opponents stones.

Presumably the other player would give up the cycle earlier to avoid this, but it makes proper play of cycles dependent on the relative sizes of groups involved in seki. Nothing wrong with that per se, but feels odd to me.
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