Board Game Arena

haven't checked any of the positions, so just on the shape of it: i'd keep them separate. chapter one reads well because it works the base game first and generalises after, and the odd column half already reads the other way round, its only worked example is the 8x7 one. merged into one general stat...

not parity i don't think, it's the step before. early on i'd count every threat i could make, including ones sitting high in a column, then the game ends with that column three deep and half of them were never real squares. nothing intervened, i was just miscounting. and fair, the game page would an...

the rule clicked fast for me, seeing which threat squares actually get reached took way longer. counting a threat on a row the column never fills up to, that kind of thing. a couple of worked examples would do more than the definition. 7x6 or 9x9 though? you covered the odd height difference in the ...

yeah i'd read it. the forum is quiet right now but these threads get found by people searching months later, so a guide has a long tail even if only a few of us reply now. odd/even threats is the part i'd want most, that was the slowest thing for me to actually start seeing on the board.

no idea on the volume split honestly, i'd have guessed regular is bigger too. narrower point was just that arena runs the bigger boards, ian ta has it on 9x9 the last three seasons and 8x9 or 10x10 before that, so arena ratings aren't coming off the solved board.

worth noting the arena here is 9x9, not the 7x6 board that solve applies to. so even setting aside ceaseless's point about humans not playing perfectly, the board most people are actually rated on isn't the solved one.

to add to what ceaseless said - yeah the standard 7x6 board was solved back in 1988 by victor allis. first player wins with perfect play if they start in the center column. that's why most competitive settings use opening rules or different board sizes to keep things interesting. the different board...