Cappie wrote:It is a serious flaw in the game.
I have had a game just like that once, with myself in your position. There is no reason for me to go in the middle. And no reason for the other player to take the last spots in the center.
The only way to end this is if you can cross a bridge and score the last points or can catch a pawn from the other player in one turn.
I totally agree with this. I've only played the game maybe 3 times, and in one case my only option to win was chasing down my opponent and capturing, and as long as that option existed I was going to keep trying, but it just went on and on. I think I finally just went into the center and ended it cause it was driving me crazy.
But I just played one like this kind of scenario, where I had the game won by a tie breaker, the person in 2nd could no longer play, and the other player would be last place even taking that last point and capturing someone. I just needed to stay outside and stay safe. I don't know that the player was refusing to take the last spot cause he never got a 1 at the right time. (This was definitely a fault of the game.) I finally took the chance of going into the center ring, at a moment when it felt safer, just cause it was driving me nuts and I thought it would go on forever. Fortunately he was never able to get me and I got that last point and just plain won.
But I agree it's a fault of the game that situations like this get created to begin with. I could understand if there's any chance that someone could still win (or move up in standing) that they would want to keep playing, and I can understand that people would start getting bored with it too.
If someone can't win and still refuses to move, then that's the fault of the player. But mostly I think this is a fault of the game. It certainly would be nice to have a solution to this. But if someone still has a chance to win they should have the opportunity to try, so I'd only want an early end if there's just no way someone can move up in the standings.