Prone to ties?

[SimplicatusGames]

I really like this game, so simple rules and setup with emerging strategies.

However, I worry that there will be lots of ties between experienced players, like in chess. It's very good that Qawale is so short, only 8 rounds, but the consequence is that if you defend well, you'll get a tie even if you're unable to win.

Therefore, if it was mathematically impossible to have a tie, like in some other abstracts on here, Qawale would be even better.

• Perhaps it it had 9 rounds and a pie rule? Could still be a tie, of course.

• Perhaps it could work with some kind of tiebreaker, like most stones on top of stacks, most stones in a single stack, or most stones touching each other in the same stack?

I am sure the designers and developers at Gigamic tested all options before settling on the published version, but I also imagine that they might have decided to keep it simple to reach a mass market.

My favourite game from Gigamic is Quarto, and it has a similar issue, but it is more complex and thus it seems to be much more difficult to end up with a tie, especially with advanced rules.

Would love to get other opinions on this!

[starman72]

I was taken by surprise when I first tied. I hadn't read the rules carefully and just assumed that when your stck was gone, you would play from stacks of your color on the board, continuing to try to get 4 in a row. If tihere are no stacks with your color on to, you lose. But perhaps that can lead to unending games?

[T72on1]

I was taken by surprise when I first tied. I hadn't read the rules carefully and just assumed that when your stck was gone, you would play from stacks of your color on the board, continuing to try to get 4 in a row. If tihere are no stacks with your color on to, you lose. But perhaps that can lead to unending games?

This sounds like it could be a good option. Then again, like SimplicatusGames says, the designer probably has done a lot of testing prior to release.

I have surely been in a few games where I felt like the other player was in total control and deserved the victory, yet by defending it wasn't too hard to get that tie in the end.

[headkace]

About what percentage of games between experienced players are resulting in ties?