MATCHES

Copyright (c) 1970s? Pierre Berloquin

This game is played on a 4x4 square board:

There are around 15 white and 15 black stones off board.

TURN -  On each turn, each player must drop a stack made by one up to three stones of the same color (either black or white) on a designated cell determined by the nature of the opponent's last move. Initially, the designated cell is any cell. After that, the designated cell depends on the previous move's stack size and color.  The size determines the distance from the last played cell and the color designates the direction (white is vertical, black is horizontal). If two opposite directions are both designated, the player about to move may choose which. There are the following restrictions: The total number of stones on board cannot be higher that 25 (no matter the color) The designated cell must be an empty cell. GOAL - The winner is whoever made the last valid move.

So, there are two ways of winning this game: (a) designating a cell with no valid options, or (b) dropping the 25^th stone.

An example Initially, a black stack of size 2 was dropped at b2. So, the second player can only move to d2. He placed there a white stack of size 1. Then, the first player can move to d1 or d3. He chose d3 where he dropped a white stack of size 2. The second player must drop now at d1 where he placed a black stack of size 3 So, the first player should drop at a1...

This game was originally proposed with 25 (vertical/horizontal) matches. With this stack format, it is easier to try a variant with mixed color stacks, which would allow for diagonals.

I wish to thank Julián R. of Madrid for this game information.