SEND IT

Copyright (c) 2004 João Neto

The game is played on a 8 sided hexagonal board:

 

GROUP - A set of connected stones of the same color. A group has no liberty if there is no stone within the group adjacent to an empty cell. CONTROL - A player controls a cell if the adversary cannot drop a stone there. TURN - On each turn, a player drops up to 4 pieces on empty cells. Such cells must be on an orthogonal line of sight of a friendly piece already on board (the cells in between being empty). Drops are sequential, not simultaneous. None of the new stones may be part of the same group. Groups with no liberty are captured. Initial turn: On the first move the first player drops one friendly stone on an empty cell. Then the second player drops three friendly stones on empty cells. Then, the game proceeds as stated. GOAL - When both players pass, the winner is whoever has more controlled cells plus pieces (like the Chinese Go scoring).

The rule that says that drops are sequential implies that a player may drop a first stone and then use it as line of sight to drop the next stone.

An initial game Black started. This is the game after three complete turns. The last Black and White moves are marked.

This game is a restricted variant of Go (a player can only drop stones where he is able to 'see') which is compensated by the possibility of dropping four stones per turn. This provides a tool for quick invasion of almost surrounded areas, leading to complex tactical battles. The another drop restriction (one stone per group per turn) prevents the quick formation of living groups (i.e., groups that cannot be captured because it controls at least one cell). For example, the marked white stone at d7 and the white c8 stone are virtually connected, because Black cannot drop in a single turn two stones at c7 and d8 because they would be in the same group, violating a drop restriction.

Send It can also be played on a square board, using the same rules (adjacency is only orthogonal not diagonal). However, it is easier to make safe structures (to control a cell only needs four stones, instead of six). So, this variant was tested with the following extra rule: "An isolated enemy stone with just one liberty can be pushed into that empty cell while the player drops a friendly stone on that now vacant cell".