Blocker
Directions
This game is played with two players: White and Black. Each player has 5
pieces which can be moved around the board according to certain
rules. The board is 11 squares by 11.
Goal
There are two possibiliies to win the game.
- The player who advances his Godfather piece to the
opposide row of the board wins.
- If a player finds himself in check and is unable to make a move
to get himself out of check, the he looses.
Dynamics
The players take turns moving. On a players turn he must select one
piece and move the piece at least once. Some pieces are allowed only
one roll per
turn, some are allowed (but not required) up to two rolls per turn, and others are
allowed up to three rolls per turn. No piece may move more than 3
times in a turn.
Pieces may not roll over or into
a square that is occupied by another piece, neither of his own color
nor of the opposite color. If a player has no legal roll available,
i.e., none of his five pieces are movable into a position that
leaves his Godfather free from attack, then the game is over and the
player is declared the looser.
In the case of the Godfather piece, the instructions refer to a
roll but literally it is a slide. Since the dimensions of the
Godfather piece are 1x1x0, it is impossible to literally roll.
Pieces
Each player has five pieces, each is a 3-D rectangular solid, and each
piece has different dimensions as given in the table below. For
example, the piece called Flat (2x2x1), may roll either one or two
times per turn. The Flat piece may roll North and then East, or South
and then West, or simply West. Notice however, that a roll of North
followed by East leaves the piece in a different state than East
followed by North.
| Pieces
| | Name | Volume | Dimensions | Number of Rolls | Directions | Restrictions
|
|---|
| Fat | 8 | 2x2x2 | Exactly 1 | North, South,
East, or West.
|
| Flat | 4 | 2x2x1 | Either 1 or 2
|
| Thin | 2 | 2x1x1
|
| Frecher | 1 | 1x1x1 | 1, or 2, or 3
|
| Godfather | 0 | 1x1x0 | Either 1 or 2 | North, Northeast,
East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, or Northwest. | May move
diagonally only unless the horiztonal and vertical components are not
obstructed. E.g., northwest move is allowed only if either the square
to the north or the square to the west is empty. See example
At the end of the turn, the Godfather may not remain under attack
(in check). See also Rule-9, and Rule-11.
|
Check
- If a Godfather could be rolled onto by any of the opponents pieces on
the next move, he is said to be in check.
- A move which places both Godfathers in check at the same time is
illegal.
- A consequence of the previous rule is that neither Godfather is
allowed to attack the other.
- A player's Godfather may not remain in check at the end of the
player's turn. If this is unavoidable, the player in check is
declared the looser.
- One possibility to eliminate a check is to move the Godfather to
a square that is not under attack. In the event that the
Godfather moves twice on a single turn, it is allowed that the
intermediate square be under attack so long as the final square
is not under attack.
- Another possibility to eliminate a check it to move another
piece such as to hinder the attack. Keep in mind that it is
possible to occupy one of the squares of the final intended
destination of the attacking piece, or to obstruct the route of
transit.
Board
| Initial places of pieces
|
col= 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row=10 | | | | |B4|b0|b1|b2| | | |
+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+ +--+--+--+
row= 9 | | | | |B4|B8 B8|b2| | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+--+--+
row= 8 | | | | | |B8 B8| | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 7 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 5 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 4 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 2 | | | | |W8 W8| | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+--+--+--+
row= 1 | | | |w2|W8 W8|W4| | | | |
+--+--+--+ +--+--+ +--+--+--+--+
row= 0 | | | |w2|w1|w0|W4| | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
col= 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
|
Each of pieces is displayed as a concatination of the plaeyer name w
for white or b for black, followed by the volume representing
the piece: 0, 1, 2, 4, or 8. You
only see the x and y dimensions of the board. The
z (out of the board) dimension is indicated by whether lower
case or capital letters are used w and b represent
z=1, while W and B represent z=2.
E.g., W2 represents the piece whose volume is 2, 1x1x2
standing up vertically on the board.
Examples
Assume as the first move, white decides to move the piece W4.
W is dispayed in capital signifying that it is standing with a
height of 2. I.e., If the z-axis is coming out of the board toward
you eye, the the piece has dimension dx=1, dy=2, dz=2. In this
displayed board position W4 may roll to the east or to the
north as its first roll. Suppose he decides to roll to the east.
Here is what the board would look like.
| Board State after W4 moved East
|
col= 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row=10 | | | | |B4|b0|b1|b2| | | |
+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+ +--+--+--+
row= 9 | | | | |B4|B8 B8|b2| | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+--+--+
row= 8 | | | | | |B8 B8| | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 7 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 6 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 5 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 4 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 3 | | | | | | | | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
row= 2 | | | | |W8 W8| | | | | |
+--+--+--+--+ +--+--+--+--+--+
row= 1 | | | |w2|W8 W8| |w4 w4| | |
+--+--+--+ +--+--+ + +--+--+
row= 0 | | | |w2|w1|w0| |w4 w4| | |
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
col= 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
|
The pieces is now displayed in lower-case letters signifying that its
z-dimension is dz=1.
From this position the piece is allowed to move either East or North,
but not back West in the direction he came from (See rule Rule-1).
See some other examples of the way various
pieces can move.
The ASCII Interface
By default the human plays white and the computer plays black. You
can make a move by first entering the digit signifiying the volume of
the piece to move, e.g., the 8 key signifies the piece of
volume 8, then entering the direction of transit as one or two
letters, e.g., n, s, nw, etc. If the
piece is allowed to move again, you will be promted to enter another
direction. If you do not want to continue, simply enter i for
identity.
The interface does not allow you to make a move which is illegal for
any reason.
Explicit Rules
- Rule-1
- A piece combination may not contain a direction and its
inverse. E.g. No piece is allowed to move North and
South in the same turn.
- Rule-2
- A player is not allowed to pass. I.e., The board cannot
be in the same state at the end of the turn as it was at the
beginning of the turn.
- Rule-3
- The Godfather, Flat, and Thin pieces may move 1, or 2 times per turn.
- Rule-4
- The Frecher piece may move 1, 2, or 3 times per turn.
- Rule-5
- The Fat piece may move only 1 time per turn.
- Rule-6
- A player must move exactly one piece per turn. He may not move
more than one piece, and he may not move less than one piece.
- Rule-7
- A player may not make any move that puts his Godfather under
attack. He may not move his Godfather directly into attack.
Niether may he move any other piece that puts his Godfather under
attack
- Rule-8 - corollary to Rule-7
- Both Godfathers may not be in check at the same time. You make
not make a move that puts your opponent into check if it also
puts your own Godfather in check.
- Rule-9
- The Godfather may not move diagonally between two pieces that
are stading corner-to-corner. See the example.
- Rule-10
- No piece is allowed to move more than 3 times in one turn.
- Rule-11
- On a move of multiple rolls (2 or 3 rolls) that one of the
intermediate positions places the Godfather in check as long as
the final position reaches does not leave him in check.
Questions About Confusing Points
- A piece that normally moves twice, how can I specify to move him
only once in a given turn?
- If you want to move the Frecher once rather than three times,
enter 1 to select the Frecher, then enter n for
example to specify North, then enter i to specify
Identity. You must enter 3 directions but the latter 1 or two
directions may be i which as the effect of moving him
only once.