Triccs is a territory game featuring Othello-like capture. Its invention was intertwined with the invention of the 'one-bound-one-free' opening protocol. I remember a feeling of satisfaction that the protocol thus came with a game to store it, because I was immediately aware of its generic character and the broad spectrum of goals it could support. Play Triccs interactively Rules There are two players, Black and White. Each has a sufficient number of bicolored stones. Players place and move stones only with their color up. White starts by placing one stone on the empty board. From that point on players take turns to: Place a stone on a cell adjacent to the last stone placed by the opponent, and ... ... place a stone on a on a cell that has only vacant cells as neighbors.

Both placements are compulsory and there's no capture in this phase. The diagram shows a possible position at the end of it.

When the player to move can no longer make the second placement, then his turn ends and his opponent may start the second phase in which players take turns to:

1. Compulsory place a stone on any vacant cell, and ...
2. ... optionally move a friendly stone to a vacant cell adjacent to the group it is part of (a single stone being a 'group' by definition).

Capture
If, and only if, an unbroken straight row of opponent's stones (or a single stone) is thus enclosed between the placed stone at one end, and the moved stone at the other, then this row is reversed to show the capturing player's color.

Object
The game ends when the board is full and the winner is the player with the highest number of stones on the board.

Note that at the end of the first phase, the number of stones on the board will be equal, but note also that whoever started the first phase, has no bearing on whose turn it will be at the start of the second phase.

How I invented ... Triccs


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