HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: scottie@sequent.com (Scott Thurston)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: What???
Date: 10 Nov 92 05:32:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: sequent.1992Nov10.053228.16983
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems Inc.

In article <tgee.721365643@cunews> tgee@alfred.carleton.ca (Travis Gee) writes:
%I have no idea.  It has an interesting name, though.  Perhaps in view
%of the absence of a FAQ, we could postulate that it should at least
%cover the kinds of games that can be played in the abstract (i.e.,
%without a board.  Here's one I used to play in high school:

And then, we could form rec.games.surreal, with simple modifications to the
scenario outlined below:

%Everybody knows the rules of tic-tac-toe. So, assign a number to each
%of the squares thus:
%
%   1    |    2    |    3
%--------+---------+---------
%   4    |    5    |    6
%--------+---------+---------
%   7    |    8    |    9
%
%Each player picks a number to claim the square represented by that
%number. The other player does the same, until one wins. Thus, two
%people may be seen at the back of a bus, engaging in the following
%conversation:

P1  One.
P2   "A".
P1  Five.
P2   Giraffe.
P1  Plumbing?
P2   Oh, shit!  Because a house can't eat.
P1  The sound of one hand clapping.  I win!  Or did you?  Huh?

-- 
Scott Thurston		       scottie@sequent.com
Sequent Computer Systems, Inc  ...!{uunet,ogicse,tektronix}!sequent!scottie
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who's this Time Being?  And why are his standards so low?
From: boutell@isis.cshl.org (Tom Boutell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Game of Nomic Beginning
Date: 10 Nov 92 15:54:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: phage.BxIC7E.D6n
Organization: Cold Spring Harbor Labs

I propose a game of Nomic, to be carried out by email. 
If there are no objections, certain minor additions to the rules will be 
made in advance.

The immutable (100-level) rules will remain as-is initially; the 200-level
rules will be amended as follows (note these are mutable rules):

214 A list of players shall be maintained by the moderator of the game,
in this case me (boutell@cshl.org). The means by which one joins the
game is by sending email to boutell@cshl.org. A reasonable period shall
be permitted during which players can join before the game begins,
after which the game will be closed. Enrollment in the game shall
commence immediately.

215 Rule 201 shall be amended as follows: "players shall alternate in
clockwise order, taking one whole turn apiece..." shall become 
"players will submit moves, one whole turn apiece, to the moderator, when 
informed that it is their turn to play. The moderator shall establish
an order of play before the beginning of the game and distribute this
order of play to the players. The moderator must adhere to the order
of play. Rules received out of turn shall be ignored..."

216 If a player takes more than three (3) days to make a move, the
next player shall be permitted to submit a move for them, in addition
to submitting their own. If this player fails to move in the allotted
time, the next player moves for both preceding players and for
his or herself, and so on.

217 When a move, with its proposed rule or rule change, is submitted, the
moderator must promptly inform the other players of it. All votes received
within two (2) days of the announcement of the move shall count. Moves
received later do not count. 
The success or failure of the change must be reported by the
moderator to the players, and the next player promptly informed it is
their turn to move.

218 "Eligible voter", in all preceding and subsequent rules,
shall be defined as "all those who have responded in the two (2) - day
period."

219 A digest of the game shall be posted to the group rec.games.abstract
by the moderator on a regular basis.


-T

-- 
Tom Boutell, boutell@cshl.org

Clausthaler is the best non - alcoholic beer in the known universe.
From: hship@sw.stratus.com (Howard Ship)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Religous Card Game
Date: 11 Nov 92 18:43:14 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: teton.sw.stratus.com

I've heard of a game described in one of Martin Gardner's books, on some religous
theme.  One player plays God, setting rules for how cards can be played.  Other
players pray by playing cards correctly (or incorrectly), and some players become
prophets, attempting to lear the secret rules set by God.  I would appreciate a
full description of the game.

-- 
"I can't believe I had the Anti!"
Howard_Ship@vos.stratus.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: mbrockma@bank.ecn.purdue.edu (Matt Brockman)
Subject: Re: A proposed Usenet version of Nomic
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 22:54:32 GMT

In article <BxKF1x.9qH@knot.ccs.queensu.ca> colley@qucis.queensu.ca (Paul Colley) writes:
>Anyways, I will post my proposed "USENET-NOMIC", and if you want to play,
>just follow-up (following the rules).

I hope you don't use this newsgroup! It is big enough
without flooding it with a game.
Are you getting a seperate newsgroup?


===============================================================================
Matt Brockman                                           mbrockma@ecn.purdue.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "Ground Control to Major Tom: Your circuit's dead; there's something wrong."
            "Never drink coffee that has been anywhere near a fish." 
                    "The room was warm and green and silent."
===============================================================================
From: kanderso@reed.edu (Karl Anderson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: E-mail Hnefatafl
Date: 13 Nov 92 01:56:44 GMT
Article-I.D.: reed.1992Nov13.015644.1249
Organization: Reed College, Portland, OR

I've played a smaller version of this called Tablut.  It was hugely
biased towards the King's side, and I can't recall the other side ever
winning.  While I've never played Hneffatfafflf, I recall reading a
book that drew the same conclusion.  The author suggested the
following idea:

One player puts out a number of moves for the King to win, e.g. "King
to win in 17 moves."
The other player decides which side to play.  If the King's side has
not won within the alloted time, it loses.

k
From: gjm11@cus.cam.ac.uk (G.J. McCaughan)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: Nomic (Re: Game)
Date: 10 Nov 92 17:09:53 GMT
Organization: U of Cambridge, England

In article <BxI3vn.9D6@cs.psu.edu> flee@cs.psu.edu (Felix Lee) writes:
>Nomic wasn't invented by Douglas Hofstadter.  Hofstadter just wrote
>about it in one of his Metamagical Themas columns.  I don't know the
>inventor's name offhand.

Peter Suber.

-- 
Gareth McCaughan     Dept. of Pure Mathematics & Mathematical Statistics,
gjm11@cus.cam.ac.uk  Cambridge University, England.    [Research student]
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: rpowers@panix.com (Richard Powers)
Subject: Re: Abalone Puzzles?
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:47:51 GMT
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC

In <17407@borg.cs.unc.edu> palmerd@gallium.cs.unc.edu (Daniel Palmer) writes:

>There are (as far as I know) two Abalone puzzles that "come" with the
>game.  As part of the instructions there is a set-up board and a claim
>that one of the opponents has a forced win or something of that sort.

>I recall being sent the second one as a "reward" for solving the first.
>Has anyone come across other Abalone puzzles?  Was there ever an Abalone 
>strategy book published (Ala' the Pente Books 1 and 2 back when that game
>was making the rounds?).  Any information would be appreciated.

As far as I know there was one that came with the game, and then one
included in the N.A.F.A. (North American Federation of Abalone)
newsletter.  This last was a real stumper.  Took me quite a while to
figure it out.



-- 
rpowers@panix.com                .sig file...             ...just a .sig file.
From: gugler-sean@cs.yale.edu (Sean Gugler)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: USENET-NOMIC
Date: 13 Nov 1992 02:52:19 -0500
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Undergraduate
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: frog.zoo2.cs.yale.edu
In-reply-to: akessler@bernard.ma.utexas.edu's message of Wed, 11 Nov 1992 19:43:48 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.194348.19466@math.utexas.edu> akessler@bernard.ma.utexas.edu (Adam Kessler) writes:
>In article <BxKF7q.9u5@knot.ccs.queensu.ca> colley@qucis.queensu.ca (Paul Colley) writes:
>>
>>Current rules:
[entire quoted rule-set deleted]
>
>Proposal by adam kessler <akessler@math.utexas.edu>:
[deleted]

Please move this game, and others like it, off USENET and into a mail server.

It's hardly justifiable propagating to thousands of machines what
only a handful of users need to see -- ESPECIALLY largely redundant posts.

Should the "handful" grow beyond the capacity of a mail server, then
a new newsgroup could be created.

Incidentally, you could surely reduce the volume by mailing only
relevant portions, for each player to update his own master copy.
A master update could be sent out every two weeks or so.

-- 
Sean Gugler                    gugler-sean@cs.yale.edu     <-- Internet
P.O. Box 1902 Yale Station         gugseap@yalevm          <-- Bitnet
New Haven, CT  06520   USA         sgugler@music.yale.edu  <-- NeXT
(203)-436-0861            We both have truths; are mine the same as yours?
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: rjr@titan.ucc.umass.edu (Richard J. Resnick)
Subject: Senator Game (much like nomic)
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 03:54:56 GMT

Hello,

I read a post this morning about this game called Nomic. It got
something going in me, and I started to conceptualize a game much like
it, called "Senator". It is essentially the same game, with far fewer
rules to begin with.

I am going to be running a Senator Game via email. I already posted on
rec.games.pbm, and got a number of responses. I am looking for a 20
person game, so please reply to this post if you are interested, and I
will send you the rulebook.

Richard Resnick

-----------------------
   Richard Resnick
rjr@titan.ucc.umass.edu
-----------------------

Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: neilb@scs.leeds.ac.uk (Neil Bowers)
Subject: Re: Move
Originator: neilb@csparc2
Organization: The University of Leeds, School of Computer Studies
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:46:22 GMT

In article <BxKFAH.C9J@phage.cshl.org> boutell@isis.cshl.org (Tom Boutell) writes:
>King's pawn to queen's duck thirteen. Soprano.

Zebedee takes the staff car, with the candlestick!
Do not collect $200.
Xref: sparky rec.games.abstract:62 talk.bizarre:37544
From: mjd@saul.cis.upenn.edu ("[*] The One True Cross")
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract,talk.bizarre
Subject: Re: Game
Date: 10 Nov 92 18:40:32 GMT
	<BxHq8r.8D1@nic.umass.edu> <MORGAN.92Nov10102433@dl5000.bc.edu>
Followup-To: misc.misc
Organization: Eaters of Wisdom
In-reply-to: morgan@dl5000.bc.edu's message of 10 Nov 92 15:24:33 GMT

In article <MORGAN.92Nov10102433@dl5000.bc.edu> morgan@dl5000.bc.edu (Morgan Stair) writes:
>   NO.  I definately think posting ground rules should be outlawed... or
>   at least result in severe penalties.

Depends on how fine you grind them.
--

                And for to se, and eek for to be seye
Mark-Jason Dominus 	  			    mjd@central.cis.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: Move
From: jplee@zeus.calpoly.edu (Jason Lee)
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 05:09:22 GMT
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

In article <1dscpqINNd30@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> nate@cats.ucsc.edu (Nathaniel Douglas Renwick) writes:
>
>neilb@scs.leeds.ac.uk (Neil Bowers) writes:
>>boutell@isis.cshl.org (Tom Boutell) writes:
>>>King's pawn to queen's duck thirteen. Soprano.
>>Zebedee takes the staff car, with the candlestick!
>>Do not collect $200.
>Ahh... but having forfeited your right to pluck the chicken,
>I have put sleeves on my vest.  Wrong number.
You moved into blue zone.  Your oil operations will have to cease.
Once you've filled your water bottle, everything is ok.
Hit the grass.
-- 
Jason Lee
email:  jplee@poseidon.calpoly.edu
GO ROCKIES 1993
Don Baylor for President!!!
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas)
Subject: Re: What???
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 05:04:03 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <1992Nov10.092846.23254@daimi.aau.dk> elascurn@daimi.aau.dk (Lars R{der Clausen) writes:
>
>Three-on-a-row in a 3^x space is rather easy to prove things about. That game
>has (as far as playing something on a sheet of paper during lessons) long
>been dead for me. 4-on-a-row in 2-d space is a bit more fun, but I seem to
>have proved the the starter wins. How about 5-on-a-row? How about 3-player
>4-on-a-row? Has anyone tried to prove who wins there?
>

Simple proof that any sort of tic-tac-toe game is either a draw or a win
for the first player:

Suppose that the game is a win for the second player. Then there is some
strategy that the second player can follow that will guarantee him a win.
Now, in tic-tac-toe, there is NO disadvantage whatsoever to having an
extra square with your mark in it. So the first player can guarantee himself
a win by making his first move off in a corner somewhere, and from then on,
playing as if he were the second player. (If ever the strategy calls for him
to play in the place he made his first move, he can just make another
extraneous move elsewhere). Therefore, if there is a guaranteed win for
the second player, there is a guaranteed win for the first player. This is
a contradiction, so there is NO WAY you can devise a tic-tac-toe game
where the second player can win.

This proof works for ANY game where an extra move is no disadvantage (Hex,
Bridg-It, and so forth.) It does NOT work for a game like chess, where an
extraneous move is not a clear advantage. Note that it doesn't tell you
whether the game is drawn or whether it's a first-player win. If the game
cannot possibly be drawn (like Hex), it only tells you that the first-player
win exists, it does not tell you how to find it.

-- 
__/\__  Jonathan S. Haas         | Jake liked his women the way he liked
\    /  University of Michigan   | his kiwi fruit: sweet yet tart, firm-
/_  _\  positron@engin.umich.edu | fleshed yet yielding to the touch, and
  \/                             | covered with short brown fuzzy hair.
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: neilb@scs.leeds.ac.uk (Neil Bowers)
Subject: TWIXT: rules
Originator: neilb@csparc2
Organization: The University of Leeds, School of Computer Studies
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 18:55:32 GMT

[this description was sent to me a while back by Clay Dresser]
[another netiquette suggestion: prepend the name of the game to the subject
 line, where appropriate]

Twixt is a game that was released as a board game by Avalon Hill in the 60s.
You start with a board of some reasonably large size, the larger the board,
the longer the game, that is a square grid of holes, try 20 x 20 for a good
game.
Below is a diagram of a 10 x 10 board.  The two players are RED and BLACK.


    		         B L A C K
    
           +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +
              -------------------------------
           + | +   +   +   +   +   +   +   + | +
             |                               |
           R | +   +   +   +   +   +   +   + | +
             |                               |
           + | +   R   +   +   +   R   +   + | +
             |                               |
           + | +   +   +   R   +   +   +   + | +
   R E D     |                               |     R E D
           + | +   +   +   +   +   +   R   + | +
             |                               |
           + | +   +   +   +   +   +   +   + | R
             |                               |
           + | +   +   +   +   +   +   +   + | +
             |                               |
           + | +   +   +   +   +   +   +   + | +
              -------------------------------
           +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +

		         B L A C K


Each player must create a boundary that connects the opposing sides of the
board of his color.

Play alternates.  There are two types of pieces, pegs and connectors.  On
your move, you place one peg (holes are marked '+').  Then, as a second part
of your move, you may place connectors between any of your pieces that are
a knight's move (from chess) away from each other.  Thus, the selection of
R's above would all be connected in a position indicating a win for red.

You can easily play this on graph paper and it's worth playing around with
a little to see how interesting it is.


I will collect rules posted for games, and make them available via
anonymous ftp.  Colin, how about posting rules for Othello/Reversi?

Neil
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: benjie@quack.sac.ca.us (Android)
Subject: 3d chess?
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.
Date: 11 Nov 1992 04:41:23 UTC

Is there a computer 3d chess game(of Startrek)?
Benjie

-- 
     BBB		Benjie Chen
    BCCCB 		benjie@quack.sac.ca.us
    BCCCB		No Axiomatic System Could Produce All Number-
     BBB		Theoretical Truths, Unless It Is Inconsistent.
From: mjd@saul.cis.upenn.edu ("[*] The Power in the Streets")
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: USENET-NOMIC
Date: 11 Nov 92 22:27:13 GMT
Organization: Eaters of Wisdom
In-reply-to: colley@qucis.queensu.ca's message of 11 Nov 92 18:55:02 GMT


    Oh, great.  Four hundred nearly identical two-hundred line postings
a day.  


--

                And for to se, and eek for to be seye
Mark-Jason Dominus 	  			    mjd@central.cis.upenn.edu
From: cam@nick.csh.rit.edu (Christopher A. Meaker)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: Commercial Abstract Games
Date: 12 Nov 92 00:11:46 GMT
Organization: Computer Science House @ RIT

Well, as I've metioned before, I own   Terrace  as well as the traditionals
othello
chess
checkers american
checkers chinese


Chris   cam@nick.csh.rit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: What???
From: James.Cone@comp.vuw.ac.nz (James Cone)
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 20:49:54 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Sci., Victoria Uni. of Wellington, New Zealand.


In article <1dpa4fINN2dv@network.ucsd.edu>, jwp@chem.ucsd.edu (John Pierce) writes:
|> scottie@sequent.com (Scott Thurston) writes:
|> 
|>  > And then, we could form rec.games.surreal, ....
|> 
|> 1.  Elephant & Castle
|> 

2.  Crown and Mouse
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: andy@ice.stx.com (Andy Moore)
Subject: Re: Awari Strategies
Reply-To: andy@ian.stx.com
Organization: Hughes STX, Lanham, MD
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 17:04:48 GMT

This is an old game with many versions and variations.  My e-buddy
and I know it as Mankala and have been playing it via e-mail
for over a year.  We like to do variations on the 'length' of
the board and the number of beans starting in each pit.  We've
also adopted the convention of keeping with single digits, which
first required going to hex, and then beyond!  Recently we used
up all the numerals and both lower and upper case letters...

The rules we play by allow multiple extra moves, and you can get
some real sweeps going if you play your, uh, beans right... :-)
We've recently added a new rule that allows a player to 'steal'
one bean from the other's home pit each time he or she passes it
on wrap-around play.

Very highly recommended -- try it, a fun, challenging, interesting
game, and easily playable by e-mail to boot...

-- 
Andy Moore (andy@ice.stx.com)
______________________________________________________________________________
 "I had a dream when I was young, a dream of sweet illusion..."
                                                        - Queen, "One Vision"
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: s9874203@titan.ucc.umass.edu (s9874203)
Subject: Re: Awari Strategies
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 15:19:02 GMT

In article <BxI5Gw.7AC@rice.edu> amitp@owlnet.rice.edu writes:
>
>For those of you know Awari, can you give me some hints?  Is there a
>way for the first or second player to always win?  (I suspect it isn't
>obvious if there is a way.) 
>
>
>	3 3 3 3 3 3
>      0             0
>        3 3 3 3 3 3
>
>I've seen some opening moves such as:
>
>        3 3 3 3 3 3
>      0             1 
>        3 3 3 0 4 4 
>              ^
>
>Plus with the free move:
>
>        3 3 3 0 3 3
>      0             5
>        0 4 4 0 4 4
>        ^
>
>but then, of course, the opponent would do:
>
>          v
>        0 0 3 0 3 3
>      6             5
>        0 4 4 0 4 4
>
>and get ahead, giving me a bad board.  Any advice for a clueless Awari
>player?
>
>
>
>			Amit
>
>P.S.  I'm trying to write a semi-intelligent computer opponent
>

There is already a Russian program called koolah or something like that
in ftp site ftp.ulowell.edu. The directory is pub/Msdos/Games/Misc.

H.Yang


Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: tuc@calico.cs.wisc.edu (Brian A. Cole)
Subject: Re: Chess in non-euclidian space 
Organization: U of Wisconsin Madison - Computer Sciences
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 22:48:57 GMT

howesb@monashee.sfu.ca (Charles Howes) writes:
] A sphere is when the left and right sides touch, and you can go from any
] square on the top edge to any other square on the top edge; same for the
] bottom edge.

hmmm.  That would be a sphere, but you have now turned the "squares"
in the top row into triangle-like things that meet at a point (call
this point the north pole).  How do you decide what happens when a
piece (say a bishop) goes over the pole?

I think that this spherical board (or ones isomorphic to it) is the
only one in which these properties hold:
  1. each square shares one edge each with four other squares.
  2. moving one square "left" then one square "down" takes you the
     same place as moving one square "down" then one square "left"
     (and so on for other paths-that-should-go-the-same-place).

        a d c b b c d a
        g . . . . . . j        Squares with the
        f . . . . . . i        same letter touch.
        e . . . . . . h
        e . . . . . . h        Think of folding the
        f . . . . . . i        corners up till they
        g . . . . . . j        meet above the center.
        a m l k k l m a


brian

PS.  I think that Nomic is a fun game, but I have to agree with
others who think that playing it by _posting_ to rec.games.abstract
is a very bad idea.  If each individual netNomic game had its own
newsgroup, then maybe.  (Or I guess one newsgroup for _all_ games
of netNomic would be ok, as long as noone expected me to play :-)
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     _______    _____     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brian A. Cole                 |_   _  |  |  ___|    Most people think disc golf
  tuc@cs.wisc.edu               | | | |__| |___     is a joke.    It is not.
  ...!uwvax!cs.wisc.edu!tuc     |_| |__________|    That gives us the element
                                                    of surprise.
From: dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu (RING, DAVID WAYNE)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: New game: Think Small
Date: 12 Nov 92 23:08:00 GMT
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

nik@scs.leeds.ac.uk (Nik Silver) writes...
>	(1) Think of any whole number greater than or equal to 1.
>	(2) Mail me with that number as the Subject line of your message.
>	(3) After a certain date and time, whoever has mailed me the lowest
>	    number THAT NO-ONE ELSE HAS SENT wins (and gets a small and
>	    insignificant prize).
>	(4) You may not enter more than once.

Just so everybody knows, I sent the number 4.

:-)

Dave Ring
dwr2560@zeus.tamu.edu