HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: kassover@rumsey.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Subject: Re: Life
Organization: nope
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 16:11:34 GMT

In article <1KR=x3-@engin.umich.edu> positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:
>
>People have theorized that it would be possible to make a
>*computer* that operated on Life, with streams of gliders
>instead of streams of data. It could be done. This is important,
>because the rules of Life could actually be the rules of
>growth of some kind of bacteria or something. And if so, an
>actual *living* computer could be constructed.

Actually, I think it was Conway himself who put forth this idea.
(Life is either 20 or 21 this year, does anyone know what an
analogue for alcohol might be)

Somewhere around here I have a book, whose major title is
something like _The Game of Life_.  The book consists of
alternating chapters of talk about Life and similar finite state
automata, and biographical data of John von Neumann.  There are
lot's of neat patterns, but some of them require large universes
to be observable.  Of course, now that some of us aren't
restricted to 24x80 character cell screens, this is much nicer.

At one time, I experimented with taking a fractal image, e.g. a
slice of almond bread, and using that as the initical conditions
for a Life universe.  Got a couple that lasted some tens of
thousands of iterations before stability.

Those of you who are interested might like to look at
comp.theory.cell-automata

And I have a question:  Some time ago, I wrote a Life simulation,
in FORTRAN, for VAX/VMS and UIS.  I'd like to resurrect that
program for Sun and X; rewriting the FORTRAN to C isn't a
problem, but UIS to X is an unknown, and I don't have any
VAXstations anymore.  Can anyone give me a hint?



-- 
David Kassover             "Proper technique helps protect you against
uupsi!khazad!kassover	          sharp weapons and dull judges."
kassover@aule-tek.com                   F. Collins
kassover@ra.crd.ge.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: dat92ted@ludat.lth.se (Ted Andersson)
Subject: Request: Pen and paper games
Reply-To: dat92ted@ludat.lth.se
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, University of Lund.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 14:30:37 GMT

Does anybody out there got some rules for pen and paper games?

Could you please mail them to me, or better post them to this group.

 
+----------------------------------+------------------------------------+
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|  _/_/_/_/_/  _/_/_/_/_/  _/_/_/  |  E-Mail: dat92ted@ludat.lth.se     |
|     _/      _/          _/   _/  |  S-Mail: Ted Andersson             |
|    _/      _/_/_/      _/    _/  |          Calleljungbecksgata 103   |
|   _/      _/          _/   _/    |          S-212 40 MALMOE           |
|  _/      _/_/_/_/_/  _/_/_/      |  Phone:  040/291839                |
|                                  |                                    |
+----------------------------------+------------------------------------+


Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: hart@edmund.cs.andrews.edu (Kevin Hart)
Subject: Competitive Life
Organization: Andrews University
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 16:55:40 GMT

This is in response to a recent post regarding the idea of competing
finite automata.  Several years ago, there was a program of this
nature published in Compute's Gazette for the Commodore64 and Vic20.

It was entitled 'Tetracrystals of Veluria'.  The idea was that you
placed crystals of varying colors around the board and saw which one
eventually survived.  If I remember correctly, each crystal went through
at least 3 stages, dormancy, reproduction, and death.  I can dredge
up the rules if anyone is interested.
	- Kevin Hart
-- 
I know now why the caged bird dies,
For, like him, I have touched the sky.
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: kosakd@reis36.alleg.edu (David Kosak)
Subject: Re: The game of Life
Reply-To: kosakd
Organization: Allegheny College
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 23:09:49 GMT

In article <1992Dec10.001618.173418@zeus.calpoly.edu>  
jplee@zeus.calpoly.edu (Jason Lee) writes:
=> anybody out there know about the game of life?  it's sort of a computer
=> simulation thing.  i dont recall much of the specifics, and that's why  
i am
=> posting this.  it was something like a piece could stay alive if it was
=> adjacent to 2 or three other pieces, and there were rules for new  
pieces
=> being born.  if anybody out there knows the rules, i would appreciate  
it if
=> you could mail them to me.
=> 
=> i hope this post wasn't too vague.
=> -- 
=> Jason Lee
=> jplee@poseidon.calpoly.edu
=> GO ROCKIES 1993
=> Baylor for President

I won't repeat the rules, for several other people on this group have  
already answered this question, but let me just say that life is a really  
FACINATING little operation that deserves to be played with for hours and  
marks an interesting field for computers.  Eventually cellular automata  
like 'life' led to the study of artificial life on computers.  
I wrote a Life program with Turbo Pascal for the IBM and toyed with it for  
hours.  It's quite fascinating.
Oh, and thanks, John Haas, for introducing me to the 'spaceship'.  I'd  
known about the gliders but the spaceship was a new one to me.  I'll have  
to go home and tinker with that one for a while.....

	-Dave

--
________________________________________________________________________
|_____|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|_|
|__|______|_DAVID GEORGE KOSAK_|______|kosakd@alleg.edu____|______|____|
|_____|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|_|
|__|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|____|
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: Michael.Schwuchow@arbi.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de (Michael Schwuchow)
Subject: Re: The game of Life
Organization: University of Oldenburg, Germany
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 19:32:56 GMT

positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:
[declaring the rules]

>Some interesting formations:

>               X                  X
>                X             X    X
>              XXX              XXXXX

>            GLIDER           SPACESHIP

>The glider traves diagonally one cell per four generations. The spaceship
>traves horizontally one cell per two generations.
>I recommend Martin Gardner's _Wheels,_Life,_and_Other_Mathematical_Amusements_.

I have never seen the "spaceship" before, and when I checked it out on
paper, it does not do as described above, i.e traversing without changing
form every n cycles.
Could you give more information or correct the design, please?

I also read of a three-dimensional version of "Life":
Each cell has either six neighbours (one version) or 24 neighburs (other v.).
In the first version, a cell will survive with two or three living neighbours
and be created by two neighbours. hmm.
In the other version a cell will be created by 6 to 8 neighbours and survive
with 4 to 9 neighbours.
Or something like this.
Source: "Spectrum der Wissenschaft", that's the german version of
"science america".
If you insist on more information, email to me and I will look up the
correct number and year of the magazine.

greetings, Micha
-- 
!   Michael Schwuchow  Oldenburg, FRG/RFA/BRD  UUCP: schwuchow@uniol.UUCP  !
-Autofahren ist asozial:   Mit anderen Verkehrsmitteln kommt man gesuender,-
-umweltschonender, kommunikativer, platzsparender, volkswirtschaftlich -----
-billiger, und (mit Finanzbedarfszeitaufwand) meist schneller ans Ziel. ----
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: LINK
From: wft@math.canterbury.ac.nz (Bill Taylor)
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 03:24:33 GMT
Organization: Department of Mathematics, University of Canterbury

This game, LINK, is very similar to TWIXT, mentioned here several times.
I imagine it is more slow-moving than twixt, however.

It is a game I invented some while ago, though never played. Doubtless it has
been independently invented many times. It is an attempt to create a game
close to the connection game, HEX, but played on an orthogonal board. It is
essentially the same as hex, but to ensure a result, (no ties), there is a
twixt-like move available, whereby one may connect two diagonally adjacent
cells of one's own color, instead of a regular placement move.

I have never played it, as I say; but if anyone is interested in trying an
email game, I would be very keen.

Naturally, rule 1, board size, is open to negotiation; and I would suggest
a three-move equalization (described here earlier) would be suitable
to counteract the obvious first-move advantage.


RULES OF LINK
=============
1. It is played on an orthogonal 8x8 board, by two players, black & white.

2. Black has first turn. At each turn a player may EITHER put a counter of his 
   own color in any vacant square; OR connect two diagonally adjacent counters 
   of his own color with a bar of his own color, PROVIDED that such a bar does 
   not cross over one of the opposite color. 

3. The winner is the first player to complete a path of stones between his
   own two edges of the board: north-south for black, east-west for white. 
   A path is a sequence of stones each of which is either orthogonally
   adjacent to its predecessor or connected to it by a bar.
=============


 . O X .  I hope the rules are suitably unambiguous, and not too long-winded.
    /     It should be clear there is an unlimited supply of counters and bars
 X X O .  available. A bar may not be placed if either end is vacant.
    \ \
 . O X O  The diagram here shows a completed game on a 4x4 board. Black has a
          won with a 4-counter 2-bar path. Black has played 7 moves and white 6.
 . O X .  

Email me for an email game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Bill Taylor              wft@math.canterbury.ac.nz
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Galaxies - results of chaotic amplification of quantum events in the big bang.
 Free will- the result of chaotic amplification of quantum events in the brain.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil (Dan Hoey)
Subject: Re: Sid Sackson paper-and-pencil(s) games
X-Nag-Line-1: horj@vax5.cit.cornell.edu (Eric Scheirer) writes:
X-Nag-Line-2: > Distribution: rec
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Organization: Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 16:54:02 GMT

I found Sid Sackson's book _A_Gamut_of_Games_ in a used book store
last month, and I've been meaning to mention it to this group.
Unfortunately, I don't have it with me at the moment, but I'll tell
what I can from memory.

It has a lot of games, mostly by Sackson but also by other authors.
Most are many-player games (which I tend to avoid because of the
coalition dilemmata) or word games (generally either non-abstract or
intrinsically having a huge ``supplementary rule book'') but there are
a few classic two-player games.  Also the book has a review section
describing about a hundred games.  Lots of Avalon Hills, a review of
the game of Life (No, not the Conway cellular automaton, the
commercial N-player chase game), two versions of Par*ch[ei]*si,
three versions of Qubic, and several of the Wff'N'Proof series.

It mentions that Sackson headed the New York Games Federation (or some
approximation of that name).  I wonder if that organization (or any
similar ones) still exist?

One game I remember (but not its name) because it is a classic
unimpartial game and might yield to some study.  The board is a
rectangular array of points.  Players take turns drawing a straight
line from one point to another, possibly going through other points.
No line may intersect a previous line, even at an endpoint.  It is
explicitly mentioned that oblique lines are allowed, but it is _not_
made clear whether oblique lines are restricted to forty-five degree
angles.  I prefer to extend this to three versions of the game:
n.o.l., r.o.l., and u.o.l., in which oblique lines are respectively
not allowed, restricted, and unrestricted.

In normal play (last player to move wins), an obvious first-player win
exists in the r.o.l. and u.o.l. versions, and in the n.o.l. version on
all boards with an odd side.  The second player wins normal play
n.o.l. on 2Nx2M boards.  (If the reader cannot do these exercises, I
suggest he request the solution by email; I discourage posted spoilers
to this trivial problem (of which I may revise my opinion if I get a
lot of email requests.))

Does anyone care to analyze the misere version?

Dan Hoey
Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas)
Subject: Re: The game of Life
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 02:28:13 EST
Organization: University of Michigan Engineering, Ann Arbor

In article <1992Dec12.230949.21846@pellns.alleg.edu> kosakd writes:
>
>Oh, and thanks, John Haas, for introducing me to the 'spaceship'.  I'd  
>known about the gliders but the spaceship was a new one to me.  I'll have  
>to go home and tinker with that one for a while.....
>

You're welcome, but please... read "Wheels, Life, and other Mathematical
Amusements"... the spaceship is an extremely rudimentary pattern, and there
are many more. Also, download the patterns I posted, or get xlife (lots of
the patterns were taken from there)... you'll see things that make your
mouth drop open. I especially like alu.life and random.life.

-- 
__/\__  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
Subject: Re: Computer Umpires (was Strange Othello).
From: dnicol@cstp.umkc.edu
Date: 15 Dec 92 15:43:21 -0600
Organization: UM - Kansas City, Computer Science
NNTP-Posting-Host: vax2.cstp.umkc.edu

> 
> Has anybody written a computer game which involves guessing computer
> generated rules?

I had a boxed game from that company that made Wff'n'Proof -- whoever they
were -- which was supposed to teach the skills one used to puzzle out
the syntax of strange languages.  It had rolls and rolls of tiddly-winks
that were fun to play with until I was old enough to puzzle out the rules
of the game -- lucky me, child of professors.  But the way this game, whose
name I can't remember either (this posting is turning into a trivia question
in itself -- whoever correctly named all the unnamed objects referred to in
it gets to buy a package of Ramen Noodles for only a quarter...) worked, was
that one player set up a system of rules, then the other player presented
a series of constructions and was told if they were consistent with the rules
or not -- like MASTERMIND and the four colored pegs, but with a different
and more subtle object.  Armed with the rules to that game, which may or may
not still be in production, computer generating play (both sides) shouldn't
be really too very tricky.

--Dave

Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: isc10144@nusunix1.nus.sg (CHAN NICODEMUS)
Subject: Re: use your MIND>>>
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 08:21:57 GMT

Jess Roberts (jrobert@lab3.smcm.edu) wrote:
: OK, here we go.  Figure out what has happened in the following  
:  
: scenarios...(rule out ahead of time the following...act of God, that random dog, etc.)
:  
: 1) The scene is the desert.  There is a man.  He is dead.  There are no footprints around him.  He is laying on a rock.  Who is he?  How did he die?
: 
: 2) The scene is a dormitory room (20x20).  ALL the furniture has been moved to the walls.  The floor is soaked.  The windows and doors are all locked from the inside.  A college student is hanging from the rafters by a long belt.  How did this person die?  Was it murder?
: 
: -----------------------------
: 
: So, if you think you have the answer to these questions, e-mail to 
: jrobert@oyster.smcm.edu    I'll post the answers and the winners in five days...Happy hunting!!!!
:  
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: baljeual@uther.calvin.edu (Alan Baljeu)
Subject: Re: Shortest othello complete victory
Organization: Calvin College
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 17:33:17 GMT

wms@ssd.intel.com (William Shubert) writes:

>   A while back somebody was discussing this:
>	What is the fewest number of moves in an Othello game that will leave
>	one player with mo pieces on the board?
>   Somebody else amnwered with (as I remember) an 18 move solution.
>   I have found a solution involving 14 moves; 7 by each player.

>		. . . . . . . .   O goes first
>		. . . . . . . .
>		. . d g i j . .
>		. . c # O f . .
>		. . h O # a . .
>		. . l k e b . .
>		. . . . . . m .
>		. . . . . . . n

>   Well, do I win?  Can anybody beat this?
>   I expect that a computer could search all shorter combinations to see if
>this is THE shortest.
>				-Bill (wms@ssd.intel.com)

Nope. I didn't track the moves, but this figure is possible.  It only requires
12 moves:

			  	x 
			 xx 
		   xx	x
   /----xxxx 
  /-----xxx	
 /      xxx
/
I believe the center is here, on the left.



--
	Alan Baljeu
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan)
Subject: Re: Timber Chess
Organization: Plymouth State College - Plymouth, NH.
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 23:17:46 GMT

mss2e@Virginia.EDU ("ardly know ") writes:
>
>	All you need is a sheet of graph paper and two
>pencils.  You be Xs, get your buddy to be Os.  Just play tick
>tac toe, except you can go anywhere you want, and the first
>person to get five in a row wins.  It is a fantastic game.

This is called Go-Moku in Japan, and they use the intersections of
lines, rather than the spaces, when they play it on graph paper.  They
also don't allow "three-threes" - placing a piece so that you get an
unobstructed three-in-a-row in two directions at once.  This is deemed
too easy to get, though some players allow beginners to use them.

-- 
  - Steffan O'Sullivan		         sos@oz.plymouth.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: Shortest othello complete victory
From: wft@math.canterbury.ac.nz (Bill Taylor)
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 22:01:31 GMT
Organization: Department of Mathematics, University of Canterbury

>   I have found a solution involving 14 moves; 7 by each player.

This is certainly the shortest game I've seen which is a 2nd-player win.
But surely shorter games which are first-payer wins are known ?

For instance....

     9     ( # plays first)
     8
     # o 7
     o # 6
 3 2 1 4 5

....is a win with 9 moves. An informal hand-search appears to show this is
the shortest possible. However I'm sure many keen types must have programmed
searches, and considering 9 moves need not be exceeded, achieved results
fairly quickly. 

Can anyone verify there is no shorter game ?

Has anyone found a 2nd-player win shorter than 14 moves, as above ?

Has anyone found shorter games of either sort in Reversi, (i.e. allowing
the start position  o o  ).
                    # #

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Bill Taylor              wft@math.canterbury.ac.nz
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Dreams: the "kill-file" of the unconscious.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: umsmigi0@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Trevor Allan Smigiel)
Subject: Re: The game of Life
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:27:32 GMT

In <1992Dec13.234457.246@crd.ge.com> kassover@rumsey.crd.ge.com (David Kassover) writes:
>But I just conceived of a game based on abstract mathematics and
>Life:  Sort of like Empire, or Risk, in which players take turns
>dropping finite state machines into the universe, and see whose
>survive best...
>-- 
>David Kassover

     How about a two player game where one person builds a wall and
the other person must break through the wall.  Or each players has
a wall and whoever gets the most of his 'pieces' through the other
players wall wins.  The possibilities are endless.

Trevor
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Re: The game of Life
From: dnicol@cstp.umkc.edu
Date: 15 Dec 92 16:09:26 -0600
Organization: UM - Kansas City, Computer Science
NNTP-Posting-Host: vax2.cstp.umkc.edu

RULES FOR GAME OF LIFE:

1: pieces are placed on a rectangular grid
2: a grid location's neighbors are all eight of the adjacent locations
3: each iteration, a list of doomed stones and a list of new stones are
   maintained.
4: an empty space with exactly three neighbors is added to the NEW list
5: a stone with <2 or >3 neighbors is added to the DOOMED list

6: after all the locations are checked stones are put in the spots
   on the NEW list and removed from spots on the DOOMED list.


7: Repeat until bored (should take about a week.)

--Dave
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
From: akao@.com (Adam Kao)
Subject: Re: chinese checkers
Organization: Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, CA
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 20:13:09 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <1992Dec10.170959.1269@galileo.cc.rochester.edu> plsr@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Peter Lasersohn) writes:

(anyone played with long distance jumps)

I dimly remember playing this version with my mother, when I was young.
A typical opening sequence might go:


			   *	
			    .
			     .	
		  *	      *
		 .  	     . .
    *	        *           *   .
 * . * * *   * . * * *   * . * * .
  * * * *     . * * *     . * * *

Unfortunately, I was too young to really ponder the strategic
implications of all this; I just liked making big jumps.
I particularly liked putting a piece on the center of the board...

Adam
From: strgh@csv.warwick.ac.uk (J E H Shaw)
Newsgroups: rec.games.abstract
Subject: Shogi, Xiangqi etc. games
Date: 16 Dec 1992 16:06:35 -0000
Organization: Computing Services, University of Warwick, UK
NNTP-Posting-Host: violet.csv.warwick.ac.uk

I know of large computer text files containing chess & go games.
Are there any (preferably free!) collections of other games
played by experts -- particularly shogi & xiangqi, but also
othello, draughts/checkers, backgammon, awari, etc.?

Many thanks -- Ewart Shaw
-- 
J.E.H.Shaw,  Department of Statistics,  |  JANET:  strgh@uk.ac.warwick
             University of Warwick,     |  BITNET: strgh%uk.ac.warwick.cu@UKACRL
             Coventry  CV4 7AL,  U.K.   |  PHONE:  +44 203 523069
yacc - the piece of code that understandeth all parsing