Educational Games run with Zillions

Game: Atomic Pile

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, August 2001.

Atomic Pile is a two-player game.

The object is to build an Atom, similar to one of the three starting patterns, inside the Core. The Core is the yellow area at the center of the playing field.

Play begins with removal of the Control Rods from the Core and their placement on empty spaces of the playing field. Spaces which are not adjacent to another Control Rod nor the edge of the playing field. Each player picks up and places one Control Rod per turn until all the Control Rods have been placed. Once a Control Rod is placed on the playing field, it cannot be moved the remainder of the game.

Each of the Atoms are made up of three types of particles, four Electrons, two Protons and one Neutron. Each particle can be moved according to the following rules:

ELECTRONS and PROTONS
These two particles may move by orbiting and free-flight.
Orbiting consists of moving around, through empty spaces, an adjacent particle or Control Rod.
An Electron and Proton may orbit any one particle or Control Rod. Free-flight is accomplished by an Electron or Proton when it is only adjacent to particles of its kind. When that adjacent particle is behind and an empty space is in front, the Electron or Proton may fly in a straight line until it strikes another particle, a Control Rod or the edge of the playing field.

If an Electron strikes a Proton, the Proton becomes a Neutron.
If a Proton strikes an Electron, the Electron becomes a Neutron.
If an Electron strikes a Neutron, the Neutron becomes n Electron.
If a Proton strikes a Neutron, the Neutron becomes a Proton.
If an Electron strikes an Electron, or a Proton strikes a Proton, it preforms a deflecting bounce.
If an Electron or Proton strikes the edge of the playing field, they preform a reflecting bounce.
If an Electron or Proton strikes a Control Rod, it stops movement.

A deflecting bounce consists of a change in direction of travel, either right-forward or left-forward.
A reflecting bounce consists of a change in direction of travel, either right-forward, left-forward, right-backward or left-backward. Only one bounce, either deflecting or reflecting, is permitted per turn. If the bounce would result in a possible second bounce, the first bounce cannot be preformed.
At the end of the bounce, either reflecting or deflecting, all strike conditions must be observed.

NEUTRONS
Neutron can only orbit. They cannot orbit other Neutrons or Control Rods.

A player may move any particle on the playing field, after all Control Rod placements, under the following restrictions:

A player may not move any particle, or its surrounding particles, which the opponent last moved.
Particles in the Core cannot be moved.

A player can lose the game, if at the end of the turn there is only one Proton or Electron left. Or the outer rim of the Core is filled and there is no Neutron in its center. Since all of these conditions would prevent any possiblity of an Atom being formed in the Core.

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Game: Atoms

Atoms © 1981-2000, Robert A. Kraus
Implemented by Robert A. Kraus

Each side begins with 11 atoms off-board. On the first turn White drops an atom on any square. Then players alternate placing atoms on any empty square which is adjacent to exactly one other atom (of either color). After all atoms are placed they form one large molecule, which may split into several smaller molecules during the game.

Each atom has a valence, which is the number of atoms (of either color) adjacent to it. Players must now move one of their atoms to any adjacent empty square provided that its valence in the new position is exactly the same as its valence in the old position.

Any atom which is not adjacent to an enemy atom is unstable. Immediately after each move the computer will automatically remove all unstable atoms from the board. This also occurs after Black makes his last drop.

A player wins by stalemating his opponent, (leaving him with no legal moves). A player also wins by leaving an empty board (after the removal operation); in fact this is a special case of stalemate since his opponent would have no moves at all.


Isotopes Variant: (In physics an isotope is a variant form of an atom.) In Isotopes an atom can move through any number of empty squares in any orthogonal or diagonal direction stopping on any empty square provided that its valence in the new position is exactly the same as its valence in the old position.

Radioactive Variants: In these variants there is an additional suicide move: In Radioactive Atoms an atom may also move to any empty adjacent square which is not adjacent to any other atoms. In Radioactive Isotopes an atom may also move through any number of empty squares in any orthogonal or diagonal direction stopping on any empty square which is not adjacent to any other atoms.

Geiger-Counter Variants: These variants have a count-condition. The game ends when the player on the move has no legal move. The winner is the player having the most atoms left on the board. If the atom counts for both players are equal, it is a draw.

Updated 01/23/03
Optimized code; changed variants.

Please note: Atoms now requires Zillions of Games version 2.0 (or higher)!

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Game: Backgammon

Created by W. D. Troyka, October 2001.


Backgammon has been a popular table game for centuries. It has its origins in a family of race games that can be traced as far back as the Royal Game of Ur, which predates 2600 B.C. Precursors of modern Backgammon were described in the King Alfonso manuscript in 1283. The English version presented here, which is now standard, dates from the mid-seventeenth century.

For the precise rules, please read the "description" section that comes with the game. A discussion of scoring is included under the "history" section.

In general, the players roll the dice and move their pieces around the board (counterclockwise for Light, clockwise for Dark) the number of points shown on the dice. If a doublet is roled the player gets four moves. A piece cannot land on a point occupied by two or more enemy pieces. If a piece lands on a point occupied by a single enemy piece, that enemy piece is moved to the vertical bar in the middle of the bar. A piece on the bar must be moved back into play before any other moves can be made. A player wins by moving all 15 pieces into the home on the right side of the board. The home cannot be entered until all of the player's pieces are in the inner board (the six points next to the home). An exact role is required to move a piece home, unless no other pieces are further out.

Also included in this package are the popular Backgammon variants Nackgammon, Hypergammon, and Deadgammon. Nackgammon and Hypergammon follow Backgammon rules but have different opening arrays. Deadgammon is losing Backgammon: the first player to bear off all 15 pieces is the loser

Updated 06/15/02
now requires Zillions 1.3 (down from 1.3.1)

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Game: BallaBalla

Invented and implemented by Ingo Althofer, July 2002


Team A and Team B have a football match. Team A runs from left to right. Team B runs from right to left. In a move one player of the team runs a single step either horizontally or diagonally. Players can not run backwards or sidewards. The first team to bring a player in the opponent's goal has won. A team without moves loses.

There is a third party involved, the referee and his identical twin; they are called 'Refeeree' and 'Refeere'. In contrast to normal football referees the sheriffs in BallaBalla act randomly. Either the referee makes a step in his 8-neighbourhood or more seldomly beats any player in his 4-neighbourhood (giving him the red card, so to say).

Moving order is a 4-cycle: Team A, referee, Team B, referee.

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Game: Barrier

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, November 2002


Object: Build fences and stalemate your opponent. (5 variants)

First the players drop a Rabbit each.
A Rabbit moves similar to a chess knight, but in two steps rather than one. First it moves one (two) step(s) in one direction, then two (one) step(s) orthogonally. Hence each player has two moves per turn.

All positions moved to or jumped over turn into an impenetrable barrier for both players.

You lose if you are stalemated.

The other variants use larger boards.


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games at http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: Battle

Invented in 1961 by the Milton Bradley Company.
Implemented by Andreas Kaufmann, February 2003.

Battle is implementation of the game Stratego for Zillions (Stratego is a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc).

The goal: capture your opponent's flag (you also win if your opponent doesn't have any moves left).

Rules:

A piece with the lower number beats a piece with the higher number.
The Spy ('S') can beat only Marshal ('1') and only if Spy attacks first.
When any piece (except a Miner - '8') strikes a Bomb, that piece is lost and removed from the board. When a Miner strikes a Bomb, the Bomb is defused and removed.
The game starts from setting up the pieces on own half of the board. After that the opponents move pieces by the following rule.
All pieces, except Scout ('9') move only one square up, down, left or right. Scout can move any number of squares in these directions.

More information as well as history, tips and strategies you can find on excellent Ed's Stratego site.

The following variants are provided:
Battle
Battle, Rotated Board
Battle, 8x8 Board
Battle, Two Groups
Open Battle
Mini Battle
Battle (Random Setup)
Battle, 8x8 Board (Random Setup)
Battle, Two Groups (Random Setup)

In variants 'Rotated Board' and '8x8 Board' you play the game on differently shaped boards. In the game variant 'Two Groups', you army i s separated into two units. In 'Open Battle', you see the opponent pieces. 'Mini Battle' is played on standard board, but with significantly reduced number of pieces.

More games by Andreas Kaufmann you can find here.
Updated 05/31/03
3 new variants; assorted improvements.

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Game: Battle Lines

Created by Charles D. Gray, April 2001.


This is a pretty generic wargame, with a complete boardgame type format in that the map is totally symmetrical.

This started as an experiment to get Zillions to deal with hexes because I'm a tabletop wargaming nut. Next step was to get the units to be able to change direction mid-move rather than going in simple straight lines. Think I've pulled both off, but let me know if you see a supposedly fair spot a unit can't move to. Probably missed one somewhere.

I'd like to continue to develop different themes with more naturalistic maps and terrain features. I've got a functioning Middle-earth map with mountians, rivers, forests, Mt. Doom, Moria, etc. But I haven't found a good game mechanic to make the War of the Ring work--the only way for the West to win is to destroy the Ring, and the only reason it works in the novel is that Sauron didn't expect that. Zillions would, of course, know its weakness right away.

Ultimately, Zillions is not meant for wargames...but I've had buckets of fun trying to trick it into being a wargame engine. Mad props to the developers at Zillions for this amazing--and startling competent--universal game engine.

Note that with Battle Lines, Zillions will probably pass the first ten moves... it likes to wait for you to come out and play.

Feedback welcome at humbabba@inch.com.

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Game: Battle of Britain

Created by Markus Salo, May 2003.

Win by breaking through the enemy fighters and moving your plane to the last row.

Battle of Britain is a variant of W.D. Troyka's wonderfull game 'Breakthrough' with a zamma board.

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Game: Bivouac

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, October 2002.

Bivouac is played upon a 6x11 field. The field is divided into three group of cells. Two 4x4 groups of red cells called Encampments are seperated and surrounded by single ranks and files of green cells called the Run. At the center of the Encampments are four marked cells called Goals, one set for White and the other Black. Each player begins the game with their twelve tokens on the outer cells of the Encampment of the opponent's Goals.

Tokens enter and exit the Encampment by stepping to a vacant cell.

On the Run, Tokens may slide to any direct orthogonally adjacent cell which is vacant. They can jump any and all pieces on the Run. No captures are performed on the Run.

In the Encampment, Tokens step to orthogonal or diagonal adjacent vacant cells. Tokens may also capture within the Encampment by jumping an enemy Token, such jumps must be performed completely within the Encampment. A Token may perform multiple capture moves within a single turn. Captures are not mandatory.

The game is won by the player who completely occupies his Goal cells, or reduces the opponent to three Tokens.

In the variant "Hostile Bivouac" the rules are the same except with mandatory and maximum captures.

Updated 10/12/02
added variant; squashed a few bugs

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Game: Blobs Deluxe

Scripting and graphics by Keith Carter, February 2002

Scoring system based on the work of the innovative Karl Scherer
with some advice from W.D. Troyka and code streamlining by Ed van Zon.
Please send comments and advice to keith@tsongas.com.

This version of Blobs allows the player to select from seven color coordinated sets of playing pieces. Click on a piece to choose that color combination. The top row of pieces gives the first player the lighter pieces. The bottom row of pieces gives the first player the darker pieces. To return to the selection screen choose the variant Back to Selection Screen.

The object of the game is to have the most pieces on the board when the board is full. There are three types of moves:

A piece can grow a new piece in an adjacent empty square. All enemy pieces next to the new piece are converted to friendly pieces.
A piece can jump move two squares jumping over the intervening space. All enemy pieces next to the square moved to are converted to friendly pieces.
If move types 1 & 2 are unavailable a piece may be dropped onto any square on the board. No enemy pieces are converted. This is an additional move to classic Blobs that helps prevent stalemates.

There are other games published for Zillions in the Blobs family. Blobz uses a grid with seven directions. Hexxagon uses a hex field for six directions. More distantly related is QuadWrangle which uses a sliding move.

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Game: Blobs 1.1 - Halloween Edition

Scripting and graphics by Keith Carter, November 2001

Scoring system based on the work of the innovative Karl Scherer
with some advice from W.D. Troyka and code streamlining by Ed van Zon.


The object of the game is to have the most pieces on the board when the board is full. The game is a relative of Quad Wrangle and falls in the same broad family as Reversi. Blobs 1.1 features in game scoring and an additional end game move that reduces stalemates by repetition.

The variants let you play with the same game boards that come with the version of Blobs included with Zillions, including boards with holes that cannot be moved onto."

There are two zrf rule files, Blobs_Halloween includes scoring and Blobs_Halloween_ns excludes scoring because the scoring function reduces the number of positions Zillions examines in timed moves by 30% to 50% depending on the time allowed.

Please send comments and feedback to keith@tsongas.com.

Updated 01/26/02
corrected rare scoring error

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Game: Blobz

Scripting and graphics by Keith Carter, February 2002

Scoring system based on the work of the innovative Karl Scherer
with some advice from W.D. Troyka and code streamlining by Ed van Zon.
Please send comments and advice to keith@tsongas.com.

The object of the game is to have the most pieces on the board when the board is full. Blobz is a variant of Blobs that comes with Zillions and uses a board geometry with seven adjacent squares as opposed to eight (Blobs) or six (Hexxagon). Blobz differs from Blobs in that attacks along the two diagonals can reach enemy pieces that can not counterattack. A hole piece is included for creating alternate board setups.

A hex version, Hexxagon, has been done for Zillions by Roland Johansson.

The board used in Blobz came from Mark Thompson's site: http://www.flash.net/~markthom/html/abstract_games.html where it is known as a Cairo board.

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Game: Blue Nile

Created by W. D. Troyka, March 2002.


Blue Nile is played on a radial hex board with a common set of pieces. The first piece is dropped on any empty space. The players then take turns dropping pieces adjacent to the last piece played but not adjacent to any other pieces. The line of pieces thus formed is called the 'River.' The River winds around the board but cannot turn back on itself. Win by stalemating the opponent.

To distinguish between the players' pieces, select 'Switch Piece Set' from the View menu. The game comes in two board sizes, one with five hexes to a side, the other six. Also included are two variants featuring a looped hex board. The edges wrap around along all three axes so that the River can flow off one edge of the board and re-emerge on another.

You can think of your mission as finding the source of the Nile. You follow the River until it goes no farther. The last player to move is the first to find the source, and that player is the winner


Please send any comments or bug reports to dtroyka@justice.com.

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Game: Boll's Game

Invented by David Boll,
implemented by Matthew M. Burke, March 2003.


In Boll's game, the object is to eliminate all your opponent's pieces. There is, however, no capture. Each player has a set of pieces each of which moves like a Chess Rook. There also is a set of pieces that belong to neither player. These neutral pieces move in the same fashion (as a Chess Rook) and can be moved by either player on her turn.

At the end of a turn, if exactly two types of pieces are orthogonally adjacent, then they are all changed to be the third type. Thus, if at the end of the move, a neutral piece and one of your opponent's pieces are adjacent, they are both changed into your pieces.

Please send any comments or bug reports to zrfwriter@bluedino.net.

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Game: Bombalot

Invented by Bruce Harper and Duncan Suttles, circa 1960,
implemented by Paul Ruane, September 2001


Bombalot is a fast paced game played on a board similar to Chess but with four extra squares. The game is fast paced and sufficently complicated to lead to wild, unpredictable and excitable games.

Although the pieces may seem complicated at first, if you give the game a chance you'll find it to be a most entertaining and intriguing number, with a simple mistake leading to huge captures spanning the board. But if this happens, keep playing: it is quite feasible to make a come-back from a disaster.

This is a near full implementation of Bombalot. All of the pieces are present and most of their behaviours have been implemented.

Game Description

The board is identical to a Chess board except for the addition of four squares, two either end of the board behind where the King and Queen would normally sit.

A game may be won by moving any two pieces into the extra squares at the opponent's side of the board or by capturing all of the opponent's pieces.

See the included ReadMe.txt for extensive piece descriptions.

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Game: Bombardment

Invented and implemented by Chris Huntoon, February 2003.

Object: Be the first to hit the enemy's coast with a Missle while defending your own coastline from attack. If you manage to destroy all your enemy's Missles and so leave their coast completely undefended, you automatically win the game.

A Missle can move ahead one square, either diagonally or straight ahead. It may not land on a space already occupied by another missle. A Missle may detonate, removing all Missles on the eight surrounding squares and itself.

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Game: Boolean Rithmomachia

Invented and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, February 2003.

The following game is in homage to the Medieval game of numbers. It was thought that the ideas of this game should be updated and could even be utilized in the teaching of computer math.

In order to bring this game into the 21st Century, it was thought that it should be played upon a 3D field. To make this play as simple as possible, a 4x4x4 field was selected.

The playing pieces consist of two of every possible '4-bit coded' piece. Such pieces, except for the Pyramids, are two sided and have different colors of either side, black or white, but the same value(1 - 14) represented by the binary code. The Pyramids are whole pieces of solid color, two black and two white, one of each particular value(0 and 15) represented by the binary code.

(an extensive explanation of movement, captures and equations is included in the download)

When an opponent's last Pyramid is captured, or there are no legal moves or potential captures, victory is determined thus:

Pyramid Victory: The player who has the most number of Pyramids remaining on the playing field.
Piece Victory: The player who has the largest number of pieces, including Pyramids, on the playing field.
Value Victory: The player whose value of pieces, including the Pyramids, on the playing field is the highest total.
The Simple Victory consists of one of the above victories.
The Compound Victory consists of two of the above victories.
The Perfect Victory consists of all three victories.


This game is a work in progress. Although, at this point, there does not seem to be any gross errors, there may in the future be the need to adjust these rules. Any constructive ideas or criticisms are welcomed.
Send all comments to: llsmith@ev1.net

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Game: Breakthrough

Created by W. D. Troyka, © 2000


Breakthrough was the winner of the 2001 8x8 Game Design Competition sponsored by Abstract Games Magazine and the Strategy Gaming Society.

The rules are simple:
Win by moving a piece to the opposite side.
Pieces move forward or diagonally forward and capture diagonally forward.

Because the pieces have no choice but to move forward, the game develops quickly. Draws are impossible.

The game is similar to a pawn promotion battle, except that the pieces move diagonally forward even when not capturing. This diagonal motion allows you to 'skirt' by an opponent piece by facing it head on, where it cannot capture you, and then moving diagonally around it.
As a result, a single piece cannot by itself prevent an opponent piece from 'breaking through' the ranks. When pieces are spaced out along diagonals, an opponent piece can easily skirt through them. Look for weak links in your opponent's defenses where a single piece to the rear is guarding two attack routes.

A more detailed discussion of strategy can be found in the "Strategy" section that comes with the game.

Breakthrough comes in 5x5, 6x6, 7x7 and 8x8 versions.


You should extract the game preserving path names.

Updated 28/07/01
Extended documentation.

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Game: British Square

© 1978 Gabriel Publishing.
Rules file and graphics by W. D. Troyka, September 2002.
Rules file for general board sizes by Ingo Althofer, February 2003.

The players take turns placing pieces on empty squares. A piece cannot be placed in a square that is orthogonally adjacent to an enemy piece. The first piece cannot be dropped in the center square. A player who has no move must pass. The other player can continue placing pieces as long as possible.

The player with the most pieces on the board at the end of a game wins that game. That player scores a number of points equal to the number of pieces he has in excess of the opponent. The players then continue playing games, alternating who goes first, until one player accumulates seven points. That player is the overall winner.

In contrast to Zillions 1.* the new Zillions 2.0 plays a very decent game, even on large boards.

Updated 02/08/03
generalization to allow for a collection of different board sizes

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Game: Bubbles for Two

Invented and implemented by Karl Scherer, June 2000


Object: Pop all your opponent's bubbles.

This is a new game with thousands of variations.

Select the white Queen or Rook and move it to the board. The pieces can be placed freely, no rules apply.

IN THIS GAME THE COMPUTER ALWAYS PLAYS BLACK.
If you want the computer to go first, play your white piece to the special free place outside the board reserved for this purpose (dummy-move.)

The popping power of Queen and Rook is similar to their attacking power in chess. However: The popping-power stops at any empty square.

In the initial setup, a new bubble pops up at the place where the piece moved from. Click on the small squares to set up your own bubble-creation pattern! The more bubbles you create per move, the more difficult it is to pop them all.

Remember that Zillions allows you to compose your own starting positions! (Use the right mouse button). This way the game Bubbles For Two allows thousands of variations!!!

After the first move, smart moves can be used (just click the destination).
To speed the game up, you may want to switch the piece animation off (menu VIEW/OPTIONS).


More freeware as well as real puzzles and games under http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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