Educational Games run with Zillions

Game: Five field Kono

Implemented by Brandon Burkholder, November 2002.

Pieces move one point diagonally forward or backward. There is no capture. The object is to place your pieces on the points of your opponents starting position.

Five Field Kono is a replacement game of Korean origin. A description of the game was originally published in Korean Games by S. Culin in 1895.

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Game: Fivethousand

Traditional dice game.
Implemented by Karl Scherer, April 2002


Object: Collect 5000 points or more before your opponent does or, if you both get more than 5000, be the one with the most points. (2 variants)

You start as Red. Click the shaker to throw the dice. Six dice will appear.
(In the second zrf in this package, game 'Fivethousand-5', five dice will appear.)

If you are happy with your throw (values see below), click the PASS button, otherwise you can throw several dice back into the shaker (just click them) and throw them again.
You have to leave at least one dice with value (a '5', a '1' or a triple) outside. Once you have decided to keep a dice, you cannot throw it back into the tumbler later. If in any throw you do not come up with any valuable dice, you lose all points of your turn! So think carefully when you want to stop and make all your points count. To stop, click your PASS button.

Special case: If all of your dice count you have another round of play. This may happen a few times in a row.

Scoring:
'1' : worth 100 points,
'5' : worth 50 points
'2', '3', '4', '6' : worth nothing as single dice.
Three dice all showing '2': 200 points,
Similarly, triples of 3, 4, 5, 6 are worth 300, 400, 500, and 600 points.
Three dice all showing '1': 1000 points.
Please note that triples only count when thrown in one go!

The value of the dice that are fixed (i.e. the dice you have already decided to keep) is shown in the upper number of the display. Your current combined score of all previous rounds is shown in the number below.

If a player gets 5000 points or more, its opponent still has another turn so that he/she has a chance to catch up. (Hence the first player with 5000 points does not necessarily win.)

Variant 2 is a solitaire version of the game Fivethousand.


In the original game, you may loose all point of your turn even after you are in the 'second round',i.e. after all your dice had value (e.g. 1,1,3,3,3,5) and you were allowed to go on throwing all dice again.
In this Zillions game, this rule has not been implemented for technical reasons. If you fail in the second round, you still keep all points you gained in the first round.

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

Updated 04/27/02
win bug fixed; catch-up turn added

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Game: Fool's Court

Fool's Court © 2000 by Joshua D. Neal

Fool's Court is an interpretation of the (somewhat unclear) rules for King's Court, produced by Golden, billed as a 'supercheckers' game.

Pieces move like kings in checkers, sliding one space along the corners of the grey squares, or jumping over another piece. If an opponents piece is jumped, then it is captured, otherwise it remains. The player may continue jumping as long as another jump is possible, stopping at any point. Captures are not mandatory. Initially, players cannot jump, they may jump on the turn after the second player has made a second slide. After the first players move, the second player must slide a piece from the opposite side of the board. After the first two slides, each player must keep at least one piece in the center court (blue area) at all times. If a player's last piece in the court is captured, that player loses the game.

You should extract the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

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Game: Force

Created by Chris Huntoon.

Individually, a Man can move one space in any direction. When combined with other Men of the same side to form a connected line, all the pieces in that line can move in the direction it delineates. Also, the line moves, forward or backward, the number of spaces equal to the number of pieces it contains, i.e. a line of three Men would move together three spaces. To move a line, click on the last piece in that line, which then moves to the head of the line.


Captures are made by landing on opponent's pieces. Lines make multiple captures possible.

A Man that reaches the far end of the board becomes a Hero. Heroes function the same as regular Men. However, the first player to have two Heroes on the board at the same time, wins. If one side is reduced to less then two pieces, they automatically forfeit the game.


Updated 10/28/00
fixed problems with Zillions 1.2.1 and an image problem with Windows NT/2000.

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Game: Forge

Forge was invented by Michael Howe.

Each side starts with twelve Pawns on a rectangular checkered board. The object of the game is to make the opponent run out of moves.

All pieces move in the same way, in a straight line in any forward direction (vertically or diagonally). A piece must move as far as it can in a direction; it continues until it collides with a wall or another piece. There is no capturing.

White goes first, and can move any unblocked piece. Thereafter, a player must move a piece which starts adjacent to the opposing piece which just moved. If there are no such pieces, or all such pieces are blocked, he may move any unblocked piece. The first player who cannot move loses.

This rules file allows Forge to be played on 3x4, 4x5, 5x6, and 6x8 boards.

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Game: Fortress

Implemented by Karl Scherer, December 2000.


Object: The Attacker wins if he can occupy the 15 places of the 'Fortress'. The Defender wins if he reduces the attacking army to less than 15 pieces.

The Attacker moves only sideays or forward (orthogonally or diagonally) one step at a time.
The Defender can move one step into all directions and captures by jumping. Jumps are forced. The Defender may jump several times in a row with one piece.

Fortress is a historic relative of the game 'Fox and Geese'. Source: Book 'Unsere Spiele' by Werner Hirte.


For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: 4D Tic-Tac-Toe

Invented by Sean Bridges in 1998,
implemented by L. Lynn Smith, June 2003.

4D Tic-Tac-Toe is played upon a 3x3 field of 3x3 grids.

Beginning with Black, Stones are dropped in turn upon vacant points.

The object is to create 3-in-a-rows. These can be either upon each individual 3x3 grid, or through points located on directly adjacent grids.

This can best be visualize by considering the grids in any one particular rank, file or diagonal of the field to be located one above the other in order.

When the last Stone is played, the player with the most 3-in-a-rows wins. Score will be kept during the game by the graph located on the right side of the field.

Updated 07/05/03
streamlined code

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Game: Foxhunt

Implemented by Karl Scherer, December 2000.


Object: The Hunters have to capture the Fox. You start as the Fox.

Moves are along the black lines. There are no captures.
The Fox may run one step into any direction.
The Hunters move inwards toward the centre, never outwards. They win when the Fox has no place to go anymore.

In variant 2 the Hunters have only 7 men.
In variants 3 to 6 the Fox is allowed to move inside a ring a few times. (i.e. to a neighboring place of same colour).

Foxhunt is a historic relative of the game 'Fox and Geese'. Source: Book 'Unsere Spiele' by Werner Hirte.

To make the game more interesting, I have added a few variants which give the Fox some more freedom of movement.


For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

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Game: French Military Game

French Military Game.zrf Rules File © 1999 by Roger Cooper

This game, that featured in a Martin Gardner article (Scientific American), is of the Fox & Geese type:
the object for White is to surround Black so he can't move; the object for Black is to repeat the position or reach the bottom spot.

This game war popular in French military circles during and after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.

You should extract from the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

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Game: Funnel

Funnel © 2000, design, implementation, graphics and sound effects by Darren Izzard

The game has a triangular board with an extra red square at the bottom. This gives the board a funnel shape, hence the name. There are four different types of piece: Rollers, Whirlers, Chargers and SuperChargers. The object is to get a Whirler onto the red square, or to capture all your opponent's Whirlers.

For more detailed instructions, select "Game Description" from the Help menu in the game, or right-click on a piece and read its Properties text to see how it moves and what it does.

There are 14 variants included. 11 of them are two-player, and 3 are one-player.

You should extract the downloaded zip file preserving path names.

Updated 03/25/01
Finding solutions fixed.

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Game: Fusion

Designed by Robert A. Kraus, January 2003

The players are Blue and Green, who own Blue Atoms and Green Atoms. There are also Red Protons which are neutral. The object of the game is to own the most Atoms of your color at the end.

Click the green 'start thinking' circle to automatically randomize the starting position of the Protons.

Each player can move a Proton in any direction any number of empty squares but it must end up adjacent to at least one Atom (of either color). After the Proton moves it fuses, changing both itself and all adjacent pieces (Atoms and Protons) to Atoms of your color. Atoms cannot move.

The game ends when there are no more Protons left. The player who then owns the most Atoms wins. Draws are impossible.

Unfortunately, Zillions does not play this game very well. Turning up the thinking time only helps a little.

There is also a Cold Fusion variant.

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Game: Gamla Torget

Created by Markus Salo, July 2003.

Win by moving a stone to the opposite corner space to be promoted to a king and then move the king back to your starting corner.
Both players have six pieces.
The White player starts from the lower left corner and can move his stones north, northeast and east and capture by replacement north and east. A king moves to the opposite directions.
The Black player starts from the upper right corner and can move stones west, southwest and south and capture west and south and kings to the opposite directions. Captures are not mandatory.
The player can either move a piece or drop a new one on his own corner space.

This game is a variant of Tyska Torget and was inspired by W.D.Troyka's outstanding games Ugly Duck Breakthrough and Zonesh.

Gamla Torget is a plaza in my beloved Norrköping, Sweden.

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Game: Gauntlet

Invented and implemented by Phillip L. Leduc, December 2000.


Gauntlet is a fast and furious game of unequal forces that challenges players to take on the role of underdog. Can you win against overwhelming odds?

Players have mutually exclusive goals. The object of the game for the runner player is to survive a gauntlet of blockers and reach the last rank with just one piece. For the blocking player, the object is to capture or block the other player's runners.

Pieces move in one direction only. Runners move up either shifting into an empty space or by jumping and capturing. Blockers move in a similar manner except that they move either left or right. In standard Gauntlet, captures are mandetory, with the moving player choosing between multiple opportunities.

In additiion to the standard version of Gauntlet, there are five variants. Three with smaller, tighter set-ups, one with a shorter gauntlet for the runner player and the Artful Dodger variant which gives the runner player optional captures.

A Gauntlet match consists of an even number of games with players alternating as the runner player. Points are awarded to the runner player, two points for reaching the last rank or one point if stalemated. Otherwise, no points are scored. The winner of the match is the player with the highest point total after an even number of games are played.

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Game: German Checkers

Implemented by Karl Scherer, April 2001


Object: Capture all your opponent's men ("Checkers") by jumping over them, or stalemate the opponent so he has no moves. (2 variants)

Checkers can only move diagonally forward, either by sliding to an adjacent empty square or by jumping over an enemy piece to a vacant square on the other side. Jumping over a piece captures it.
Capturing is mandatory, and you must keep jumping and capturing as long as it is possible.

When your Checker reaches the other end of the board, it becomes a King. A King can slide diagonally forward or backwards any number of empty squares. A King captures by sliding a number of empty squares, jumping over a single enemy piece and then land on the empty square behind it.

Variant 2: You may pass any additional partial move. I.e. you may stop moving after the first capture.

Checkers or `Draughts` has been played since medieval times, but was derived from a much older Arab game, "Alquerque". German Checkers differs from the English version by the King moves.


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

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Game: German Morris

Implemented by Karl Scherer, December 2000.


German version of 9 Men's Morris.

Object: Reduce your opponent to only two pieces or achieve a position where he can't move.

If you get three of your pieces in a row along a line then you have formed a `mill` and you can capture (`pound`) any one of your opponent's pieces that is not also in a mill.

Each player begins with 9 pieces off the board. Place your twelve pieces on vacant points on the board, alternating turns with your opponent. Once all the pieces have been placed, move a single step along any line.

You may jump when you have only 3 pieces left!
You may never capture a piece that is part of a mill!

In variants 2 and 3, when your opponent's pieces are in mills, you may take any piece.
In variants 3 and 4 there are no jumps.

Note that the 9-Men's-Morris on the original Zillions CD does not allow you to jump, and it allows you to take pieces from mills if all your opponent's pieces are in mills. The jumps make the powers more balanced.


For more freeware as well as real puzzles and games see my home page http://karl.kiwi.gen.nz.

Download German Morris Now!

 

Game: GLE'X

Developed by Zoltan Bartok in 1998.
Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, May 2002.

GLE'X is a game for two players.

The rules, being lengthy, are provided in a seperate file titled GLEX_RULES.txt

Or visit Zoltan Bartok's website: http://hometown.aol.com/glxz/glex.html.

Updated 08/10/02
fixed a small conditional error.

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Game: Go

Implemented by L. Lynn Smith, September 2001.

Go is a two-player game using Black and White Stones.

This version is meant to facilitate on-line games and attempts to adhere to the rules published by The American Go Association. Exceptions are listed below. Please read the W2Go8x11.pdf for game rules, which is included.

In the 9x9 game, Black begins with 41 Stones and White has 40. In the 13x13 game, Black has 85 Stones and White has 84. In the 19x19 game, Black has 181 Stones and White has 180.

The 'ko' rule is enforced.

The ending of the game after one player passes two consecutive turns is enforced by the players.

When the last stone is played, or there are no legal moves, or both players pass together, the game is over. The players must calculate their own scores.

Handicaps are accomplished by dropping Stones on the appropriate points, with the opponent passing, before the start of gameplay.

Go is believed to be the oldest game in the world. In Japan, it is known as Igo. In China, it is known as Wei Qi. In Korea, it is known as Baduk. Although only recently introduced to the western world, around three hundred years ago, it has grown in popularity.

This implementation is a work in progress. Constructive criticism and ideas are desired. Any reported problems should be accompanied with a saved game which demonstrates the complaint.

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Game: Go3D

Developed and implemented by L. Lynn Smith, October 2001.

Go3D is a two-player game played upon a 5x5x5 field and follows the rules of 2D Go.

Black begins the game with 63 Stones, White with 62.

Like in 2D Go, you must deny your opponent's Stones their 'liberties' in order to capture them. In Go3D, there are potentially two extra 'liberties', one above and one below.

The 'ko' rule is enforced.

The ending of the game after one player passes two consecutive turns is enforced by the players.

When the last stone is played, or there are no legal moves, or both players pass together, the game is over. The players must calculate their own scores.

The Go player should find this game a fair challenge.

Go is considered both the oldest and the most challenging game in the world. Go3D represents the latest step in this great game's evolution.

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Game: Gomullo

Created by Roland Johansson, 1999.

It's a cross between Gomoku and Othello:
Two players alternate placing a disk on the board.
The object is to get n in a row on a nxn-board. Example: 8 in a row on a 8x8 board.
Moves are made just like regular Othello, with flipping in all legal directions.

The history on this game is as short as this sentence, being Roland Johansson's first succesful 'new' game for Zillions of Games.

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Game: Go-Moku 9 & Hexagonal Go-Moku 9

Implemented by Patrick S. Duff, August 2000

Based on the classic Go-Moku (five-in-a-row) game, this implementation allows for many variations, all controllable by the user. You can choose a preset variant from the "Variant" menu or modify the options yourself.

From two to nine players may play, however some of the variants are hard to win if all nine players are active. Often you will enjoy the game more if you only use two, three, four, or five players.
Right-click on the "player" pieces at the top of the blue "captures" board to change any unwanted players to empty intersections. In-active players will "Pass" in the "Moves Played" list. You can even change the turn order, if you don't mind seeing lots of extra "Pass" moves. [Note: If right-clicking doesn't work, your version of windows can't display windows wider than the screen. Increase the display resolution to make your screen larger.]

A player's captured stones are displayed in the column under the player's "player" piece on the blue "captures" board.

The "slider" piece (red-arrow) marks the minimum number of captures needed to win. You may move it to any open position in the "control" column. Right-click on the red-arrow and set it to an empty intersection, then right-click on an empty intersection and set it to a red-arrow. [Note: Selecting the "Control19" position is the same as selecting the "Control18" position.]

A "marker6" piece in the "Control6" position enables six-in-a-row wins.
A "marker5" piece in the "Control5" position enables five-in-a-row wins.
If both "marker6" and "marker5" are present, five-or-more-in-a-row wins.
A "marker4" piece in the "Control4" position enables four-in-a-row wins.

A "marker3" piece in the "Control3" position enables tria captures.
A "marker2" piece in the "Control2" position enables pair captures.
A "marker1" piece in the "Control1" position enables unit captures.

You can set the controls to whatever options you wish, then play directly from the "Instructions" variant, or change the controls in any of the other variants. If you ever set the controls illegally (e.g., putting marker3 anywhere except in position Control3), Zillions will declare the game to be a "draw".

See the help in each variant for more information about playing.

These 19x19 multi-player variants are a modern invention.

Here is a list of good books on two-player strategy for these variants. For books on multi-player strategy, you're pretty much on your own.

Try Go-Moku 9 on both a square board and a hexagon board...

Updated 06/09/01
corrected win condition; added "move restriction" option.

Please note: Go-Moku 9 now requires Zillions of Games version 1.3 (or higher)!

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