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Tri-It-Out is a 'Pattern Capture', 'Misere' based on equilateral triangle patterns with mixed piece ownership, in which the total piece-count on the board increases with each complete turn. A player's board presence can vary greatly from turn to turn, especially for the variant game, or for other variants that prioritize capturing-placements.

It demands of players excellent pattern scanning skills, awareness of opportunities to force the opponent to capture, and sensitivity to moves that affect the timing of the game-ending.

The concept arose from consideration of patterns where a piece might be captured but not replaced in the same location, and preferably patterns that provided a choice of pieces to remove in this fashion. Triangle patterns provided a solution where the affected patterns created restrictions across the whole board, and a misere game seemed most suitable with that condition.

A game with similar concept but based on local 3-in-a-row patterns called 'FreeChain' was created at the same time. That game uses regular scoring.

Rules

Tri-It-Out is a 2-player strategy game played on a hex grid.
Definitions:
-- A 'Triangle' means a pattern of 3 counters that are equidistant from each other, it may be in any orientation including orientations with edges that do not follow grid lines.
-- A 'Mixed Triangle' is a triangle made of more than one player's counters.
-- A 'Restricted Location' is an empty intersection that would form a Mixed Triangle if either player placed a piece there; that is it would form a Triangle that includes a mixed-color pair of counters already on the board.

The goal is to have the FEWEST counters on the board when no further play is possible. In the case of a tie, the player who would have been next to make a placement loses.

Turns consist of:
-- 1) a Placement of a piece onto an empty site that is not a 'Restricted Location'.
-- 2) If any new Mixed Triangles are created, a Capture is made by removing one opponent's piece from one of them.

A player must continue to take a series of consecutive turns until a Placement is made that cannot be followed by a Capture.

Author

Dale W. Walton

Creation date

2023-02-14

Ludeme Description

Tri-It-Out.lud

Concepts

Browse all concepts for Tri-It-Out here.

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