03-06-2021, 05:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-06-2021, 06:27 PM by thorsilver.)
BlooGo is a variant of Go inspired by Nick Bentley's Blooms, which I saw proposed on the Life in 19x19 forums. That proposal didn't have a name, so I just gave it the name BlooGo as it seemed appropriate for this particular mashup. The rules are simple:
My intent was to use this as a stepping-stone to implementing Blooms, but at this point I still have no earthly idea how to work with multiple colours per player in Ludii, so I've stalled on that for now. In the meantime I think BlooGo stands on its own as an enjoyable and elegant Go variant.
Just as an added point of interest, the Nordic Go Dojo proposes a similar variant as a way to teach new players the game of Go without the difficulties of expressing the concept of territory. BlooGo differs in how suicide and capture work, but I think it could also serve as an easy-to-understand intro to Go for new players. Also it's a straightforward introduction to Blooms, of course :)
- Each player places one stone of their colour per turn on any empty point. Players may not pass.
- Unlike in Go, suicidal placements are allowed.
- Players may not repeat board positions.
- At the end of a player's turn, all enemy groups with no liberties are captured and removed from the board, and the player scores one point per stone captured in this way.
- The first player to reach a pre-defined score threshold wins the game.
My intent was to use this as a stepping-stone to implementing Blooms, but at this point I still have no earthly idea how to work with multiple colours per player in Ludii, so I've stalled on that for now. In the meantime I think BlooGo stands on its own as an enjoyable and elegant Go variant.
Just as an added point of interest, the Nordic Go Dojo proposes a similar variant as a way to teach new players the game of Go without the difficulties of expressing the concept of territory. BlooGo differs in how suicide and capture work, but I think it could also serve as an easy-to-understand intro to Go for new players. Also it's a straightforward introduction to Blooms, of course :)