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[pbmserv] New game: Fire and Ice
A new game Fire and Ice has been added to the server.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Help For the Game Of Fire and Ice
Introduction
Welcome to the network server for Fire and Ice, the abstract board
game by Jens-Peter Schliemann published by Pin International. The Fire
and Ice challenge command starts a new game between userid1 and
userid2 as follows:
fireandice challenge [-handicap=number] userid1 userid2
The -handicap parameter sets the number of handicap pieces (range
1..6). Fire always starts with at least one piece, but may also start
with up to six additional pieces randomly added to separate islands.
Other commands are the same as for all pbmserv games.
Board Layout
The Fire and Ice board consists of a system of seven triangular
islands. Each island has seven positions marked '-' in a similar
triangular layout. Two players, Fire and Ice, compete to control three
islands forming a line or circle.
FIRE (#): 24 _ ICE (O): 25
/ \
/ - \
/ \
A / - - \ 1
/ - \
B C / - - - \ 2 3
D \___________/ 4
E F G . . . 5 6 7
. . .
_. . . . . . ._
/ \ . . . / \
/ - \. . ./ - \
/ \ _ / \
/ - - \ / \ / - - \
/ - \ / - \ / - \
/ - - - \/ \/ - - - \
\___________/ - - \___________/
. . / # \ . .
. . / - - - \ . .
_. . . \___________/ . . ._
/ \ . / \ . / \
/ - \ . . / - \ . . / - \
/ \ . . / \ . . / \
/ - - \ ./ - - \. / - - \
/ - \ / - \ / - \
/ - - - \. . . / - - - \ . . ./ - - - \
\___________/ \___________/ \___________/
The islands are labelled A, B, C, D, E, F and G according to the key
at the top left of the board. Similarly, the positions within each
island are labelled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 according to the key at the
top right. Every board point can therefore be described by island and
position, for instance the central position of the central island is
D4, the top position of the righmost island is G1, etc.
Rules
Each player has 25 pieces of their type. Fire (#) starts with a single
# piece at the central position D4 and moves first.
Players alternate taking turns. Each turn the current player must move
one of their pieces either:
a) to another position on the same island, or
b) to the same position on another island.
In both cases the destination point must be empty. Once the piece is
moved, an opponent's piece is automatically added to the position just
vacated.
A player controls an island by forming a line or ring of three of
their pieces upon it. For instance, the following examples show the
seven possible ways in which Fire may control an island:
_ _ _
/ \ / \ / \
/ # \ / # \ / - \
/ \ / \ / \ Line from corner
/ # - \ / - # \ / - - \ to corner.
/ - \ / - \ / - \
/ # - - \ / - - # \ / # # # \
\___________/ \___________/ \___________/
_ _ _
/ \ / \ / \
/ # \ / - \ / - \
/ \ / \ / \ Line from corner
/ - - \ / - # \ / # - \ to edge.
/ # \ / # \ / # \
/ - # - \ / # - - \ / - - # \
\___________/ \___________/ \___________/
_
/ \
/ - \
/ \
/ # # \ <--- These pieces
/ - \ form a ring.
/ - # - \
\___________/
Each of these islands is controlled by Fire regardless of whether the
unused positions are empty or occupied by either player. It's not
possible for more than one player to control an island at any time.
The game is won by the first payer to form a similar line or ring of
three islands under their control.
Sample Game
The following example shows a game won by Ice (O) who controls three
islands in a line (A, C and G). Ice also controls the central island D
but this is not relevant to the win.
FIRE (#): 4 _ ICE (O): 5
/ \
/ O \
/ \
A / O O \ 1
/ # \
B C / O # O \ 2 3
D \___________/ 4
E F G . . . 5 6 7
. . .
_. . . . . . ._
/ \ . . . / \
/ # \. . ./ # \
/ \ _ / \
/ # # \ / \ / O O \
/ O \ / - \ / # \
/ O # - \/ \/ # O # \
\___________/ # O \___________/
. . / O \ . .
. . / O - - \ . .
_. . . \___________/ . . ._
/ \ . / \ . / \
/ O \ . . / # \ . . / - \
/ \ . . / \ . . / \
/ O - \ ./ # # \. / # # \
/ - \ / O \ / # \
/ # # # \. . . / - O # \ . . ./ O O O \
\___________/ \___________/ \___________/
General Tips
The following points summarise strategies and tactics from the
official Fire and Ice rules page:
http://www.otb-games.com/fireandice/rules.html
As soon as a player controls an island they can safely move additional
pieces off it, as only one player can control an island at a time.
Critical islands are usually those at the intersection of lines
extending from the pairs of islands most strongly held by both
players.
It is often prudent to concede a disputed island and concentrate your
efforts elsewhere if the opponent holds the majority of positions upon
it.
Each game consists of between 9 and 24 moves per player.
The triangular pattern of seven points which connect into triplets in
seven ways is a mathematical construct called the Fano Plane, which is
a finite projective plane of order two.
Move Syntax
Fire (#) moves first. The move syntax is:
fireandice move board# userid password coords
Where coords are of the form:
F6-C6 Move a piece from position 6 on island F to position 6 on
island C.
F6 must be occupied by the current player and C6 must be empty. An
opponent's piece will automatically be added to F6 after the move.
Other commands are the same as for all pbmserv games.
History
Fire and Ice rules and design by Jens-Peter Schliemann. The game is
copyright Pin International and distributed by Out of the Box
Publishing, who would like to point out that copying for commercial
purposes is forbidden.
Further details of the game including its history, variants and
additional tips on strategy may be found at Out of the Box's "Fire and
Ice" page: http://www.otb-games.com/fireandice/
Implementation and help file by Cameron Browne, November 2003.