[pbmserv] FloopRail

[Randall Bart <barticus@att.net>]

                    Help For FloopRail

Introduction

   Welcome to the network FloopRail server. The [1]rules of FloopRail
   are below. The FloopRail "[2]challenge" command is described below.
   [3]Other commands are the same for all pbmserv games.

FloopRail board and notation:

      A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H

   1           .--.
               |  |
   2        .--.--.--.
            |  |  |  |
   3     .--.--.--.--.--.
         |  |  |  |  |  |
   4  .--.--.--.--.--.--.--.
         |  |  |  |  |  |
   5     .--.--.--.--.--.
            |  |  |  |
   6        .--.--.--.
               |  |
   7           .--.

   The thirty-two "."s are the spaces which Floopers may occupy.  The "--"
   and "|" characters repesent the rails on which the Floopers move.
   Spaces are identified by letter and number.  For a Floop or simple
   Fleap the move is designated by from-space, dash, to-space (eg, E6-D6).
   Multiple Fleaps are indicated by additional dashes and to-spaces (eg,
   E6-C6-C4-C2).

   FloopRail challenge userid1 userid2 [ -reverse | -misere | -losing ]
          Start a new game of FloopRail between userid1 and userid2.

          The -reverse or -misere or -losing option turns the game into
          Reverse FloopRail: the winner is the first player to have no
          legal Floops or Fleaps available.

Rules of FloopRail

   FloopRail is played on the 32 spaces of a FloopRail board. As
   shown below, each player starts with 12 Floopers on the board.
   O moves first, and players alternate turns.

   The winner is the last player to complete a legal move. Normally a
   player loses when all of his Floopers are captured, thus leaving him
   with no legal Floops or Fleaps. But a player also loses if his
   remaining Floopers have no legal Floops or Fleaps.

      A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H

   1           O--O
               |  |
   2        O--O--O--.
            |  |  |  |
   3     O--O--O--.--.--X
         |  |  |  |  |  |
   4  O--O--O--.--.--X--X--X
         |  |  |  |  |  |
   5     O--.--.--X--X--X
            |  |  |  |
   6        .--X--X--X
               |  |
   7           X--X

        Starting Position

   A Flooper may make two kinds of moves:  A Floop or a Fleap.  A Floop
   is a move along the rail to an adjacent unoccupied space.  If an
   adjacent space is occupied by an opposing Flooper, and the next space
   beyond is unoccupied, a Flooper may Fleap over the opposing Flooper
   into the unoccupied space.  The Flooper which is Fleaped over is
   captured.  A series of Fleaps with the same Flooper may be done in a
   single turn.

   X Floopers may only move up or to the left, O Floopers may only move
   down or to the right.  Eventually a Flooper will reach one of the goal
   spaces marked here:

      A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H

   1           X--.
               |  |
   2        X--.--.--.
            |  |  |  |
   3     X--.--.--.--.--.
         |  |  |  |  |  |
   4  X--.--.--.--.--.--.--O
         |  |  |  |  |  |
   5     .--.--.--.--.--O
            |  |  |  |
   6        .--.--.--O
               |  |
   7           .--O

            Goal Spaces

   When a Flooper reaches one of these spaces it becomes a SooperFlooper.
   A SooperFlooper is the same as a Flooper, except it may Floop and
   Fleap in all four directions.

   If a player has Fleaps available, he must Fleap. If a Flooper can
   continue Fleaping, it must. However, if a player has a choice of
   Fleaps he can choose any of them, not necessarily the longest one.

   When making multiple Fleaps, all Fleaps are first completed, and then
   the captured Floopers are removed from the board. However, you may not
   Fleap over the same Flooper twice.

References

   1. http://gamerz.net/pbmserv/FloopRail.html#rules
   2. http://gamerz.net/pbmserv/FloopRail.html#challenge
   3. http://gamerz.net/pbmserv/commands.html