[pbmserv] New game on server

[Douglas Zander <darthdoug_1999@yahoo.com>]

please challenge dzander to games of Blackbox.
blackbox chall <you> dzander
blackbox chall dzander <you>


Help for Blackbox

Welcome to the Blackbox Server. The rules of Blackbox are below.  The challenge
and move commands are described here.
Other commands are the same for all pbmserv games.

Blackbox Command Summary

blackbox challenge userid1 userid2
	Start a new game between userid1 and userid2

blackbox move board userid password move
	The first move of each player is to secretly place the four atoms in your
opponent's blackbox.  
	To do this simply give the row column (or column row) coordinates of your
atoms separated by commas.
	examples: b3,d3,8h,13n -or- 3b,3d,h8,n13 -these are the same initial setups-
	examples: a1,a2,d4,d5 -or- c2,f2,k8,k9

	After the first secret initial placement of the atoms then each move is as
follows.
	Make a move.  Each move may consist of several elements separated by commas.
	* shoot one probe into board
	* add or delete atom markers from your board
	* take a guess
	Each element is optional but usually a player would always shoot a probe into
the board on every turn.

	>shoot a probe: simply give the number or letter at the location where you
wish to shoot the probe from.
	examples: 1 -or- a -or- j -or- 14
	range of probes are 1 to 14 and a to n (case insensitive)

	>add or delete an atom marker: when you think you know where an atom is
located, you may place an atom marker at
	a location on the board by giving the plus sign followed by the row and column
coordinates of the atom marker.
	examples: +a1 -or- +1a -or- +d7 -or- +8h
	to delete an atom marker simply use the forward slash or hyphen. NOTE: the
hyphen will not work if the deletion
	is the first element on the move string so it would be better to always use
the forward slash.
	examples: /a1 -or- /8h -or- /d7 -or- /14m
	you may add or delete as many atom markers as you wish in a turn separated by
commas
	examples: +a1,/b2,+m13,+7g,/k3
	placing atom markers do not count against you as a guess, they are merely
place markers so you can keep track
	of where your opponent may have hidden his atoms on your board.  (when you
take a guess then you will need 
	exactly four (and only four) atom markers on your board as to locate your
guesses of where your opponent
	placed his atoms.)

	>take a guess: simply include a question mark in the command line.  you may
only take one quess per turn 
	and you only get three quesses total per game.  if you take three quesses and
fail to find all your opponent's
	atoms then your opponent will automatically win.  when a player takes a guess
he should have exactly 4 atom 
	markers located on his board (add four atom markers to your board).  you may
add or delete atom markers on the
	same turn as your guess and the board will be updated before the guess is
calculated.
	examples: ? -or- +a1,+d5,+8k,+3f,?
	The first player to correctly guess the location of the four atoms on their
board before taking three incorrect			guesses is the winner.

Rules of Blackbox.
	There is a black box before you and you cannot see where the atoms are located
inside.  YOu may send in probes
	from any of the 28 locations around the outside of the board to help you guess
where the atoms are located.
	If a probe (think of it as a laser light probe) hits an atom dead on then it
registers with a hit sign (#). 
	If the probe bounces back to the same location it entered then it registers
with a reflection sign (%).
	Otherwise the probe may bounce off atoms and come out at another location. 
This is signaled by corresponding	
	letters of the alphabet at both ends of the probe (a to a or b to b and so
on).  It is your job to deduce where
	your opponent hid the 4 atoms in your black box.  

	Here is how a probe bounces off an edge of an atom (the atom is designated
with an @). Think of a laser shooting
	a beam of light from one letter then bouncing off the atom in the middle of
the board (making a 90 degree turn)
	and exiting the board at the location of the corresponding letter (a to a, b
to b, c to c, or d to d)

	     |a |  |b |
	   --|--|--|--|--
	   a |  |  |  |b
	   --|--|--|--|--
	     |  |@ |  |
	   --|--|--|--|--
	   d |  |  |  |c
	   --|--|--|--|--
	     |d |  |c |

	Here are examples of reflections of the probe.  If the atom is located on the
very edge of the board then
	notice how a reflection is signaled for a probe shot in right next to the
atom.

	   --|--|--|--|--
	     |  |  |  |%
	   --|--|--|--|--
	     |  |  |@ | 
	   --|--|--|--|--
	   % |  |  |  |%
	   --|--|--|--|--
	     |  |  |@ | 
	   --|--|--|--|--
	     |  |% |  |

	Here is a game in progress. Player dzander1 has marked three locations on his
board where he thinks atoms are
	located (+b2,+b4,+12m).  These first two boards are from dzander1's point of
view.  The board on the left is
	his board that he is attempting to solve.  The board on the right is his
opponent's board with the secret atom
	locations that dzander1 placed in his opponent's board along with the guesses
his opponent has made (+c2,+m13)
	(The atom markers are marked with a question mark.)

Player dzander1's board on left.  Player dzander2's board on right.
      A  B  C  D  E  F  G             A  B  C  D  E  F  G       
     |d |  |  |b |  |% |  |          |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |     
     |====================|          |====================|     
 1|d |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |8  1|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |8 
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 2|  |  |? |  |  |  |  |  |% |9  2|  |  |  |?@|  | @|  |  |  |9 
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 3|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |% |10 3|a |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |10
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 4|  |  |? |  |  |  |  |  |  |11 4|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |11
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 5|a |  |  |  |  |  |? |  |  |12 5|# |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |12
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 6|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |c |13 6|  |  |  |  |  |  |?@|  |# |13
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 7|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |14 7|  |  |  |  |  |  | @|  |  |14
     |====================|          |====================|     
     |a |  |  |b |  |  |c |          |  |a |# |  |% |  |  |     
      H  I  J  K  L  M  N             H  I  J  K  L  M  N       
Player dzander1 has 3 guesses left.  Player dzander2 has 3 guesses left.

************************************************************

	These two boards are views of dzander2's email.  Notice that dzander2 has sent
6 probes into the board so far
	and has marked 2 of the 4 atoms in his board, while dzander1 has sent 7 probes
into the board so 
	far and has correctly marked the locations of 3 of the 4 atoms in his board.


Player dzander2's board on left.  Player dzander1's board on right.
      A  B  C  D  E  F  G             A  B  C  D  E  F  G       
     |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |          |d |  |  |b |  |% |  |     
     |====================|          |====================|     
 1|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |8  1|d |  |  |  |  |  |  | @|  |8 
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 2|  |  |  |? |  |  |  |  |  |9  2|  |  |?@|  |  |  |  |  |% |9 
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 3|a |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |10 3|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |% |10
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 4|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |11 4|  |  |?@|  |  |  |  |  |  |11
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 5|# |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |b |12 5|a |  |  |  |  |  |?@|  |  |12
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 6|  |  |  |  |  |  |? |  |# |13 6|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |c |13
  |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|    |--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|  
 7|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |14 7|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |14
     |====================|          |====================|     
     |  |a |# |  |% |  |  |          |a |  |  |b |  |  |c |     
      H  I  J  K  L  M  N             H  I  J  K  L  M  N       
Player dzander2 has 3 guesses left.  Player dzander1 has 3 guesses left.

************************************************************


___
Douglas Zander  Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
As of September 13th, 2005 I became a Great Uncle for the first time.
As of November 2nd, 2005 I became a Great Uncle for the second time!


		
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