Welcome to the network Oxvo server. The challenge command is described here.
Other commands are
the same as for all pbmserv games.
oxvo challenge userid1
starts a new game for one player.
Oxvo is a solitaire game in which you slide 15 knotwork segments around a 4x4 grid in an effort to complete closed paths.
The board is initially set with 15 tiles showing knotwork segments as follows. The upper right cell is empty and no paths on any tile cross to neighbouring tiles at this point.
+---------+----#----+----#----+---------+
| ##### | # # | ## ## | |
|## ##| # # |## ##| |
# # # # # # |
|## ##| ### |## ##| |
| ##### | | ##### | |
+----#----+----#----+----#----+----#----+
| ## # | ## ## | ## ## | # ## |
|## # |## # | # ##| # ##|
# # # # | # # # #
|## # |## # | # ##| # ##|
| ## # | ###### | ###### | # ## |
+----#----+---------+---------+----#----+
| #### | ###### | ###### | #### |
|## # |## # | # ##| # ##|
# # # # | # # # #
|## # |## # | # ##| # ##|
| #### | ## ## | ## ## | #### |
+----#----+----#----+----#----+----#----+
| ## ## | | ##### | # # |
|## ##| ### |## ##| # # |
# # # # # # # # |
|## ##| # # |## ##| # # |
| ## ## | # # | ## ## | # # |
+----#----+----#----+----#----+----#----+
Each move involves sliding one, two or three tiles towards the empty cell, as per any other 15-puzzle.
If any move results in the formation of one or more closed paths, then the score for that move is p the length of the longest closed path (squared) minus m the number of moves so far. Scores below 0 are not counted:
score = max(0, p * p - m);
A path's length is given by the number of crossings along its length, where self-crossings count twice.
The game's final score is the best score achieved over the entire game.
Rules
The aim is to form the longest possible path in the shortest number of turns.
The longest possible path length is 32; one such maximal path is shown below. The maximum possible score is therefore 32 * 32 = 1,024 minus the number of moves required to form the path.
+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| #### | ##### | #### | |
| # ##|## ##|## # | ### |
| # # # # | # # |
| # ##|## ##|## # | # # |
| #### | ## ## | #### | # # |
+---------+----#----+---------+----#----+
| | # ## | ##### | ## # |
| | # ##|## ##|## # |
| | # # # # |
| | # ##|## ##|## # |
| | # ## | ##### | ## # |
+---------+----#----+---------+----#----+
| ###### | ## ## | ###### | # # |
| # ##|## ##|## # | # # |
| # # # # | # # |
| # ##|## ##|## # | # # |
| ## ## | ## ## | ## ## | # # |
+----#----+----#----+----#----+----#----+
| ## ## | ## ## | ## ## | # # |
| # ##|## ##|## # | # # |
| # # # # | # # |
| # ##|## ##|## # | ### |
| ###### | ##### | ###### | |
+---------+---------+---------+---------+
The board cells are labelled as follows:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p
The move syntax is:
oxvo move board# userid password f
This command slides the tiles from cell 'f' towards the empty cell.
oxvo resign board# userid password
oxvo move board# userid password quit
Either of these commands will end the game. The best score achieved over the entire game is saved to the high score table.
Oxvo rules copyright (c) Cameron Browne, April 2008.
Oxvo is a 15-puzzle played with Osbo dice, hence the name "OXVo" where XV = 15.
More details are available at the official Oxvo page.
Implementation and Help file by Cameron Browne, March 2008.