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Help for Abalone
Introduction
Welcome to the network Abalone server. The rules of Abalone and tips for playing are below. The challenge command with the available game options is described here. Other commands are the same for all pbmserv games.
There are several computer programs on pbmserv which play Abalone. You can retrieve information using these commands:
- help ai-aba
- Information about Aba, a program written by Paul Colley
Abalone Command Summary
- abalone challenge [-bowl] userid1 userid2 [... userid6]
- Start a new game between up to six players.
The standard boards are:
Two Three Four
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 .
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 . 2
. . 1 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2
. . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . 2 4 . . . . . 2 2
. . . . . . . . . 3 3 . . . . . 2 2 4 4 . . . . . 2 2
. . . . . . . . 3 3 . . . . 2 2 4 4 . . . . . 2
. . 2 2 2 . . 3 3 . . . 2 2 4 4 . . . . .
2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 . . 2 2 4 . 3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2 3 3 . 2 2 . 3 3 3 3
Five Six
1 1 1 1 . . 1 1 1 .
1 1 1 1 . 2 6 . 1 1 . 2
. . . . . 2 2 6 6 . 1 . 2 2
4 . . 5 5 . 2 2 6 6 6 . . 2 2 2
4 4 . 5 5 5 . 2 2 . . . . . . . . .
4 4 . 5 5 . . 2 5 5 5 . . 3 3 3
4 4 . . . . . 5 5 . 4 . 3 3
4 . 3 3 3 3 5 . 4 4 . 3
. 3 3 3 3 . 4 4 4 .
Note: I don't especially like the 5-person setups, but it was the best I could come up with. The 5th player is penalized a marble for being centered.
The "bowl" setups are:
Two Three Four
1 1 . 2 2 1 1 . 2 2 1 1 . 2 2
1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 . . 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2
. 1 1 . 2 2 . . . 1 . 2 . . . 1 1 . 2 2 .
. . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 3 3 3 . . . 3 3 3 . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . 3 . . . . . . . .
. 2 2 . 1 1 . . . 2 . 1 . . . 3 3 . 4 4 .
2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 . . 1 1 3 3 3 4 4 4
2 2 . 1 1 2 2 . 1 1 3 3 . 4 4
Five Six
4 4 . 3 3 1 1 . 2 2
4 4 4 3 3 3 1 1 1 2 2 2
. 4 4 . 3 3 . . 1 . . . 2 .
. . . . . . 1 1 6 6 . . . . 3 3
. . . . . . 1 1 1 6 6 . . . . . 3 3
. . . . . . 1 1 6 6 . . . . 3 3
. 5 5 . 2 2 . . 5 . . . 4 .
5 5 5 2 2 2 5 5 5 4 4 4
5 5 . 2 2 5 5 . 4 4
Rules for Abalone
- Object of the game:
- On a hexagonal board (radius 5) two to six players have armies of marbles. Players take turns "pushing" 1, 2 or 3 linearly connected marbles, attempting to push their opponents' marbles off the board. First player to push 6 of their opponent's marbles off the board wins. In the 3+ player version, the 6 marbles may be any combination of 6 opponents' marbles.
- Initial board layout:
o o o o o o o o o o o . . o o o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x x x . . x x x x x x x x x x x- This is the standard two player layout. See the challenge command for info on layouts for more players.
- Movement:
- You may move a group of 1, 2, or 3 adjacent marbles of your
color (a group of 3 marbles must be in a straight line) one space in any one of the six
possible directions.
Examples of legal moves:
One marble
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . x . . . . => . . . . . x . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Two marbles "forward"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . x x . . . => . . . . . x x . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Two marbles "sideways"
. . . . . . . . . . . x x . . .
. . . . x x . . . => . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Three marbles "forward"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . x x x . . => . . . . . x x x .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Three marbles "sideways"
. . . . . . . . . . . x x x . .
. . . . x x x . . => . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A group of two or three marbles may push an opponent's smaller group when moving in a direction that the line is pointing (i.e., not when moving "sideways").
Thus, the three possible pushes are:
Two push one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x x o . . => . . . . . x x o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Three push one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x x x o . . => . . . . x x x o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Three push two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x x x o o . => . . . . x x x o o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Marbles can be pushed off of the board, like so:
One Oh piece is removed
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . x x x o o => . . . . . x x x o
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Once you have pushed six of your opponent's marbles off of the board, you win!
- Movement Notation:
- The movement notation for abalone has two forms. In each
form, rcX is a letter/number pair specifying a space by row and column (e.g., E5 is the
center of the board).
- rc1,rc2 moves 1 marble from rc1 to rc2.
Example: c5,d5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 / / / / / 6 / / / / / 6 A- o o o o o / 7 A- o o o o o / 7 B- o o o o o o / 8 B- o o o o o o / 8 C- . . o o o . . / 9 C- . . o o . . . / 9 D- . . . . . . . . / D- . . . . o . . . / E- . . . . . . . . . => E- . . . . . . . . . F- . . . . . . . . F- . . . . . . . . G- . . x x x . . G- . . x x x . . H- x x x x x x H- x x x x x x I- x x x x x I- x x x x x - rc1-rc2,rc3 moves the string of *your* marbles defined by
rc1-rc2. The direction is rc1->rc3 if rc3 is adjacent to rc1. Otherwise, it moves in
direction rc2->rc3.
Example: a1-c3,b2 or a1-c3,d4
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 / / / / / 6 / / / / / 6 A- o o o o o / 7 A- . o o o o / 7 B- o o o o o o / 8 B- o o o o o o / 8 C- . . o o o . . / 9 C- . . o o o . . / 9 D- . . . . . . . . / D- . . . o . . . . / E- . . . . . . . . . => E- . . . . . . . . . F- . . . . . . . . F- . . . . . . . . G- . . x x x . . G- . . x x x . . H- x x x x x x H- x x x x x x I- x x x x x I- x x x x xExample: c3-c5,d4 or c3-c5,d6
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 / / / / / 6 / / / / / 6 A- o o o o o / 7 A- o o o o o / 7 B- o o o o o o / 8 B- o o o o o o / 8 C- . . o o o . . / 9 C- . . . . . . . / 9 D- . . . . . . . . / D- . . . o o o . . / E- . . . . . . . . . => E- . . . . . . . . . F- . . . . . . . . F- . . . . . . . . G- . . x x x . . G- . . x x x . . H- x x x x x x H- x x x x x x I- x x x x x I- x x x x xExample: e7-f8,f8 or e7-f8,g9
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 / / / / / 6 / / / / / 6 A- o o o o o / 7 A- o o o o o / 7 B- o o o o o o / 8 B- o o o o o o / 8 C- . . o . . . . / 9 C- . . o . . . . / 9 D- . . . . . . . . / D- . . . . . . . . / E- . . . . . . o . . => E- . . . . . . . . . F- . . . . . . o . F- . . . . . . o . G- . . x x x . x G- . . x x x . o H- x x x x x . H- x x x x x . I- x x x x x I- x x x x x
- rc1,rc2 moves 1 marble from rc1 to rc2.
Playing Tips for Abalone
By Wayne Schmittberger, ex-Editor of Games Magazine and avid Abalone Player- At the start, advance your marbles quickly toward the center
of the board.
Marbles in the center are much safer, and can move around more easily, than ones near the edge. And, if you can occupy the center, you will also force yoour opponent's marbles to stay near the edge. (Unless your opponent(s) can outwit you and take over the center).
o o o o o . o o o o . o o o . o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o . . o o o . . . . o o o . . . . o o o . . . . . . . . . . . . . o . . . . . . . o o . . . . . . . . . . . . => . . . . . . . . . => . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . x x . . . . . x x x . . . . x x x . . . . . x x . . x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x . x x x . . Diagram 1. It's best to start advancing a line of three marbles toward the center. One possible opening is for white and black to make the moves shown. - Keep your marbles together.
Your marbles are strongest in a solid group. The more lines in which you have connected rows of three or more marbles, the harder it will be for your opponent to push you back toward the edge.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . o o o x . . . o o o x . . . . o o o x . . . . x o o . x . . x x o x x . . x x x . x o o . x . . . Diagram 2. White's strong central formation has no weaknesses, while black has no way to prevent his thin line of marbles from being pushed back and cut apart. White has the advantage, despite black's current 2-0 lead in marbles. - "Divide and Conquer"
Try to separate the opponent's marbles into two or more groups. Smaller groups will be easier to push back and trap against the edge of the board, where they will be lost.
- Plan ahead.
Wherever your marbles are next to your opponent's, carefully consider the effect of each possible push. Pushes tend to create many new possibilities for each side, since as many as five marbles can change position at once (when three marbles push two).
- Think twice before pushing an opponent's marble off the
board.
Early in the game, it is usually more important to keep your marbles in the center than to move them toward the edge in order to eject a marble or two. (If you fall behind 2-0 or 3-1 in pushing off marbles, you can easily catch up if you have the move central position.) And if an opponent's marble has no way to escape, don't hurry to push it off, as you will usually have a more important move to make elsewhere.
- Abandon stragglers.
Don't waste time trying to link up isolated marbles with your main group, unless you can do it in just a move or two.
- Play patiently.
When you're not sure what to do, look for your least useful marble(s), and try to improve their positions.
- The more marbles that have been pushed off the board, the
more important it is to gain the lead in marbles.
Although a strong central position is more important that ejecting marbles early in the game, the opposite is trow after each side has lost three or four marbles. If your marbles are badly scattered around the edges after you have pushed off six of your opponent's marbles, it won't matter!
- Try hard to be the first player to eject five marbles.
The first player to push off a fifth marble will usually have a big advantage, because the opponent will then have to look after every vulnerable marble, and answer every threat to eject a marble.
- Late in the game, play accurately and agressively.
If you see a way to eject enough of the opponent's marbles to bring your total up to six, don't bother to defend your own marbles unless the opponent can win before you do.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x . . . . . . x . . . . . . x . . . . . x x x x . . x . . . . . x x x x . x x x o . . . . ==> . x x . o . . . . x o x o o . . . x o x o o . . . o x o o . . . o x o o . . . o . . o o x o o o x . . o o x o o o o o . . . x o . . . x Diagram 3. White leads 4-3, but needs at least three turns to eject two black marbles in to the lower right. Black, with the move, wins the race by ejecting one white marble as shown, after which black needs but two more turns to push off the trapped marbles.
