Help For Quoridor

Introduction

Welcome to the network Quoridor server. The rules of Quoridor are below. The move and set commands for Quoridor are described here. Other commands are the same for all pbmserv games.

Quoridor is Copyright 1997 by Gigamic Games and is used here with their permission.

Quoridor Command Summary

quoridor challenge userid1 userid2 [ userid3 [userid4]] [-noselftrap] [-meet=n] [-nfences=n]

start a game with up to four players
the "-noselftrap" option will give you an error when you attempt to block yourself from your own goal.
The "-meet" option will start the pawns closer toward each other and closer towards the center of the board by 'n' rows or columns;
"-meet" or "-meet=3" will start the pawns three rows closer to each other;
"-meet=2" will start the pawns two rows closer to each other;
"-meet=1" will start the pawns one row closer to each other.
The "-nfences" option will start the game with the number of fences between 0 and 10 (inclusive).
For example: "-nfences=8" will give each player eight fences. If the "-nfences" option is not used then the default will give each player in a two-player game 10 fences and will give each player in a four-player game 5 fences.

quoridor move board userid password move

where move is either a movement of the pawn, a jump of the pawn, or a placement of a fence. Your pawn may only move one space orthogonally; either N (north), S (south), E (east), or W (west) as long as it is not blocked by a fence in the way. To place a fence designate the col/row of the location where you wish to place the center of the fence and then designate whether the fence should be placed horizontally (with a '-') of vertically (with a '/'). For example; d7- will designate that a fence be placed from c7 to e7. d7/ will designate that a fence be placed from d6 to d8.

In order to jump your opponent, he must be next to you. If there is no fence directly behind your opponent then you may only jump across to the open spot directly behind your opponent. If there is a fence blocking the spot directly behind your opponent, then you may change direction of your jump while in mid-air. To designate a jump directly behind your opponent, use the compass direction repeated twice (NN, SS, WW, or EE) of the direction you are jumping. To designate a jump that changes direction in mid-air, use the a combination of compass directions stating the two directions your pawn will move (NW, NE, SW, SE, EN, ES, WN, or WS) The following examples will illustrate the moves.

                         [S]

            H   G   F   E   D   C   B   A   
            |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
        +-----------------------------------+
        |                                   |          
     1--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--1        playerA (O)
        |       |                           |           Fences - 5
     2--|   +   |   +   +-------+-------+   |--2        ===========
        |       |       |                   |            | | | | |
     3--|-------+-------|-------+-------+   |--3        
        |               |                   |          
     4--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--4        
[E]     |               |                   |     [W]
     5--|   +   +   +   |   +   +   +-------|--5        
        |               |     y             |          
     6--|   +   +   +   +-------+   +   +   |--6        PlayerB (X)
        |                 a   O   a         |           Fences - 3
     7--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--7        ===========
        |                 b   X |           |            | | |
     8--|   +   +   +   +   +   |   +   +   |--8        
        |                     z |           |          
        +-----------------------------------+
            |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
            H   G   F   E   D   C   B   A   

                         [N]

In this example, player O may move to either 'a' location or may jump to location 'z' (with the move NN : this would win the game for player O). Player O may not jump to location 'b' since there is no fence directly behind player X (no fence between D8 and C8).

Player X may move to either locations 'b' or 'z' or may jump to either 'a' locations (with moves of SE or SW depending on which 'a' she wishes to jump to). Player X may not jump to location 'y' since there is a fence directly behind player O.

The following diagram shows the board set-up at the very beginning of the game. The object of the game is to move your pawn to the opposite side of the board. The pawn may be located at any location touching the opposite side of the board to win.

			 [S]

            H   G   F   E   D   C   B   A   
            |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
        +-----------------------------------+
        |                 O                 |          
     1--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--1        playerA (O)
        |                                   |           Fences - 10
     2--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--2        ===========
        |                                   |            | | | | |
     3--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--3         | | | | |
        |                                   |          
     4--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--4        
[E]     |                                   |     [W]
     5--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--5        
        |                                   |          
     6--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--6        PlayerB (X)
        |                                   |           Fences - 10
     7--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--7        ===========
        |                                   |            | | | | |
     8--|   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   +   |--8         | | | | |
        |                 X                 |          
        +-----------------------------------+
            |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
            H   G   F   E   D   C   B   A   

                         [N]

quoridor set userid password setcommand

where setcommand is one of:

crosses

use crosses as gridpoints (default)

dots

use dots as gridpoints instead of crosses (NOTE: the dots may not show on some computers and you may need to use crosses)

thinfences

use thin lines for fences (default)

thickfences

use a thick line for the fences

Four-Player Quoridor