Playing Maldoo

There are 10 games to play:

0. Reversi
1. Ghost
2. Life
3. TouchIt
4. Symmetry
5. CountLines
6. FillIt
7.FindThem
8.Visiput
9.SpeedGo

Buttons

  • Game (0-9) - change the game.
  • Time (0-9) - The time a player has to make a move. larger number gives more time.
  • Speed (0-9) - Speed of play in games where it is relevant (Ghost, Life, TouchIt, FindThem, Symmetry).
  • Level (0-4) - The playing level of the board when playing against the board. 0 (displayed as underscore) means two players against each other. In levels 1-4 the board plays red, better in higher levels.
  • Mode (variable) - varies the game. See explanation for each game.

    The speed and mode are game specific, so when the game changes, the speed and mode change to the previous setting for the new game.

    In the end of a game, the board signals the winner by bleeping their turn light.

    0. Reversi

    When the current player presses a point, any of the other player's stones which are on a straight line between the new stone and another stone of the current player without gaps are caught, i.e. changes to the colour of the current player. By default, each new stone must catch at least one stone. The winner is the player with more stones in the end of the game.

    When a player presses an illegal point (because it does not catch anything), the board flashes all the points that are legal moves. If a player does not have a legal move, the board passes the turn to the other player. When neither of the players have a move, the board finishes the game. If a player has a legal but doesn't play, the board selects a random move and plays it.

    Modes:
    In the odd modes (1,3,5), stones of the other player's which are on a straight continuous line between the new stone and the end of the board also change their.

    The mode also affects which moves are legal:

  • 0,1 - only moves that catch at least one points are legal.
  • 2,3 - any move that is a neighbour of an illuminated point is legal.
  • 4,5 - any move is legal.

    1. Ghost

    The board moves around the board four points (the Ghost). The players try to 'catch the ghost' by pressing one of the four points while it is on. When this happens, the current player gets a point. The board also signals it by drawing a moving pattern for a short interval. When a player presses a point which is not of the ghost, the board switches it on, and the ghost does not go through it, and the 'Ghost' becomes slower.

    The game stops after 32 and the player with larger score wins. The game also finishes if the ghost is totally surrounded so it cannot move at all.

    Modes:
    In modes 2 and 3, the board don't switch on the point when a player touched an empty point.

    In modes 1 and 3, the rules for scoring are different: the players need to touch a point near the ghost, but not the ghost itself. If a player touches the ghost itself, the other player gets a point.

    2. Life

    Each player in their turn tries to 'kill' all the points as fast as possible. The board accumulates the number of generations for each player, and when after a red turn either of the player has more than 100 generations the player with less generation wins.

    The behaviour of the points is as follows: Each 'generation' (700 milliseconds at speed 5) the board checks the number of 'neighbors' of each point which are 'alive' (switched on). 'Neighbors' are the eight points surrounding the point, including the diagonal ones. If the number of 'alive' neighbors is not 2 or 3, the point becomes or stays 'dead', i.e. empty. If the point is empty and has three alive neighbors, it becomes alive. If the point is alive and has 2 or 3 neighbors, it stays alive but get older by one generation. When a point reaches 6 generations it dies even if it has 2 or 3 neighbors.

    When the player presses a point, it reverses its status, i.e. an empty point becomes 'alive', while a 'live' point dies. The number of plays a player can perform per generation is 3.

    Modes:
    Mode 1 changes the game to Life2, which is a game for "lazy moments". There are points of two colours, which evolve in a similar way to Life1, but are hostile to each other. Each player has 2 plays , which they can use whenever it is their turn. Most of the time the players just watch the development of the board, until one of the colours wins.

    The behaviour of the points is as follows: for an occupied point, neighbors that are occupied by 'stones' of the other colour are counted as -2 each. A point stays alive if it has a neighbor count of 2 or 3. For an empty point, if the difference between the number of neighbors of each colour is 2 a, the point becomes alive with the colour of the majority.

    When a player presses a point, if it is occupied by either colour it becomes empty, whatever was its colour. When a player presses an empty point, it become alive with the player's colour.

    Alternative ways of playing are:

    1. Single player. The player selects a colour, and tries to make it win. It is probably better to set the Start Up parameter to non-zero value.
    2. Guess the winner. The game is started, and the players try to guess which colour is going to win. Note that the board is symmetrical, so will end up in a draw unless at least one point is pressed. In most of the cases one press is enough to make one side win, provided the press does not bring to life a point that is completely separated from the rest of the points.

    3. TouchIt

    In this game the board displays few neighboring points, and the players try to press the last point of their colour that is displayed before it disappears. When a player succeeds to touch any of the points before the next point is turned on, or the last point before they all disappear, this player wins the turn. The player gets a point, and the board display a pattern in the player's colour

    The time between displaying the points is determined by the Speed, and the player(s) needs to adjust it to meet their response speed.

    The game ends after 40 turns.

    Modes:
    The modes control the direction in which the third point appears with respect to the first two points:
    0 - Straight
    1 - Turn right
    2 - Turn left
    3 - Random direction.

    4. Symmetry

    A single player game. The board displays a pattern in the 'top' four lines, and the player needs to press all the points that are symmetry related to the displayed points within a given time. By default, the player need to press points that are in the mirror position of the displayed points, e.g. point in the top-left corner is mapped to the bottom-left corner.

    If the player presses a correct point, it becomes green. If the player presses a wrong point, it becomes red.

    The Speed determine how much time the player has to finish all the points.

    Modes:
    The modes change the symmetry operation to use:
    0 - Mirror symmetry.
    1 - Translation by 5 lines, i.e. line 0 maps to line 5, line 1 to line 6 etc.
    2 - Rotation around the center of the board.
    3 - Translation and vertical mirror, i.e. the leftmost point of line 0 maps to the rightmost point of line 5.
    Modes 4-7 are the same as 0-3 respectively, but display more points to copy (16 vs. 12).

    5. CountLines

    In this game the players switch-on points in turns. A player gets a point for each straight continuous line of 4 stones . Lines can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal, and can overlap. E.g. a 5 stones line earns the player two points, one for the first four stones and one for the last four points, a six stones line earns the player 3 points etc.

    Additional rule is that the player is not allowed to put a stone too close to the stone that he put in the previous move. The minimum distance is 3 points (geometrically). When a player presses an illegal point, the board highlights all the points that are legal move. The restriction is removed in the end of the game when the player doesn't have other legal moves

    modes:
    In modes 1 and 3, the games stops when one player makes one line (ConnectFour).
    In modes 2 and 4, the restriction of minimum distance is removed.

    6. FillIt

    when a player presses a point, points which are empty or in the other player's colour and are two points away from the touched point in any of the 8 directions change their colour to the player's colour, and points that are near the touched point and in the player's colour change their colour to the other colour. When the board is full, the player with more points in their colour wins. Only empty points are legal moves.

    If a player misses a turn, when the other player plays his next move none of his points are changed, so it is never a good idea to miss a turn.

    Modes:
    Mode 1 exactly like mode 0, except that the game starts with completely empty board.
    Modes 2,3,4 a re different game, in which the task is to clear off the board all the points of the other colour. When a player touches a point, it turns off points of the other player's colour which are a chess knight away from the touched point (i.e. moving two points horizontally and then one point in a normal direction), and points of the current player's colour which are another one diagonal move away ("long knight", i.e. moving three points horizontally or vertically, and then two points in a normal direction). The game ends after a red move when all the points of one of the colours have been switched off, and the other player is the winner.
    In mode 3, the rules are the same, except that instead of switching off points of the current player's colour that are "long knight" away, they are switched to the other player's colour.
    In mode 4, the rules are like mode 2, but the points of the other player's colour that are knight away are switched to the current player's colour rather than switched off.
    In mode 3 and 4, only moves that actually remove some points of the board are legal.

    7. FindThem

    In the beginning of the game the board displays a random arrangement of points for a short period of time, and then switches them off. Then the players try to find points of their own colour by pressing them. When a player presses a point of his colour (i.e. a point that had his colour in the initial display), it is switched on. When a player presses an empty point or a point of the other colour, nothing happens, but the point becomes silent for one move, so the other player cannot find it immediately (but can find it later). The game ends after a red move if one of the players found 9 points . The player with 9 points wins, unless both players reached 9 points in the same move.

    When playing against the board, the board flashes the point it 'presses'. The time that the pattern is displayed is controlled by the Speed (higher value less time).

    Modes
    The modes affect the number of points that the players need to find and the number of points in the pattern:
    0 - display 24 points of each colour, the players need to find 9. 1 - display 30, need to find 15. 2 - display 15, need to find 9. 3 - display 21, need to find 15.

    8. Visiput

    Each player in his turn presses a point. The point must be such that it is 'visible' by at least as many points of the same colour as by points of the other colour . 'Visible' means connected by a straight line (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) without any intervening stones. After some moves, the game reaches a state when all the empty points are controlled by one of the players. At that point, the board finishes the game and gives each point to the player that control it. Then the player with more points wins.

    When a player presses an illegal point, the board flashes all the legal moves for this player.

    Modes:
    In odd modes (1,3,5,7) the starting position is random. In even modes the starting position is a standard one.
    In modes 0 and 1 a legal move is a described above.
    In modes 2 and 3, for a point to be a legal move, it must be more 'visible' by points of the same colour.
    In modes 4 and 5, a legal move is only a point is that more 'visible' by the current player's colour a difference of 2 or more.
    In modes 6 and 7, a point that is more 'visible' by the other player's colour by one is a legal move, in addition to all the points that are legal moves in modes 0 and 1.

    Note that in modes 2,3,4 and 5 there will be points where both players cannot play.

    9. SpeedGo

    This is standard Go.

    'Neighboring points' are points that are near each other horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Points of the same colour that are neighbors or can be connected by neighboring points of the same colour are 'a group'. A group that does not have any neighboring empty point (a 'liberty') is 'captured', i.e. switched off. Each player in their turn switches on a point of their colour. A new stone cannot be switched on where it is part of a 'captured' group (i.e. fills the last liberty of a group, or a single point with no neighboring empty point), unless it catches some points of the other player. In addition, a point cannot be switched on if it returns the game to the same position as before the other player's move (KO rule). In the end of the game, the count for each player is the count of his/her points plus the number of empty points that are surrounded by his/her points (area counting). Each move the board checks if it is clear what area belongs to which player, and if so it finishes the game.

    Modes:
    The mode determine the number of points on startup:
    0 - 18 points of each colour.
    1 - empty board.
    2 - 9 points of each colour.