Arbos

A board game loosely similar with Go




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Components

Definitions

Setup

Turn

Scoring

Various


In Latin, "arbos" means "tree".



Components

The board (of the game) is a rectangle formed from 20 * 20 cells; Go's board can also be used, with its 18 * 18 cells or 19 * 19 lines. On the sides of the board, on the vertical, each row is labeled from A to T. On the sides of the board, on the horizontal, each column is labeled from 1 to 20.

There are 80 white, 80 black, and 20 green tokens.



Definitions

Cell: A square of the board. Each cell is identified by its coordinates, which are represented by the labels of the row and of the column put next to each other.

Token: A white, black or green disc.

Spore: A white or black token.

Seed: A green token.

Neighbor cells: Cells which have a common side or corner.

Free cell: A cell with no token on it.

Occupied cell: A cell with a token on it.

Neighbor tokens: Tokens which are on neighbor cells.

Linked spore: A spore which is neighbor with another spore of the same color.

Linked seed: A seed which is neighbor with a spore.

Tree: A group of spores (even a single one), of the same color, which are linked among them on the board. A seed is a part of a tree (of either player, or for both of them) if it's linked to at least one of the spores of the tree.



Neighbor tokens

T: Token

S: Token neighbor on a side with T

C: Token neighbor on a corner with T

C

S

C

S

T

S

C

S

C



Setup

The number of players is two.

The board is cleared of any token.

Each player receives all the white or black spores, either according to their preference, or as is randomly determined. The name of each player is the same as the color of his spores: white or black.

Each player receives 10 seeds.

Each player, one after another, puts on the board, on a random cell, a seed of the other player, as quickly and as spread as possible, until all the seeds are on the board. A seed may be put on the board only if between it and any other seed from the board there are at least 2 empty cells either on the vertical or horizontal axis.

The white player has to put the first seed and the first spore on the board.

After a token is put on the board, it may not be moved or removed from the board, unless clearly stated by a rule.



Turn

Each player has his turn, sequentially, when he may do one of the following actions:

  • Put one of his spores on a free cell which is neighbor with one of his seeds.

  • Put one of his spores on a free cell which is not neighbor on a side with a spore of the other player; it can be neighbor with a seed of the other player.

  • Replace one of his seeds from the board with one of his spores, and then perform any two of the actions above, one after another; the two actions don't have to be different, it can be the same action twice. The replaced seed must be removed from the game, so it can't be reused during that game.

Each player may have maximum 3 trees at any given time. If a player sees that the other player has more than 3 trees, the player with more than 3 trees must remove from the board his spores until he has 3 trees.

From the moment his turn begins, each player has a maximum time limit (for example, 5 minutes) to perform one of the actions specified above. If he doesn't turn within this time limit, it is considered that he says "pass".

Any player may say "pass". The other player may turn.



Ending

The game ends when neither player can put a token on the board, or when both players say "pass" one after another.



Scoring

The game is won by the player who has the highest number of seeds linked to (any) 2 of his trees; only the player's seeds are counted. If both players have the same number, the black player wins the game.



Various

If a player doesn't follow the rules of the game, he is declared defeated and the game ends.











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