Game: Twixt

Thread: Re: Real time Twixt on K2z, post your preferred time to play

twixter — 2008-09-28T13:57:52+00:00

Eric, if you message me with a specific time, I will try to be there. I'm GMT-4 until Daylight Savings ends, the worst possible relative to you, but anywhere from 9 pm to 11 am your time might be possible.

K2z has row handicapping if you want to try that.

You should know that Twixt is now available on iGoogle:

http://www.iggamecenter.com/

They dont have handicapping available just yet, but hopefully soon.

Thread: Re: Real time Twixt on K2z, post your preferred time to play

shimanayoku — 2008-09-28T07:19:23+00:00

Is anyone interested in a game at a time friendly to Southern hemispherers? I am GMT+8.

By the way I am a weak beginner.

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artyomch — 2008-09-25T20:38:52+00:00

Twixt on igGameCenter

Thread: Re: Twixt: No Luck, Just Skill

alhensel — 2008-09-15T18:45:36+00:00

Hi Dvd, thanks for the suggestion. I like a lot of the Euros already. My wife's really into them, so it would be hard to avoid them anyway. I don't really need gradual depth; I'm just requesting it because I like figuring stuff out, and I'm much keener on learning things that emerge as a logical consequence than things that someone made up.

I have to add, I don't think there is much of a correlation between the amount of fun I've had, and the amount of rules in a game. Simple games are more hit-or-miss, while the more complicated ones are usually between "OK" and "pretty good". The more rules, the more probable mediocrity becomes. So it's hard for me to justify the drudgery involved in memorizing the rules of some of the more complex Euro games, especially since I'm an infrequent gamer and need a rules explanation for some hot new game almost every time I go gaming. I'm sure it's not so bad if you go gaming frequently, but I'm not gonna keep up with that. Just tell me what the "hits" are so I can avoid the "misses", "OKs", "pretty goods", and "mediocres". It's my meta-strategy ;-)

I played Puerto Rico once. It may be rewarding in the sense of gradual depth, but I'm looking for LOW investment, high rewards ;-)

Thread: Re: Twixt: No Luck, Just Skill

Barking Iguana — 2008-09-15T15:30:24+00:00

Alan, if you can stand a bit of luck and more than two players, I think you'll find many of the Euros fit your need for gradual depth. That's why I got hooked on them. Puerto Rico was on the top of the rankings here for years in large part because it's so rewarding in that way.

--
Dvd Avins (from Little Golem)

Thread: Re: Full throttle abstract

shimanayoku — 2008-08-29T07:11:52+00:00

Do any game servers offer 36x36 boards?

Thread: Re: Twixt: No Luck, Just Skill

alhensel — 2008-07-24T01:57:18+00:00

You're right, the OP didn't distinguish what separates Twixt from other abstract games. For me, it's this:

In a game like Hive, Yinsh, or Blokus, I feel like my progress in learning strategy, heuristics, and tactics has hit a wall after the first couple of plays. There is too much chaos. Beyond some simple rules of thumb, all I can do is brute-force the combinatorial explosion. Maybe I just don't "get" these games, but I don't feel like I'm learning much. On the bright side, this means that I am still reasonably competitive with my friends, despite any disparity in experience with the game.

Twixt has a better balance of order and chaos than these other games. Too much order would mean that you can figure out a pretty optimal strategy and just apply it. With Twixt, I've continued to learn and get better. As you would expect, the range of ELO ratings for Twixt players on Little Golem is broader than for other games, despite not being one of the site's more popular games. I think this is because of this long, gradual period during which you can continue to improve.

I'd love to hear about other games that are not only deep, but have this kind of gradual depth (besides the popular ones I've already heard of, like Go).

Thread: Re: Twixt: No Luck, Just Skill

Rindis — 2008-07-21T22:53:01+00:00

The essential elements you are celebrating in Twixt are fairly standard to modern abstract strategy games, and if you haven't already, you should take a good look around the genre.

I'll admit I respect Twixt (another debt we owe the 3M company), but my patience isn't great enough to sit down and endure the frustration to start catching the geometrical nuances of play. (...I suppose a 10x24 board could work.... ).

Thread: Re: Twixt: No Luck, Just Skill

twixter — 2008-07-20T14:05:02+00:00

Thanks for the unsolicited testimonial. BTW there is an unofficial "row handicapping" system available, if you think that might persuade your wife to play again. The smallest handicap is to eliminate the swap rule. Beyond that, one dimension of the board is reduced. The less experienced player moves first and has less distance to cross. This could be indicated on the board by two pieces which look nothing like Twixt pegs, but which fit in a hole. Place them in the corners of this now rectangular grid, to indicate the new location of the first player's border row. You might alternatively stretch a rubber band across the board if you have one the right size, as the new border line. Six rows plus move (18x24 board) can make a challenging game for both sides between a newcomer and an experienced player. The idea is to find a handicap where both sides win about half the time. You could let the handicap receiver decide how many rows they want. Of course there is no swap rule in any handicap game.

Thread: Twixt: No Luck, Just Skill

jackmitch — 2008-07-19T22:25:52+00:00

If you like games where the outcome is determined by skill rather than luck, you might well enjoy Twixt. The only "luck" in Twixt is a bad move by your opponent or perhaps a fortuitous move you make that turns out well despite your inability to foresee how the move would work to your benefit. In that sense, it is much like chess or checkers.

The game is beautifully simple in concept--I will not describe it in detail because that has already been done very well in the earlier reviews. Suffice it to say that two players are trying to construct a continuous chain of linked plastic pegs running from one edge of the game board to the opposite edge. However, a player's chain cannot cross the chain of his opponent. Thus the game sets up a situation where only one player can be successful. Blocks, traps, feints, and double connections are all part of the game.

One should not be fooled by the simplicity of the game design. Twixt offers an incredible variety of game situations, and the outcome can turn dramatically on a single move. I have played any number of games where one player appeared to have the game well in hand, only to make a sub-optimal move late in the game that opened the door for the opposing player. When that happens, you cannot blame your fate on a poor dice roll or the fact that you drew an unfortunate card. There is no one to blame but yourself!

Games between two evenly matched players who have some experience with Twixt can easily last two hours.

Despite the simplicity of the game and the ease of learning basic play, many beginning players find Twixt incredibly frustrating as they struggle to achieve a competitive level of proficiency. Good players must be able to envision the game board several moves in advance, and this is exceedingly difficult for a beginning player.

In fact, a good Twixt player can generally defeat a novice in a shockingly short time (my wife, who likes board games in general, absolutely will not play Twixt as I made the foolish mistake of wiping her out during her first four attempts at the game). But the beauty and magic of this game make it worth enduring the early humiliation. Stick with it, and Twixt will reward you with many hours of terrific play.

Thread: Re: Twixt puzzle for Chess Life September 2008

clearclaw — 2008-06-15T01:37:54+00:00

Cute. It has been long enough since I've played that unravelling the centre knot took a few minutes. Nice.

Thread: Twixt puzzle for Chess Life September 2008

twixter — 2008-06-14T21:33:20+00:00

Black to move and win. Standard rules apply, which means links never cross. You can read the complete rules at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twixt

You can view the solution here: http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/387/twixtsolutionclsep08i... I hope to have a user-friendly web interface for experimenting with a puzzle and then viewing the solution interactively, before the September CL comes out.

This puzzle comprises most of an advertisement for my Twixt tournament coming up this October 18-19 in Pittsburgh PA as a part of ClineCON www.clinecon.com

Please don't post specific variations here. You can message me instead if you wish.

Image

garygarison — 2008-05-14T02:00:33+00:00

3M catalog listing 1970

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Prodromoi — 2008-05-13T11:17:36+00:00

Advert from 3M bookshelf game in-box advertising leaflet circa 1964

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

droberts441 — 2008-04-28T21:01:25+00:00

Drew1365 wrote:
I think there should be 50 of each color peg (and as many links). At least, that's what my copy has. Another copy I found had closer to 40 of each, but I assumed it was missing some.
For comparison, my 1962 version had 50 red pegs, 51 black pegs, 49 red links, and 52 black links. I record these things as I open them up, so I think 3M just wasn't making an exact amount. The instructions don't list how many you should have.

Thread: Re: Real time Twixt on K2z, post your preferred time to play

JackFlash — 2008-04-24T02:49:49+00:00

I'm definitely interested! Looking good!!!

Thread: Re: Real time Twixt on K2z, post your preferred time to play

clearclaw — 2008-04-24T01:09:22+00:00

I'd be interested if it wasn't Windows-only -- and no, I don't/won't run WINE.

Thread: Real time Twixt on K2z, post your preferred time to play

twixter — 2008-04-23T22:16:00+00:00

K2Z is a realtime Twixt server. It's available for free 24/7. You can automatically register your own handle there and play rated games. That is, you could, if you could find anyone else to play a game with.

Some players from the Little Golem turn based server will show up this coming Saturday, 2008 April 26 at 2000 GMT which is 4 p.m. on the East Coast of the US, and 1 p.m. on the West Coast (daylight saving time.) I'm not sure how many of us will be there, or how long we will stay. Everyone is welcome of course.

My preferred times are 2000 GMT on Saturdays and Sundays. My skill level is Expert.

If you would like to play on K2z at some other time, please post here what time or times you are available, and your approximate skill level (Expert, Intermediate, or Novice.)

* Win32 Client Download: http://www.gamerz.net/k2z/download/k2zwin32.exe
(This runs reasonably well with Wine under Linux.)
* Server URL: www.gamerz.net PORT: 57017 (both should be default)
* A link should be visible within the server to register.

I would be glad to try to help anyone with questions about how to use K2z. It has lots of cool features, such as row handicapping, user defined colors, sound effects, a rating system, save and load games, and the full Twixt rule set including the swap rule and link removal. The server recognizes when one side wins.

Thread: Re: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

FlyingArrow — 2008-04-21T02:43:14+00:00

Not sure, but I prefer Twixt.

Thread: Re: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

Barticus88 — 2008-04-21T02:23:03+00:00

When did "TwixT" become "Twixt" again?

Thread: Re: When did

Great Dane — 2008-02-13T15:41:27+00:00

Just because a title is designed in a creative way, does it not mean that it has to be written like that.

Alex Randolph has not objected to any of the written interviews with him in which the game is called 'Twixt' (or to the entry in Erwin Glonnegger's game bible "Das Spiele-Buch"), and Kris Burm is calling his website www.gipf.com (and not www.GIPF.com, although this refer to other one).

Thread: Re: When did

GaryP — 2008-02-13T15:16:51+00:00

Yup, I had to check my own 3M copy. How odd. I don't like it, but so be it. I don't know what Mr. Randolph's preference was, but I hope he'll forgive me if I keep typing "Twixt".

And again I find myself having a strange hankering for a shortbread cookie, chocolate and caramel. Weird.

Thread: Re: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

Barticus88 — 2008-02-13T00:15:32+00:00

I'm the one who changed it. The front logo is spelled that way, but being a logo, it isn't obvious. On the spine and on the back it says "TWIXT", which is all caps, which furthers the confusion. In the 3M and AH it's always "TwixT" or "TWIXT", never "Twixt". Just look at these rules: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/72142

Thread: Re: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

Drew1365 — 2008-02-12T21:26:55+00:00

GaryP wrote:
I noticed the Twixt thing, too. That looks really dumb. It's not called "Twix Tee". Symmetric lettering on the box title should not be mistaken for functional spelling. Are you sure it's not TWiXT?

In the rules on the box insert, it's actually spelled "TwixT" which I think is weird. I mean, I seriously went over to the game shelf to check it out when I noticed the way it had been changed, and indeed, "TwixT" is the spelling used in the rules.

Although, it is hard to take someone worried about the "wrongness" of something when they have a Mr. B Natural avatar! *shivers*

You should be frightened by someone who dresses in a shimmering leotard and a powder-blue note-spangled jacket and climbs through the windows of young, troubled middle schoolers to play clarinet into the wee hours of the morning. I picked this avatar because it's SCARY!

Thread: Re: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

GaryP — 2008-02-12T20:36:41+00:00

Drew1365 wrote:
Either way, I dislike the all-caps way of spelling the Gipf games. It just looks wrong.
Much, much agreed. The Gipf titles are not acronyms. I always just spell them normally.

I noticed the Twixt thing, too. That looks really dumb. It's not called "Twix Tee". Symmetric lettering on the box title should not be mistaken for functional spelling. Are you sure it's not TWiXT?

Although, it is hard to take someone worried about the "wrongness" of something when they have a Mr. B Natural avatar! *shivers*

Thread: Re: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

Drew1365 — 2008-02-12T20:23:04+00:00

Either way, I dislike the all-caps way of spelling the Gipf games. It just looks wrong.

Thread: Re: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

andyl — 2008-02-12T20:16:28+00:00

Drew1365 wrote:
(Similarly, I wish the Gipf games were called (for example) "Dvonn," instead of "DVONN," and "Zertz" instead of "ZERTZ.")

But you have got the name wrong in both the options for one of those games. It is ZÈRTZ - that grave accent is vitally important.

Thread: When did "Twixt" become "TwixT"?

Drew1365 — 2008-02-12T19:50:35+00:00

I'm positive it wasn't always like this. But I recently noticed that "Twixt" was now listed as "TwixT" with two capital Ts. While it's true that it is, indeed, spelled this way in the rules (at least in the 3M edition I have), doesn't it seem just a little . . . precious?

(Similarly, I wish the Gipf games were called (for example) "Dvonn," instead of "DVONN," and "Zertz" instead of "ZERTZ.")

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

Barticus88 — 2008-02-03T23:11:31+00:00

crusader4x wrote:
I've got a copy of the 1962 3M version. Can anybody tell me how many of each piece I should have?
A complete set should be 50 of each, but 3M never found it important to be precise about it, so they vary by a few. I've played some pretty long games, but I don't think we ever needed more than 40.

Thread: Re: Twixt is hard and then you lose

technolion — 2008-01-18T23:59:47+00:00

David, thanks a lot for that report! Indeed it was a very nice game. I started an unusual opening because that's the only way I have a chance of winning against you

In this game you put up a very good fight and I really had to be careful. I also felt, that my position was very strong after 11.I13 and thought I might have a quick win here. But as you can see, one mistake on my side could have changed everything.

The resemblance of a jagged rocky landscape is pretty good, because the game is beautiful but unforgiving.

Thread: Re: Twixt is hard and then you lose

daveroswell — 2008-01-18T15:48:52+00:00

My head hurts. I'm going back to sleep.

Thread: Re: Twixt is hard and then you lose

JackFlash — 2008-01-18T03:47:13+00:00

Great report! I love the way you highlight with diagrams!

Thread: Re: Twixt is hard and then you lose

mhowe — 2008-01-17T23:31:08+00:00

It's a treat to read such a thoughtful analysis of one of the greatest boardgames. Thank you!

Thread: Re: Twixt is hard and then you lose

jeblucas — 2008-01-17T23:06:35+00:00

That's a nice session report, man. Well done. Intro to Twixt theory, variations, graphics... you may have lost the game, but you win.

Thread: Twixt is hard and then you lose

twixter — 2008-01-17T21:33:41+00:00

I cannot say how other Twixt players experience the game, but for me it can get very intense. The tactics are very sharp and deep. If you've ever seen the rocky landscape of parts of Madagascar, all those jagged towers of rock and perilous chasms seem to resonate with how the game plays. If you know how, you can run along the top like a mountain goat, but make one misstep and what you thought was a harmless three inch gap can open up into a hundred foot fall. This may have some bearing on why Twixt is not as popular these days as many other abstracts such as the Gipf series. The learning curve is too steep.

Here's another Little Golem turn-based game. It lasted a couple months of last year. You can examine every move of the game at http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=771056 Just click on a move to see that position.

Tom Verbeek (technolion) moved first as pale yellow (white on LG), and I played purple (black). Tom makes the odd numbered moves and I make the even numbered moves. Each asterisk indicates a link which is automatically added to the peg just placed. A question mark indicates a questionable or outright bad move, and an exclamation mark indicates a strong move.

1.C13 2.G13 3.Q14 4.P9 5.J10 6.J6?

C13 might seem an unusual first move for those unfamiliar with the pie rule. At the moment Tom made that move, I had the option to swap sides. This is called the pie rule because it is like when two people want to fairly share the last of the pie. One person cuts the pie into two sections and the other chooses which slice to eat. I decided not to swap here, because C13 looked too weak. Instead I played G13. This might also look strange, because it looks like I put my peg where my opponent blocks me, instead of the other way around. But in the opening the main thing to block is influence. By limiting the ways in which C13 can connect to other pegs, I limit its effectiveness. At least, that's what I thought.

J6 is my first sloppy move. This is a good example of why those green diagonal guide lines are useful. When you try to block a peg, the key is to find the balance point. You try to make your opponent's choice, which side of your block to go around, as difficult as possible. But J6 misses the mark. Any strong player looking at this position would see a resource for yellow, which is M7. This is a 3-3 gap from J10, called a "Tilt setup" in the 3M nomenclature. "Setup" means the two pegs can be connected in a single move in two different ways (via K8 or L9). This makes the gap between those pegs difficult to attack. But the real reason M7 is such a great resource for yellow is because it's on the guide line leading to W2. So for example after 7.M8 L7*? L9** I would be unable to keep yellow from reaching the top.

This position is totally hopeless for purple already. If I try to block with N6*, Yellow has O6* and the ladder is now closer to W2. Not only that, but the pair of pegs at J10 and L9 generate loads of threats to connect to the bottom, especially with the help of Q14. Against a player as strong as Tom, I would never be able to block all those threats. So you see how two bad moves in a row can end the game just like that.

J6 might not have been such a bad move IF I had some way of dealing with the M7 threat. For example, maybe I could have answered M7 with L10, threatening to double link to J6 via K8, and also creating some threats to connect to my G13 peg. That idea is certainly better than a simpleminded attack with L7*? but there are some tactical problems with L10. It would have been much stronger for me to play 6.K6 instead of L6. That would have been better positioned to deal with the M7 threat, and still would have been strong enough to secure a connection to the left wall.

Returning to the game:

7.F10! 8.M15 9.F16 10.E13? 11.I13!

Okay, so after all that talk about how wonderful M7 was, why didn't Tom play there? Because Tom plays the whole board. He recognizes that he has to connect to both border rows to win. Consider the pair of pegs at F10 and J10. This 4-0 gap is called a Beam setup. Those pegs threaten to connect to each other via H9 or H11, so the gap between them is very difficult to attack. The M7 resource is still available, and now yellow also threatens to connect to the top on the left side with F6 or H6 for example. So, yellow can still connect to the top, and my J6 peg is looking more useless. At the same time, F10 forms a 3-3 with C13, so Tom is making use of that peg after all. This adds greatly to the ways in which he threatens to connect to the bottom.

F16 is a standard way to "cast a net" to stop my G13 peg from reaching the left. As far as that local battle is concerned, the standard reply for purple would be to play at E13. But here E13? is horribly short-sighted. I need to have a link connected to my G13 before I try E13. I should have attacked on the bottom instead, for example with 10.G20. I might be already losing after E13. Maybe I was even losing after J6.

Isn't I13 pretty? This diamond pattern basically renders my E13 and G13 pegs ineffective. Tom is making very efficient use of the board here. Worse for me, any attempt I make to revive those pegs will only help Tom's position.

12.I12*? 13.K12** 14.I17 15.H15** 16.F20?

I12* is one of the worst moves I made in all of 2007. I'm sure now that I was losing here. There's no excuse for I12* because even if I do somehow manage to reach outside my "diamond prison" to J6 for example, I won't be able to connect from there to the left wall. Tom just has too many threats. After K12** Tom has a commanding central position. I was still deluding myself that I could win.

After H15** I finally realized how useless my three imprisoned pegs were, because yellow can play E12** if necessary.

As far as hustling moves go, F20 was not very good. G20 would have been much better, but I believe it also would have lost against correct play.

17.L18 18.K16** 19.N13 20.P18 21.P16*

Around here it started to sink in just how much trouble I was in. Yellow threatens to either double link at N17 or block me with T18. Since T18 is how the game went, we will look at that line a little later. For now let's look at the variation 22.O20* 23.N17** 24.K20 25.K21 26.L22* 27.J19** 28.J21* 29.I21*

If I had played G20 instead of F20, then H22** here would be a double link, and I would be winning. BUT if I had played 16.G20 then Tom could have entered a different variation: 16.G20 17.L18 18.K16** 19.N13 20.P18 21.T18

And in this variation O20* does not work for me.

Returning to the game:

22.K4* 23.M7 24.P4

I was still harboring delusions that I could somehow connect from J6 to the left side. But Tom saw a tactical shot I missed. You might wonder why he didn't just cut me off on the left right away, with F6 or H6 instead of M7. The answer has to do with the lower right corner of the board, the variation where he blocks me with T18. His M7 attack along the top can be blocked, but he can continue to make forcing moves along the top right, and in the process he is helping his T18 defense.

25.O6* 26.N3* 27.Q5* 28.O16**

Now I realize there is a problem connecting J6 to the left, so in desperation I change my plan.

29.T18 30.M10 31.O11* 32.R17* 33.U16*

33.S15* would have been faster, but it involved some very sharp tactics. U16* is the slower and safer win.

34.S15* 35.T13 36.T12 37.V12* 38.R13** 39.T11* 40.S10* 41.S9*

Threatening Q10** or R7**.

42.R5* 43.S6* 44.T4* 45.U5* 46.V3* 47.K3

This is the shot I missed when I played K4*.

48.R8** 49.R7** 50.L2** 51.H6 52.G6 53.F7*

I finally resigned.

The moral of this story is: Never Play Twixt Before Breakfast.

Thread: Re: Twixt microbadge available

JackFlash — 2008-01-16T02:43:29+00:00

Thanks, I've already gotten my free microbadge but I'll save up some GG. Good information!

Thread: Little Golem stats for the "Championship" Twixt tourneys

twixter — 2008-01-14T21:48:01+00:00

Here are some charts I generated for the turn-based Twixt Championship tournaments on the Little Golem website at www.littlegolem.net These have been going on since May of 2003. The 17th cycle has just begun. New players begin with a rating of 1500 and are placed in Fourth league. First league has one section, usually 9 players. Second league has two sections (two separate tournaments), third league has four, and fourth league has eight. The idea is, the top two finishers in each section are promoted up a league. The bottom four finishers are subject to demotion.

Turn-based means you make moves whenever you visit the website, which is not necessarily when your opponent is logged on. Each game might take weeks to finish, but you can play lots of games at the same time. In a tournament, everyone plays one game against everyone else.

Little Golem also has a monthly championship cycle as well as rating tournaments. You can also challenge anyone you want or post an invitation to play. Over 20,000 games have probably been played so far. All these games are available to examine. Contact me if you want more details.

Attendance has dipped somewhat recently, but first league has been inexorably getting stronger. Now the average is at 2195, the highest yet. There are some incredibly strong players there, from Hungary, Poland, Germany, and the US. One possible metric for determining how deep a game is could be the rating spread on servers, especially popular servers like LG. The strongest player is currently rated 2436. The highest Twixt rating ever achieved on LG was about 2450. If you are not familiar with the Elo rating system, these numbers might not mean much, but they are very impressive IMO. Also I predict average first league ratings will continue to climb, and the highest rating will cross 2600 some day. If that happens, that would be good evidence that Twixt compares to chess in terms of depth. I'm not saying it's as deep as chess, just that it is in the same ball park.

Feedback is most welcome.

Thread: Re: Twixt microbadge available

twixter — 2008-01-14T15:33:55+00:00

At the top of any BGG page are some tabs: Home, Games, My Geek, etc. Click on My Geek and then look for the Microbadges box. Click on [buy microbadges]. They cost 15 Geek Gold each. The Twixt badge is located in Games->T.

You might have received a message from the admins in December with a code for a free micro. If so, it should still be valid, and you won't need any GG.

More info is at http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Microbadge

Thread: Re: Twixt microbadge available

JackFlash — 2008-01-14T03:42:46+00:00

I'm a twixt player too. Where can I get one?

Thread: Twixt microbadge available

twixter — 2008-01-13T20:12:27+00:00

My leftmost microbadge indicates I'm a TwixT player, as distinct from merely a collector. This is the sort of effete snobbishness Spiro Agnew warned us against.

Image

twixter — 2007-11-16T02:45:26+00:00

3M set with diagonal guide lines added. All you need is an awl, a straightedge, and a neutral color pencil.

Image

CasaIlimani — 2007-10-09T20:41:30+00:00

My son house rules...

Thread: Re: Full throttle abstract

Friendless — 2007-08-22T04:44:04+00:00

It sounds like you wrote the Wikipedia article for Twixt...

scratchie, the other Alex Randolph game I like a lot is Xe Queo! It has hidden information, but it's pretty and quick.

Image

karlkindt4 — 2007-07-30T22:10:47+00:00

Ursula overjoyed at winning a game against Dad

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

crusader4x — 2007-06-26T03:30:42+00:00

I've counted and I've got at least 50 of each piece and +1 or +2 for a couple items.

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

GaryP — 2007-06-25T18:39:52+00:00

Drew1365 wrote:
Another copy I found had closer to 40 of each, but I assumed it was missing some.

And, so far, that's been more than plenty. =) However, we're both new to the game, so perhaps more competitive play will require more.

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

Rygel — 2007-06-25T18:28:57+00:00

Our set is complete with 50 of each item.

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

crusader4x — 2007-05-26T22:54:58+00:00

Thanks guys! I'll start counting soon.

BTW, Mazinger Z rocks Gecko23. I remember watching all sorts of anime and the Kamen Riders when I lived in Okinawa as a kid in the 70's. I had a three foot tall Mazinger who launched one fist and fired little missles out of its fingers. My brother had the matching Raiden. They're probably big money on eBay now. Too bad they're sitting in a landfill in Kansas.

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

Gecko23 — 2007-05-26T22:46:10+00:00

I'm pretty sure that 40-50 bits is as close to a 'complete' number as you'll get. I don't think they were all that precise packaging these to begin with.

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

Drew1365 — 2007-05-26T20:52:05+00:00

I think there should be 50 of each color peg (and as many links). At least, that's what my copy has. Another copy I found had closer to 40 of each, but I assumed it was missing some.

Thread: Re: Parts Manifest for 3M?

Gamegrunt — 2007-05-26T20:30:13+00:00

I have that edition.

My game has about 46 of each, pegs and links.

Exactly...

Red pegs - 46
Red links - 49
Black pegs - 45
Black links - 46

Therefore, the mean is 46.5 and the mode is 46 and the median is 46.

I doubt that this number of pegs and links will ever be inadequate.

Gg

Thread: Parts Manifest for 3M?

crusader4x — 2007-05-26T20:04:50+00:00

I've got a copy of the 1962 3M version. Can anybody tell me how many of each piece I should have?

Image

SiskNY — 2007-05-04T12:16:17+00:00

Homemade version with hand-drilled board!

Image

Caesar! — 2007-04-30T14:18:19+00:00

Dutch box cover

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Billy Murphy — 2007-03-23T11:11:32+00:00

Version marketed as Imuri

Thread: Re: Spacing out

twixter — 2007-03-19T18:47:57+00:00

Sorry Dvd, I don't see it anymore. I was probably thinking about a missed resource I had way back on move 21:

I could have won straightaway with 21.V21* 22.W22* 23.S22 24.R22* 25.T22*

But in the final position, this doesn't work, because my U19/V17 pegs are cut off from the rest of the board anyway.

Thread: Re: Spacing out

Barking Iguana — 2007-03-19T01:28:38+00:00

Yes, there's interest.

Image

carl67lp — 2007-03-13T03:16:19+00:00

Overall shot

Thread: Re: How many pieces in Kosmos edition ?

skelebone — 2007-01-26T16:10:39+00:00

I've counted the pieces in my Kosmos edition, and I have 40 lances in each color, and 30 fences in each color. I recall reading somewhere in a post by TwixTer that 40 of each should be more than sufficient for all but the most most hard-fought games, though I'm unsure how 30 fences would affect the outcomes.

Thread: Re: Beaten Again Session Report

twixter — 2007-01-22T21:34:29+00:00

Hi Alicia, thanks for responding.

None-So-Pretty wrote:
Hi, Dave,

I was facinated by the Schmidt Beam/Tilt/Coign/Mesh illustrations that seemed to form a diamond or other elliptical shape.

I have seen these patterns with the 3M set.

The round dots represent where pegs are, and the Xs represent where the same color player may place a third peg which connects the other two.

These patterns are tools available to help you achieve the object, not the object itself. They are called "setups" in the 3M version. It would appear that both 3M and Schmidt neglected to mention a fifth setup pattern, which I call the short setup, shown in the middle of the board. The short pattern may not get you very far, but it is very difficult to block, and can be useful in a close fight. Setups in general are difficult to block, because if the opponent blocks one way, you can connect the other way. However, there are LOTS of other patterns you could use.

The game object, as you probably know, is to connect your border rows with a continuous chain of linked pegs.

I submitted a scan of the Schmidt illustrations to the Geek but they "couldn't use the recent file...Reason: The file contains scans of copyrighted material." I do think the Schmidt illustrations suggest starting mid-quadrant or about "ten to ten/ten past two/twenty past four/twenty to eight" if the four-part board is looked at like a clock-face.

I don't know where the setup patterns are placed in the Schmidt diagrams, but I assure you the purpose of the diagrams is to demonstrate to you what setups look like, and why they are useful. They tell you nothing about where you should start the game. The moves are numbered so that you understand the X move comes last. This does not mean you should make these exact same moves when you play.

As you have downloaded the rules in English, you can see there is no mention in the rules about starting at a specific hole. The entire board is available to you. The pie rule, also known as the swap rule, does mean that you must be careful on the first move to avoid giving an advantage to your opponent, but you are still allowed to play anywhere you want except in your opponent's border rows.

On the Little Golem turn-based Twixt server, some first moves that have been tried (using the notation of the above diagram) are B8, C3, D3, F4, i4, or L6.

Sorry if this sounds heretitwixtical, I just trying to beat my middle school son who is right now suffering a rare Twixt defeat at the hands of a schoolfriend. Perhaps there are so many moves in our games because of the age of the players; teens do not resign early but play it out until they clearly win. I may take a picture of the board today to taunt him with.

Alicia

If you do take a photo, I hope you will upload it here!

David