
Organicity in abstract strategy games - fogus
https://nickbentley.games/2018/06/08/organicity-in-abstract-strategy-games/
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pierrec
This took me down the rabbit-hole of the author's website, mindsports.nl,
which has a number of interesting problems in puzzles and games. I was
particularly piqued by the China Labyrinth and related family of puzzles:

[http://www.mindsports.nl/index.php/puzzles/tilings/china-
lab...](http://www.mindsports.nl/index.php/puzzles/tilings/china-labyrinth/)

It will be more difficult to sleep now that I know nobody has answered the
question: " _Why do both known 16x16 solutions to the Octopuszle feature the
same diagonal complex?_ "

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bdr
Thanks for the pointer, this page is really cool. It looks like someone here
found a different Octopuszle solution:
[http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?t=99760](http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?t=99760)

Looking at the four corners of the solutions on mindsports.nl, the pieces are
nearly identical, and in particular the diagonals are identical. It makes
sense that the two hand-solvers would use this symmetrical configuration. The
programmatically found solution has different corners.

Still, that amount of constraint is surprising. It would be a nice surprise if
that corner symmetry could be proven to determine the diagonal complex.

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radarsat1
Fascinating, Hex in particular looks interesting, I never heard of it. Once I
understood where the article was going, I was looking for a mention of Dots
and Boxes though..
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dots_and_Boxes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dots_and_Boxes)

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vswchwrm
Some practice opponents to help you on the way
[http://hexboard.com/Hexkit/practice.htm](http://hexboard.com/Hexkit/practice.htm)

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partycoder
The ko rule in Go can get a bit more complex.

[https://senseis.xmp.net/?Superko](https://senseis.xmp.net/?Superko)

This gif has an example of a Superko (which would likely become illegal
depending on what ruleset you use):
[https://towardstengen.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/superkoles...](https://towardstengen.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/superkoless-
loop.gif)

Different rulesets (Japanese, Chinese, Korean) define and handle Superko
differently.

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fromMars
Go, is more organic in that structures tend to grow and die over the course of
the game.

Chess rewards calculation moreso than Go. Games are often won in a few
tactical sequences.

On the other hand, in Go structure and shape is more important and more long
term strategizing is required as plans involve building structures in many
parts of the board.

While there are local tactical fights that are important to read, one most
also think more globally.

So, I'm not sure that the property that one game is more organic is really the
essential differentiating factor between the two games.

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hyperpape
I'm a passable Havannah player, and a passble Go player, and I've read
Freeling's writing before, but I confess that I don't really know what
organicity is.

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failrate
Organicity in abstract strategy games may be defined as “the degree to which a
game’s behaviour may be perceived as organic, or ‘life like'”.

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hyperpape
Of course I read that. I just don’t have any concept of why you’d say these
games are organic. It sounds vaguely truthy, but that’s it.

