TAIFAS
An equal goals game without draws. For two players, played with black and white stones on a quad board. Each player takes possesion of all the stones of one color. On his turn, starting with Black, a player must place a stone of either color on an empty square. The pie rule is used: after Black's first turn, White has the option of swapping sides. When the board is full, the player with the most zones wins. In case of a tie, the owner of the last completed zone loses.
Definitions:
A player's zone is a square or an orthogonally adjacent group of squares, not occupied by that player, that borders orthogonally only on his own stones or on his stones and one or more of the board's edges. It is equivalent to Go's concept of territory, but without distinction between empty squares and squares occupied by the opponent. In the following example, both X's and O's have five zones:
x o x . o
o o x o .
. x o . .
x . x o o
. x o x .
Variant:
Alternatively, you can value every zone 1/n points, n being the number of squares that the zone contains. The player with the most points win. This adds an additional layer of strategy, but it may be too complicated.
Any comment is welcome :-) .
Thanks, adagio_burner.
I have the same suspicion, too. That's why I decided to allow both players to place either color's stones. But it may not be still sufficient to balance attack and defense, i.e. building your own zones and preventing your opponent from doing the same. Maybe some way of capturing of dislodging enemy pieces is needed. Any suggestions?
Anyway, playtesting is necessary to see how the game truly unfolds. I'll keep reporting.