'' L-game '' is a simple board strategy game invented by Edward de Bono . First described in his book The Five-Day Course in Thinking (1967).
Content
- 1 Background
- 2 Game Description
- 2.1 Rules of the game
- 3 Analysis
- 4 Game strategies
- 5 game variations
- 6 Game Versions
- 7 notes
- 8 References
Background
Edward de Bono had lunch with the mathematician Professor Littlewood. The conversation turned to games and both scientists agreed that chess is too complicated and that it harms the aesthetics of the game. De Bono set himself the goal of inventing a game that would be as simple as possible and would depend on the skill level of the player. The result was an L-game [1] .
Game Description
L-game is designed for two players. The playing field is a 4 × 4 square board. Each player has an L-shaped figure of 3 × 2 squares. There are also two neutral figures 1 × 1 square in size (shown as black discs in the diagram).
Game Rules
During each of his turns, the player must first move his own L-shaped figure, and then (optionally) he can move one of the neutral figures. The game is considered to be won when the opponent cannot move his L-shaped figure to a new position.
Shapes cannot overlap each other - neither fully nor partially. To move the L-shaped figure, it is lifted, and then placed in empty squares anywhere on the playing field. At the same time, it can be rotated or even turned over, the only rule is that it should be in a position different from the position of the figure before the start of the move. Thus, at least one square must be occupied where there was no figure before. To move a neutral piece, the player simply takes it and places it on an empty square anywhere in the playing field.
Analysis
In a game with two none of them ever wins or loses. There are 2296 different ways that shapes can be arranged (without taking into account the possibility of rotation or mirroring in the new way of arranging shapes; and also taking into account the interchangeability of neutral shapes). Any arrangement of figures may occur during the game for each of the players. Each player will lose in 15 positions shown in the figure, if his move is now (in the figure, his figure is shown in red). In each case, the figure of the one who loses touches the corner of the field.
The second figure shows 14 positions where red loses to perfect blue.
Game Strategies
Thus, a winning strategy is to:
- avoid placing your own figure on corner cells (and especially in such a way that the figure has full contact with the edges of the field;
- use neutral pieces to block the opponent’s access to safe areas [1] .
One of the main strategies is to use a neutral figure and your own L-shaped figure to block part of a 3 × 3 square field in one of the corners, and use another neutral figure to prevent your opponent's L-shaped figure from moving to the mirror position. Another strategy is to block half the field with an L-shaped figure, followed by the use of neutral figures to prevent possible changes in the enemy’s position.
These positions can often be achieved when a neutral figure remains on one of the eight “killers of space” around the perimeter of the board. "Killers of space" - cells along the perimeter of the field, but not in the corner. The next turn, the player either makes the pre-occupied “killer” part of his own square, or uses it to block the position along the perimeter, and then makes the blocking of the square or half of the field with his own L-shaped figure and moving the neutral figure.
Game Variations
In addition to the classic version described above, a certain modification of the rules is possible. For example, a game on the account. With such a game, four squares are painted in one corner of the board; the gameplay proceeds, as with the usual rules. However, the player who managed to put his figure on the filled field is awarded points (how many filled cells are occupied, so many points). If the player blocks the opponent, and therefore there are no moves left, he gets 5 points and the pieces return to the starting position. The process continues until one of the players scores a pre-agreed number of points.
In another version of the game, the winner is the one who puts his piece symmetrically to the opponent’s [1] .
Game Versions
Although the game is no longer officially released, it is not difficult to make it yourself [2] . There are versions of the game (in the classic version) for devices based on IOS [3] and Android [4] (called "LQ"), and numerous online versions of the game.