Minefield is a two-player game played on a square board of any size, initially empty. The top and bottom board edges are colored black. The left and right edges are colored white.
Black wins by forming an orthogonally (horizontally and/or vertically) interconnected path of black stones connecting the two black edges of the board. White wins by connecting the two white edges.
PlayThe two players, Black and White, take turns placing their own stones onto unoccupied points, one stone per turn starting with Black. Passing is not allowed, but if you don't have an available placement, your turn is skipped.
Minefield uses the pie rule: White, on his first turn, has the option of switching colors and becoming Black, claiming the first placement as his own, instead of placing a white stone.
Your placement must not create a hard corner or a switch.
A hard corner is comprised of two stones of one color and one stone of the other color contained in a 2x2 area. The two same-colored stones are diagonally across from one another. One point within the area is unoccupied.
A switch is comprised of two stones of each color contained in a 2x3 or 2x4 area. A switch area has four corner points. Two stones of one color occupy diagonally opposite corner points. The two stones of the other color also occupy diagonally opposite corner points. The non-corner points are unoccupied.
Design notesLuis Bolaños Mures made a material contribution to Minefield. Minefield is an SPO OOSCG (single placement only, orthogonal only square connection game) with a local mechanism. You only have to consider the points in the locality of the placement being evaluated for legality. You don’t have to take the whole board into consideration. Luis and I have advanced the state of the art in this tiny class, both independently and in collaboration.
Abstract Strategy · Chaining, Connections, Paper-and-Pencil, Pattern Building, Pattern Recognition, Square Grid, Tile Placement
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