The designer of Slither has proposed a rule change, which he is referrring to as “advanced slither”. https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1700992/slither-development. We can play it here because any move that is legal in advanced slither is also legal in “classic slither”. The new rule is that a stone may only move if it is orthogonally adjacent to at least one stone of any colour. Would anyone like to give it a go?

Clearly, it is a huge changement, the games will be completely different. Interesting.

This will have a major impact on the openings and some local tactics.

The BGG link is down at the moment. I wonder if the designer of Slither had explained the rationale behind this change.

Yes he has: Slither development

I'd like to give it a try. It looks like the only way to do so on LG is with a private tournament, right? If so, Christian, could you please start one?

No, you'll have to do without me for the time being. I'm busy overhauling mindsports.nl. Slither has no applet at our site, but I mentioned 'Advanced Slither' in the rules.

Oh, alright then.

Further slither development:

“a stone may only move if, at the outset of the turn it is part of a group of like-colored stones which touches one or more enemy stones” https://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/24831215#24831215

My opinion about “advanced” Slither after one game: it's not really worth the extra rule. The grid formation can be built with pairs of stones to ensure mobility. Once the game progresses into melee (and it does so much quicker than in normal Slither), there is not much of a difference. Sometimes tactical decisions need to take into account the freezing/unfreezing of stones ( like in this move), but it doesn't happen often.

A better pie rule solution for this game is the following: one player chooses the number of turns from the start of the game that the first player must wait before being able to move a piece. The other player chooses who goes first.  Restricting movement to accommodate the traditional pie rule is a bad idea, as it adds complexity and limits player freedom.

I suggested the same thing six years ago on BGG. I think it's the best way to balance the game.

How unbalanced is the game Luis? Do we know for sure that it favours the first player?

If anyone wants to try out Advanced Slither, there's now an implementation on Abstract Play. I found it to be quite interesting as your own isolated stones can sometimes be more of a hinderance than a help. It feels like the game is ever so slightly more tactical.