I just tried this game a few days ago, and at first glance, it seemed interresting. Does anyone here have any experience with it? Is it solved? Does it become unbalanced when the players are more experienced? Would it be suitable for a site like Little Golem?
Oh, and I'm mainly concerned about the 2-player version. I'm sure the 4-player version can be entertaining in a social setting, but multi-player games like that can very much end up in situations where you get a "king-maker".
I have played it a couple of years ago. The rules are simple and straightforward. I remember I enjoyed it and was surprised by the deepness of the game (my aunt, who owns the game, easily beats me).
I have no clue if it's a good game at a higher level.
The AI at quoridor.net is insultingly poor. And there are never any human opponents at their human vs human tables. So, there's really no internet alternative here. Sure, I can play "real life", but somehow I don't get the chance too often, and I'd really love to play against players of such quality which I know exists here on Little Golem. A new game hasn't really been put to the test before it's been played on Little Golem! :-)
Sorry I missed this topic earlier. I love Quoridor, it is one of the only games that intrigues me as much as Twixt. I agree with klaashaas that the game has surprising depth. I have suggested it in the past when there were forums regarding games for LG. I just have not had enough play of the game with competent players to know if it becomes unbalanced, if there is a first move advantage, and how play would evolve if it were taken up and really explored by the kind of folks who play here at LG. My gut instinct is that it would go very well and that there would be a myriad of strategies that would emerge. I also have used something like the strategy that Carroll described. In converse, I often try to make my opponent choose between two routes that can be easily blocked. This forces them to either commit to a route which can then be cut off, making them backtrack, or use up a wall piece in order to eliminate one of the routes so that they won't have to backtrack. (I hope that gem of a sentence made sense.) One of the interesting aspects of the game is how the players must consider how they use finite resources and how to make their opponent use resources. Not too many abstract strategy games that can be played with a simple set of rules, in a succinct format have that aspect. Anybody know how to get Richard's attention and ask him about this again. I would be very happy to see Quoridor here on LG.
I think the 8 slot x 8 slot board that was created for the original board game makes sense for LG as well. An even number of slots means that no combination of wall pieces can cross the board and I think this is important to the design of the game. (Not that you would ever be able to that according to the rules but it comes into play strategically in my opinion.) My point is that any change to the board size would have to be two slots at a time. I just don't think the game would work the same with an odd number. That being the case I am afraid that a board that was two slots bigger would make games take far too long here on LG just because of the nature of the system. A smaller board would just be too small for the game to work. This is just my opinion and it is based only on supposition and not practical experimentation with board size.
correction (Not that you would ever be able to DO that according to the rules but it comes into play strategically in my opinion.)
Of course none of this matters if there is a need for and no permission for LG to implement the game.
Quoridor.net may have been implemented by the designers or by Gigamic and they may not want to allow LG to implement the game. Unfortunately, as Marius said, the AI on the site is not up to the task of playing a decent game and so nobody with any skill is going to bother playing it more than once. The site claims to be using the good moves of the AI's opponents to build a stronger database for the AI but that is just not going to happen if nobody with any idea of how to play gets on the site. Their best chance of getting a decent database of good moves is actually to let it be implemented here at LG where people would play the game enough to really explore what the best strategies are. I think the example of Havana where play has progressed here on LG is a good one.
Details, details. I've only played 9x9 so far, and that works well, but as long as I get to play the game, I guess 8x8, 9x9, 10x10 or 11x11 doesn't matter much (although I DO like the symmetry of having my pawn starting at the center, which obviously is only possible on odd numbered boards).
However, it seems the chances are slim we'll ever see the game here, unfortunately.
@Carroll- I am having trouble figuring out how to explain what I mean partially because it is a vague aspect of the game for me. The uneven number of squares (even number of slots) means that it becomes more complicated to decide how to arrange your walls. The walls block two squares, the board has an odd number of squares in both directions, I have to consider this when trying to plan my strategy to shunt my opponent's pawn one direction or another. One direction will be easy to block with an even set of walls the other will require a more complicated structure which uses more resources. I think this would be somewhat diminished if the number of squares was raised to an even number. I don't know maybe it doesn't matter but it is something I think about when I play the game.
I personally think Havannah takes a bit too long but then I am terrible at Havannah so maybe just my games take too long. Twixt has a big board but games are resolved fairly quickly because the likely outcome of a game comes into focus fairly quickly and resignations generally occur soon after that focus is reached. I am not sure that Quoridor on a bigger board would have a similar result, it is just such a different game. Maybe you are right, bigger might be better but as Marius said any size board would be better than none.
Marius is probably also right in saying that there is probably little chance we will see the game here on LG and it is unfortunate.
I must admit that I have no talent for designing games. Your ideas are good, Carroll, I hope you and someone with some skills in game design comes up with something.
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