Twixt is here!

Richard has implemented Twixt here! Hooray! He calls it "Twixt PP," for pencil & paper, which I guess means that link removal is not allowed. This may not make much difference for most games, especially for newcomers, but I hope to persuade Richard to allow link removal, eventually. There are quite a few strong players out there, who would be more inclined to play here, if the full ruleset were used.

I think that the full rule set would be quite a lot harder to implement. Not the actual game mecahnics, but the user interface, would make it difficult. It would have to give options of selecting a link, or links, to remove, and then options of adding new links. It would be hard to do this without confusing users.

There is an interface scheme which would be intuitive, used in my Twixt package for "Zillions of Games." If a user clicks on the center of one of his links, that link is removed, and it will still be that player's turn. If the user clicks on a peg of his already on the board, all links will be added to it, and again it will still be that player's turn. As many link removals and additions as desired, could take place in this fashion. The last step in a player's move would be to place a new peg, when all links will be added to it, and the turn will end.

Strictly speaking, in official Twixt you are allowed to refrain from linking to the peg just played, but as a practical matter this should not affect the game, as long as you can remove your links on a subsequent move.

One advantage of this scheme is, empty link spaces would not do anything if you click on them, so the potential for confusion due to a mouse slip, is reduced. Of course, the "cancel move" option would be available at all steps, just as it is for moves in Amazons, for example. Another advantage is, no special type of mouse click (such as right-click or Shift-click) is necessary.

I have also emailed Richard about details of this scheme, as well as a suggested syntax for recording such compound moves. Certainly the programming would be a challenge, especially since the server would still have to be able to recognize a win. But regardless of whether it is implemented or not, I'm very grateful Twixt is here in any form at all!

Mighty fine addition to our school! thank you for your hard work and many efforts.this will bring new influences to our school.

could it be made that the page gets more colour it is pretty white now :)

thnx

It would be good if the two sides, including their bridges, were represented by different colors. It might also be good for the edges of board to be drawn.

I'm very happy Twixt is here. It's one of my favorite games.

And grid numbers/letters.

A nicer board image is now available; if you click on "Login/New User" and then "Edit User Properties" you can choose the alternate Twixt display.

The new display is slightly larger, light green background, grid labels are included, as well as guide lines radiating from the corner holes of the common playing area. These guide lines will hopefully help you to see more clearly where your pieces are in relation to other peices and the borders, on this large grid of holes.

Richard has given me hopeful indications that link removal may be implemented at some point.

I'm finding I can't use that board because I have to keep checking which direction I'm heading in.

i like the new board a lot. the lines showing the diagonals are very helpful. thanks!

so now that twixt is here, does that mean you're going to stop playing hex as much? maybe your skills will go down and you might actually lose a game or two...

Dvd Avins said: "I'm finding I can't use that board because I have to keep checking which direction I'm heading in."

Are you saying the original board was better in this respect? What, specifically, about the new board is confusing? I'm not trying to start an argument; I would really like to know, so that it can (hopefully) be fixed.

And no, Tray, I'm addicted to both games now, and one compliments the other. :-)

Now that Twixt is here, it would also be nice to have a Twixt forum, as there is for all the other games.

David, I fint the thick black bar and the hollow bar in the 'original' board match the unfortunate choice of 'colors' being used on the site rather well. But the thin black line and the thin red line don't.

Okay, what about the white background for the white border rows, and the grey background for black's border rows? That isn't clear enough? I would be glad to submit another image to Richard, if other players feel the same way. I already sent him some larger size boards. Maybe I could modify one of those, to present users with a choice. Of course, Richard is really the one to ask; all I do is send him images.

And what about the green guide lines? Does anyone disapprove of them?

I just wanted to say I'm really having a lot of fun playing Twixt with all of you.

It seems many of you have played Twixt before. I first learned how to play two summers ago, and I liked it so much I wrote a small review of it (at the Funagain.com website!) but I've really only played a small handful of games in my life.

I can't believe how one many times I've made a move and liked my position, only to find that after my opponent has made their reply, I'm now losing! I'm finding I'm learning something new with just about every game.

I'm really glad we have Twixt here. For now, not being able to remove links and being able to cross your own links doesn't bother me, but yes, I too hope that eventually the full ruleset will be used.

For those of you who weren't aware of it, David J Bush has written a couple of wonderful articles on Twixt for the wonderful magazine ABSTRACT GAMES.

(http://www.abstractgamesmagazine.com)

I recommend the magazine to anyone who is interested in abstract games. The magazine is published four times a year, and I believe back issues for all months are still available.

I am playing Twixt for the first time I like it very much.

After switching to the new table it became a much easier to compute the possibilities.

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