Twixt: swap rule

Hi,

I noticed that, when a twixt player decides to swap sides

the first peg becomes black, its coordinates on the board swap too (e.g. d3 -> e4), but the coordinates in the

list of moves don't change.

according to the original Twixt-rules, the peg should stay

the same (position and colour) and the player's coulours swap (which would also be more paper-and-pencil like)

is there a way to fix this.

anyway, I enjoy playing at littlegolem.

martin

When a swap move is played, it is listed as "swap" which implies the peg is relocated. I agree it would be better for the swap move to be listed with the new coordinates of the first peg, e.g. 1.e3 2.swap:c5 ...

From a programming perspective, it is difficult to change the color assignments of the players after the game has begun. The players are listed next to the board, Black player on top, White player on bottom. They would have to switch places for swap. Also, the moves are listed in alternating colors. A swap move would have to be white like move 1, changing the sequence. It is simpler to swap the peg to black instead.

Other players have complained about this same problem for Hex. I personally don't mind; in fact I like it the way it is, but I could adapt if it were changed.

If you use Jtwixt to examine games, you can flip the board AND flip the coordinates, to adapt to a game where swap is played.

By the way, my Twixt package for "Zillions of Games" also swaps the peg to a new location.

For Jtwixt and JHex you have to not only flip the board and flip the color, but since the first player is assumed to be a particular color you have to change the color of Player 1 and change the color of Player 2. And you habve to do all that every time you swithc from a game that was swapped to one that wasn't. I find it a significant hassle.

Do you have a better way?

I use a different color scheme for Jtwixt. I don't associate either color with always moving first or second.

How do you do that? Or do you mean that you also don't associate a color here with a color in Jtwixt?

Using Jhex, I treat the swap in hex by artificialy playing A1 or M13, making the conscious effort to place the real swapped piece correctly. From that point on the history is correct. Perhaps Jtwixt has a similiar weak point.

Responding to Dvd Avins:

Little Golem Twixt pieces are black and white. I use Jtwixt with orange and blue pieces. I don't change this color scheme around when swap is used. So, sometimes orange refers to the player who moved first (LG white), and sometimes orange refers to the player who moved second (LG black). This is not a problem for me.

Responding to dj11:

Jtwixt and Jhex have a board display which initially shows the border rows for the first player along the top and along the bottom. Since neither Jtwixt nor Jhex have a swap move, the player who owns the first peg on the board is always regarded as the player who moved first, within these programs. If you want to use Jtwixt or Jhex to examine a game from LG where move 2 was the swap move, and you want the display to look the same, no mirror image, and you want the same grid labels, then you would have to flip the board so that the player who owns the first peg on the board now has border rows along the left and along the right. Flipping the board automatically flips the grid labels, so you would have to also flip the grid labels back again so they will correspond with the LG grid labels.

If you don't flip the board, you're not going to get a position that looks the same as the LG display, regardless of where you place the first token. For example, if an LG Hex game begins 1.D2 2.swap, that swapped token is now on B4. If you just play 1.B4 on Jhex without flipping the board, Jhex will treat the player who owns that B4 token as trying to connect the top row (row 1) with the bottom row (row 13), whereas in fact the player who owns the B4 token is trying to connect the left edge (row A) with the right edge (row M). I suppose you could ignore what Jhex assumes, since Jhex does not understand the object of the game, but the border row colors would not correspond correctly with

the token colors, which I would find highly confusing.

I may have made myself unclear. When setting jhex to follow a game, if the swap is involved in the real game, in Jhex I place the first move (preswap) in one of the deep corners. Then I place the real first piece in the real place (postswap). From that point on all jhex pieces can follow the LG history, and only the knowedge that my jhex board has a phoney deep corner piece is an issue. It is easier than fipping this and that. I got used to it quickly.

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