[JohnGalt2341]

1 guess per person. No edits. If you guess a 2nd time, your 2nd guess will be ignored. First correct guess Wins 50 Points.

Instead of putting a cap on how many times you can Win, the way I am going to do it is, however many times you have Won already, you have to wait for that many number of guesses before you can make your guess. For instance, if you have Won twice already, for this particular puzzle, you have to wait for at least 2 people to guess before you can make your guess, or else you will be DQ'd. I'll list the puzzle Winners and how many times they've Won at the bottom of this post.

Hexversi has the exact same rules as Othello except the board is shaped like a hexagon and there is a dead spot in the middle of the board as seen in the image below. You cannot play through the dead spot, you must play around it. If you do not know how to play Othello, I recommend that you watch the minute and a half video below, and you will know ALL of the rules.

What's the best move for Purple?(feel free to take a guess)




I've added a 100 Point bonus for the first 10 players that post a screenshot of themselves beating this AI in the link below. Take the screenshot before your last move of the game so the AI doesn't block the image. Three people have beat the AI so far. They are: Housemoney, jackpot269, and Ian. Well done gentlemen!

http://meta-site.net/hexlo/?fbclid=I...xXgSGPufKWHqTE

I'll keep this going until 10 people beat it. You can only win this ONCE. AND, you can't use someone else's screenshot. In other words.... it has to be a unique configuration. This is NOT a strong AI. It's VERY aggressive. Aggressive play is EASY to beat once you know how to deal with it.

Here's some hints as to how games are Won. Games are NOT won by gobbling up as many pieces as you can on every single move. This is a TERRIBLE strategy. Games are won by trying to run your opponent out of options/moves entirely, and forcing them to give you a corner. Whomever has more options/moves, is ALMOST ALWAYS winning the game, regardless of what the score says.

When it comes to piece count, you'll usually want to think "less is MORE", until you can get a corner. Try to keep your pieces INSIDE of your opponents pieces. This will create MORE options/moves for you.

Once you run your opponent out of options(good ones at least), then you get to dictate the direction of the game, and getting your piece count up high and winning the game after that is easy. Good luck!

Here are the past Puzzle Winners so far:

blankoblanco 3
Ian 2
Optional 2
gauchojake 1
las8 1

[blankoblanco]

I'm guessing most just don't catch these when they pop up, obviously there's no mailing list or anything, and it ends up buried below a ton of other threads. I know I won't get the opportunity to guess but I'll post for visibility!

[JohnGalt2341]

Any guesses?

[Ian]

Any guesses?

Yup. I'm waiting to pounce after 2 guesses. lol

Thanks for posting all the questions, Galt. I'm having fun (trying to) figure out the answers, even when I don't get a chance to respond for the points.

[SEAHAWKHARRY]

G2.

[JohnGalt2341]

G2.

Negative

[JohnGalt2341]

Any other guesses? Las8?

[manny24]

c5 ?

[Ian]

B8!

[JohnGalt2341]

B8!

We have a Winner!

After Purple moves to b8, this leaves Green with exactly 2 options as seen below. No matter which option Green chooses, Purple is going to be able to WEDGE in at either h9, or i8. This will give Purple BOTH the NW corner AND the NE corner. From there, Purple can start working counter clockwise along that NW side of the board, giving Green crappy moves 1 at a time. It's an easy Win for Purple after that.


Here's the 2nd screenshot after Green has played h9. And now as you can see, Purple can wedge in at i8. This will give Purple the NE corner at k6, as well as the NW corner at f11. Green is completely out of options/moves at this point. I didn't fill in all of the notation for Purple but Purple has many options/moves to choose from. After Purple takes the NW corner at f11, Purple can start working counter clockwise around the board by taking e11, and then a11, and then a10, and then a7. All of these pieces will be permanent.


Here's a 3rd screenshot right before Green resigned. The score looks close here but this is merely an illusion. As always, you should ignore the score and pay attention to the option/move count. That ALMOST ALWAYS tells a MUCH truer story. This time I DID fill in all of the notation for Purple aside from b5. And as you can see, Green has exactly 1 option here. Purple has 9 options. This is how we know Purple is dominating this game. Had it played out, I think it would have been roughly something like Purple 75 Green 15.


One more tip, if BOTH you and your opponent have access to an empty pocket of ONE, just like in this puzzle, you should ALMOST ALWAYS take it. The reason is simple, it's so your opponent doesn't take it. Everything we do to try to Win games is to try to find and create moves(for ourselves) everywhere we can. This is how games are Won.

[manny24]

fuk

[Ian]

One more tip, if BOTH you and your opponent have access to an empty pocket of ONE, just like in this puzzle, you should ALMOST ALWAYS take it. The reason is simple, it's so your opponent doesn't take it. Everything we do to try to Win games is to try to find and create moves(for ourselves) everywhere we can. This is how games are Won.

Thanks for the tip. I've been playing against the AI program you posted and this is something I never picked up on, and sometimes I even create these positions for my opponent. Very helpful