Kropki

Kropki (or Dots) in English is a paper and pencil game that is played by two people on a grid like paper (squared paper). Kropki is a logically game and is often compared to Go, however it is different. According to (Kolosov ) and

1) Different aims of the game

- In Go you must take more territory

- In Points - take more enemy points

2) Size of the field

- In Go - 19*19 (standard), 13*13, 9*9

- In Points - 39*32 (standard) (**{from other research the field can be 38x31})

3) Variances

- In Go stone has 4 variances

- In Points - 8 variances.

"It seems this game was invented to play Go with paper and pencil - in contrast to Go you can surround empty spaces together with opponents dots, and the surrounded areas are off limits for the rest of the game. Go experience is helpful, but many tactics work differently."

(" Board Game Geek")

Goal of the game

The Goal of the Game is to take as much enemy points as possible. Each takes turn to color a node of the grid and aims to create regions of territory that surround the opponent's points (Stachowski). Until the other player declares Stop or both people come up with a universal consensus that the game is over. The winner is the person who surrounds more of his opponent's points. (Stachowski)

Core Mechanics

Is to capture your opponents points to win the game.

Space of the game:

The games space is a 38x31 square grid, like illustrated below:

Objects, Attributes, States, and Actions

In this example below we see the that the Objects are the white squares that occupy the space in the gird. Now According to Jessie Schell's " The Art of Game Design" all "objects generally have one or more attributes, one of which is often the current position in the game space (pg 136)."

To this:

Were previously to black, he had only gained 1 point from that capture, white has now gained 6 points from the recapture.

Rules:

Dots are played on intersections. Each dot is a point. You only get points if you capture an enemies point. Its a turn based game allowing one player to place one dot in one turn in his own color.The first of both players go must be in the Center of the field. after that any other point can be set anywhere else. Game is over if by mutual agreement or there are no free dots available. In addition, if a player say stop then the other player has unlimited goes for 3 minutes circling enemy points if it's possible. When the 3 minutes is up the game is over automatically. Whoever has the most points in a captured area wins the game, or by mutual agreement. If you capture or pass in a turn you do not get an extra turn.Once the Capture has been done no player can move inside the captured zone. Only in the available space around the capture(d) zones. Neither player can pass there turn.

Players cannot make use of the edges or corners for captures of enemy points.

"A" and "B" would not be able to capture the Black point because it they are either along the corner or are on the edge of the grid. Points connected to the grid like the one in the diagram below are also safe from capture.

Captured points in a captured zone cannot do anything. They become inert. They cannot be used to form capture territory. In addition, No player can move in in a captured zone, whether it be his or the other players. "In the following diagram Black cannot make use of the marked point to create territory by playing at the node marked 'A'. Regions of territory belonging to the opposing players cannot overlap (Stachowski)."

However if White has not yet declared his region of territory then Black may play at the node marked 'A' and create his own territory (Stachowski)."

Since white did not claim that area as territory then black can claim it.

When making capture of an enemies points you must trace a line from dot to dot in a forward direction, you may not backtrack. "With dots being in adjacent intersections, or diagonally adjacent intersections, and the line encloses part of the board with enemy dots within it (Bazynski)."

Skills players learn

This game gives you the skill of strategy.

Deconstructed by: Josh Hines.

Citations

Kolosov , V. A. "What the difference between Points and Goe?." (2008): n. pag. Web. 26 Aug 2011. <http://tochki.org/lesson/eng/faq/faq02.html>.