Stop Gate

Stop Gate: A two player board game designed by John Conway in 1976. The game can be played on a checker board, with dominoes used as the players' pieces; however, this game may also be played using paper and a square grid on graph paper.

• • Goal of the game: The goal of the game is to be "surviving" player who makes the last legal move. When a player can no longer legally place their piece on the game space, their opponent wins.

  • Core Mechanic: The game uses a turn-based mechanic that consists of drawing a rectangle or line over two adjacent squares on the grid.

  • Space of the game: The game space is a two dimensional space, played on a sheet of graph paper. There is no restriction on the size of the game space, however: 1. the space must be of equal number of rows and columns of squares, or else there may be player advantage/disadvantage and 2. The space cannot be infinite: you need the boundaries of the space to complete the game. An 8x8 standard checkerboard is a perfectly adequate dimension for the game space.

  • Objects, Attributes, States: Objects are vertical and horizontal marks that covers the surface area of two adjacent squares. These vertical and horizontal moves are what distinguish the players from one another. The players may either use a colored in rectangle, or a dash. The graph paper and pencil used to play the game as well as the players themselves.

• • Actions:

    • Operative Actions: Throughout the game, a player can make moves by placing a piece either vertically or horizontally (not both).

    • Resultant Actions: Players will wind up trying to block opponents from playing a space by not allowing enough space for two adjacent squares in the opponent's piece format.

  • Rules:

    • Pieces consist of a rectangle or dash placed over two adjacent squares on the grid

    • The player with the "vertical" game-piece asset can only place their pieces vertically, and the player with the "horizontal" game-piece asset can only place theirs' horizontally. Pieces may not be placed diagonally.

    • Players take turns and must place 1 piece at a time.

    • Pieces may share borders between neighboring spaces, but may not overlap.

  • Skills players learn:

    • Players will learn to think ahead in order to secure their next and final moves. They might learn not to put their pieces in the most obvious places, like the corners. You can secure those spaces by strategically placing your pieces on the game space. If one were to place-let's say- their vertical piece in the column adjacent to the outermost wall, then they are veritably guaranteed that the adjacent spot is theirs for the taking. A "bad" play would be to secure all the corners and edges because it doesn't secure any spaces for future turns.