Yavalath

Alternate Names

The name "Yavalath" was randomly created from a list of Tolkien-style word forms by a Markovian process.

No. of Players

Two or Three

Equipment

A Yavalath board, thirty one white stones, and thirty black stones are required for two players. Three players will require twenty one white stones, twenty black stones and twenty stones of some other color.

History

Yavalath was invented by a computer program called LUDI guided by Cameron Browne and copyright (c) Cyberite Ltd, December 2007.

Objective

A player wins by making a line of 4 (or more) counter of their color. A player loses by making a line of three counters of their color beforehand. A draw occurs if the board otherwise fills up before either plays wins or loses

Play

Two players take turns adding a piece of their color to any vacant cell.

Variations

The three-player version is played according to the same rules, except that players must block the next player's win if possible, and any player forming a line of 3 without also forming a line of 4 is removed from the game (but not their pieces). The winner is either:

  1. The last surviving player, or

  2. The first player to form a line of 4.

A version called Five-not-four has end conditions that can be extended to winning on a line of five and losing on a line of four. This version works surprisingly well but should be played on larger boards, e.g. six cells per side.

Pentalaph, also by Cameron Browne and LUDI, is played on the same board with the simple objective of making five-in-a-row. It incorporates the pie rule and also allows for capture of opposing counters that have become completely surrounded, i.e. lost all of their liberties.

Sources

  1. Cameron's Yavalath Page. http://www.cameronius.com/games/yavalath/