Rush (game proposal)

This game has been suggested by Mark Steere who is the creator of many interesting board games and offers all of them for a free implementation on game sites (you can find more games at MarkSteereGames.com page).

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INTRODUCTION Rush is a territory game which is played with a Go set. Any size board with an odd number of rows and an odd number of columns can be substituted for the Go board. Play begins on an empty board, as shown in Figure 1. Each player takes possession of all of the stones of one color. Draws and ties cannot occur in Rush. Mark Steere designed Rush in May, 2007.

STONE PLACEMENT Players take turns placing their own stones on unoccupied points. A “connection” in Rush is formed when a stone is placed horizontally or vertically adjacent to an on-board stone. If a player adds a stone which forms either no connections or only one connection (to either color stone), that player’s turn is concluded.

A player may place a stone on the board which forms two or more connections only if at least one of those connections is made with an enemy stone.

A player may never, under any circumstances, place a stone which forms two or more connections with his own stones and no connections with any enemy stones. Figure 2 shows all of the legal placements available to White, marked with W’s.

If a player forms two or more connections with his newly added stone, he is required to add another stone to the board while it is still his turn. He must continue to add stones during his turn until his most recently placed stone forms less than two connections, or until there are no more placements available to him, at which time his turn is concluded.

Each player will always have at least one placement available at the outset of his turn, and must make at least one placement on his turn.

A player is never required to make a placement which forms two or more connections unless his only available placements each form two or more connections.

Figures 3a through 3c show a series of stones added by White during one of White’s turns. Each placement is marked with a W.

OBJECT OF THE GAME When the board is completely filled with stones, the player with the majority of stones on the board wins.

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