On Fri, 27 Jan 2006, Marc Hartstein wrote:
It seems you may now only pass if you cannot perform the action on your own trio. Is this intended?
It's a clear wording change. I think it's a better game this way, too. (We played a few rounds of v2 this week, and being able to always pass was a safe-but-boring option. If I'm forced to make a negative move occasionally, I have to rethink my strategy, which is more fun.)
The DIG rule still causes me to blink and stare. (I know, we keep complaining...) Maybe "If its destination is occupied, it goes under the piece that was already there (uprighting it, too)."
Or you could rewrite the whole thing to be more parallel to the HOP construction (which is very clear). "A sideways piece tunnels down, and surfaces upright at any spot in the line (where it was, or along the direction it pointed). Stand up anything that it rises underneath."
Putting DIG after HOP would make this easier to assimilate.
SWAP: I'm a little unclear on "if it must". Does that mean that if you have a lying down L pointing at an S stacked on top of an M and choose to SWAP the S and the L, the L reorients to be upright stacked on the M (it *must* reorient to be legal), but the S ends up upright next to them (this being a legal positions)? I had read the prior rules to suggest that each swapped piece reorients to face in the direction the other had be facing...if I was wrong, this is clearer, though still slightly vague.
I think this is a change from the original rules, and yes, it is clearer. (It's also a spot where the players *might* misinterpret it, but if they do, they won't notice and they'll still be playing the game.)
--Z -- "And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..." * If the Bush administration hasn't thrown you in military prison without trial, it's for one reason: they don't feel like it. Not because you're an American.