Playing Maldoo

There are 13 games to play:

1. Reversi
2. Ghost
3. Life1
4. Life2
5. TouchIt
6. Symmetry
7. CountLines
8. ClearIt
9. FillIt
10.FindThem
11.Visiput
12.SpeedGo
13.RepeatIt

All the games are suitable for the age range 8-80. TouchIt and Ghost are very simple, and with reduced speed (the Gap parameter) are suitable for young children (about 4 years old).

All the games except Symmetry can be played by one player or two. Symmetry is a one-player game. Life1, Life2, TouchIt and FindThem in FirstMiss mode are good games for group of more than two players.

Reversi, Ghost, Life2, CountLines, ClearIt, FillIt, FindThem, Visiput, RepeatIt and SpeedGo are 'taking turns' games, in which the two player play in turn. The time for a turn is controlled by the Turn Time parameter (Time menu). The board switches on one of the turn-lights (large lights on both sides of the alphanumeric display) to signal whose turn is to play.

These games can also be played against the board (the Board Plays parameter). For Reversi, CountLines, ClearIt, FillIt and FindThem, the playing level of the board can be adjusted by the Play Level parameter in each game's Rule menu.

On startup, the board displays Play:Game followed by the game name. To change the game, press the 'Up Arrow' and 'Down Arrow' buttons (top right).

To start playing press the 'play' button (large right-hand arrow). It is possible to work out the rules of most of the game simply by playing them. FillIt is the easiest to work out, Life1, Life2 and SpeedGo are the most difficult.

A simulation is available at Maldoo home page:http://maldoo.com/.

A short description of the games and operation of Maldoo is available at this page http://maldoo.com/maldoo-short.html. This is handy as a "quick reference card".

Maldoo Limited
129 Corrie Road
Cambridge CB1 3QQ
maldoo@maldoo.com

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How to:

Start a game:: Press the 'Play' button (Right-hand large arrow).
Change the game:: Press the Menu button (the 'square' button, top left) until the words Play: Game appear. Then use the Up-arrow or Down-arrow (top-right) button to change the game.
Change the turn time:: Press the Menu button (the 'square' button, top left) button repeatedly until the words Time:Turn Time appear. Then use the up/down arrow buttons (top right) to change the time.
Change game specific rules:: Press the 'square' button (top left) repeatedly until the word Rule appears. Then use the left-arrow/right-arrow buttons (top middle) to find the appropriate parameter, and then use the Up-arrow/Down-arrow buttons (top right) to change the value. The applicable parameters for each game are listed in the game specific explanation below. For example:
Change the gap in TouchIt or Ghost:: Check that game is TouchIt or Ghost as above. Then press the menu button ('square', top left). The words Rule:Gap should appear. Then use the Up/Down buttons (Top right) to change the gap time.
Play against the board:: Select the game as above, and while the words Play:Game are displayed press the small right arrow button (Top middle). The words Play:Board plays appear. Then use the Up/Down buttons (top right) to change the setting to Yes.
Pause the game:: Press the Pause/Continue button (||/ button). Any button except the 'Play' button can be used, but The Pause/Continue button stops the game without affecting any other state.
Continue a paused game:: Press the Pause/Continue button.
Change points on the board:: Find the word Play:Game as above, and then press the small right arrow button (middle top) three times to find the player parameter. Use the Up/Down buttons to set the player, and then press the board where required.

Visual feedback:

1) In two-player games, the board signals which player is to play by the two large green and red circles at the top. A player must play only when his/her light is on.

2) When the game is paused, or is otherwise in a state that the players cannot play, the board marks it by the four small white squares between the points. In addition, when the game is paused, three '-' are displayed in the digit display.

3) When the turn time of a player finishes, the board marks it by changing temporarily empty points to yellow.

4) When the board rejects a move, it put an explanatory message in the character display for a short time, which is controlled by the Warn Delay parameter in the Time menu.

5) When a player presses an illegal point in Reversi, Visiput, FillIt or CountLines, the board flashes all the points that the player can play using the current player's colour.

Large Buttons:

Large right-arrow (Play) - reset the game and start a new one.
Two-bars and small-arrow (Pause/Continue) - toggles the game from playing to stopped.
Left-hand circular arrow (restore)- restore the board to its position before the last move. The board then 'blips' the last move, until the 'Pause/Continue' is pressed.

Any button press, except 'Play', stops the game, and it can be continued by pressing the 'Pause/Continue' button.

After pressing the 'Restore' button, the board restores the state before the last move, and then bleeps the last move. Pressing the 'Pause/Continue' button can be used to stop the bleeping, but leave it paused. Pressing 'Pause/Continue' again can be used to continue. Pressing the 'Restore' button again before playing another move restore the state of the board after the last move, and bleeps the last move.

The alphanumeric display:

The bottom line shows the result. In most of the games, the left and right numbers are the count of the points for the red and green, and the central number is the time left for the current player, in tenth of a second when the turn time is less than 100 seconds, otherwise in seconds. In life1 and TouchIt the count is different (see below), and in CountLines the count is a count of the straight lines each player has.

The top line is made of 3 parts: menu, parameter and value.

The menu is specified by the first four characters, and is one of Play, Rule, and Time. Each menu is a group of parameters. The Play menu contains the Game parameter and several general playing parameters. The Rule menu is specific to each game, and changes automatically when the game is changed. The Time menu contains the Turn Time parameter and several other general time parameters. The parameters in the Play, Time menus are described in the end of the document. The parameters in Rule menus for each game are described in the game specific documentation below.

The parameter name follows the menu name. The current value of the parameter is displayed in the third field, which is variable in length (depending on the length of the text).

Changing the value of a parameter is done by pressing the Up-arrow and Down-arrow buttons (Top right). When the value reaches the maximum or minimum it wraps around.

Changing the parameter is done by pressing the Right-arrow and Left-arrow buttons (top middle). When the change reaches the end of or the beginning of the menu, it wraps around.

Changing the menu is done by pressing the 'square' button (top left). It also changes the parameter to the first parameter in the new menu.

1. Reversi

When the current player presses a point, any of the other player stones which are on a straight line between the new stone and another stone of the current player without gaps are caught, i.e. changes to the colour of the current player. By default, each new stone must catch at least one stone. The winner is the player with more stones in the end of the game.

When a player presses an illegal point (because it does not catch anything), the board flashes all the points that are legal moves. If a player does not have a legal move, the board passes the turn to the other player. When neither of the players have a move, the board finishes the game. If a player has a legal but doesn't play, the board selects a random move and plays it.

Rule menu:

Start up: Number of points to start with. Default 0. If this is 0, the game starts with a fixed configuration. If this is not 0, the board gives each player half of this number of points at random positions.
End catches: If this is set, stones of the other color which are between the newly added stone and the end of the board or a dead stone are captured as well. Default No.
Play Level: The play level of the board when playing against the board. The range is 0-4, the default is 2.
Flash time (in milliseconds): The period of time of flashing possible legal moves. When this is 0, the board does not flash legal moves.
Add Red: Number of red points to add (When Start Up is not 0) for an unequal game.
Legal Move: Default Catching, which means only moves that actually catch are legal (standard Reversi). When this is set to Touching, every point that touches an occupied point is a legal move. When this is set to Any, any empty point is a legal move. To make it an interesting game, the End Catches parameter should be set to Yes.

Changing the End Catches parameter gives a completely different game, which is also quite interesting. The board playing level is a reasonable challenge for beginners, but not for experts.

2. Ghost

The board moves around the board four points (the Ghost). The players try to 'catch the ghost' by pressing one of the four points while it is on. When this happens, the current player gets a point. The board also signals it by drawing a moving pattern for a short interval. When a player presses a point which is not of the ghost, the board switches it on, and the ghost does not go through it, and the 'Ghost' becomes slower.

The game stops after 32 (Limit parameter) and the player with larger score wins. The game also finishes if the ghost is totally surrounded so it cannot move at all.

Rule menu:

Gap: The initial gap (in milliseconds) between each movement of the 'Ghost'.
Limit: The number of turns when the games finishes.
Near Touch: Default No. Setting this to Yes changes the rules of the game, such that the player gets a point when they touch a point that touches the ghost(not diagonally), but if they touch the ghost itself the other player gets a point.
Add points: Default Yes. If this is set to No, the board does not switch on the points that the players press in unsuccessful attempts.
Gap Increase: The increase (in milliseconds) in the gap between each movement of the 'ghost' for each unsuccessful attempt to press the board.

3. Life1

Each player in their turn tries to 'kill' all the points as fast as possible. The board accumulates the number of generations for each player, and when after a red turn either of the player has more than 100 (Limitparamter) generations the player with less genration wins.

The behaviour of the points is as follows: Each 'generation' (700 milliseconds, Gen Time parameter) the board checks the number of 'neighbors' of each point which are 'alive' (switched on). 'Neighbors' are the eight points surrounding the point, including the diagonal ones. If the number of 'alive' neighbors is not 2 or 3, the point becomes or stays 'dead', i.e. empty. If the point is empty and has three alive neighbors, it becomes alive. If the point is alive and has 2 or 3 neighbors, it stays alive but get older by one generation. When a point reaches 5 generations (Old Age parameter) it becomes 'old', and after it is 'old' for one generations (old Dies parameter) it dies even if it has 2 or 3 neighbors.

When the player presses a point, it reverses its status, i.e. an empty point becomes 'alive', while a 'live' point dies. The number of plays a player can perform per generation is 3 (Per Gen parameter).

The game can also be played to keep the board alive for as long as possible. In this case, the gen time and old age parameters should be reduced, because with the default setting it is quite easy to keep the board alive forever. game is also interesting for a single player (see the Two Players parameter below).

The delay between each run is defined by the Start Delay (Time menu).

Rule menu:

Start up: Number of stones to start with. If this is 0, start with a 'standard' position. Otherwise it starts with the specified number of points in random positions. Default 42.
Two Players: Default Yes. When this is No, the game is in single player mode. The points are always displayed in green when they are 'young', and red when they become 'old'. The display shows the number of generation in the current run in the left number, the number of points on the board in the middle, and points for separate 'groups' in the right number. The player is awarded a point for each generation in which there are the minimum number of separate groups (the Groups parameter) of stones, and the number of points is doubled for each additional group. A group of stones is a group where every stone is a neighbor or share an empty neighbor with at least another stone of the group. Two groups are separated if they don't have any shared neighbor.
Gen time (in milliseconds): The time period of each generation. Default 700.
Limit: The number of generations when thegame ends
Old age: The 'age' in which a stone becomes old. Default 5.
Per gen: The maximum number of times the player can press a point in each generation. Default 2.
Old dies: The number of generations that an 'old' point lives before it dies. Default 1.
Groups: The minimum number of separate groups for which points are awarded.
Min Alive: Minimum number of alive points. If the number of alive points is below this, they all die. This is also the minimum number of points in a 'group'. Default 5.

Mirror: Default No. When this is set to Yes, the board is mirrored each generation.

4. Life2

A game for "lazy moments". There are points of two colours, which evolve in a similar way to Life1, but are hostile to each other. Each player has 2 plays (Max Plays parameter), which they can use whenever it is their turn. Most of the time the players just watch the development of the board, until one of the colours wins.

The behaviour of the points is as follows: for an occupied point, neighbors that are occupied by 'stones' of the other colour are counted as -2 each. A point stays alive if it has a neighbor count of 2 or 3. For an empty point, if the difference between the number of neighbors of each colour is between 2 and the value of the Birth max parameter, the point becomes alive with the colour of the majority.

When a player presses a point, if it is occupied by either colour it becomes empty, whatever was its colour. When a player presses an empty point, it become alive with the player's colour.

Alternative ways of playing are:

Single player. The player selects a colour, and tries to make it win. It is probably better to set the Start Up parameter to non-zero value.
Guess the winner. The game is started, and the players try to guess which colour is going to win. Note that with Start Up set to 0 the board is symmetrical, so will end up in a draw unless at least one point is pressed. In most of the cases one press is enough to make one side win, provided the press does not bring to life a point that is completely separated from the rest of the points.

Rule menu:

Start up: Number of stones for each player to start up. Zero means start in a standard configuration. Default 0.
Max Plays: The maximum number of plays each player can play.
Birth Max: The maximum of the neighboring points that make a point alive. Higher values make a denser game. Default 2, which is the minimum.
Gen Time: Generation time in milliseconds.
Mirror: Default No. When set to Yes, the board is mirrored each generation.
Old Age: The age in generations in which a point dies of old age. The default is 20, which is longer than any point lives.

5. TouchIt

In this game the board displays few neighboring points, and the players try to press the last point that is displayed before it disappears. When a player succeeds to touch any of the points before the next point is turned on, or the last point before they all disappear, this player wins the turn.

The time between displaying the points is determined by the Gap parameter, and the player(s) needs to adjust it to meet their response speed.

The game ends after 40 (Limit parameter) turns.

Rule menu:

Gap: The gap in milliseconds between displaying points. Default 275, which is too slow for most adults.
Third Move: The direction of the third move with respect to the direction of the second move. Can be one of Straight, Left, Right or Random. Default Straight. Inapplicable if the number is less than three.
Limit: The number of turns in a game
Symmetry: Default None. When this is set to another value, The player needs to press a point that is symmetry-related to the displayed point. Can be one of: None, Left/right, Top/Bottom, Rotate. The top of the board is the side where the alphanumeric display is. Left/Right and Top/Bottom do a mirror symmetry in one axis, and Rotate does a mirror symmetry in both axes.
Two Players: Default Separate. Can be set to one of:
Together: In this case the players play together. The board displays the points in green as in single player mode, and in addition displays in the rotated positions the points in red. The first player that succeeds to press his point wins the turn.
Separate: Similar to Together, but the first two points are always displayed in the same four columns (green in the four columns of the right, red on the left). When the Third move and Fourth move are set to the default Straight, this means that each player always plays in the same half, thus avoiding hand clashes between the players.
Yes: In this case the players play alternatively. The points are displayed in the colour of the current player.
No: Only one player. In this mode, the number in the right of the display is the number of tries in the current series (since 'play' was pressed), and the number on the left is the number of successes.

In all the two players modes, the digit display shows the count of successes for each player.

Number: Number of points in the sequence. Default 4.
Fourth Move: The direction of the fourth move with respect to the third move. Default Straight. Applicable only with four points or more.
Wait: The wait time between tries (in milliseconds).

6. Symmetry

A single player game. The board displays a pattern in the 'top' (close to the digit display) four lines, and the player needs to press all the points that are symmetry related to the displayed points within a given time. By default, the player need to press points that are in the mirror position of the displayed points, e.g. point in the top-left corner is mapped to the bottom-left corner.

If the player presses a correct point, it becomes green. If the player presses a wrong point, it becomes red.

Rule menu:

Time: The time in seconds in which the player needs to complete the pattern. Default 9 seconds.
Op: The symmetry operator. One of:
Mirror: The pattern is mirrored across the central horizontal line.
Translate: The pattern is translated to the bottom four lines, i.e. it slides 5 lines downwards.
Rotate: The pattern is rotated by 180 degrees around the center of the board.
Trans/Mirror: The pattern is translated downwards and then is mirrored across the vertical middle line.
Start Up: The number of points in the pattern.

7. CountLines

In this game the players switch-on points in turns. A player gets a point for each straight continuous line of 4 stones (see the Number parameter below). Lines can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal, and can overlap. E.g. a 5 stones line earns the player two points, one for the first four stones and one for the last four points, a six stones line earns the player 3 points etc.

Additional rule is that the player is not allowed to put a stone too close to the stone that he put in the previous move. The default distance is 3 points. See the Distance parameter below. When a player presses an illegal point, the board highlights all the points that are legal move.

The board can be set such that the first player to form a line wins.

Rule menu:

Number: The number of stones in a line that earn the player a point. Default 4.
Distance: The minimum distance between two consecutive moves of the same player. The unit is the distance between two neighboring points, and is measured geometrically, i.e. the player cannot put a stone in a circle around its previous move. The restriction is removed after each turn, even if the player hasn't played in his turn.
One Only: Default No. If this is set to Yes, the board finishes the game when the first line of the right length is formed.
Play Level: The play level of the board when playing against the board. The range is 0-4, the default is 2.
Start up: Number of points to start with. The board gives each player half of this number of points at random positions. Default 12.
Flash Time: The time of flashing possible legal moves. If this is 0, the legal moves are not flashed.

8. ClearIt

The game starts with each player having points randomly distributed on the board. Each player presses a point in his turn, which causes several points to be removed from the board, according to the parameter settings. The player that first removes all the points of the other player wins.

By default, the points that are removed are point of the other player which are a chess knight move away from the point the player pressed, and points of the player which are another diagonal move away. Players can play only in empty points. The game always ends after the red turn, so the players play equal number of moves (unless they miss a move).

Rule menu:

Mode: This (together with the distances) determines which points are removed after each press. Default Knight. The relevant distance is determined by the Distance and Dist[other] parameters. Available modes are:
Knight: The points that are affected are found by moving the relevant distance of points diagonally from the origin point (the point that was pressed), and then one point vertically or horizontally such it get closer to the origin point. When the relevant distance is 2, this gives a chess night move.
Plus: Points that are up to the relevant distance away horizontally or vertically from the origin point are affected.
Plus{X}: Points that are eXactly the relevant distance away from the origin point are affected. Note that this means that the pressed point is not affected.
X: Points that are up to the relevant distance away diagonally from the origin point are affected.
X{X}: Points that are eXactly the relevant distance away diagonally from the origin point are affected.
Plus_X: Plus and X together.
Plus_X{X}: Plus{X} and X{X} together.
Square: All the points that are inside a square with size 2* (the relevant distance) +1 centered on the origin point are affected.
Square{X}: Points of the border of the square are affected.
Circle: Points inside a geometrical circle of radius of the relevant distance around the origin point are affected.
Start Up: Number of points to start with. Default 42.
Flip: Specify that some points flip to the other colour rather then switch off when they are affected. Default None. Can be set to:
Own: Points of the current player that are affected flip to the other player colour.
Other: Points of the other player flip their colour.; If this parameter is not None, only moves that actually remove some points are legal. If it is Own, only moves that remove points of the other colors are legal. If it is Other, only moves that remove points of the current player are legal, which creates a quite bizarre game with many subtleties.; If a player misses a move, the other player can play anywhere.

Play Level: Controls how well the board plays (when Board Plays is Yes). Higher values make the board play better.
Distance: The distance to use when computing which of the points of the current player affected. Default 3. When this is set to 0, points of the current player are not affected.
Dist[Other]: The distance to use when computing which of the points of the other player affected. Default 2, which with Knight mode gives a chess knight move.
Rotate: When this is Yes, the board is rotated after each move.

9. FillIt

By default, when a player presses a point, points which are empty or in the other player's colour and are two points away from the touched point in any of the 8 directions change their colour to the player's colour, and points that are near the touched point and in the player's colour change their colour to the other colour. When the board is full, the player with more points in their colour wins. Only empty points are legal moves.

If a player misses a turn, when the other player plays his next move none of his points are changed, so it is never a good idea to miss a turn.

The exact rules to decide which points are affected are defined by the mode an disances which are described below. The dist[other] parameter is used also to determine which empty points are affected. The default mode is Plus_X, with Distance 1 and Dist[other] 2, giving the behaviour which was described in the previous paragraph.

When the mode is such that the point being pressed is affected (X, Plus, Plus_X, Square, Circle), only empty points are legal moves. In the other modes (Knight, Plus{X}, X{X}, PLUS_X{X), Square{X}), only moves that actually add more points to the board are legal. The game with these modes is much more complex. In these modes, the board flashes the legal moves when the player tries an illegal move.

Rule menu:

Mode: This (together with the distances) determines which points are removed after each press. Default Knight. The relevant distance is determined by the Distance and Dist[other] parameters. Available modes are:
Knight: The points that are affected are found by moving the relevant distance of points diagonally from the origin point (the point that was pressed), and then one point vertically or horizontally such it get closer to the origin point. When the relevant distance is 2, this gives a chess night move.
Plus: Points that are up to the relevant distance away horizontally or vertically from the origin point are affected.
Plus{X}: Points that are eXactly the relevant distance away from the origin point are affected. Note that this means that the pressed point is not affected.
X: Points that are up to the relevant distance away diagonally from the origin point are affected.
X{X}: Points that are eXactly the relevant distance away diagonally from the origin point are affected.
Plus_X: Plus and X together.
Plus_X{X}: Plus{X} and X{X} together.
Square: All the points that are inside a square with size 2* (the relevant distance) +1 centered on the origin point are affected.
Square{X}: Points of the border of the square are affected.
Circle: Points inside a geometrical circle of radius of the relevant distance around the origin point are affected.
Start Up: Number of points to start with. Default 12.
Flash Time: The time of flashing legal moves
Distance: The distance to use when computing which of the points of the current player affected.
Dist[Other]: The distance to use when computing which of the points of the other player affected.
Rotate: When this is Yes, the board is rotated after each move.

10. FindThem

In the beginning of the game the board displays a random arrangement of points for a short period of time, and then switches them off. Then the players try to find points of their own colour by pressing them. When a player presses a point of his colour (i.e. a point that had his colour in the initial display), it is switched on. When a player presses an empty point or a point of the other colour, nothing happens, but the point becomes silent for one move, so the other player cannot find it immediately (but can find it later). The game ends after a red move if one of the players found 9 points (Count parameter). The player with 9 points wins, unless both players reached 9 points in the same move.

The board can be set to a "First Miss" mode (by the FirstMiss parameter), which is intended for group of players. The players in their turn try to switch on a point. A player that missed leaves the game, and the winner is the last player that didn't miss. The game starts with a larger number of points than the default game. Note that the players still need to play the right colour, unless the Find Both parameter is set to Yes.

When playing against the board, the board flashes the point it 'presses', and has around 70% success. The rate of success is controlled by the Play Level parameter. Players with good memory should increase the Count parameter.

Rule menu:

FirstMisst: Default No. When this is set to Yes, the board is set to playing "First Miss". In this mode, the game does not stop after a fixed number of turns, and starts with more lines.
Count: The number of points that the player needs to find to win. Default 9.
Time: The time (in seconds) of the initial display. Default 4.
Add: Number of points to add to Count. The number of points of each colour is Count + Add. Default 15.
Add Red: Add more reds for unequal game. Default 0.
Play Level: Controls how well the Board plays. Higher values make it more successful.
Find Both: Default No. If this is set to Yes, when a player presses a point of the other colour, it also become alive, as if the other player found it.
Same Point: Default No, which means that a player cannot find a point just after the other player pressed it.

11. Visiput

Each player in his turn presses a point. The point must be such that it is 'visible' by at least as many points of the same colour as by points of the other colour (see the Min Diff parameter below). 'Visible' means connected by a straight line (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) without any intervening stones. After some moves, the game reaches a state when all the empty points are controlled by one of the players. At that point, the board finishes the game and gives each point to the player that control it. Then the player with more points wins.

When a player presses an illegal point, the board flashes all the legal moves for this player.

Rule menu:

Start up: Number of points to start with. Default 0. If this is 0, the game starts with a fixed configuration. If this is not 0, the board gives each player half of this number of points at random positions.
Min Diff: Default 0. The minimum difference between the visibility of a point by the player points and the other player points for this point to be a legal move. Range from -2 to 2.
Play Level: This affects the algorithm that the board uses to find the best move (when Board Plays is Yes). In general, higher values make the board play slightly better. The range is 0-7, default 2.
Start Mode: Make it possible to start the game in an asymmetric position, to compensate for the first move advantage of the green player. The default is Biased, and there are three asymmetric modes: Biased, X Biased and Y Biased. The Y Biased mode seems to give the most equal games.
Check Level: Default 1. In this case, the board finishes the game when it can determine which points can be taken by which player. When this is set to 0, the board finishes the game only when one of the players cannot play anymore.
Flash Time: The time in milliseconds of flashing possible legal moves. If 0, the legal moves are not flashed.

12. SpeedGo

This is standard Go.

'Neighboring points' are points that are near each other horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. Points of the same colour that are neighbors or can be connected by neighboring points of the same colour are 'a group'. A group that does not have any neighboring empty point (a 'liberty') is 'captured', i.e. switched off. Each player in their turn switches on a point of their colour. A new stone cannot be switched on where it is part of a 'captured' group (i.e. fills the last liberty of a group, or a single point with no neighboring empty point), unless it catches some points of the other player. In addition, a point cannot be switched on if it returns the game to the same position as before the other player's move (KO rule). In the end of the game, the count for each player is the count of his/her points plus the number of empty points that are surrounded by his/her points (area counting). Each move the board checks if it is clear what area belongs to which player, and if so it finishes the game.

By default, the game starts with several points of each colour in random places.

Rule Menu:

Start up: Number of points to start with. Default 36. If this is not 0, the board gives each player half of this number of points at random positions.
Add Red: Additional red points at start up for unequal game.
Check level: Level of checking for the end of the game. Default 3.; 0 - No check at all.; 1 - Check if all free points are in territories that are surrounded by one colour only.; 2 - Remove immediate catches and check as in 1.; 3 - as 2 but also remove chains that has less than minimum liberties (default 3) which are in shared territories.
Min Liberties: Minimum number of liberties in check level 3. Default 3.
% start check: The percentage of the board that is needed to be occupied before starting to check for end of game. Default 30
Do KO: Reject KO moves. Default Yes.

Note for Go players: Even in check level 3 the end check is not good enough for serious players. When you decide the game ended, rather than passing add the obvious stones to catch 'dead groups' and connect your own groups. Because the count is area counting, as long as you keep the eyes you don't lose points by adding stones. Start handicap can be added pressing the Play button and then the Pause/Continue button, then adding the required stones (see 'change points on the board' in the 'How To:' page) and then pressing the Pause/Continue button again.

13. RepeatIt

Each player in their turn have to touch the last 4 (Repeat Count parameter) points that the other player touched in the right order(In Order parameter), and then touch additional 2 points(Add Count parameter) of their choice to reach total of 6 points . If a player touches the wrong point, his miss count is increasing by 1. If they try 3 times (Tries parameter) unsuccessfully , the board switches the point anyway. The players has 4 seconds for each point (Point Time parameter), and if they fail to touch the right point or try three times within the 2 seconds , their miss count is increased by 4 (Time Penalty parameter). The first player that reaches 100 (Limit parameter)misses or more loses.

The board starts the game by switching 6 points one after the other. The numbers in the digit display the count of misses for each player.

Rule Menu:

Repeat Count: The number of points that a player needs to repeat from the previous colour.
Add Count: The Number of points that the player has to add. default 2.
Point Time
: The time that each player has to touch a point in milliseconds. Default 4000.
Play Level
: Controls how well the Board plays. Higher values make it more successful. default 2, maximum 7.
In Order: Default Yes, which the players must touched the repeat points in the right order. if this is set to No, the players can press the repeat points in any order.
Tries: The number of tries that a player has to try before the board switches the point for them. Default 3.
Limit: Limit of misses. When either of the players reaches this number of misses, the game ends.
Point Delay: The delay between points when the board plays.
Time Penalty: The number of misses that are added when a player fails to touch the point or to try three times within the Point Time.

Menus common to all games

Play Menu:

Game: This selects the game to play. Changing this parameter automatically adjusts the Rule menu.
Board Plays: When this is set to Yes, the board plays as the red player in the taking turns games.
Board size: Change the size of the board to one of 5,7,9. When the size of the board is not 9, the board draws a square of neutral lights around the playing area.
Player: This sets the current player. This is used to put specific points on the board. The (real) players set the player, and then press those points that they want with this player. The player can be set to of Empty, Green, Red, Dead. A Dead point is drawn in a neutral colour, and ignored in the game (not applicable in SpeedGo). The setting of this parameter also determined whose turn it is to play next, so it can be used to pass turns.
Dead Stones: Number of dead stones, which are not part of the game (not in SpeedGo). Default 0. These stones are added in each game in random locations.
Frequency: Frequency of random changes to the game. Default Never. When this is not Never, the board makes random changes to the board at random times.
Strength: 'Strength' of the random effect. Default Slight. This affects the average number of points that are changed when a random change is made.
Mode: Mode of the random effect. Default Random, which means use the time of presses as seed for the random algorithm. Deterministic means use the points that the players press as seeds, so if the players play exactly the same again, the 'random' effect will be the same again. Board is like Deterministic, but also uses as seed a unique number of the board, so the sequence is unique to each board (not implemented yet).
Salt: Salt for 'board' mode.
No Play Count: Maximum number of points to draw in the third colour when the turn time of player finishes.
Show Lights: Controls whether the board switches on the four little squares during the time after a player played and before the turn goes to the other player.

Time menu:

Turn time: The time in seconds of a player's turn.
Time delay: A delay in milliseconds between the time one player has and starting the time for the other player. Default 500.
Board Delay
The same as Time Delay but when the board plays. Default 100.
Restart Delay: After the finish of game, the board automatically starts a new game after the Restart Delay time (in seconds). When this is 0, the board does not restart a new game automatically.
Start Delay: Additional delay in milliseconds for the first move. Also used as the delay between successive turns in life1.
Time Factor: Allows giving one player more time than the other. Green*3 means that the time that the green player gets is his turn is Turn time multiply by 3. Default Equal.
Clear delay: A delay in milliseconds when the board removes stones. Default 60.
Warn delay: A delay in milliseconds after giving a message (mainly of illegal moves) before returning to the normal display. Default 800.
Flicker Time: When the board needs to signal that something happened (e.g. the game ended, illegal move), it flickers the white lights. This parameter controls the time in milliseconds of a flicker.
Flicker Count: The number of flickers in a signal.
Bleep Time: The time in milliseconds for each 'bleep'. The boards 'bleeps' a point to mark it as the last move after pressing the 'restore' button, and between turns in life1.
Sound: Not implemented.

When a player plays out of turn:

The board does not have a way of stopping players playing during the opponent turn. To overcome this problem, players must pay attention to play only when their light is on.

In case a player plays out of turn, the board can be restored to its position before the bad move by pressing the 'Restore' button. Note that this stops the game, and to continue to play the players need to press the Pause/Continue button twice.

Alternatively, playing out of turn may incur some penalty, for example:

1) If the Green player played in the Red turn, then the Red player plays in the Green turn. The Red player can either wait until the turn time passes, or play the worst move possible.

2) The same as in (1), but for two moves.

3) The player loses immediately.