Pousse is a French game similar to tic-tac-toe. However unlike it’s simpleton
cousin this game is anything but trivial. Pousse is played on an N by N board.
For example the board for the 5 by 5 variant:
..... ..... ..... ..... .....
The two opposing players (X and O) push their pieces from one of the four sides.
On an N by N board there are 4 x N possible moves at every step. Moves can be
represented by descriptions such as “right 0”. Latter means push an element
from the right on the 0th row. Or “bottom 3” that pushes from the bottom on
the column number 3. Because I’m a geek columns / rows are numbered from 0.
This is how the starting table looks after X making a “top 0” move:
X.... ..... ..... ..... .....
Inserted pieces forcefully push other pieces along in their direction of movement.
Probably why the game is called pousse in French. Blank positions, represented
with dots, are nothing more than a canvas for other pieces to cross. Here is what
happens after the opponent replies with a “left 0” move:
OX... ..... ..... ..... .....
A simple example on how blank squares absorb the push, is when X replies back
with “right 0” move:
OX..X ..... ..... ..... .....
If a piece sits on the edge of the board, it is may be pushed off during a move.
When this happens the piece in effect fall off the board.
The object of the game is to create a full line / column of pieces of your own type.
Whomever achieves this first wins. Another way of winning is forcing the opponent
to repeat a previously encountered board position. Draw is not possible, someone
will always win.
For example the next game was won by X:
XOO.. XO.O. XXOOO XOXXO XX..X
For now use
$cake play
and enter moves on an command line prompt.
First install nodeunit via
$npm install nodeunit
then run the tests via
$cake test
In addition after making a change you should test if the AI strength
had improved or not. Do this by spawninga server with the
new changes and play it against a client on a clean base checkout.
$cake server
$cake client
Unless you introduced some bugs, these two will automatically play a tournament
of 1000 games where the right of first move is toggled back and forth. Most board
games give an advantage to the first mover hence the need for toggling. Any AI
improvments should be visible by the server dominating the client.
Copyright © 2011 by Dee Zsombor <zsombor@primalgrasp.com>